It’s like a smoke break, but with aspartame instead of tobacco.
Picture this: Itโs a long, stressful day at work, and youโre only halfway through. You need to let off a little steam. How about you crack open a cool, fizzy โfridge cigaretteโ?
The term โfridge cigaretteโ โ also known as a Diet Coke โ has recently taken off online, thanks to a video posted on June 8 by TikToker Rachel Reno.
โoverheard someone call Diet Coke a โfridge cigaretteโ and nothingโs been more true to me since,โ her caption reads.
In it, Reno is seated atop a blanket on the grass with a wrapped-up sandwich and Diet Coke. After she opens the can โ its carbonation audibly greeting the audience โ and she takes a sip.
Renoโs TikTok, which has garnered more than 3.8 million views to date, highlights a prevailing idea among Gen Zers and millennials that we all deserve a little treat โ like a crisp Diet Coke โ especially during the workday.
Other TikTokers are picking up what Reno is putting down.
โalmost 3pm? time for my daily fridge cigarette,โ one user captioned their beverage break video.
โa little fridge cigarette to take the edge off,โ posted another.
Other users took the analogy a step further, sipping their sodas as if they were taking a drag of it.
Reno reiterates that she didnโt actually coin the term โfridge cigarette,โ but she really did overhear it from a coworker a little over a year ago, and says itโs been incredible to see the response from people online.
โThe best insights are ones that we donโt have to explain to each other, we just โget itโ โ and people just get the analogy,โ Reno tells TODAY.com. โEven though Diet Coke might not want to be associated with cigarettes, itโs a truth about the brand that resonates with millions of people.โ
While the term โfridge cigaretteโ is new to the internetโs lexicon, the idea of treating oneself to a Diet Coke break is not.
In spring 2023, the hashtag #dietcokebreak racked up millions of views on TikTok, which led some publications to deem the practice โGen Zโs version of the smoke break.โ
โA Diet Coke break is something I do look forward to when I am in the office,โ Dedrick Boyington-Warmack, a then-27-year-old marketing manager, told Fortune in 2023. โI usually donโt bring soda into my home.โ
And a June 2023 post on X described Diet Coke as having โcigarette aesthetic.โ
The comparison may persist because of the idea that sodas โ even diet ones โ are not good for you. A 2020 study found that those who drank many beverages with artificial sweeteners had a higher risk of heart disease than those who didnโt consume them.
On June 9, Reno posted a follow-up video expanding on the orginal idea, categorizing regular Coke, Coke Zero and other diet sodas into types of cigarettes.
โPeople mentioning La Croix or sparkling water, respect to you, for me, that is a juice treat,โ she says, adding that they are tantamount to prop cigarettes in plays. โA few people have asked about full-fat Coke in the glass bottle, and I said, โThatโs a cigar.โโ
About The Author
