Gen Z are embracing so-called “grandma hobbies” like sewing, quilting, and knitting. I’m all for that. What I’m not here for, is Gen Z’s embrace of another generations old practice: smoking. Cigarettes are making a pernicious comeback in media and social settings, and the youths indulging in the vice seem woefully naive about the risks involved. They’re not called “cancer sticks” for nuthin’. Obviously not everyone in Gen Z is smoking, but cigarettes clawing their way back to a favorable, cool status is something I find deeply worrisome. So I was dismayed when I learned that a Gen Z TikToker kicked off a trend of referring to Diet Coke as a “fridge cigarette.” Because it’s refreshing, which is why the comparison is problematic. The CEO of Coca-Cola isn’t thrilled about the nickname, either. In an interview with Yahoo Finance last week, Henrique Braun took great pains to clarify that “fridge cigarette” is not at all how the company thinks of, refers to, or promotes Diet Coke, thankyouverymuch.
“The consumers call it the way they want to call it,” Braun said. “The most important thing to us is that we don’t position Diet Coke in that way.”
“It’s a great-tasting product, which connects with the consumer in a very unique way.”
Coca-Cola did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Merriam-Webster defines “fridge cigarette” as “a cold, refreshing, and addictive soft drink,” noting that it’s especially used to refer to Diet Coke.
The phrase first gained traction with Gen Z through a viral TikTok video in 2025, which has nearly 4 million views. It showed a woman opening a can of the soda, with the text: “Overheard someone call a Diet Coke a ‘fridge cigarette’ and nothing’s been more true to me since.”
It makes sense that Braun would rather avoid any comparisons to cigarettes, especially given some previous bad media for Diet Coke.
Aspartame, an artificial sweetener used in the soda, made headlines in 2023 after the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified it as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
However, this classification only means there is limited evidence in humans and less-than-sufficient evidence in animals. Health bodies and regulators globally have maintained their acceptable daily intake levels of aspartame. An adult weighing 150 lbs would have to drink at least 17 cans of Diet Coke a day to exceed the safe amount.
Diet Coke contains more caffeine, the use of which can lead to dependence, than regular Coca-Cola.
To most people, “fridge cigarette” instead evokes the relief from drinking a soda. An excuse to step away from work for a moment and indulge with a gratifying treat.
Rachel Reno, who posted the viral TikTok, told The New York Times in 2025, “I feel like it’s one of those things that doesn’t need a lot of explanation.”
She added that people who understand it know that “the crack of the can is like the spark of a lighter,” and then after the first sip, “all the worries and cares in the world go away.”
Am I making too much of what is, at the end of the day, just a nickname? NO! Because even the most casual of fondness towards something like cigarettes is a very bad idea, in my opinion. Not to mention one that comes with a high mortality rate. That’s why the more the TikToker dug into the imagery, the more I got the ick. “The crack of the can is like the spark of a lighter,” and then “all the worries and cares in the world go away.” First of all, I don’t care what kind of magic spell they use to tweak the recipe — that kind of euphoria can NEVER be found from a Diet Coke. I said what I said! And second, just no. I’m still haunted by a 20-something quoted in the NY Post who described smoking a cig as “a breath of fresh air.” How do we break through to these kids when they have a fundamentally warped notion of what “a breath of fresh air” is?? As for what else to call Diet Coke (because apparently we’re not just calling it “Diet Coke”), what’s something refreshing that doesn’t have a carcinogenic connotation? A “fridge KitKat”? A “fridge bubble bath”? Wait, I’ve got it: a “fridge orgasm”!! Everyone’ll have what Gen Z’s having!!
Besides, everybody knows that the best Diet Coke doesn’t come from a can in the fridge — it comes from McDonald’s.
You might be absolutely right, because the fountain Pepsi at the hotdog place near my house is crazy good – WHYYYYYYY
I’m one of those people who doesn’t often drink a ‘fizzy’ drink like coke and when I do its pretty much always a Dr Pepper (I like the taste better) switching to coke is there is no Dr Pepper available. I’m not a big caffeine drinker as too much makes me bounce off the ceiling.
Am a tea drinker – preferably using natural ingredients such as hot water and mint leaves (I used to have a lavender bush using the flower in my tea). Fresh lavender tea is just delish.
Its just crazy to me that smoking is still a thing given that its well known that it kills – vaping is just as bad.
I call it a fridge cig almost as a joke – like I’m too lame to smoke for real (I never smoked and I stopped drinking ages ago) so a Diet Coke is the closest thing to a bad habit I can get. But it must be in a can.
Bottled Diet Coke can go to hell though.
People have been calling it a fridge cigarette for years. Why is Coke suddenly so twisted up about it?
Probably because, like me, they didn’t hear about it until right now. That or the term escaped containment and popped up in the mainstream only now, so they didn’t want to address it before now…probably hoping it would get boring and die off before the wider world heard about it. Talking about it prematurely would have only backfired and popularized the term.
It’s easy to forget that Ben is a good looking guy.
Yeah, cigarette smoke causes some of my most painful migraines. And drinking soda is a big NO, after I had two kidney stones. I wish I had a better diet and was nicer to my body in my 20s and 30s. Those bad habits catch up to you.
Well, there is this:
“Recent data and studies suggest that Gen Z (born roughly 1997–2010) has broken a long-standing historical trend known as the Flynn effect—where each successive generation scored higher on IQ and standardized tests than the last”
The generation of home schooling is unsurprisingly less intelligent than the generation before them. So they’re smoking. B/C not. smart.
They are smoking because cigarettes/vapes are marketed to them. Tobacco companies focus on young people as new recruits because they are looking for long-term customers.
“IQ is fake and eugenicist and standardized tests are a great measure of how good kids are at taking tests and not a reliable indicator intelligence.”
Well, there you go
It’s like a cigarette in that it keeps your appetite satisfied! That’s why everyone is drinking diet sodas now.
As a diet coke head, it bothers me because people are always trying to say that diet soda causes cancer. I just think the fridge cig feeds into that.
Every generation has to decide what’s cool for itself. Years of hearing how bad cigarettes are was always going to lead to youth wanting to do the thing. I think there are so much to be afraid of now that one more thing isn’t causing the fear and avoidance that it should…