document_title: New Coke

question_text: when did they change the coca cola recipe

text: New Coke

text: Background[edit]

text: After World War II, the market share for Coca-Cola was 60%. By 1983, it had declined to under 24%, largely because of competition from Pepsi-Cola. Pepsi had begun to outsell Coke in supermarkets; Coke maintained its edge only through soda vending machines and fountain sales in fast food restaurants, concessions, and sports venues where Coca-Cola had purchased "pouring rights".[2]

text: Market analysts believed baby boomers were more likely to purchase diet drinks as they aged and remained health- and weight-conscious. Growth in the full-calorie segment would have to come from younger drinkers, who at that time favored Pepsi by even more overwhelming margins than the market as a whole.[3] Meanwhile, the overall market for colas steadily declined in the early 1980s, as consumers increasingly purchased diet and non-cola soft drinks, many of which were sold by Coca-Cola themselves. This trend further eroded Coca-Cola's market share.[4][5] When Roberto Goizueta became Coca-Cola CEO in 1980, he pointedly told employees there would be no "sacred cows" in how the company did business, including how it formulated its drinks.[6]

text: Market research[edit]

text: Coca-Cola's senior executives commissioned a secret project headed by marketing vice president Sergio Zyman and Coca-Cola USA president Brian Dyson to create a new flavor for Coke. The effort, Project Kansas, took its name from a photo of Kansas journalist William Allen White drinking a Coke; the image had been used extensively in Coca-Cola advertising and hung on several executives' walls.[7]:114

text: The sweeter cola overwhelmingly beat both regular Coke and Pepsi in taste tests, surveys, and focus groups. Asked if they would buy and drink the product if it were Coca-Cola, most testers said they would, although it would take some getting used to. About 10-12% of testers felt angry and alienated at the thought, and said they might stop drinking Coke altogether. Their presence in focus groups tended to negatively skew results as they exerted indirect peer pressure on other participants.[8]:355

text: The surveys, which were given more significance by standard marketing procedures of the era, were less negative than the taste tests and were key in convincing management to change the formula in 1985, to coincide with the drink's centenary. But the focus groups had provided a clue as to how the change would play out in a public context, a data point the company downplayed but which proved important later.[9]

text: Management rejected an idea to make and sell the new flavor as a separate variety of Coca-Cola. The company's bottlers were already complaining about absorbing other recent additions into the product line since Diet Coke in 1982; Cherry Coke was launched nationally nearly concurrently with New Coke during 1985. Many of them had sued over the company's syrup pricing policies. A new variety of Coke in competition with the main variety could also have cannibalized Coke’s sales and increase the proportion of Pepsi drinkers relative to Coke drinkers.

text: Early in his career with Coca-Cola, Goizueta had been in charge of the company's Bahamian subsidiary. In that capacity, he had improved sales by tweaking the drink's flavor slightly, so he was receptive to the idea that changes to the taste of Coke could lead to increased profits. He believed it would be "New Coke or no Coke",[7]:106 and that the change must take place openly. He insisted that the containers carry the "New!" label, which gave the drink its popular name.[8]:358

text: Goizueta also made a visit to his mentor and predecessor as the company's chief executive, the ailing Robert W. Woodruff, who had built Coke into an international brand following World War Ⅱ. He claimed he had secured Woodruff's blessing for the reformulation, but even many of Goizueta's closest friends within the company doubt that Woodruff understood Goizueta's intentions.[8]:356[7]:115

text: Launch[edit]

text:
“
To hear some tell it, April 23, 1985, was a day that will live in marketing infamy... spawning consumer angst the likes of which no business has ever seen.
”

— The Coca-Cola Company, on the New Coke announcement[10]

text: New Coke was introduced on April 23, 1985. Production of the original formulation ended later that week. In many areas, New Coke was initially introduced in "old" Coke packaging; bottlers used up remaining cans, cartons and labels before new packaging was widely available. Old cans containing New Coke were identified by their gold colored tops, while glass and plastic bottles had red caps instead of silver and white, respectively.

text: The press conference at New York City's Lincoln Center to introduce the new formula did not go well. Reporters had already been fed questions by Pepsi,[11] which was worried that New Coke would erase its gains. Goizueta, Coca-Cola's CEO, described the new flavor as "bolder", "rounder", and "more harmonious",[8]:352 and defended the change by saying that the drink's secret formula was not sacrosanct and inviolable. As far back as 1935, Coca-Cola sought kosher certification from an Atlanta rabbi and made two changes to the formula so the drink could be considered kosher (as well as halal and vegetarian).[12] Goizueta also refused to admit that taste tests had led the change, calling it "one of the easiest decisions we've ever made."[7]:117) A reporter asked whether Diet Coke would also be reformulated "assuming [New Coke] is a success," to which Goizueta curtly replied, "No. And I didn't assume that this is a success. This is a success."[8]:352

text: The emphasis on the sweeter taste of the new flavor also ran contrary to previous Coke advertising, in which spokesman Bill Cosby had touted Coke's less-sweet taste as a reason to prefer it over Pepsi.[11]:136 Nevertheless, the company's stock went up on the announcement, and market research showed 80% of the American public was aware of the change within days.[7]:119[13]

text: Early acceptance[edit]

text: The company, as it had planned, introduced the new formula with big marketing pushes in New York (workers renovating the Statue of Liberty were symbolically the first Americans given cans to take home)[13] and Washington, D.C. (where thousands of free cans were given away in Lafayette Park). As soon as New Coke was introduced, the new formula was available at McDonald's and other drink fountains in the United States. Sales figures from those cities, and other areas where it had been introduced, showed a reaction that went as the market research had predicted. In fact, Coke's sales were up 8% over the same period as the year before.[6]

text: Most Coke drinkers resumed buying the new Coke at much the same level as they had the old one. Surveys indicated, in fact, that a majority liked the new flavoring.[11]:153 Three-quarters of the respondents said they would buy New Coke again.[6] The big test, however, remained in the Southeast, where Coke was first bottled and tasted.

text: Backlash[edit]

text: Despite New Coke's acceptance with a large number of Coca-Cola drinkers, many more resented the change in formula and were not shy about making that known — just as had happened in the focus groups. Many of these drinkers were Southerners, some of whom considered Coca-Cola a fundamental part of their regional identity. They viewed the company's decision to change the formula through the prism of the Civil War, as another surrender to the "Yankees".[11]:149-151

text: Company headquarters in Atlanta began receiving letters and telephone calls expressing anger or deep disappointment. The company received over 40,000 calls and letters,[7]:119 including one letter, delivered to Goizueta, that was addressed to "Chief Dodo, The Coca-Cola Company". Another letter asked for his autograph, as the signature of "one of the dumbest executives in American business history" would likely become valuable in the future. The company hotline, 1-800-GET-COKE, received over 1,500 calls a day compared to around 400 before the change.[10] A psychiatrist whom Coke had hired to listen in on calls told executives that some people sounded as if they were discussing the death of a family member.[11]:163

text: They were, nonetheless, joined by some voices from outside the region. Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene wrote some widely reprinted pieces ridiculing the new flavor and damning Coke's executives for having changed it. Comedians and talk show hosts, including Johnny Carson and David Letterman, made regular jokes mocking the switch. Ads for New Coke were booed heavily when they appeared on the scoreboard at the Houston Astrodome.[13] Even Fidel Castro, a longtime Coca-Cola drinker, contributed to the backlash, calling New Coke a sign of American capitalist decadence.[8]:362 Goizueta's own father expressed similar misgivings to his son, who later recalled that it was the only time the older man had agreed with Castro, whose rule he had fled Cuba to avoid.[7]:118

text: Gay Mullins, a Seattle retiree looking to start a public relations firm with $120,000 of borrowed money, formed the organization Old Cola Drinkers of America on May 28 to lobby Coca-Cola to either reintroduce the old formula or sell it to someone else. His organization eventually received over 60,000 phone calls. He also filed a class action lawsuit against the company (which was quickly dismissed by a judge who said he preferred the taste of Pepsi[14]), while nevertheless expressing interest in landing The Coca-Cola Company as a client of his new firm should it reintroduce the old formula.[11]:160 In two informal blind taste tests, Mullins either failed to distinguish New Coke from old or expressed a preference for New Coke.[11]:162

text: Still, despite ongoing resistance in the South, New Coke continued to do well in the rest of the country.[11]:149-151 But executives were uncertain of how international markets would react. Executives met with international Coke bottlers in Monaco; to their surprise, the bottlers were not interested in selling New Coke.[15] Zyman also heard doubts and skepticism from his relatives in Mexico, where New Coke was slated to be introduced later that summer, when he went there on vacation.

text: Goizueta stated that Coca-Cola employees who liked New Coke felt unable to speak up due to peer pressure, as had happened in the focus groups. Donald Keough, the Coca-Cola president and chief operating officer, reported overhearing someone say at his country club that they liked New Coke, but they would be "damned if I'll let Coca-Cola know that."[11]:154

text: Response by Pepsi[edit]

text: Pepsi-Cola took advantage of the situation, running ads in which a first-time Pepsi drinker exclaimed, "Now I know why Coke did it!"[11]:148-9 Even amidst consumer anger and several Pepsi ads mocking Coca-Cola's debacle, Pepsi actually gained very few long-term converts over Coke's switch, despite a 14% sales increase over the same month the previous year, the largest sales growth in the company's history.[6] Coca-Cola's director of corporate communications, Carlton Curtis, realized over time that consumers were more upset about the withdrawal of the old formula than the taste of the new one.[11]:175

text: Roger Enrico, then director of Pepsi's North American operations, declared a company-wide holiday and took out a full-page ad in The New York Times proclaiming that Pepsi had won the long-running "Cola Wars".[7]:115 [8]:359 Since Coke officials were preoccupied over the weekend with preparations for the announcement, their Pepsi counterparts had time to cultivate skepticism among reporters, sounding themes that would later come into play in the public discourse over the changed drink.[11]:125 After the announcement on April 23, PepsiCo gave their employees the day off saying, "By today's action, Coke has admitted that it's not the real thing."

text: Company dissatisfaction[edit]

text: Some Coca-Cola executives had quietly been arguing for a reintroduction of the old formula as early as May.[11]:157 By June, when soft drink sales usually start to rise, the numbers showed that new Coke was leveling among consumers. Executives feared social peer pressure was now affecting their bottom line. Some consumers even began trying to obtain "old" Coke from overseas, where the new formula had not yet been introduced, as domestic stocks of the old drink were exhausted.[11]:158 Over the course of the month, Coca-Cola's chemists also quietly reduced the acidity level of the new formula, hoping to assuage complaints about the flavor and allow its sweetness to be better perceived (advertisements pointing to this change were prepared, but never used).[8]:364

text: In addition to the noisier public protests, boycotts, and bottles being emptied into the streets of several cities, the company had more serious reasons to be concerned. Its bottlers, and not just the ones still suing the company over syrup pricing policies, were expressing concern. While they had given Goizueta a standing ovation when he announced the change at an April 22 bottlers' meeting at Atlanta's Woodruff Arts Center, glad the company had finally taken some initiative in the face of Pepsi's advances,[13] they were less enthusiastic about the taste.[8]:364 [7]:106,116 Most of them saw great difficulty having to promote and sell a drink that had long been marketed as "The Real Thing", constant and unchanging, now that it had been changed.

text: The 20 bottlers still suing Coca-Cola made much of the change in their legal arguments. Coca-Cola had argued in its defense when the suit was originally filed that the formula's uniqueness and difference from Diet Coke justified different pricing policies from the latter – but if the new formula was simply an HFCS-sweetened Diet Coke, Coca-Cola could not argue the formula was unique. Bottlers, particularly in the South, were also tired of facing personal opprobrium over the change. Many reported that some acquaintances and even friends and relatives had ostracized them, or had expressed displeasure in other emotionally hurtful ways. On June 23, several of the bottlers took these complaints to Coca-Cola executives in a private meeting.[7]:121 With the company now fearing boycotts not only from its consumers but its bottlers, talks about reintroducing the old formula moved from "if" to "when".

text: Finally the Coca-Cola board had had enough and decided to bring back the old Coke. Company president Donald Keough revealed years later, in the documentary The People vs. Coke (2002), that they realized this was the only right thing to do when they visited a small restaurant in Monaco and the owner of the restaurant proudly said they had "the real thing, it's a real Coke," offering them a chilled 6 and 1/2 oz. glass bottle of original Coca-Cola.[16]

text: Reversal[edit]

text: Coca-Cola executives announced the return of the original formula during the afternoon of July 11, seventy-eight days after New Coke's introduction. ABC News' Peter Jennings interrupted General Hospital with a special bulletin to share the news with viewers. On the floor of the U.S. Senate, David Pryor called the reintroduction "a meaningful moment in U.S. history".[8] The company hotline received 31,600 calls in the two days after the announcement.[10]

text: The new product continued to be sold and retained the name Coca-Cola (until 1992, when it was renamed Coke Ⅱ), so the original formula was renamed Coca-Cola Classic (also called Coke Classic), and for a short period it was referred to by the public as Old Coke. Some who tasted the reintroduced formula were not convinced that the first batches really were the same formula that had supposedly been retired that spring. This was true for a few regions, because Coca-Cola Classic differed from the original formula in that all bottlers who hadn't already done so were using high fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar to sweeten the drink, though most had by this time.[11]:183

text: "There is a twist to this story which will please every humanist and will probably keep Harvard professors puzzled for years," said Keough at a press conference. "The simple fact is that all the time and money and skill poured into consumer research on the new Coca-Cola could not measure or reveal the deep and abiding emotional attachment to original Coca-Cola felt by so many people."

text: The company gave Gay Mullins, founder of the organization Old Cola Drinkers of America (which had lobbied Coca-Cola to either reintroduce the old formula or sell it to someone else), the first case of Coca-Cola Classic.[13]

text: Aftermath[edit]

text: By the end of the year, Coca-Cola Classic was substantially outselling both New Coke and Pepsi. Six months after the rollout, Coke's sales had increased at more than twice the rate of Pepsi's.[17]

text: New Coke's sales dwindled to a three percent share of the market, although it was selling quite well in Los Angeles and some other key markets.[17] Later research, however, suggested that it was not the reintroduction of Coca-Cola Classic, but instead the less-heralded rollout of Cherry Coke, that can be credited with the company's success that year.[11]:187

text: The Coca-Cola Company spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out where it had made a mistake, ultimately concluding that it had underestimated the public reaction of the portion of the customer base that would be alienated by the switch. This would not emerge for several years afterward, however, and in the meantime the public simply concluded that the company had, as Keough suggested, failed to consider the public's attachment to the idea of what Coke's old formula represented. While that has become conventional wisdom in the ensuing years, some analyses have suggested otherwise.

text: This populist version of the story served Coke's interests, however, as the whole episode did more to position and define Coca-Cola as a brand embodying values distinct from Pepsi than any deliberate effort to do so probably could have done. Allowing itself to be portrayed as a somewhat clueless large corporation forced to back off a big change by overwhelming public pressure flattered customers (as Keough put it, "We love any retreat which has us rushing toward our best customers with the product they love the most."[8]:360 Bottles and cans continued to bear the "Coca-Cola Classic" title until 2009 when the company announced that it would discontinue the use of "Classic" to avoid confusion with the younger generation.[18]

text: While in the short term the fiasco led Bill Cosby to end his long time advertising for Coke, claiming his commercials that praised the superiority of the new formula had hurt his credibility, no one at Coca-Cola was fired or otherwise held responsible for what is still widely perceived as a misstep, for the simple reason that it ultimately wasn't. When Goizueta died in 1997, the company's share price was at a level well above what it was when he had taken over 16 years earlier and its position as market leader even more firmly established. At the time Roger Enrico, then head of Pepsi's American operations, likened New Coke to the Edsel.[19][citation needed] Later, when he became PepsiCo's CEO, he modified his assessment of the situation, saying that had people been fired or demoted over New Coke, it would have sent a message that risk-taking was strongly discouraged at the company.[20]

text: In the late 1990s, Zyman summed up the New Coke experience thus:

text: Yes, it infuriated the public, cost us a ton of money and lasted for only 77 days before we reintroduced Coca-Cola Classic. Still, New Coke was a success because it revitalized the brand and reattached the public to Coke.[21]

text: New Coke continued to do what it had originally been designed to do: win taste tests. In 1987, The Wall Street Journal surveyed 100 randomly selected cola drinkers, the majority of whom indicated a preference for Pepsi, with Classic Coke accounting for the remainder save two New Coke loyalists. When this group was given a chance to try all three in a blind test, New Coke slightly edged out Pepsi – yet many drinkers reacted angrily to finding they had chosen a brand other than their favorite.[22]

text: Goizueta claimed that he never once regretted the decision. He even threw a tenth anniversary party for New Coke in 1995 and continued to drink it until his death in 1997.[13]

text: After Coca-Cola Classic[edit]

text: In the short run, the reintroduction of original Coca-Cola saved Coke's sales numbers and brought it back in the good graces of many customers and bottlers. Phone calls and letters to the company were as joyful and thankful as they had been angry and depressed. "You would have thought we'd cured cancer", said one executive.[11]:181

text: But confusion reigned at the company's marketing department, which had to come up with a plan to market two Coca-Colas where such plans had been completely off the table just a few months before. Coca-Cola Classic did not need much help, with a "Red, White and You" campaign showcasing the American virtues many of those who had clamored for its reintroduction had pointedly reminded the company that it embodied. But the company was at a loss to sell what was now just "Coke". "The Best Just Got Better" could no longer be used. Marketers fumbled for a strategy for the rest of the year.[8]:366 Matters were not helped when McDonald's announced shortly after the reintroduction that it was switching from New Coke back to Coca-Cola Classic at every one of its restaurants across the country.[8]:369

text: At the beginning of 1986, however, Coke's marketing team found a strategy by returning to one of their original motives for changing the formula: the youth market so beholden to Pepsi. Max Headroom, the purportedly computer-generated media personality played by Matt Frewer, was chosen to replace Cosby as the spokesman for Coke's new "Catch the Wave" campaign. With his slicked-back hair and sunglasses, he was already known to much of the U.S. youth audience through appearances on MTV, where he had first appeared in the Art of Noise's "Paranoimia" video and Cinemax. The campaign was launched with a television commercial produced by McCann Erickson New York, with Max saying in his trademark stutter, "C-c-c-catch the wave!" and referring to his fellow "Cokeologists".[23] In a riposte to Pepsi's televisual teasings, one showed Headroom asking a Pepsi can he was "interviewing" how it felt about more drinkers preferring Coke to it and then cut to the condensation forming on, and running down, the can. "S-s-s-s-sweating?", he asked.

text: The campaign was a huge success, and surveys likewise showed that more than three-quarters of the target market were aware of the ads within two days. Coke's corporate hotline received more calls about Max than any previous spokesperson, some even asking if he had a girlfriend.[24] The ads and campaign continued throughout the year and were chosen as best of 1986 by Video Storyboard of New York.[24]

text: Coke Ⅱ[edit]

text: In 1985, New Coke was sold only in Canada, the United States, and United States territories, while the original formula continued to be sold in the rest of the world. New Coke was eventually returned to the company's product portfolio; it was test-marketed in certain U.S. cities under the name Coke Ⅱ in 1990,[1] and officially renamed Coke Ⅱ in late 1992, despite the company's original intention not to create a second brand. Filmmaker Miranda July is said to have suggested the name of Coke Ⅱ while working as a tastemaker for an ad agency.[25]

text: However, Coca-Cola did little to promote or otherwise distinguish it. In a market already offering far more choice of drinks calling themselves "Coke" in some fashion or another, the public saw little reason to embrace a product they had firmly rejected seven years earlier, and within about a year, Coke Ⅱ was largely off the American shelves again. By 1998, it could be found only in some scattered Midwestern and overseas markets, and in July 2002, Coca-Cola announced that it would be discontinued entirely.

text: On August 16, 2002, Coca-Cola announced a change of the label in which the word "Classic" was no longer so prominent, leading to speculation that it would eventually be removed and the last traces of New Coke eliminated.[26] In 2009, Coca-Cola permanently removed "Classic" from its North American packaging.[27] As of 2017, however, the "Classic" label continues to appear on Coke cans in international markets.[28][29][30]

text: Commercial legacy[edit]

text: New Coke had the spotlight for only three months in 1985, but it casts a long shadow, in both the business world and popular culture that can still be seen today. It is most frequently mentioned as a cautionary tale among businesses against tampering too extensively with a well-established and successful brand.

text: "For a product so widely despised," noted AdWeek blogger Tim Nudd in 2006, more than two decades later, "New Coke (a.k.a. Coke Ⅱ) still gets an admirable amount of ink." He noted Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005) by Malcolm Gladwell, and Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics (2005) by Paul Ormerod, that dealt with it at some length, as well as two recent mentions in Forbes and Sports Illustrated.[31]

text: Within Coca-Cola, the role the company's bottlers had played in forcing its hand led executives to create a new subsidiary, Coca-Cola Enterprises, which bought out several of the larger bottlers and placed distribution and marketing efforts more tightly under Coca-Cola's control.[citation needed]

text: Conspiracy theories[edit]

text: The Coca-Cola Company's apparently sudden reversal on New Coke led to several rumors and conspiracy theories that have circulated in the years since to explain how a company with the resources and experience of Coca-Cola could have made such an obvious and colossal blunder.

text: Some explanations that have been proffered are:

text:
The company intentionally changed the formula, hoping consumers would be upset with the company, and demand the original formula to return, which in turn would cause sales to spike.[2] Keough answered this speculation by saying "We're not that dumb, and we're not that smart."[2][15]
The putative switch was planned all along to cover the change from sugar-sweetened Coke to much less expensive high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a theory that was supposedly given credence by the apparently different taste of Coke Classic when it first hit the market (the U.S. sugar trade association took out a full-page ad lambasting Coke for using HFCS in all bottling of the old formula when it was reintroduced).[11] In fact, Coca-Cola began allowing bottlers to remove up to half of the product's cane sugar as early as 1980, five years before the introduction of New Coke. By the time the new formula was introduced, most bottlers had already sweetened the drink entirely with HFCS.[2]
It provided cover for the final removal of all coca derivatives from the product to placate the Drug Enforcement Administration, which was trying to eradicate the plant worldwide to combat an increase in cocaine trafficking and consumption. While Coke's executives were indeed relieved the new formula contained no coca and concerned about the long-term future of the Peruvian government-owned coca fields that supplied it in the face of increasing DEA pressure to end cultivation of the crop, according to author Mark Pendergrast there was no direct pressure from the DEA on Coca-Cola to do so.[8] This theory was endorsed in a TIME magazine article, as well as by historian Bartow Elmore, who claims the reformulation was made in response to the escalating War on Drugs by the Reagan Administration.[32]

text: Taste test problems[edit]

text: In his book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), Malcolm Gladwell relates his conversations with market researchers in the food industry who put most of the blame for the failure of New Coke on the flawed nature of taste tests. They claim most are subject to systematic biases. Tests such as the Pepsi Challenge were "sip tests", meaning that drinkers were given small samples (less than a can or bottle's worth) to try. Gladwell contends that what people say they like in these tests may not reflect what they actually buy to drink at home over several days.[33] Carol Dollard, who once worked in product development for Pepsi, told Gladwell: "I've seen many times where the sip test will give you one result and the home-use test will give you the exact opposite."[33]:159 For example, although many consumers react positively to the sweeter taste of Pepsi in small volumes, it may become unattractively sweet when drunk in quantity. Coke, on the other hand, may be more attractive for drinking in volume, because it is less sweet. A more comprehensive testing regimen could possibly have revealed this, Gladwell's sources believe.[33]

text: Gladwell reports that other market researchers have criticized Coke for not realizing that much of its success as a brand came from what they call sensation transference, a phenomenon first described by marketer Louis Cheskin in the late 1940s: tasters unconsciously add their reactions to the drink's packaging into their assessment of the taste.[34] For example, one of the researchers told Gladwell that his firm's research had found 7-Up drinkers believe a sample from a bottle with a more yellow label is more "lemony", although the flavor was identical.[33]:163

text: In Coke's case, it is alleged that buyers, subject to sensation transference, were also "tasting" the red color of the container and distinctive Coca-Cola script. It was therefore, in their opinion, a mistake to focus solely on the product and its taste. "The mistake Coke made," said Darrel Rhea, an executive with the firm Cheskin founded, "was in attributing their loss in share entirely to the product." He points to Pepsi's work in establishing a youth-oriented brand identity from the 1960s as having more bearing on its success.[35]

text: Coke considered but rejected gradually changing the drink's flavor incrementally, without announcing they were doing so. Executives feared the public would notice and exaggerate slight differences in taste. In 1998, Joel Dubow, a professor of food marketing at St. Joseph's University, tested this "flavor balance hypothesis" and argued that it was not true. He and fellow researcher Nancy Childs tested mixtures of Coca-Cola Classic and Coke Ⅱ and found that the gradual changes of taste were not noticed by a significant number of tasters. Coke, he said, would have succeeded had it chosen this strategy.[36]


document_title: Big Four (banking)

question_text: who are the big 4 banks in australia

question_tokens: who are the big 4 banks in australia

root

text: Big Four (banking)

text: International use[edit]

text: Internationally, the term "Big Four Banks" has traditionally referred to the following central banks:[1]

tag: p

text:
The Federal Reserve
 The Bank of England[2]
 The Bank of Japan
 The European Central Bank

tag: ul

text: Australia/New Zealand[edit]

text: In Australia, the "big four banks" refers to the four largest banks[3] by market share, who between them hold 80% of the home loan markets in the country. In 2012, their combined total asset is A$2.66 trillion, which is about 200% of Australian GDP in 2011. In order of total assets, these are:

text:
National Australia Bank (NAB)
Commonwealth Bank (CBA) (was owned by Australian Government until 1996[4])
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ)
Westpac (WBC)

text: A longstanding policy of the federal government in Australia has been to maintain this status quo, called the "four pillars policy". The policy has been maintained through the Global Recession of 2008–09, as Westpac acquired St.George Bank and the Commonwealth Bank acquired Bankwest, reinforcing the special status of the "big four".

text: Being New Zealand's closest neighbour, with very close ties culturally and economically, has helped Australia dominate the banking sector there. Often referred to collectively as the 'big banks'[5][6][7] or the 'big Aussie banks', the "Big Four" Australian banks also dominate the New Zealand banking sector in the form of:

text:
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, or ANZ, also comprising the former business of The National Bank.
ASB Bank, formerly Auckland Savings Bank, wholly owned by the Commonwealth Bank
The Bank of New Zealand (BNZ), wholly owned by the National Australia Bank
Westpac, formerly known as WestpacTrust after a merger with the Trust Bank.

text: Together they hold over 90% of gross loans and advances in New Zealand [8] as well as close to 90% of all mortgages.[9]

text: These four subsidiaries are massively profitable and in some cases even outperform the Australian parent company.[10] The extent to which they dominate the banking sector can be seen in profits: In the 2012/2013 financial year, the largest of the Big Banks, ANZ New Zealand, made a profit of NZ$1.37 billion. The smallest, BNZ, made a profit of NZ$695 million.[5] State-owned Kiwibank, community trust-owned TSB Bank, SBS Bank (formerly Southland Building Society) and Heartland Bank, the next four largest banks by profit, made NZ$97 million,[11] NZ$73.5 million,[12] NZ$14 million[13] and NZ$7 million (albeit with an underlying result of about NZ$30 million) respectively.[14] In other words, the profit of New Zealand's next four largest banks (after the Big Four) is equal to less than 30% of the smallest of the Big Four, BNZ.

text: Austria[edit]

text: The "Big Four" banks of Austria are [15]:

text:
Erste Bank / Sparkasse* (credit unions)
UniCredit Bank Austria (formerly Creditanstalt)
Raiffeisen Bankengruppe*
Österreichische Postsparkasse

text: *separate legal entities operating under a common brand

text: Belgium[edit]

text: The "Big Four" banks of Belgium are a result of national- and international mergers in the early 90s.

text:
Belfius, government owned bank
BNP Paribas Fortis, subsidiary of BNP Paribas
ING Bank, subsidiary of the ING Group
KBC Bank, including its CBC Banque subsidiary in the French Community of Belgium and KBC Brussels brand in the Brussels-Capital Region

text: Brazil[edit]

text: In Brazil, the "big four", according to Exame Magazine [16] in 2016:

text:
Name
Description
Year
Net Assets

Itaú Unibanco
Largest Private bank
2017
US$ 452.6 billion

Banco do Brasil
Largest State Owned Bank
2017
US$ 430.2 billion

Caixa Econômica Federal
State Owned Bank
2017
US$ 406.0 billion

Banco Bradesco
Private Bank
2017
US$ 391.6 billion

tag: table

text: Canada[edit]

text: There are five banks dominating the Canadian banking world, hence the "Big Five" is used instead of "Big Four". The operation of Canadian banks include retail banking, mutual funds, insurance, credit cards, and brokerage activities. In addition, they have large international subsidiaries operated through subsidiaries (i.e. CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank, and TD Bank, N.A.). The Canadian banking operations of the Big Five are largely conducted out of each parent company, unlike U.S. banks that use a holding company structure to hold their primary retail banking subsidiaries. The Big Five include:

text:
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD)
Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank)
Bank of Montreal (BMO)
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)

text: China[edit]

text: During the 1920s, the term "Big Four" applied to the Four Northern Banks of the Republic of China (i.e. the four most capitalized commercial banks in Northern China).[17] These were the Yien Yieh Commercial Bank, the Kincheng Banking Corporation, the Continental Bank and The China & South Sea Bank. These were contrasted with the Three Southern Banks of Southern China.

text: By 1949, the Big Four banks were the Bank of China, the Bank of Communications, the Central Bank of China and the Farmers Bank of China. All four were state-owned banks. These four, together with Central Trust of China, Postal Savings and Remittance Bureau of China, Central Cooperative Treasury of China, were called the "Four Banks, Two Bureaus, One Treasury" or "四行两局一库".[18]

text: In the People's Republic of China, the Big Four state-owned commercial banks ("四大国有商业银行") are:

text:
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Bank of China
China Construction Bank
Agricultural Bank of China

text: and have been described as such in the Western press.[19] All four are state-controlled banks with commercial banking operations.

text: Colombia[edit]

text: In Colombia, the ten biggest banking service networks are:[20][21]

text:
Name
Description
Year
Net Assets

Banco de Bogotá
Largest Private Bank
2017
COP 3.6 trillions

Bancolombia
Largest Private Bank
2017
COP 2.6 trillions

Banco Davivienda
Largest Private Bank
2017
COP 1,204 trillions

Banco de Occidente Credencial
Private Bank
2017
COP 932.827 billions

BBVA Colombia
Private Bank
2017
COP 346.333 billions

Banco Agrario de Colombia
State owned Bank
2017
COP 339.410 billions

Banco Colpatria
Private Bank
2017
COP 253.572 billion

Banco Caja Social
Private Bank
2017
COP 238.116 billions

Citibank Colombia
Private Bank
2017
COP 172.051 billions

Banco Popular
Private Bank
2017
COP 156.033 billions

text: Czech Republic[edit]

text: In Czech Republic, according to R. Pazderník,[22] the "big four" are:

text:
Česká spořitelna, subsidiary of Erste Group
Československá obchodní banka, subsidiary of KBC Bank
Komerční banka, subsidiary of Société Générale (formerly Státní banka československá, or State Bank of Czechoslovakia)
Investiční a poštovní banka.

text: Finland[edit]

text: The biggest banks in Finland are:

text: Osuuspankki (fully Finnish), Nordea (predominantly Swedish), Danske Bank, the fourth place is a tie between Aktia, S-pankki and Ålandsbanken.

text: Finland does not follow the Big 4 model so much as a model of 3 Major + 3 minor.

text: France[edit]

text:
BNP Paribas
Crédit Agricole
Société Générale
BPCE

text: Greece[edit]

text: In Greece, after a series of mergers and acquisitions following the Greek government-debt crisis, the sector has concentrated with the below four banks controlling more than 90% of the market.

text:
National Bank of Greece
Piraeus Bank
Alpha Bank
Eurobank Ergasias

text: In 2013 the National Bank of Greece attempted to acquire Eurobank Ergasias but later the plan was abandoned.

text: Hong Kong[edit]

text:
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
Bank of China (Hong Kong)
Hang Seng Bank
Standard Chartered Hong Kong

text: Hungary[edit]

text:
OTP Bank
UniCredit
K&H Bank
Raiffeisen Bank (Hungary)

text: India[edit]

text: In India, the largest four banks are:

text:
State Bank of India
HDFC Bank
ICICI Bank
Punjab National Bank

text: Ireland[edit]

text: In Ireland, the term "big four" applies to the four largest banks by market capitalisation.[23][24] These all operate in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and have a wider international presence; these banks also issue banknotes in Northern Ireland.[25][26]

text:
Bank of Ireland
Allied Irish Banks (operates as First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland)[27]
Danske Bank (also operates as Danske Bank in Northern Ireland[28]) - Irish Branch of Danske Bank A/S since 2007.
Ulster Bank - Subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group since 2000/2001

text: Ever since Danske Bank has phased out its personal banking services, it has been suggested that either KBC Ireland or Permanent TSB could replace, in the medium-term, Danske Bank in the "Big Four" ranking.

text: Italy[edit]

text: In Italy the term "big four" is not explicitly used. As of 2017, the four largest banks by total assets are:

text:
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena
Banco BPM
Intesa Sanpaolo
UniCredit

text: Japan[edit]

text: In Japan, the "big four"[29] are:

text:
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
Mizuho Financial Group
Japan Post Bank

text: However, a widely cited grouping is the three "megabanks," which include only the first three listed above.[30]

text: Lebanon[edit]

text: In Lebanon, where the banks have retained their banking secrecy laws since 1956, which is prevalent in the whole MENA region, and while adopting international measures to fight money laundering, the "big four" banks consist of:[31]

text:
Audi Saradar Bank (founded in 1830 and ranked on the Forbes Magazine Global 2000 list of largest public companies in the world in 2016)
Byblos Bank (founded in 1950 as "Société Commerciale et Agricole Byblos Bassil Frères & Co.")
BLOM Bank: Banque du Liban et d'Outre-Mer S.A.L (founded in 1951)
Fransabank (founded in 1921 as Société Centrale de Banque)

text: Furthermore, as of September 2016, there are more than 51 banks in Lebanon, one of the smallest countries in the middle east, the fact that has always made investors from the Arab countries, especially the GCC petrodollar in addition to the European and world investors, to place their funds in the Lebanese banks.

text: Luxembourg[edit]

text: The big four full-service in Luxembourg are:[32]

text:
Banque et Caisse d'Épargne de l'État (Spuerkeess), state owned bank
Banque Internationale à Luxembourg,
BGL BNP Paribas
ING Luxembourg

text: There are bigger banks in Luxembourg, but these only deliver a limited number of services such as investment banking, private banking or corporate banking only. Luxembourg is a financial center.

text: Netherlands[edit]

text: The "big four" banks in the Netherlands by market concentration are:[33]

text:
ING Group
Rabobank
ABN AMRO
de Volksbank, state owned banking arm of SNS Reaal

text: The market leader for the Netherlands, ING Group, is one of the largest multinational banking and financial service corporations in the world, with products and services reaching over 41 countries worldwide.[34]

text: Nigeria[edit]

text: The term "Big Five" is used instead of four, with five banks dominating the Nigerian banking world. In 2011, these top five banks had a combined balance sheet, including contingents, of 12.9 trillion naira ($821 billion), 33 percent higher than the prior year.[35]

text:
Zenith Bank
First Bank of Nigeria
Guaranty Trust Bank
Access Bank
United Bank for Africa (UBA)

text: Pakistan[edit]

text: The "top five" banks of Pakistan are:[36]

text:
Habib Bank
MCB Bank Limited
National Bank of Pakistan
United Bank
Allied Bank Limited

text: Philippines[edit]

text: There are four banks that have at least ₱1 trillion (around US$20 billion) worth of assets as of 2017, making them the "big four" banks by default:[37]

text:
Banco de Oro
Metrobank
Land Bank of the Philippines
Bank of the Philippine Islands

text: Portugal[edit]

text: In Portugal, the "big four" are:[38]

text:
Banco Comercial Português
Banco Português de Investimento
Caixa Geral de Depósitos (state-owned)
Novo Banco (former Banco Espírito Santo)

text: Romania[edit]

text:
Banca Comercială Română (of the Erste Group)
BRD – Groupe Société Générale
Banca Transilvania
Raiffeisen Bank

text: Singapore[edit]

text: The term 'Big Three' is used instead of four. The 'Big Three' are:

text:
DBS Bank
OCBC Bank
United Overseas Bank

text: South Africa[edit]

text: In South Africa, the "big five" are:[39]

text:
Standard Bank (Not at all related to Standard Chartered Bank)
FirstRand Bank (operators of First National Bank)
Nedbank - owned by Old Mutual.
Barclays Africa Group Limited trading as ABSA (also capitalised as Absa)- majority owned by Barclays since 2005; remainder owned by the public.
Capitec Bank by 1 August 2017 businesstech.co.za said Capitec is now the second biggest bank in South Africa.

text: South Korea[edit]

text: In South Korea, the term "Big Five", is used as opposed to four. The "big five" are:[citation needed]

text:
KB Kookmin Bank
Nonghyup Bank
Shinhan Bank
Woori Bank
Hana Bank

text: Spain[edit]

text: In Spain, the "big four" are, as of March 2017:[40]

text:
Santander
BBVA (Bank of Bilbao and Biscay)
Caixabank (Bank of Barcelona and Seville)
Bankia (Bank of Madrid and Valencia)

text: Sweden[edit]

text: In Sweden, the "big four" are:[41]

text:
Nordea Bank AB
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB
Svenska Handelsbanken AB
Swedbank AB

text: Taiwan[edit]

text:
Bank of Taiwan
Taiwan Cooperative Bank
Land Bank of Taiwan
Mega International Commercial Bank

text: The "Big Five" also includes:

text: First Commercial Bank (zh) or CTBC Bank

text: Thailand[edit]

text: Before the Siamese Revolution, the banking system were controlled by foreign powers, particularly the "big four" European banks.

text:
The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in 1888 (Now HSBC)
The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China in 1894 (Now Standard Chartered Bank Thailand)
Banque de l'Indochine in 1897 (Now Banque Calyon, a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole)
Mercantile Bank of India in 1923 (Now Citibank Thailand, a subsidiary of Citigroup)

text: in 2014, the "big four" Bank [42] Together they hold over 66% of gross loans and controlling more than 67% of total assets in banking system [43]

text:
Bangkok Bank
Siam Commercial Bank
Krung Thai Bank
Kasikornbank

text: United Kingdom[edit]

text: In relation to the United Kingdom (England and Wales), the phrase "big four banks" is currently used to refer to the four largest UK-based banking groups, being:

text:
Barclays;
HSBC;
Lloyds Banking Group; and
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.[44][45]

text: Until 1970, the phrase "big five banks" was used to refer to the five largest UK clearing banks (institutions which clear bankers' cheques), which in England and Wales were:

text:
Barclays Bank (now part of Barclays);
Midland Bank (now HSBC Bank and part of HSBC);
Lloyds Bank (now part of Lloyds Banking Group);
National Provincial Bank and
Westminster Bank

text: After the merger of Westminster Bank and National Provincial Bank to form NatWest (now part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group) in 1970, the term "big four" was used.

text: In Scotland the "big four" are:

text:
The Royal Bank of Scotland ("RBS") (part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group);
Bank of Scotland (part of Lloyds Banking Group);
Clydesdale Bank (part of CYBG plc); and
Trustee Savings Bank ("TSB") (now part of TSB ).[46]

text: United States[edit]

text: In the United States, the "big four" banks hold 39% of all U.S. customer deposits (as of 2015), and consist of:[47][48]

text:
Bank of America (headquartered and bank chartered in Charlotte, North Carolina)
Citigroup (headquartered in New York, New York, bank chartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota)
JPMorgan Chase (headquartered in New York, New York, bank chartered in Columbus, Ohio)
Wells Fargo (headquartered in San Francisco, California, bank chartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota)

text: From a retail banking perspective, U.S. Bancorp (headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota/bank charter Cincinnati, Ohio) and PNC Financial Services (headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania/bank charter Wilmington, Delaware) both have significantly more branches than Citibank, the retail banking arm of Citigroup.[49] However, Citibank still has significantly more assets than U.S. Bancorp and PNC.[50]

text: Vietnam[edit]

text: In Vietnam, the "big four" banks by total assets are four commercial banks:

text:
Agribank
BIDV
VietinBank
Vietcombank


document_title: Madea's Family Reunion

question_text: who played the bus driver in madea's family reunion

question_tokens: who played the bus driver in madea 's family reunion

text: Madea's Family Reunion

text: Plot[edit]

text: After Madea (Tyler Perry) violates the terms of her house arrest (which she was subjected to in the previous film), the judge orders her to take in a troubled foster child named Nikki (Keke Palmer) in order to avoid jail. At first, Madea and Nikki clash due to the latter's bad attitude and disrespect, stemming from her poor life up to this point, including an absent father, a mother in jail, and a slew of uncaring foster homes. However, Madea tells her that the only way to really overcome her poor life is to work to do and be better than the people who have let and put her down. Nikki takes Madea's words to heart and gradually reforms her behavior over the course of the film.

text: Lisa Breaux (Rochelle Aytes), one of Madea's nieces, is engaged to Carlos Armstrong (Blair Underwood), an abusive and controlling investment banker. While she desperately wants to get out of the engagement, her mother, Victoria (Lynn Whitfield), urges her to go through with the wedding, telling Lisa to avoid doing things that make Carlos angry, because Victoria is a conniving gold digger. Vanessa (Lisa Arrindell Anderson), the other of Madea's nieces, who lives with her, has two children fathered by two different men, neither of whom is involved in their children's lives; Victoria regularly degrades Vanessa for this, even referring to her grandchildren as "bastards". Vanessa is successfully, though through some struggle, wooed by poetry-spouting bus driver Frankie Henderson (Boris Kodjoe), who is the single father of a young son, and has a passion for painting. As much as Vanessa likes Frankie, she is emotionally closed off and has a difficult time trusting him.

text: Lisa eventually leaves Carlos with the intention of calling off the wedding, temporarily moving in with Madea. Carlos, eager to move forward with the wedding, dispatches Victoria to bring her back to him. Victoria confronts Carlos about the abuse, suggesting that insecurity about his masculinity is causing him to act out and that he needs counseling. Carlos counters this by suggesting that she's controlling every aspect of Lisa's life because she wants to make up for all of the shortcomings in her own. It is then revealed that Victoria, with Carlos's assistance, has stolen from Lisa's trust fund over the years, leaving virtually no money left, and is now encouraging Lisa to marry Carlos in order to keep up her livelihood. Carlos makes it clear to Victoria that he will not bail her out unless the wedding goes forward. Victoria goes to Madea's house to fetch Lisa, only to end up in a passionate argument with Vanessa, who has become aware of Carlos's abuse and is eager to protect her sister.

text: During the confrontation, Vanessa reveals a shocking secret to her younger sister: Victoria allowed her second husband, Lisa's father, to rape Vanessa in order to keep him in the marriage. Vanessa states that the sexual abuse occurred on a regular basis after that, which as a result, left her closed off emotionally and unable to trust the men in her life, including Frankie. Even more shockingly, Victoria makes no attempt to deny Vanessa's accusations. Instead, she rationalizes her actions, telling her daughters that they would have been destitute if Lisa's father had left, and that after going through a previous divorce with Vanessa's father and working two jobs to support the family afterwards, she was tired of struggling and felt that she deserved better. She also reveals that her own mother, a prostitute and drug addict, regularly traded her for "ten dollars and a fix", essentially almost mirroring what she'd done with Vanessa and Lisa's father.

text: Victoria then states that she would not allow Vanessa to ruin her happiness, and that she would not apologize for the choices she'd made. She then turns on a horrified Lisa, demanding that Lisa begin taking care of her financially as she made sure that Lisa had the best of everything while she was growing up. Victoria then leaves and later lies to Lisa, telling her that Carlos has agreed to counseling. Lisa returns to Carlos and resumes her wedding plans. At the family reunion, held at the home of ninety-six-year-old Aunt Ruby (Georgia Allen), Vanessa and Victoria get into another verbal confrontation, which eventually turns into a physical fight after Victoria insults Vanessa about her relationship with Frankie in front of the family. The fight is broken up when Myrtle, (Cicely Tyson) Madea's daughter-in-law, and Aunt May (Maya Angelou) gather the family members to an old shack the family's ancestors grew up in. They, along with some of the older members of the family, express appellation and disappointment at how the family has turned out and Myrtle gives a long speech convincing them to act better to each other and to themselves.

text: On the day of Lisa's wedding, Madea tells her to stand up against Carlos and fight back. When he arrives at Madea's house, he asks that he and Lisa be alone. Madea asks Carlos if he'd like something to eat, and tells Lisa to give him some grits on the stove, noting to Lisa that they're hot. When Madea leaves the house with Nikki, Carlos brutally slaps Lisa in the face, but then, in retaliation, she throws the pot of hot grits in his face, burning him badly, and then beats him with a frying pan, as Madea listens outside with laughter. She then takes off her ring and throws it at an injured Carlos before leaving. At the church, Lisa announces to the guests that Carlos had been beating her every day since they were engaged and that the wedding is off. Frankie then asks Vanessa to marry him. She says yes, and they're married at the church instead. At the reception, Victoria tells Vanessa that the two are a beautiful couple and they hug, signifying the first steps in a possible reconciliation.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Tyler Perry as Brian, Joe, and Mabel "Madea" Simmons
Blair Underwood as Carlos Armstrong
Lynn Whitfield as Victoria Breaux
Boris Kodjoe as Frankie Henderson
Lisa Arrindell Anderson as Vanessa Breaux
Maya Angelou as Aunt May
Rochelle Aytes as Lisa Breaux
Jenifer Lewis as Milay Jenay Lori
Keke Palmer as Nikki Grady
Tangi Miller as Donna
Henry Simmons as Isaac
Cicely Tyson as Myrtle
China Anne McClain as Tamara
Johnny Gill as Wedding singer
Cassi Davis as Aunt Sarah
Georgia Allen as Aunt Ruby
Nicholas Ortiz as Himself
Judge Mablean Ephriam (cameo) as Herself
David Wiebers as Wedding Musician (trumpet)

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: The soundtrack was released by Motown Records on February 21, 2006.

text: Track listingNo.TitlePerformer(s)Length1."Find Myself in You"Brian McKnight4:142."We're Gonna Make It"LL Cool J and Mary Mary4:543."Keep Your Head Up"Chaka Khan4:344."Tonight"Kem3:555."Everyday (Family Reunion)"Chaka Khan, Carl Thomas, Yolanda Adams, and Gerald Levert4:486."Love and Happiness"Al Green5:027."You For Me (Wedding Song)"Johnny Gill5:378."Family Reunion"The O'Jays6:559."I'll Be"Will Downing4:1010."Wounds in the Way"Rachelle Ferrell4:21

text: Release and reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Madea's Family Reunion was budgeted at $6 million and opened at #1 in its opening weekend (2/24-26) with $30,030,661[1] and eventually grossed $63,257,940 in North America with an additional $50,939 internationally, tying $63,308,879 worldwide after 9 weeks in theaters.[2]

text: Small independent filmmaker Tyler Perry has garnered one of the highest wide-release openings to date in 2006, in both gross ($30 million) and screen average ($13,687).[3]

text: "The number one movie is Madea's Family Reunion, a small comedy/melodrama which grossed an astounding $30.3 million from 2,194 venues. It had a super-hot venue average of $13,787...."[4]

text: "Playing at 2,194 locations across North America, the film averaged a remarkable estimated $13,788 per screen, demonstrating the enormous breadth and depth of Perry's audience. The debut weekend of Madea's Family Reunion outperformed the opening weekend of Lionsgate's first Tyler Perry film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, by nearly 40 percent."[5]

text: Audience[edit]

text: The reasoning for the film's relative success,[1] according to Steve Rothenberg, Lions Gate president of domestic distribution, is due to its targeted market appeal, "I believe that we're in all the right theaters...I'm not sure there's much room for expansion."[6] To illustrate the point, Lions Gate's exit polls[6] showed 52 percent of the audience were black women over the age of 35.

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: Madea's Family Reunion received mixed reviews from critics. It holds a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 25%, based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The consensus reads "Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion is sincere in its positive intentions, but leaves something to be desired as a film."[7] Metacritic gives the film a score of 45% based on reviews from 18 critics.[8]