Coca-Cola Joins Exploding Soda Craze

The Coca-Cola Company has unwittingly played a starring role in one of this year's biggest viral video hits--the exploding Diet Coke-Mentos clips, which show soda spurting out of bottles doctored with Mentos mints. Now, the company is formally embracing the phenomenon. Coca-Cola has forged a deal with Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, the two creators of the first Diet Coke-Mentos clip. This week, Coke unveiled its most recent "Coca-Cola Challenge," which asks consumers to submit video.

Unlike previous versions, this challenge is introduced by an exploding-soda video produced by Grobe and Voltz, who run the viral video production studio EepyBird.com. The challenge, dubbed "Poetry in Motion," calls on Coke drinkers to create interesting or entertaining videos using run-of-the-mill household objects. Coke will also host Grobe and Voltz's upcoming video on Oct. 30.

On May 31, Grobe and Voltz posted the original Diet-Coke Mentos explosion clip on video hosting site Revver. As of Tuesday, the video has been seen over 6 million times, according to Revver, and has inspired thousands of imitators. A recent YouTube search on "Diet Coke and Mentos" turned up 3,282 hits.