• Gen Zers have started calling Diet Coke a "fridge cigarette" thanks to a viral TikTok.
• Coca-Cola's CEO appeared unimpressed when asked about the nickname in an interview this week.
• "The most important thing to us is that we don't position Diet Coke in that way," he said.

If you've ever cracked open a bubbly, icy-cold "fridge cigarette," Coca-Cola's CEO would like a word.

The beverage giant's CEO, Henrique Braun, was asked about the phrase — a popular slang term for a can of Diet Coke — in a Tuesday interview with Yahoo Finance, and appeared unimpressed.

He first answered by promoting the company's growth, before being pressed for his thoughts on the nickname.

"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."

Braun's interview came the same day as Coca-Cola's quarterly earnings, which narrowly beat estimates with $13.4 billion of revenue.

The CEO told investors on an earnings call that Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero grew by double digits. Coca-Cola's share price is up 33% since the start of the year.

• United CEO Scott Kirby says that so far he has found AI most useful for vibe coding.
• "I can read my calendar. I don't need to summarize my day," he told the "Cheeky Pint" podcast.
• Kirby said he had an "epiphany" after vibe-coding a sports-gambling tool.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby loves gambling, and now he's using AI as an ace up his sleeve.

Speaking on the "Cheeky Pint" podcast, Kirby said that over the past eight months, he's had an "AI epiphany" about the tech's best uses, which was triggered by one of his favorite pastimes — sports betting.

"Summarizing documents and all that crap, I think it's ridiculous," Kirby said. "I can read my calendar. I don't need to summarize my day."

Instead, he has found vibe coding far more valuable.

Kirby told "Cheeky Pint" host and Stripe cofounder John Collison that he hired a tutor for three hourlong sessions, then used AI to make a webpage for sports gambling.

"I've always been into gambling. For better or worse," Kirby said.

Between sets in a two-and-a-half-hour gym session, he typed prompts on his iPad to vibe-code a page with "four or five" drop-down menus for different sports, dates, and bets. Kirby said it links to four sportsbooks and pulls up the best odds; then he can enter a dollar amount, and it places the bet for him.

"I could do it with three hours of tutoring on my own, could write a program to do that, was an epiphany for me," Kirby said. "I think I called them on that Saturday, our team, and like, 'We're all in on this.'"

His appetite for risk has helped Kirby make bets on airline strategy that have paid off. For example, when carriers around the world retired their airplanes during the pandemic, United instead ordered hundreds of new jets — buoying the airline when travel demand boomed after lockdowns ended.

The United CEO previously spoke about his love for gambling in an April interview with The Wall Street Journal, where he described being kicked out of casinos for counting cards before he started in the airline industry.

He told "Cheeky Pint" that he went back to Las Vegas when the Super Bowl was held there in 2024.

After setting up a credit line to play poker, he had to hand over his ID.

"It was like 15 years ago that I got barred at the Bellagio last time," he said. "The manager comes over, and he's like, 'Mr. Kirby, you're welcome to play any game in the casino, but just so you know, still no blackjack.'"

• Meta is offering CEO Mark Zuckerberg a $20 billion stock deal to keep him close to its headquarters.
• The move speaks to a common belief that the best work happens when everyone is together in person.
• Research suggests companies with far-flung CEOs pay a price for that distance.

Meta wants more than rank-and-file employees at the office. It wants CEO Mark Zuckerberg there, too — even if that comes at a hefty price.

The tech giant's board said in a securities filing Wednesday that it would create a new class of non-voting stock in part to keep Zuckerberg in control and give him a financial incentive to continue living near its headquarters. It described his presence at the office as "critically important" to its future success. Meta has required employees to come in at least three days a week since 2023.

Zuckerberg previously told the board he was considering moving in response to a proposed California billionaire tax. The stock deal would give the CEO $20 billion in "immediate liquidity" to cover the tax by selling stock without losing control of Meta, the filing said.

That arrangement carries particular weight at Meta, where Zuckerberg is leading the company's AI push. It also speaks to a common belief that has driven return-to-office mandates: The best work happens when people — including senior leaders — are physically together.

Staying local

Cole Rubin, cofounder of sports technology company FanFeed, said CEOs and other execs are sending a message to employees by physically working alongside them.

"You're not going to question why you're working long hours if you actually can see the leader doing the same," Rubin told Business Insider.

Having bosses in the office can also help a company move faster when unexpected opportunities arise, he said. Employees can walk into a leader's office, get an immediate answer, and act before the moment passes.

"It's not the scheduled calls where the magic happens," Rubin said. "When you have the decision-maker there, it gives people a lot of freedom to be able to feel heard."

A leader's presence is especially important during crises, said Bill George, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic, a medical-technology company. Being together lets executives quickly assess what has happened, gauge employees' reactions, and decide on a course of action.

"We've got to really feel what's going on emotionally, and we actually physically have to discuss it," he said.

George also noted that RTO demands placed on workers can ring hollow if the CEO doesn't follow them. "You've got to be there if your employees are there," he said.

Long-distance tradeoffs

Meta wouldn't have been the first company with a long-distance CEO if Zuckerberg had opted to leave the Golden State.

Brian Niccol was living in California when he was named CEO of Seattle-based Starbucks in 2024. The coffee chain had agreed as part of his hiring package not to require him to relocate. Later, it built a 4,624-square-foot satellite office five minutes from his home so he could work alongside colleagues, Business Insider first reported. Niccol has since purchased a property in Seattle.

Companies with long-distance CEOs don't perform as well on average as those with leaders on-site, according to a 2025 study by Boston College and Arizona State. They also have lower valuations and worse insider reviews, the findings show.

Meta's decision to woo Zuckerberg to stay in California was made by a special committee on its board, which said it was informed by challenges the company faced when he couldn't be physically present with management during the pandemic.

The committee said it didn't want Meta "to face similar challenges going forward."