Gun control is not the conversation on the table of Humanity in this World of wars,
the blood shed throughout our History came with terms that provided freedom of carriage and also killed that same freedom with carriage,
each trunk based on knowing the importance of the learn.
To each foot step people either Learn or become the platter of the shelf of death,
screaming their right to maintain a rifle for those reasons is at least pointed,
whom are the Scopes honing.
In any attack on the dirt of grounds concerning threat or strike each drive is to be considered,
religion is a trip that no journal writes in the National Media as the measure of the silent tears bringing death,
there are so many different religious models And yet here to discuss the core of hour it is shingled,
as built already I return to discipline.
he was an incredible Man to me and did not scream as he put to my comprehension the aim,
should Humanity just tumbler to the pistol for the excuse of spilling blood its a Coop,
for on the farm there are Chickens that lay eggs Roosters that good morning ewe,
cattle that provide Meet around the Campfire on the range.
to discuss a scrabble board on words that core sentence to what is said define.
for the beating behind closed doors in the Churches has produced.
flight on the marrow of this blog has not made mention but pointedly put Cup to lice,
the bug to ear corn that conch on the sheds Shovels of expulsions to do what it paves,
flash bulbs tell floods that water is cold.
Song after song on the radio of anchor explaining the pain in this countries ground,
as the Charts shore the list it is the shallow of peoples heed that has cause and effect,
on the change of recipe is the procession that shot the beet to cure tobacco but that religion`d also,
which Religious Organization in the United States of America made drinking soda pop a sin?
*Are any Corkers aware how difficult it is to play when your a kid trying to play with other kids or shoot to adulthood Comprehension should that lace better to your Mind as a basket of weave to Production for this attempt to explain reality by Ladder day reins. It is impossible to even have conversations for the tells that are continually threatening our own existence with eternal death while alive just saying hi, 'cause it turns so fast and furiously into the face of scene so quickly that Hell owe is what is now the Bottle opener.
The company produces
concentrate, which is then sold to licensed Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world. The bottlers, who hold territorially exclusive contracts with the company, produce finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell, distribute and merchandise Coca-Cola to retail stores, restaurants and
vending machines. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for
soda fountains to major restaurants and
food servicedistributors.
The Coca-Cola Company has, on occasion, introduced other cola drinks under the Coke brand name. The most common of these is
Diet Coke, with others including
Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free,
Coca-Cola Cherry,
Coca-Cola Zero,
Coca-Cola Vanilla, and special versions with lemon, lime, or coffee. In 2013, Coke products could be found in over 200 countries worldwide, with consumers downing more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings each day.
[2]
Based on
Interbrand's best global brand study of 2011, Coca-Cola was the world's most valuable brand.
[3] The company's marketing strategies for a high-sugar drink, especially its targeting of children, remain controversial.
History
19th-century historical origins
Eagle Drug and Chemical House, Columbus, Georgia
Believed to be the first coupon ever, this ticket for a free glass of Coca-Cola was first distributed in 1888 to help promote the drink. By 1913, the company had redeemed 8.5 million tickets.
[4]
This Coca-Cola advertisement from 1943 is still displayed in
Minden, Louisiana.
In 1885, Pemberton registered his
French Wine Coca nerve tonic.
[10] In 1886, when Atlanta and
Fulton County passed
prohibitionlegislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a nonalcoholic version of
French Wine Coca.
[11] The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886.
[12] It was initially sold as a
patent medicine for five
cents[13] a glass at
soda fountains, which were popular in the United States at the time due to the belief that
carbonated water was good for the health.
[14]Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases, including
morphine addiction,
dyspepsia,
neurasthenia, headache, and
impotence. Pemberton ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29 of the same year in the
Atlanta Journal.
[15]
By 1888, three versions of Coca-Cola – sold by three separate businesses – were on the market. A copartnership had been formed on January 14, 1888 between Pemberton and four Atlanta businessmen: J.C. Mayfield, A.O. Murphey; C.O. Mullahy and E.H. Bloodworth. Not codified by any signed document, a verbal statement given by Asa Candler years later asserted under testimony that he had acquired a stake in Pemberton's company as early as 1887.
[16] John Pemberton declared that the
name "Coca-Cola" belonged to his son, Charley, but the other two manufacturers could continue to use the
formula.
[17]
Charley Pemberton's record of control over the "Coca-Cola" name was the underlying factor that allowed for him to participate as a major shareholder in the March 1888 Coca-Cola Company incorporation filing made in his father's place.
[18] Charley's exclusive control over the "Coca Cola" name became a continual thorn in Asa Candler's side. Candler's oldest son, Charles Howard Candler, authored a book in 1950 published by
Emory University. In this definitive biography about his father, Candler specifically states: "..., on April 14, 1888, the young druggist [Asa Griggs Candler] purchased a one-third interest in the formula of an almost completely unknown proprietary elixir known as Coca-Cola."
[19]
The deal was actually between John Pemberton's son Charley and Walker, Candler & Co. – with John Pemberton acting as cosigner for his son. For $50 down and $500 in 30 days, Walker, Candler & Co. obtained all of the one-third interest in the Coca-Cola Company that Charley held, all while Charley still held on to the name. After the April 14 deal, on April 17, 1888, one-half of the Walker/Dozier interest shares were acquired by Candler for an additional $750.
[20]
The Coca-Cola Company
In 1892, Candler set out to incorporate a second company; "The Coca-Cola Company" (the current corporation). When Candler had the earliest records of the "Coca-Cola Company" burned in 1910, the action was claimed to have been made during a move to new corporation offices around this time.
[21]
After Candler had gained a better foothold on Coca-Cola in April 1888, he nevertheless was forced to sell the beverage he produced with the recipe he had under the names "Yum Yum" and "Koke". This was while Charley Pemberton was selling the elixir, although a cruder mixture, under the name "Coca-Cola", all with his father's blessing. After both names failed to catch on for Candler, by the summer of 1888, the Atlanta pharmacist was quite anxious to establish a firmer legal claim to Coca-Cola, and hoped he could force his two competitors, Walker and Dozier, completely out of the business, as well.
[22]
On August 16, 1888, Dr. John Stith Pemberton suddenly died, Asa G. Candler then sought to move swiftly forward to attain his vision of taking full control of the whole Coca-Cola operation.
Charley Pemberton, an alcoholic, was the one obstacle who unnerved Asa Candler more than anyone else. Candler is said to have quickly maneuvered to purchase the exclusive rights to the name "Coca-Cola" from Pemberton's son Charley right after Dr. Pemberton's death. One of several stories was that Candler bought the title to the name from Charley's mother for $300; approaching her at Dr. Pemberton's funeral. Eventually, Charley Pemberton was found on June 23, 1894, unconscious, with a stick of opium by his side. Ten days later, Charley died at Atlanta's Grady Hospital at the age of 40.
[23]
In Charles Howard Candler's 1950 book about his father, he stated: "On August 30th [1888], he [Asa Candler] became sole proprietor of Coca-Cola, a fact which was stated on letterheads, invoice blanks and advertising copy."
[24]
With this action on August 30, 1888, Candler's sole control became technically all true. Candler had negotiated with Margaret Dozier and her brother Woolfolk Walker a full payment amounting to $1,000, which all agreed Candler could pay off with a series of notes over a specified time span. By May 1, 1889, Candler was now claiming full ownership of the Coca-Cola beverage, with a total investment outlay by Candler for the drink enterprise over the years amounting to $2,300.
[25]
In 1914, Margaret Dozier, as co-owner of the original Coca-Cola Company in 1888, came forward to claim that her signature on the 1888 Coca-Cola Company bill of sale had been forged. Subsequent analysis of certain similar transfer documents had also indicated John Pemberton's signature was most likely a forgery, as well, which some accounts claim was precipitated by his son Charley.
[26]
On September 12, 1919, Coca-Cola Co. was purchased by a group of investors for $25 million and reincorporated. The company publicly offered 500,000 shares of the company for $40 a share.
[27][28]
In 1986, The Coca-Cola Company merged with two of their bottling operators (owned by JTL Corporation and BCI Holding Corporation) to form Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (CCE).
[29]
In 1988,
Berkshire Hathaway purchased 14,172,500 shares of The Coca Cola Company at a cost of $592,540,000.
[30]
In December 1991, Coca-Cola Enterprises merged with the Johnston Coca-Cola Bottling Group, Inc.
[29]
Origins of bottling
Bottling plant of Coca-Cola Canada Ltd. January 8, 1941.
Montreal,
Canada.
The first bottling of Coca-Cola occurred in
Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the Biedenharn Candy Company in 1891. The proprietor of the bottling works was Joseph A. Biedenharn. The original bottles were Biedenharn bottles, very different from the much later hobble-skirt design of 1915 now so familiar.
It was then a few years later that two entrepreneurs from
Chattanooga, Tennessee, namely; Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead, proposed the idea of bottling and were so persuasive that Candler signed a contract giving them control of the procedure for only one dollar. Candler never collected his dollar, but in 1899, Chattanooga became the site of the first Coca-Cola bottling company. Candler remained very content just selling his company's syrup.
[31] The loosely termed contract proved to be problematic for The Coca-Cola Company for decades to come. Legal matters were not helped by the decision of the bottlers to subcontract to other companies, effectively becoming parent bottlers.
[32]
20th century
The first outdoor wall advertisement that promoted the Coca-Cola drink was painted in 1894 in
Cartersville, Georgia.
[33] Cola syrup was sold as an over-the-counter
dietary supplement for upset stomach.
[34][35] By the time of its 50th anniversary, the soft drink had reached the status of a national icon in the USA. In 1935, it was certified
kosher by Atlanta Rabbi
Tobias Geffen, after the company made minor changes in the sourcing of some ingredients.
[36]
Original framed Coca-Cola artist's drawn graphic presented by The Coca-Cola Company on July 12, 1944 to Charles Howard Candler on the occasion of Coca-Cola's "1 Billionth Gallon of Coca-Cola Syrup."
Claimed to be the first installation anywhere of the 1948 model "Boat Motor" styled Coca-Cola soda dispenser, Fleeman's Pharmacy, Atlanta, Georgia. The "Boat Motor" soda dispenser was introduced in the late 1930s and manufactured till the late 1950s. Photograph circa 1948.
The longest running commercial Coca-Cola soda fountain anywhere was Atlanta's Fleeman's Pharmacy, which first opened its doors in 1914.
[37] Jack Fleeman took over the pharmacy from his father and ran it until 1995; closing it after 81 years.
[38] On July 12, 1944, the one-billionth gallon of Coca-Cola syrup was manufactured by The Coca-Cola Company. Cans of Coke first appeared in 1955.
[39]
New Coke
On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola, amid much publicity, attempted to change the
formula of the drink with "New Coke". Follow-up taste tests revealed most consumers preferred the taste of New Coke to both Coke and
Pepsi[40] but Coca-Cola management was unprepared for the public's
nostalgia for the old drink, leading to a
backlash. The company gave in to protests and returned to a variation of the old formula using high fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar as the main sweetener, under the name Coca-Cola Classic, on July 10, 1985.
21st century
On July 5, 2005, it was revealed that Coca-Cola would resume operations in Iraq for the first time since the
Arab League boycotted the company in 1968.
[41]
In April 2007, in Canada, the name "Coca-Cola Classic" was changed back to "Coca-Cola". The word "Classic" was removed because "New Coke" was no longer in production, eliminating the need to differentiate between the two.
[42] The formula remained unchanged. In January 2009, Coca-Cola stopped printing the word "Classic" on the labels of 16-US-fluid-ounce (470 ml) bottles sold in parts of the southeastern United States.
[43] The change is part of a larger strategy to rejuvenate the product's image.
[43] The word "Classic" was removed from all Coca-Cola products by 2011.
In November 2009, due to a dispute over wholesale prices of Coca-Cola products,
Costco stopped restocking its shelves with Coke and Diet Coke for two months; a separate pouring rights deal in 2013 saw Coke products removed from Costco food courts in favor of Pepsi.
[44] Some Costco locations (such as the ones in
Tucson, Arizona) additionally sell
imported Coca-Cola from Mexico with cane sugar instead of corn syrup from separate distributors.
[45] Coca-Cola introduced the 7.5-ounce mini-can in 2009, and on September 22, 2011, the company announced price reductions, asking retailers to sell eight-packs for $2.99. That same day, Coca-Cola announced the 12.5-ounce bottle, to sell for 89 cents. A 16-ounce bottle has sold well at 99 cents since being re-introduced, but the price was going up to $1.19.
[46]
In 2012, Coca-Cola resumed business in
Myanmar after 60 years of absence due to U.S.-imposed investment sanctions against the country.
[47][48] Coca-Cola's bottling plant will be located in
Yangon and is part of the company's five-year plan and $200 million investment in
Myanmar.
[49] Coca-Cola with its partners is to invest USD 5 billion in its operations in India by 2020.
[50] In 2013, it was announced that
Coca-Cola Life would be introduced in
Argentina that would contain
stevia and
sugar.
[51]
In August 2014 the company announced it was forming a long-term partnership with
Monster Beverage, with the two forging a strategic marketing and distribution alliance, and product line swap. As part of the deal Coca-Cola was to acquire a 16.7% stake in Monster for $2.15 billion, with an option to increase it to 25%.
[52]
Production
Ingredients
A typical can of Coca-Cola (12 fl ounces/355 ml) contains 38 grams of sugar (usually in the form of HFCS),
[54] 50 mg of sodium, 0 grams fat, 0 grams potassium, and 140 calories.
[55] On May 5, 2014, Coca-Cola said it is working to remove a controversial ingredient,
brominated vegetable oil, from all of its drinks.
[56]
Formula of natural flavorings
The exact formula of Coca-Cola's natural flavorings (but not its other ingredients, which are listed on the side of the bottle or can) is a
trade secret. The original copy of the formula was held in
SunTrust Bank's main vault in Atlanta for 86 years. Its predecessor, the Trust Company, was the
underwriter for the Coca-Cola Company's
initial public offering in 1919. On December 8, 2011, the original secret formula was moved from the vault at SunTrust Banks to a new vault containing the formula which will be on display for visitors to its
World of Coca-Cola museum in downtown Atlanta.
[57]
Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta, Georgia
According to Snopes, a popular myth states that only two executives have access to the formula, with each executive having only half the formula.
[58] However, several sources state that while Coca-Cola does have a rule restricting access to only two executives, each knows the entire formula and others, in addition to the prescribed duo, have known the formulation process.
[59]
On February 11, 2011,
Ira Glass revealed on his
PRI radio show,
This American Life, that the secret formula to Coca-Cola had been uncovered in a 1979 newspaper. The formula found basically matched the formula found in Pemberton's diary.
[60][61][62][63]
Use of stimulants in formula
An early Coca Cola advertisement.
When launched, Coca-Cola's two key ingredients were
cocaine and
caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the
coca leaf and the caffeine from
kola nut, leading to the name Coca-Cola (the "K" in Kola was replaced with a "C" for marketing purposes).
[64][65]
Coca – cocaine
Pemberton called for five
ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, a significant dose; in 1891, Candler claimed his formula (altered extensively from Pemberton's original) contained only a tenth of this amount. Coca-Cola once contained an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per glass. In 1903, it was removed.
[66]
After 1904, instead of using fresh leaves, Coca-Cola started using "spent" leaves – the leftovers of the cocaine-extraction process with trace levels of cocaine.
[67] Since then, Coca-Cola uses a cocaine-free coca leaf extract prepared at a
Stepan Company plant in
Maywood, New Jersey.
[68]
In the United States, the Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant,
[68] which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agent for Coca-Cola, the Stepan Company extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to
Mallinckrodt, a
St. Louis, Missouri,
pharmaceuticalmanufacturer that is the only company in the United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use.
[69]
Long after the syrup had ceased to contain any significant amount of cocaine, in the southeastern U.S., "dope" remained a common colloquialism for Coca-Cola, and "dope-wagons" were trucks that transported it.
[70]
Kola nuts – caffeine
Kola nuts act as a flavoring and the source of caffeine in Coca-Cola. In Britain, for example, the ingredient label states "Flavourings (Including Caffeine)."
[71] Kola nuts contain about 2.0 to 3.5% caffeine, are of bitter flavor and are commonly used in
cola soft drinks. In 1911, the U.S. government initiated
United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, hoping to force Coca-Cola to remove caffeine from its formula. The case was decided in favor of Coca-Cola. Subsequently, in 1912, the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act was amended, adding caffeine to the list of "habit-forming" and "deleterious" substances which must be listed on a product's label.
Coca-Cola contains 34 mg of caffeine per 12 fluid ounces (9.8 mg per 100 ml).
[72]
Franchised production model
The actual production and distribution of Coca-Cola follows a franchising model. The Coca-Cola Company only produces a syrup concentrate, which it sells to bottlers throughout the world, who hold Coca-Cola franchises for one or more geographical areas. The bottlers produce the final drink by mixing the syrup with filtered water and sweeteners, and then carbonate it before putting it in cans and bottles, which the bottlers then sell and distribute to retail stores, vending machines, restaurants and food service distributors.
[73]
The bottling plant in
Skopje,
Macedonia, received the 2009 award for "Best Bottling Company".
[75]
Geographic spread
Since it announced its intention to begin distribution in
Burma in June 2012, Coca-Cola has been officially available in every country in the world except Cuba and North Korea.
[76]However, it is reported to be available in both countries as a
grey import.
[77][78]
Coca-Cola has been a point of legal discussion in the Middle East. In the early 20th century, a
fatwa was created in Egypt to discuss the question of "whether Muslims were permitted to drink Coca-Cola and Pepsi cola."
[79] The fatwa states: "According to the Muslim Hanefite, Shafi'ite, etc., the rule in Islamic law of forbidding or allowing foods and beverages is based on the presumption that such things are permitted unless it can be shown that they are forbidden on the basis of the Qur'an."
[79] The Muslim jurists stated that, unless the Qu'ran specifically prohibits the consumption of a particular product, it is permissible to consume. Another clause was discussed, whereby the same rules apply if a person is unaware of the condition or ingredients of the item in question.
Brand portfolio
This is a list of variants of Coca-Cola introduced around the world. In addition to the caffeine-free version of the original, additional fruit flavors have been included over the years. Not included here are versions of
Diet Coke and
Coca-Cola Zero; variant versions of those no-calorie colas can be found at their respective articles.
| Name | Launched | Discontinued | Notes |
|---|
| Coca-Cola | 1886 | | The original version of Coca-Cola. |
| Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola | 1983 | | The caffeine free version of Coca-Cola. |
| Coca-Cola Cherry | 1985 | | Was available in Canada starting in 1996. Called "Cherry Coca-Cola (Cherry Coke)" in North America until 2006. |
| New Coke/"Coca-Cola II" | 1985 | 2002 | Was still available in Yap and American Samoa[citation needed] |
| Coca-Cola with Lemon | 2001 | 2005 | Available in:
Australia, American Samoa, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Korea, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Réunion, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States, and West Bank- Gaza |
| Coca-Cola Vanilla | 2002; 2007; 2013 | 2005; | Available in: Austria, Australia, China, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Malaysia, Slovakia, South-Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States. It was reintroduced in June 2007 by popular demand. |
| Coca-Cola with Lime | 2005 | | Available in Belgium, Netherlands, Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. |
| Coca-Cola Raspberry | June 2005 | End of 2005 | Was only available in New Zealand. Currently available in the United States and the United Kingdom in Coca-Cola Freestylefountain since 2009. |
| Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla | 2006 | Middle of 2007 | Was replaced by Vanilla Coke in June 2007 |
| Coca-Cola Blāk | 2006 | Beginning of 2008 | Only available in the United States, France, Canada, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Lithuania |
| Coca-Cola Citra | 2006 | | Only available in Bosnia and Herzegovina, New Zealand and Japan. |
| Coca-Cola Orange | 2007 | | Was available in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar for a limited time. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland it's sold under the labelMezzo Mix. Currently available in Coca-Cola Freestyle fountain outlets in the United States since 2009 and in the United Kingdom since 2014. |
| Coca-Cola Life | 2013 | | A version with stevia and sugar as sweeteners. |
Logo design
The Coca-Cola logo was created by John Pemberton's bookkeeper,
Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885.
[80] Robinson came up with the name and chose the logo's distinctive cursive script. The writing style used, known as
Spencerian script, was developed in the mid-19th century and was the dominant form of formal handwriting in the United States during that period.
Robinson also played a significant role in early Coca-Cola advertising. His promotional suggestions to Pemberton included giving away thousands of free drink coupons and plastering the city of
Atlanta with publicity banners and
streetcar signs.
[81]
Contour bottle design
The Coca-Cola bottle, called the "contour bottle" within the company, was created by bottle designer
Earl R. Dean. In 1915, the
Coca-Cola Company launched a competition among its bottle suppliers to create a new bottle for their beverage that would distinguish it from other beverage bottles, "a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was."
[82]
Chapman J. Root, president of
the Root Glass Company of
Terre Haute, Indiana, turned the project over to members of his supervisory staff, including company auditor T. Clyde Edwards, plant superintendent Alexander Samuelsson, and
Earl R. Dean, bottle designer and supervisor of the bottle molding room. Root and his subordinates decided to base the bottle's design on one of the soda's two ingredients, the
coca leaf or the
kola nut, but were unaware of what either ingredient looked like. Dean and Edwards went to the
Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library and were unable to find any information about coca or kola. Instead, Dean was inspired by a picture of the gourd-shaped
cocoa pod in the
Encyclopædia Britannica. Dean made a rough sketch of the pod and returned to the plant to show Root. He explained to Root how he could transform the shape of the pod into a bottle. Root gave Dean his approval.
[82]
Faced with the upcoming scheduled maintenance of the mold-making machinery, over the next 24 hours Dean sketched out a concept drawing which was approved by Root the next morning. Dean then proceeded to create a bottle mold and produced a small number of bottles before the glass-molding machinery was turned off.
[83]
Chapman Root approved the prototype bottle and a
design patent was issued on the bottle in November 1915. The prototype never made it to production since its middle diameter was larger than its base, making it unstable on
conveyor belts. Dean resolved this issue by decreasing the bottle's middle diameter. During the 1916 bottler's convention, Dean's contour bottle was chosen over other entries and was on the market the same year. By 1920, the contour bottle became the standard for the
Coca-Cola Company. A revised version was also patented in 1923. Because the Patent Office releases the
Patent Gazette on Tuesday, the bottle was patented on December 25, 1923, and was nicknamed the "Christmas bottle." Today, the contour Coca-Cola bottle is one of the most recognized packages on the planet..."even in the dark!".
[32]
One alternative depiction has
Raymond Loewy as the inventor of the unique design, but, while Loewy did serve as a designer of Coke cans and bottles in later years, he was in the
French Army the year the bottle was invented and did not emigrate to the United States until 1919. Others have attributed inspiration for the design not to the cocoa pod, but to a
Victorian hooped dress.
[84]
In 2007, the company's logo on cans and bottles changed. The cans and bottles retained the red color and familiar typeface, but the design was simplified, leaving only the logo and a plain white swirl (the "dynamic ribbon").
[citation needed]
Types
Earl R. Dean's original 1915 concept drawing of the contour Coca-Cola bottle
The prototype never made it to production since its middle diameter was larger than its base, making it unstable on
conveyor belts.
Final production version with slimmer middle section.
Designer bottles
Karl Lagerfeld is the latest designer to have created a collection of aluminum bottles for Coca-Cola. Lagerfeld is not the first fashion designer to create a special version of the famous Coca-Cola Contour bottle. A number of other limited edition bottles by fashion designers for Coca Cola Light soda have been created in the last few years.
In 2009, in Italy, Coca-Cola Light had a Tribute to Fashion to celebrate 100 years of the recognizable contour bottle. Well known Italian designers Alberta Ferretti, Blumarine, Etro, Fendi, Marni, Missoni, Moschino, and Versace each designed limited edition bottles.
[86]
Competitors
Pepsi, the flagship product of
PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company's main rival in the soft drink industry, is usually second to Coke in sales, and outsells Coca-Cola in some markets.
RC Cola, now owned by the
Dr Pepper Snapple Group, the third largest soft drink manufacturer, is also widely available.
[citation needed]
Around the world, many local brands compete with Coke. In South and Central America
Kola Real, known as
Big Cola in Mexico, is a growing competitor to Coca-Cola.
[87] On the French island of
Corsica,
Corsica Cola, made by brewers of the local
Pietra beer, is a growing competitor to Coca-Cola. In the French region of
Brittany,
Breizh Cola is available. In Peru,
Inca Kola outsells Coca-Cola, which led
The Coca-Cola Company to purchase the brand in 1999. In Sweden,
Julmust outsells Coca-Cola during the Christmas season.
[88] In Scotland, the locally produced
Irn-Bru was more popular than Coca-Cola until 2005, when Coca-Cola and Diet Coke began to outpace its sales.
[89] In the former
East Germany,
Vita Cola, invented during Communist rule, is gaining popularity.
In India, Coca-Cola ranked third behind the leader, Pepsi-Cola, and local drink
Thums Up.
The Coca-Cola Company purchased
Thums Up in 1993.
[90] As of 2004, Coca-Cola held a 60.9% market-share in India.
[91] Tropicola, a domestic drink, is served in Cuba instead of Coca-Cola, due to a United States embargo. French brand
Mecca Cola and British brand
Qibla Cola are competitors to Coca-Cola in the Middle East.
[citation needed]
In Turkey,
Cola Turka, in Iran and the Middle East,
Zamzam Cola and
Parsi Cola, in some parts of China,
China Cola, in
Slovenia,
Cockta and the inexpensive Mercator Cola, sold only in the country's biggest supermarket chain,
Mercator, are some of the brand's competitors. Classiko Cola, made by Tiko Group, the largest manufacturing company in Madagascar, is a serious competitor to Coca-Cola in many regions.
Laranjada is the top-selling soft drink on
Madeira.
[citation needed]
Advertising
Coca-Cola's advertising has significantly affected
American culture, and it is frequently credited with inventing the modern image of
Santa Clausas an old man in a red-and-white suit. Although the company did start using the red-and-white Santa image in the 1930s, with its winter advertising campaigns illustrated by
Haddon Sundblom, the motif was already common.
[92][93] Coca-Cola was not even the first soft drink company to use the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising:
White Rock Beverages used Santa in advertisements for its
ginger ale in 1923, after first using him to sell
mineral water in 1915.
[94][95] Before Santa Claus, Coca-Cola relied on images of smartly dressed young women to sell its beverages. Coca-Cola's first such advertisement appeared in 1895, featuring the young Bostonian actress
Hilda Clark as its spokeswoman.
1941 saw the first use of the nickname "Coke" as an official trademark for the product, with a series of advertisements informing consumers that "Coke means Coca-Cola".
[96] In 1971 a song from a Coca-Cola commercial called "
I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", produced by
Billy Davis, became a
hit single.
Coca-Cola sales booth on the Cape Verde island of
Fogo in 2004.
Coke advertisement – 2013
Coke's advertising is pervasive, as one of
Woodruff's stated goals was to ensure that everyone on Earth drank Coca-Cola as their preferred beverage. This is especially true in southern areas of the United States, such as
Atlanta, where Coke was born.
During the 1980s,
Pepsi-Cola ran a series of television advertisements showing people participating in taste tests demonstrating that, according to the commercials, "fifty percent of the participants who said they preferred Coke
actually chose the Pepsi." Statisticians pointed out the problematic nature of a 50/50 result: most likely, the taste tests showed that in blind tests, most people cannot tell the difference between Pepsi and Coke. Coca-Cola ran ads to combat Pepsi's ads in an incident sometimes referred to as the
cola wars; one of Coke's ads compared the so-called
Pepsi challenge to two
chimpanzees deciding which
tennis ball was furrier. Thereafter, Coca-Cola regained its leadership in the market.
Selena was a spokesperson for Coca-Cola from 1989 till the time of her death. She filmed three commercials for the company. During 1994, to commemorate her five years with the company, Coca-Cola issued special Selena coke bottles.
[97]
The Coca-Cola Company purchased
Columbia Pictures in 1982, and began inserting Coke-product images into many of its films. After a few early successes during Coca-Cola's ownership, Columbia began to under-perform, and the studio was sold to
Sony in 1989.
Coca-Cola has gone through a number of different
advertising slogans in its long history, including "The pause that refreshes", "I'd like to buy the world a Coke", and "Coke is it".
In 2006, Coca-Cola introduced
My Coke Rewards, a customer loyalty campaign where consumers earn points by entering codes from specially marked packages of Coca-Cola products into a website. These points can be redeemed for various prizes or sweepstakes entries.
[98]
In Australia in 2011, Coca-Cola began the "share a Coke" campaign, where the Coca-Cola logo was replaced on the bottles and replaced with first names. Coca-Cola used the 150 most popular names in Australia to print on the bottles.
[99][100][101] The campaign was paired with a website page, Facebook page and an online "share a virtual Coke". The same campaign was introduced to Coca-Cola, Diet Coke & Coke Zero bottles and cans in the UK in 2013.
[102][103]
Coca-Cola has also advertised its product to be consumed as a breakfast beverage, instead of coffee or tea for the morning caffeine.
[104][105]
Holiday campaigns
The "Holidays are coming!" advertisement features a train of red delivery trucks, emblazoned with the Coca-Cola name and decorated with
Christmas lights, driving through a snowy landscape and causing everything that they pass to light up and people to watch as they pass through.
[106]
The advertisement fell into disuse in 2001, as the Coca-Cola company restructured its advertising campaigns so that advertising around the world was produced locally in each country, rather than centrally in the company's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
[107] In 2007, the company brought back the campaign after, according to the company, many consumers telephoned its information center saying that they considered it to mark the beginning of Christmas.
[106] The advertisement was created by U.S. advertising agency Doner, and has been part of the company's global advertising campaign for many years.
[108]
Keith Law, a producer and writer of commercials for
Belfast CityBeat, was not convinced by Coca-Cola's reintroduction of the advertisement in 2007, saying that "I don't think there's anything Christmassy about
HGVs and the commercial is too generic."
[109]
In 2001, singer
Melanie Thornton recorded the campaign's advertising jingle as a single,
Wonderful Dream (Holidays are Coming), which entered the pop-music charts in Germany at no. 9.
[110][111] In 2005, Coca-Cola expanded the advertising campaign to radio, employing several variations of the jingle.
[112]
In 2011, Coca-Cola launched a campaign for the Indian holiday
Diwali. The campaign included commercials, a song and an integration with Shah Rukh Khan’s film
Ra.One.
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1952 Summer Olympics in
Helsinki. Coca-Cola vending point
Coca-Cola was the first commercial
sponsor of the Olympic games, at the
1928 games in Amsterdam, and has been an Olympics sponsor ever since.
[116] This corporate sponsorship included the
1996 Summer Olympics hosted in
Atlanta, which allowed Coca-Cola to spotlight its hometown. Most recently, Coca-Cola has released localized commercials for the
2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver; one Canadian commercial referred to Canada's hockey heritage and was modified after Canada won the gold medal game on February 28, 2010 by changing the ending line of the commercial to say "Now they know whose game they're playing".
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Coca-Cola is the official soft drink of many
collegiate football teams throughout the nation, partly due to Coca-Cola providing those schools with upgraded athletic facilities in exchange for Coca-Cola's sponsorship. This is especially prevalent at the high school level, which is more dependent on such contracts due to tighter budgets.
In England, Coca-Cola was the main sponsor of
The Football League between 2004 and 2010, a name given to the three professional divisions below the
Premier League in
football (soccer). In 2005, Coca-Cola launched a competition for the 72 clubs of the football league — it was called "Win a Player". This allowed fans to place one vote per day for their favorite club, with one entry being chosen at random earning £250,000 for the club; this was repeated in 2006. The "Win A Player" competition was very controversial, as at the end of the 2 competitions,
Leeds United A.F.C. had the most votes by more than double, yet they did not win any money to spend on a new player for the club. In 2007, the competition changed to "Buy a Player". This competition allowed fans to buy a bottle of Coca-Cola or Coca-Cola Zero and submit the code on the wrapper on the Coca-Cola website. This code could then earn anything from 50p to £100,000 for a club of their choice. This competition was favored over the old "Win a Player" competition, as it allowed all clubs to win some money. Between 1992 and 1998, Coca-Cola was the title sponsor of the
Football League Cup (Coca-Cola Cup), the secondary cup tournament of England.
Between 1994 and 1997, Coca-Cola was also the title sponsor of the
Scottish League Cup, renaming it the Coca-Cola Cup like its English counterpart.
Introduced March 1, 2010, in Canada, to celebrate the
2010 Winter Olympics, Coca Cola sold gold colored cans in packs of 12 355 mL (12 imp fl oz; 12 US fl oz) each, in select stores.
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In mass media
Coca-Cola has been prominently featured in countless films and television programs. Since its creation, it remains as one of the most prominent elements of the
popular culture.
[citation needed] It was a major plot element in films such as
One, Two, Three,
The Coca-Cola Kid, and
The Gods Must Be Crazy, among many others. It provides a setting for comical corporate shenanigans in the novel
Syrup by
Maxx Barry. In music, in
the Beatles' song, "
Come Together", the lyrics say, "He shoot Coca-Cola, he say...".
The Beach Boys also referenced Coca-Cola in their 1964 song "All Summer Long" (i.e. "'Member when you spilled Coke all over your blouse?")
[121]
Not all musical references to Coca-Cola went well. A line in "
Lola" by
the Kinks was originally recorded as "You drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca-Cola." When the
British Broadcasting Corporation refused to play the song because of the commercial reference, lead singer
Ray Davies re-recorded the lyric as "it tastes just like cherry cola" to get airplay for the song.
[130]
Political cartoonist
Michel Kichka satirized a famous Coca-Cola billboard in his 1982 poster "And I Love New York." On the billboard, the Coca-Cola wave is accompanied by the words "Enjoy Coke." In Kichka's poster, the lettering and script above the Coca-Cola wave instead read "Enjoy Cocaine."
[131]
Criticism
Use as political and corporate symbol
Coca-Cola advertising in
High Atlasmountains of Morocco
A mock-up of the Coke dispenser flown aboard the
Space Shuttle in 1996 (US)
Coca-Cola has a high degree of identification with the United States, being considered by some an "American Brand" or as an item representing America. During
World War II, this gave rise to brief production of the
White Coke as a neutral brand.
[132] The drink is also often a
metonym for the Coca-Cola Company.
A Coca-Cola fountain dispenser (officially a Fluids Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus-2 or FGBA-2) was developed for use on the
Space Shuttle as a test bed to determine if carbonated beverages can be produced from separately stored carbon dioxide, water and flavored syrups and determine if the resulting fluids can be made available for consumption without bubble nucleation and resulting foam formation. The unit flew in 1996 aboard
STS-77 and held 1.65 liters each of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke.
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Social causes
In 2012, Coca-Cola is listed as a partner of the (RED) campaign, together with other brands such as
Nike,
Girl,
American Express and
Converse. The campaign's mission is to prevent the transmission of the
HIV virus from mother to child by 2015 (the campaign's byline is "Fighting For An AIDS Free Generation").
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