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Coca-Cola
was invented in Columbus, Georgia,
by John S. Pemberton, originally
as a cocawine called Pemberton's
French Wine Coca. He was inspired
by the formidable success of European
Angelo Mariani'scocawine, Vin Mariani.
In 1885, after Coca-Cola moved,
when Atlanta and Fulton County passed
Prohibition legislation, Pemberton
responded by developing Coca-Cola,
essentially a carbonated, non-alcoholic
version of French Wine Cola. |
The beverage was named Coca-Cola because
originally, the stimulant mixed in the
beverage was coca leaves from South America.
In addition, the drink was flavored using
kola (Cola) nuts, the beverage's source
of caffeine. Pemberton called for 5 ounces
of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, a significant
dose, whereas in 1891 Candler claimed
his formula (altered extensively from
Pemberton's original) contained only a
tenth of this amount. Favorable to popular
belief, Coca-Cola did actually contain
cocaine at one point per se, which is
a highly refined extract of coca leaves
and was always far too expensive to use
in a mass-market beverage. However, as
cocaine is one of numerous alkaloids present
in the coca leaf, it was nevertheless
present in the drink.
Today, the flavoring is still done with
kola nuts and the coca leaf; however,
the coca leaves used today are 'spent'
leaves - the leftovers of the cocaine-extraction
process - however, one cannot extract
cocaine out of the leaf at a molecular
level; therefore, the drink still contains
trace amounts of the stimulant. In the
United States, there is only one plant
in New Jersey authorized by the Federal
Government to grow the coca plant for
Coca-Cola syrup manufacture.
Coca-Cola
was initially sold as a patent medicine
for five cents a glass at soda fountains,
which were popular in the United States
at the time thanks to a belief that
carbonated water was good for the health.
Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured myriad
diseases, including morphine addiction,
dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and
impotence. The first sales were made
at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia,
on May 8, 1886, and for the first eight
months only nine drinks were sold each
day. Pemberton ran the first advertisement
for the beverage on May 29 of the same
year in the Atlanta Journal.
By
1888, three versions of Coca-Cola —
sold by three separate businesses —
were on the market. Asa Griggs Candler
acquired a stake in Pemberton's company
in 1887 and incorporated it as the Coca
Cola Company in 1888. The same year,
while suffering from an ongoing addiction
to morphine, Pemberton sold the rights
a second time to three more businessmen:
J.C. Mayfield, A.O. Murphey and E.H.
Bloodworth. Meanwhile, Pemberton's alcoholic
son Charley Pemberton began selling
his own version of the product.
In
an attempt to clarify the situation,
John Pemberton declared that the name
Coca-Cola belonged to Charley, but the
other two manufacturers could continue
to use the formula. So, in the summer
of 1888, Candler sold his beverage under
the names Yum Yum and Koke. After both
failed to catch on, Candler set out
to establish a legal claim to Coca-Cola
in late 1888, in order to force his
two competitors out of the business.
Candler purchased exclusive rights to
the formula from John Pemberton, Margaret
Dozier and Woolfolk Walker. However,
in 1914, Dozier came forward to claim
her signature on the bill of sale had
been forged, and subsequent analysis
has indicated John Pemberton's signature
was most likely a forgery as well.
In
1892, Candler incorporated a second
company, The Coca-Cola Company (the
current corporation), and in 1910 Candler
had the earliest records of the company
burned, further obscuring its legal
origins. Regardless, Candler began aggressively
marketing the product — the efficiency
of this concerted advertising campaign
would not be realized until much later.
By the time of its 50th anniversary,
the drink had reached the status of
a national icon for the USA.
Coca-Cola
was sold in bottles for the first time
on March 12, 1894, and cans of Coke
first appeared in 1955. The first bottling
of Coca-Cola occurred in Vicksburg,
Mississippi, at the Biedenharn Candy
Company in 1891. Its proprietor was
Joseph A. Biedenharn. The original bottles
were Biedenharn bottles, very different
from the much later hobble-skirt design
that is now so familiar. Asa Candler
was tentative about bottling the drink,
but the two entrepreneurs who proposed
the idea were so persuasive that Candler
signed a contract giving them control
of the procedure. However, the loosely
termed contract proved to be problematic
for the company for decades to come.
Legal matters were not helped by the
decision of the bottlers to subcontract
to other companies — in effect, becoming
parent bottlers.
In
1985, Coca-Cola, amid much publicity,
attempted to change the formula of the
drink. Some authorities believe that
New Coke, as the reformulated drink
was called, was invented specifically
to respond to its commercial competitor,
Pepsi[8] . Double-blind taste tests
indicated that most consumers preferred
the taste of Pepsi (which has more lemon
oil, less orange oil, and uses vanillin
rather than vanilla) to Coke. In taste
tests, drinkers are more likely to respond
positively to sweeter drinks, and Pepsi
had the advantage over Coke because
it is much sweeter. Coca-Cola tinkered
with the formula and created "New
Coke". Follow-up taste tests revealed
that most consumers preferred the taste
of New Coke to both Coke and Pepsi.
The reformulation was led by the then-CEO
of the company, Roberto Goizueta, and
the president Don Keough.
It
is unclear what part long-time company
president Robert W. Woodruff played
in the reformulation. Goizueta claims
that Woodruff endorsed it a few months
before his death in 1985; others have
pointed out that, as the two men were
alone when the matter was discussed,
Goizueta might have misinterpreted the
wishes of the dying Woodruff, who could
speak only in monosyllables. It has
also been alleged that Woodruff might
not have been able to understand what
Goizueta was telling him.
The
commercial failure of New Coke therefore
came as a grievous blow to the management
of the Coca-Cola Corporation. It is
possible that customers would not have
noticed the change if it had been made
secretly or gradually, and thus brand
loyalty could have been maintained.
Coca-Cola management was unprepared,
however, for the nostalgic sentiments
the drink aroused in the American public;
some compared changing the Coke formula
to rewriting the American Constitution.
The
new Coca-Cola formula subsequently caused
a public backlash. Gay Mullins, from
Seattle, Washington, founded the Old
Cola Drinkers of America organization,
which attempted to sue the company,
and lobbied for the formula of Old Coke
to be released into the public domain.
This and other protests caused the company
to return to the old formula under the
name Coca-Cola Classic on July 10, 1985.
The company was later accused of performing
this volte-face as an elaborate ruse
to introduce a new product while reviving
interest in the original. Donald Keough,
company president at the time, responded
to the accusation by declaring: "Some
critics will say Coca-Cola made a marketing
mistake. Some cynics will say that we
planned the whole thing. The truth is
we are not that dumb, and we are not
that smart."
The
Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest
consumer of natural vanilla extract.
When New Coke was introduced in 1985,
this had a severe impact on the economy
of Madagascar, a prime vanilla exporter,
since New Coke used vanillin, a less-expensive
synthetic substitute. Purchases of vanilla
more than halved during this period.
But the flop of New Coke brought a recovery.
Coca-Cola
(also known as Coke, a name which was
trademarked by The Coca-Cola Company
after it was discovered many people
called it by that particular name) is
a very popular cola, a carbonated soft
drink sold in stores, restaurants and
vending machines in more than 200 countries.
It is produced by the Coca-Cola Company,
which is also often referred to as simply
Coca-Cola or Coke. Coke is one of the
world's most recognizable and widely
sold commercial brands; its major rival
is Pepsi.
Originally
intended as a patent medicine when it
was invented in the late 19th century;
Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman
Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing
tactics led Coke to its dominance of
the world soft drink market throughout
the 20th century. Although faced with
critiques of its health effects and
various allegations of wrongdoing by
the company, Coca-Cola has remained
a popular soft drink well into the first
decade of the 21st century.
The
company actually produces concentrate
for Coca-Cola, which is then sold to
various 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 in cans and bottles
to retail stores and vending machines.
Such bottlers include Coca-Cola Enterprises,
which is the single largest Coca-Cola
bottler in North America and Europe.
The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate
for fountain sales to major restaurants
and food service distributors.
The
Coca-Cola Company has on occasion introduced
other cola drinks under the Coke brand
name. The most famous of these is Diet
Coke, which has become a major diet
cola but others exist, such as Cherry
Coke and Vanilla Coke. There are also
some drinks marketed by the company
but which remain unaffiliated with Coca-Cola
the drink, such as Sprite.
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