|
|
The first
glass of Coca-Cola was served on May 8, 1886 at Jacob's Pharmacy in
Atlanta, Georgia, where it was sold for 5 cents a glass.
Made up of a thick syrup and carbonated water, this
"medicinal" drink was not yet bottled but served as a fountain drink.
Dr. John Smith Pemberton, a chemist, was the man responsible for
this great soft drink created in a large kettle in his basement.
Since soda fountain customers liked this drink so
much, Pemberton decided to produce and sell it. Pemberton's
bookkeeper,
Frank Robinson, came up with the name Coca-Cola by taking the two ingredients
- coca leaves and kola nuts. He then took just the words coca and
kola and changed the "k" in kola to a "c". He thought it
looked better that way. He then connected the two words with a dash,
and in his own handwriting, he wrote down the new name of this new soft
drink; the best known trademark in the world. This way of writing
never changed, and the color red has always dominated the logo. In
1970, the white, waving ribbon was added to underline the word
"Coca-Cola".
Coca-Cola
became a registered trademark on January 31, 1893.
The name Coke first
appeared on bottles in 1941 and was registered in 1945.
"Doc" Pemberton never had any idea of the
success of the syrup he made. He died on August 16, 1888 at the age of 57
after he sold his share of Coca-Cola. to a druggist by the name of
Asa Griggs Candler, who became the complete owner of Coca-Cola and founded
the Coca-Cola Company. He began the successful Coca-Cola campaigns.
Candler's first campaigns were based on Coca-Cola as a refreshing drink
with medicinal effects. It was said that the drink was a good remedy
for insomnia, headaches, and mental tiredness. In 1903; however,
Coca-Cola stopped advertising as a cure for headaches and other ills due
to the controversy of Cocaine being present in this soft drink. At
this time, Coca-Cola began using only "spent" coca leaves.
In 1894, Joseph A. Biedenham, the owner of a candy
company in Mississippi, first bottled Coca-Cola.
Much of Coca-Cola's success, of course, came from its
great flavor; however, its advertising campaigns didn't hurt either.
From day one, Coca-Cola's promotion was supported by paintings on
buildings, billboards,
advertisements in bars, and free giveaways. Some of
Coca-Cola's famous slogans can be found
here.
And...that's the history of Coca-Cola. Today
Coca-Cola is the leading soft drink company in the world.
Coca-Cola products are consumed at a rate of over one billion drinks per
day.
I'd say that proves that Coca-Cola is the Real
Thing!
|
|
