Welsch/Malpede 1
Ian Welsch/Dylan Malpede
Rast 4A
Big History
6 March 2016
Coca-Cola Little Big History Projectz
In 1885, John Pemberton created a drink that would change the world’s beverage industry
forever. Over the years, Coke has had to change many of the components of the beverage.
Ingredients such as cocaine have been discarded, and natural sweeteners have been replaced.
Taking their spot are components such as high fructose corn syrup and preservatives, which have
been added to the drink to maximize profits throughout the world. Coca-Cola has grown into
one of the most successful corporations in the world. Since Coke has become global, many
things have changed along the way due to economics. Many steps have been made to make the
drink more profitable, such as using child labor and other tactics. To counter these issues, CocaCola has created campaigns such as its "green" campaign as an advertisement tool to help create
public appeal. Coke's advertizing has created "cultural elements", elements that have signified
Coke as a worldwide power in the beverage industry. Along the way to becoming a world icon,
Coke has grown economically and globally to meet demands. Coca-Cola worldwide spread as
the premiere framework for all businesses that aspire to become a pop culture icon. (Young
Witzel, 2002, p.117-125) (Coca-Cola.com) (Wikipedia.com/Coca-Cola)
One day in 1885, John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist struggling through prohibition wanted
to create a drink to replace those banned by the prohibition. John Pemberton started to make this
beverage by mixing various ingredients, which he mixed with soda water at a local drug store.
Welsch/Malpede 2
What he created was Pemberton's French Wine Cola. When Atlanta passed a prohibition law,
Pemberton responded by removing the alcohol from the beverage, naming It Coca-Cola. It was
first sold at Jacob's Pharmacy for only 5 cents a glass. Instantly, the drink was a hit.
Pemberton's son, Charley, along with three others grew the business. Asa Candler, the most
important of the four, was a true businessman. He slowly spread the drink across the U.S.,
sweeping up the nation. Before long, he had many syrup companies cities in and towns all
across America. (Wikipedia.com/Coca-Cola)
As the company grew, people began to imitate the beverage, which often happens to
successful businesses. To separate themselves from the crowd, Coca-Cola started to make
unique bottles, which helped distinguish the real Coca-Cola from the pretenders. Robert
Woodruff became president in 1923; a few years after his father purchased the Coca-Cola brand
for him, making him the owner also. He really made Coca-Cola a worldwide business. During
his reign, he first took the company overseas in 1928 and created a partnership with the Olympic
games, which is still in effect today. They also introduced the first six-pack, which was one of
the many innovations Coca-Cola brought to the beverage industry. Later, cans were presented to
the public, making it much cheaper to produce. Coca-Cola also helped out the U.S. in World
War II. To help out, Coke stopped their production of drinks and started making military
equipment to assist the country. (Wikipedia.com/Coca-Cola)
One of the most controversial events in Coca-Cola history was in 1985, when they
attempted to change the Coca-Cola formula to "New Coke". New Coke was a sweeter beverage
than the traditional Coca-Cola. After many taste test and surveys, they thought that the New
Coke would be a great marketing plan, but it ended up turning into a huge mistake. The backlash
was brutal. Many Coca-Cola consumers were enraged by the change of their beloved beverage.
Welsch/Malpede 3
Coke changed back to the original formula to restore the Coca-Cola order. Diet Coke was also
introduced, which is a zero calorie version of Coke with artificial sweeteners, which ended up
being a successful product. Coke’s increase in complexity in history can be shown by how they
have grown from a small town beverage, to a worldwide company. Throughout the whole
history of Coca-Cola, they have innovated not only in their product, but also in their advertizing
to stay at the top, and they have risen to become one of the most successful businesses the world
has ever seen. (Wikipedia.com)(Coca-Cola.com)
Coca-Cola has used advertising as a propellant to worldwide domination in the beverage
industry and also to become the most recognizable brand in the world. Beginning in the late
1880’s Coca-Cola began to come out with posters and calendars usually with simple slogans
such as “Delicious and Refreshing”, and also most of these early ads portrayed women drinking
the beverage. In the early 1900’s, Coca-Cola began to put these slogans and images into new
mediums; such as signs and trays. From 1919 – 1928, Coca-Cola‘s “Golden Age” advertising
began to change. Iconic coolers were used as advertising, as well as a retail market and were
very successful. Also, Coca-Cola began using their trucks as driving road signs covering them in
yellow and red paint as well as displaying the brand name at the top, bottom, and rear of the
truck. (Young-Witzel, 2002, p.73)
During this time period a man named Archie Lee began working on advertising
campaigns for Coca-Cola. He wanted Coca-Cola to be portrayed as more than just a product.
He set of to make Coca-Cola represent the intangibles of life such as joy and love. In 1924 he
introduced the slogan “Pause and refresh yourself”. In 1927, more than six million households
had a radio, and Coca-Cola seized the opportunity and began to broadcast ads. In 1931 CocaCola transformed Santa Claus. Before 1931, Santa Clause had been pictured in many different
Welsch/Malpede 4
ways, “sometimes tall and thin sometimes as a jolly elf.” (Young-Witzel, 2002, p. 128) CocaCola hired an artist named Haddon Sunblom to paint a Santa for their ads. He created the chubby
cheerful Santa with a white bread and round red cheeks that we know and love today. This new
Santa Clause loved Coca-Cola and was used in Coca-Cola Holiday ads from then on. Later in the
thirties Coca-Cola used more fictional characters in their advertising, such as Tom Sawyer.
(Young-Witzel, 2002, p. 134)
In the 1940’s patriotism fueled advertising. Coca-Cola used its ads to imply that CocaCola could somehow help with the war effort showing ads of plant workers drinking Coca-Cola
on the Job and even soldiers downing the beverage. Around this time Coca-Cola began to
globalize and its advertising had to change to fit each country. It continued with its same basic
themes: simple slogans, ideals of joy and happiness, as well as often using women in many of
their ads to appeal to girls also. In 1950, Coca-Cola sponsored its first television show. Later that
year in a Disney Christmas special Coca-Cola was paired with the nation appeal of Disney
Characters. In 1955 Archie Lee died and Coca- Cola moved on to a new advertising agency. The
new agency began using still life’s, displaying the product without people. However, it did not
move people to buy and by1959 Pepsi-Cola had taken more than a third of the cola market.
(Young-Witzel, 2002, p.120)
In the 1960’s while adding new drinks such as Sprite, Fresca, and Fanta, Coca-Cola also
added the services of stars such as Connie Francis, Nancy Sinatra, and the Supremes. During the
1970’s Coca-Cola took advantage of the Vietnam War and came out with one of their most
popular ads. It showed young people from around the world holding hands and singing, “I’d like
to buy the world a Coke.” The ad linked drinking Coke with peace, love, and harmony. In the
1980’s Coca-Cola signed Michael Jordan, Aretha Franklin, New kid on the Block, Elton John,
Welsch/Malpede 5
and Paula Abdul. By the 1990’s Coca-Cola’s trays, coolers, and signs that had first introduced
Coca-Cola were becoming extremely collectable proving that Coca-Cola had succeeded in
making the world fall in love with their product. In the late nineties Coca-Cola began using the
polar bears we still see in their ads today. Today we see ad campaigns not far from what they
were when Coca-Cola first started advertising such as “Open Happiness.” Coca-Cola’s
advertizing examples have been made innovative and executed to perfection as to make people
fall in love with the brand. (Bodden, 2009 , p.21)
Pepsi Cola originated thirteen years after Coca-Cola and quickly rose to be their biggest
competitor. Pepsi-Cola’s original recipe was nearly the same as Coca-Cola’s. Their rivalry is
one of the biggest in corporate history and has been nicknamed cola wars. The battle heated up
in 1975 when Pepsi-Cola started the Coke versus Pepsi challenge. Pepsi set up blind taste tests
of Coke and Pepsi in malls across the nation. Pepsi was winning and they let the world know
about it. This sparked a recipe change from Coca-Cola in1985 when they introduced New Coke.
Since then the two have grown in sales and added new companies. “Coca-Cola still holds more
market share in the beverage industry and is expanding across the world much faster than Pepsi.”
(Buisnessinsider.com 3) However, Pepsi brings in around twenty billion dollars more annually
because of their ownership of Frito-Lay, the largest snack company in the world. In the end,
Coca-Cola is spending more and more to compete with Pepsi-Cola and have been losing money
to their competitor Pepsi since its creation in 1899. (Buisnessinsider.com)
Over the past couple years Coca-Cola has been taking some heat from publicists over
their involvement with child labor. It is reported that Coke gets sugar from sugarcane fields in El
Salvador that have been known to use child labor. Children as young as 8 years old are working
on these sugarcane plantations, facing dangerous and harsh conditions everyday. It is estimated
Welsch/Malpede 6
that 5000-30,000 children are working in these Salvadoran fields. Even though the minimum
age in El Salvador for a dangerous job is 18, the companies are finding loopholes. “Plantation
owners first hire these kids as helpers, but than place them in the field not long after their
employment”. (Buisnessinsider.org 1)Kids are often injured doing the hard labor; kids are
handed machetes without any training. Children who are injured in the fields also have to pay
for their own healthcare, despite the law that states the employer will provide it. Young girls that
don’t deal with dangerous work spend most of their work time planting the sugar cane, a job that
is long and tedious. Most of these kids who work at these plants are forced to miss up to half of
the school year, effecting them long term. Most kids who work in the sugar fields end up
dropping out of school, due to the fact they are so far behind due to the years working in the
fields, and the need for money. Many Americans have issues with child labor, but Coca-Cola
continues to buy from these companies. Many large American companies use child labor, such
as Apple and Nike. It is a good economic strategy, but Coca-Cola has worked hard on their
cultural image and issues like this could tarnish the branch. (Organicconsumers.org,
Killercoke.org)
The Chemistry aspect of Coca-Cola is a very important field, not only with the taste, but
also the health effects. The components of the drink have been constantly changing and tweaked
to find the perfect taste for all areas. One of the most talked about issues of Coca-Cola chemistry
was the former ingredient, cocaine. Cocaine is a drug which was found on Cacao leaves, which
were used in the beverage for flavor. When cocaine became illegal in 1914, it was obvious that
the ingredient that needed to be taken out. Another very important ingredient, which is not in
American coke anymore, is pure cane sugar. The main reason sugar has been removed from the
drink is because it is much more expensive than corn syrup, which replaced sugar as the new
sweetener in many Coca-Cola products. Sugar is still sometimes used in American Coke in the
Welsch/Malpede 7
“Throwback” series. Sugar though, is used in places such as Mexico. Different regions have
different formulas, all very similar, but differ in little ways. Many people think Mexican Coke
tastes better due to sugar being the sweetener. Some people can taste the difference between
corn syrup and sugar, when some can’t. More ingredients have been added into the drink like
preservatives. Preservatives are used in the drink so it is able to stay fresh while being shipped
across the world. These have been very controversial because they have been shown to cause
health problems. These ingredients have been tested on mice, and have been found to cause
leukemia, cancer and many other health related issues. Pesticides used in these drinks are also
seen to cause cancer and other heath concers. The artificial sweeteners in Diet Coke are also
shown to cause health issues in mice. Many people purposely avoid drinking all soda due to
these issues. The reasons these ingredients are still used in Coke are mindboggling, but are not
100% proven to cause these issues in humans. Even though these ingredients are very tasty, they
could possibly be deadly and life threatening. (Dailymail.com, Huffingtonpost.com,
Killercoke.com)
Since the creation of Coca-Cola in 1886 the beverage has helped define the word pop
culture. The Coca-Cola brand is iconic and collectable. Through innovations, taste, and
advertizing, Coca-Cola is the most recognizable brand in the world. Every second of the day,
13,000 people from all around the world pop open a Coca–Cola product, and in just one day
more than a billion Coca-Cola products are consumed. Coca-Cola is America’s favorite beverage
and each year an average of 431 servings are consumed per person. Across our country, CocaCola today is in over 200 hundred countries around the world and earns twenty four billion
dollars annually selling close to 2,400 different products. Today Coca-Cola is the largest nonalcoholic beverage producer in the world. Throughout its rise to a worldwide company, Coca-
Welsch/Malpede 8
Cola has made innovations that impact the industry to this day, but it is still known for the taste
that John Pemberton Created over 100 years ago. (Bodden, 2009, p.5)
Welsch/Malpede 9
Citation Page
"As a Cancer Scare Erupts over a Chemical in the Fizzy Drink ... Just How Safe Is a Can of
Coke?" Mail Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
Bhasin, Kim. "COKE VS. PEPSI: The Amazing Story Behind The Cola Wars."
Business Insider. N.p., 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
Bodden, Valerie. The Story of Coca-Cola. Mankato, MN: Creative Education, 2009
"Campaign to Stop Killer Coke | Tell Coca-Cola to STOP the VIOLENCE!" Campaign to Stop
Killer Coke | Tell Coca-Cola to STOP the VIOLENCE! N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
"Coca-Cola." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Apr. 2013. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
"Coca-Cola And Pepsi 'Contain Alcohol And Increase Cancer Risk'" The Full. N.p., n.d. Web. 16
Apr. 2013.
"Coca-Cola Exploiting Child Laborers in El Salvador Sugar Cane Fields." Coca-Cola Exploiting
Child Laborers in El Salvador Sugar Cane Fields. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
"Coca-Cola History: Coca-Cola Heritage Timeline." Coca-Cola History: Coca-Cola Heritage
Timeline. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
Young-Witzel, Gyvel. The Sparkling Story of Coca-Cola: An Entertaining History, including
Collectables, Coke Lore, Calendar Girls and Father Christmas! St. Paul, MN: Motor,
2006.
Welsch/Malpede 10
Words 2488