Coca-Cola





Coca-Cola is the trademarked name (registered 1893) for a popular soft drink
sold in stores, restaurants and vending machines around the world. It also
popularly known as "Coke", which the company also claims as a trademark.
Coca-Cola also registered a trademark on the distinctive bottle shape in
1960. Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time starting on March 12,
1894 and cans of Coke first appeared in 1955.

The name derived from the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring. The
exact Coca-Cola Formula is a legendary trade secret. Reportedly a copy of
the formula is held in a safe in Atlanta, Georgia with only two corporate
officers having access.

The distinctive "cola" flavor comes mostly from the mix of sugar, orange
juice, lemon juice and vanilla. The other ingredients change the flavor only
very slightly.

In the original formula, the natural cocaine content of the coca leaves, and
caffeine from kola nuts, provided the drink's stimulant effect. Shortly
after the turn of the century, cocaine was removed from the coca leaves by
processing (leaving a physiologically insignificant trace), and the amount
of caffeine was reduced. The company's web site states on this issue that
"Coca-Cola does not contain cocaine or any other harmful substance, and
cocaine has never been an added ingredient for Coca-Cola". It should be
noted that such a statement is entirely consistent with the presence of
cocaine in the coca leaves in the original formulation.

The coca-leaf processing is done at the only licensed coca-leaf processing
plant in the U.S, in New York City. Importation of leaves to other
facilities is a felony. It is rumoured that the only reason the relevant
laws have a licensing provision is because of lobbying by Coca-Cola Corporation.

Coca-Cola Corporation is the world's largest customer of natural vanilla
extract. When new Coke was introduced, in 1984, the economy of Madagascar
crashed, and only recovered after New Coke flopped. The reason is because
New Coke uses vanillin, a less-expensive synthetic substitute, and purchases
of vanilla more than halved during this period.

History

Coca-Cola was formulated by John S. Pemberton, and originally sold as a
patent medicine for five cents a glass at soda fountains, which were popular
in America due to a contemporary view that soda water was good for your
health. The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May
8th, 1886, and for the first eight months, only thirteen drinks per day were
sold. Pemberton then ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29
of the same year in the Atlanta Journal.

The drink and its advertising campaigns have had significant impact on
American culture. The company is frequently credited for "inventing" the
modern image of Santa Claus as an old man in red-white garments; however,
while the company did in fact promote this image starting in the 1930s in
its winter advertising campaigns, it was already common before that time.
In the 1970s, a song from a Coca-Cola commercial called "I'd Like to
Teach the World to Sing" became a popular hit single.

In the 1980s, Coca-Cola attempted to change the formula of the drink with a
highly publicized effort. Some authorities believe that New Coke was
invented specifically to cope with a commercial competitor, Pepsi. Blind
taste tests indicated that people preferred the taste of Pepsi to Coke.
Pepsi has more lemon oil, less orange oil, and uses vanillin rather than
vanilla. New Coke was reformulated to emulate Pepsi. In blind taste tests,
most people favored New Coke to Coke, as well.

The commercial failure of New Coke was therefore a grievous surprise to the
management of Coca-Cola Corporation. Quite possibly, if they had made the
change either secretly, or gradually, no notice would have occurred and
their brand loyalty would have been unchanged.

The new Coca-Cola formula caused a public backlash and the company was
forced to return to the old formula under the name Coca-Cola Classic on July
10, 1985. The company was later suspected of playing this move as an
elaborate charade to both introduce a new product and revive interest in the
original. The company president responded to the accusation with "We are not
that stupid, or that smart."

Meanwhile, the market share for the new product dwindled to only 3% by 1986.
The company renamed the product "Coke II" in 1990, but sales falloff caused
a severe cutback in distribution. By 1998 it was only sold in a few places
in the midwestern U.S.

Today the drink is manufactured as a syrup and then supplied to various
franchises that reconstitute, bottle and distribute it. The company produces
many other soft drinks, including other varieties of Coca-Cola such as Diet
Coke (which uses aspartame, a synthetic phenylalanine-containing sweetener,
in order to reduce the sugar content of the drink), Cherry Coke, Diet Cherry
Coke, Vanilla Coke, Diet Vanilla Coke, and the recent Coke with Lemon and
Diet Coke with Lemon.

The Coca-Cola Corporation also produces a number of other soft drinks
including Fanta, Sprite and Mr. Pibb, and the bottled water Dasani.

Coca-Cola's greatest rival is Pepsi-Cola.

The Guerrilla News Network has reported that Coca-cola is in a legal dispute
with Bob Kolody that could cost the company US$ 4 billion.