Coca-Cola (often abbreviated to "Coke") is the world's most popular carbonated soft drink.[1] It is sold in hundreds of countries around the world. The Coca-Cola Company's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Coca-Cola has been criticised for its possible negative health effects, with many urban myths surrounding it. In addition, The commercial dominance of the drink was periodically challenged, especially in the 1980s when Coca-Cola's main rival, Pepsi-Cola, claimed taste tests had proven people preferred Pepsi to Coke. The Coca-Cola Company's eventual reaction was to phase out Coca-Cola and institute "New Coke". However, widespread outrage and boycotts after the announcement of the rollout led the company to restore the original drink, while keeping New Coke on the market. The Coca-Cola Company has additionally been accused of taking excessive action (murder, kidnapping, and making death threats); to prevent unionisation of Coca-Cola plants, and also for other unethical business practices.
| The official Coca-Cola logo | |
| Type | Cola |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | The Coca-Cola Company |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1886 |
| Variants | Coca-Cola Classic |
| Related products | Pepsi-Cola, Mecca Cola, OpenCola |
| Website | www |
History
Early years
Columbus, Georgia druggist John Stith Pemberton invented a cocawine called Pemberton's French Wine Coca in 1884. He was inspired by the formidable success of French Angelo Mariani's cocawine, Vin Mariani.
The following year, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed Prohibition legislation, Pemberton began to develop a non-alcoholic version of the French Wine Coca. He named it Coca-Cola, because it included the stimulant coca leaves from South America and was flavored using kola nuts, a source of caffeine. Pemberton called for 5 ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup. The first sales were made at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886, and for the first eight months only an average of nine drinks were sold each day. Pemberton ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29 that year in the Atlanta Journal.
Coca-Cola was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents a glass. Although Pemberton intended it to be mixed with still water, it was sold 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. It was first mixed with carbonated water when a customer at Jacob's pharmacy came in with a bad headache and bought some Coca-Cola syrup and asked Willis Venable, the soda fountain man, to mix the syrup with water so the customer could take it immediately. The tap water faucet was at the other end of the counter, however, so Venable recommended carbonated water instead of plain and the customer agreed and said it tasted much better, and within weeks several other drugstores began mixing Coca-Cola with carbonated water. Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured myriad diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence.
In 1887, while suffering from an ongoing addiction to morphine, Pemberton sold a stake in his company to Asa Griggs Candler, who incorporated it as the Coca Cola Corporation in 1888. In the same year, 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. Three versions of Coca-Cola — sold by three separate businesses — were on the market. [2]
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 apparently 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.[3]
In 1892, Candler incorporated a second company, The Coca-Cola Company — the current corporation. 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.
Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time on March 12, 1894. 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 six-ounce Hutchinson bottles manufactured by Biedenharn and sealed with a rubber gasket. Reportedly leaky, they were soon replaced with "crown top" bottles with straight sides, and sealed with a metal cap; variants of this design remain in use today. The distinctive "hobble-skirt" bottle design now associated with Coca-Cola was introduced in 1915. [4]
Initially, 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. This meant that Coca-Cola was originally sold in a wide variety of bottles, until the introduction of the iconic, standardized "hobble-skirt" bottle in 1916. [5]
World War II
When the United States entered World War II, The Coca-Cola Company began providing free drinks for soldiers of the United States Army. Due to sugar rationing during the war, Coca-Cola did not have enough sugar to produce drinks at full capacity. A deal was struck between the US government and Coca-Cola whereby the company was exempted from sugar rationing, while Coca-Cola supplied refreshments for the troops. The deal also stopped Pepsi from getting more than its rations as the military needed no more soft drinks. The United States Army permitted Coca-Cola employees to enter the front lines as "Technical Officers" where they operated Coke's system of providing refreshments for soldiers, who welcomed the beverage as a reminder of home. After the war, the soldiers brought home their newfound taste for Coca-Cola, popularising the drink.
Coca-Cola has been criticised for its decision to continue trading in Nazi Germany (as did automobile manufacturer Ford, owned by vocal Anti-Semite Henry Ford) long after other US companies had relocated on moral grounds. Eventually, the difficulty of shipping Coca-Cola concentrate to Germany and its occupied states, due to the Allied blockades, led to the creation of a new drink (Fanta) by a Coca-Cola employee. Fanta is still sold worldwide to this day.
New Coke to the present
In 1984, Coca-Cola, amid much publicity, changed the formula of the drink. Some authorities believe that New Coke, as the reformulated drink came to be known, was invented specifically to respond to its commercial competitor, Pepsi. Numerous blind taste tests suggested that more consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi (which is believed to have more lemon oil, less orange oil, and uses vanillin rather than vanilla) to Coke. In taste tests, drinkers were 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 the 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 New Coke therefore came as a grievous blow to the management of The Coca-Cola Company. 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. Consumers began buying up and hoarding supplies of Old Coke, before it disappeared forever. 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.
Meanwhile, the market share for New Coke had dwindled to only 3% by 1986. In 1992 the company renamed the product "Coke II" (not to be confused with "Coke C2", a reduced-sugar cola launched by Coca-Cola in 2004). However, sales falloff caused a severe cutback in distribution. By 1998, it was sold in only a few places in the Midwestern U.S.
Production
Coca-Cola formula
As a publicity marketing strategy started by Robert W. Woodruff, the company presents the formula of Coca-Cola as one of the most closely held trade secrets in modern business that only a few employees know or have access to. In particular, the secret ingredient "7X" has long been touted an integral component of Coca Cola's formula though it has never been established what, if anything, the "X" refers to. It has been stated that Coca-Cola had employees mix the drink by numbers assigned to specific ingredients rather than by name, to avoid the possibility of employees reverse-engineering the recipe. However, experienced perfumers and food scientists — today aided by modern analytical methods — can easily identify the composition of food products, a fact that is further supported by the many cola flavorings and competing soft drinks like Pepsi.
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 various 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 sugar (or artificial sweeteners) and fill it into cans and bottles, which the bottlers then sell and distribute to retail stores, vending machines, restaurants and food service distributors. The bottlers are normally also responsible for all advertisement and other sales initiatives within their areas.
The Coca-Cola Company owns minority shares in some of its largest franchisees, like Coca-Cola Enterprises, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (CCHBC)and Coca-Cola FEMSA, but almost half of the volume sold in the world is produced by fully independent bottlers.
As sugar and sweeteners are added by the bottler, the sweetness of the drink is said to differ in various parts of the world, in order to cater for local taste.
Bottle design
The famous Coca-Cola logotype is said to have largely been created by John Pemberton's business partner, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885. It was Robinson who came up with the name, and he also chose the logo’s distinctive cursive script. The typeface 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.
The equally famous Coca-Cola bottle, called the "Contour bottle" within the company, was created in 1915 by a Swedish former glassblower, Alexander Samuelsson, who had emigrated to the US in the 1880's and was employed as a manager at The Root Glass Company in Terre Haute, Indiana, one of Coca-Cola's bottle suppliers. According to legend, having received the request for a truly distinctive bottle from bottler Benjamin F. Thomas, Samuelsson decided to see if the shapes of the two ingredients behind the product name (coca and kola nuts) could serve as inspiration. Two of his employees (Clyde Edwards and Earl Dean) went to the city library to look up information about those two items. A misunderstanding occurred, leading the men to examine the wrong page of the Encyclopædia Britannica. The sketches they returned with were from the cacao tree seed pod, with its bulging shape and distinctive grooves.
In November 1915, Root Glass Company patented the bottle, and in 1916 it went into production. It is said that Chapman J. Root of Terre Haute, the owner of Root Glass, became one of Indiana's wealthiest men because of the bottle, while Samuelsson did not get anything more than his usual salary.
Advertising
Coca-Cola's advertising has had a significant impact on American culture, and is frequently credited with the "invention" of the modern image of Santa Claus as an old man in red-and-white garments; however, while the company did in fact start promoting this image in the 1930s in its winter advertising campaigns, it was already common before that.[6] Along with the classic Santa Claus during the time Computer generated 3D image appeared it has also featured a family of polar bears into it's TV commercials. In the 1970s, a song from a Coca-Cola commercial called "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", produced by Billy Davis, became a popular hit single, but there is no evidence that it did anything to increase sales of the soft drink. Coke's advertising has been rather pervasive, as one of Woodruff's stated goals was to ensure that everyone on Earth drank Coca-Cola as their preferred beverage. Advertising for Coke is now almost ubiquitous, especially in southern areas of North America, such as Atlanta, where Coke was invented.
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", "The Real Thing" and "Coke is it" (see Coca-Cola slogans).
As a result of extensive campaigns in the early 20th century, the Coca-Cola drink has a high degree of identification with the United States itself, being considered an "American brand" or to a small extent as representing America (compare Mickey Mouse). By 1948, it was reported that when non-Americans thought of democracy — a trait associated with the United States — they thought of Coca-Cola. [7]
During the 1980s, Pepsi-Cola ran a series of television advertisements showing people participating in taste tests in which they expressed a preference for Pepsi over 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.
In an attempt to broaden its portfolio, Coca-Cola purchased Columbia Pictures in 1982. Columbia provided subtle publicity through Coke product placements in many of its films while under Coke's ownership. However, after a few early successes, Columbia began to under-perform, and was dropped by the company in 1989.
Coca-Cola was the first-ever sponsor of the Olympic games, at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam and has been an Olympics sponsor ever since. This corporate sponsorship included the 1996 Summer Olympics hosted in Atlanta, which allowed Coca-Cola to spotlight its hometown. Since 1977 starting with the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, Coca-Cola has been the main sponsor of FIFA and has sponsored each FIFA World Cup and other competitions organised by FIFA. Coca Cola Also took over sponsorship from nationwaide of Division 1 2 & 3 in English Football in 2004 (Now Known As Coca Cola Championship,League 1 & League 2) Coca-Cola has a long history of sports marketing relationships, which over the years have included several major sports leagues both in the United States and internationally.
Urban legends and unusual uses
The numerous urban legends about Coca-Cola have led the Urban Legends Reference Pages to devote a whole section of their site to "Cokelore". One false legend claims that Coke was once green, or was accidentally carbonated when a clerk squirted syrup into the wrong glass.
Coca-Cola has been the target of urban legends decrying the drink for its supposedly copious amounts of acid (its pH value of 2.5 is midway between vinegar and gastric acid), or the "life-threatening" effects of its carbonated water. These urban legends usually take the form of "fun facts" — for example, "highway troopers use Coke to clean blood from highways after accidents," "somebody once died in a Coke-drinking competition," or "Coke can dissolve a tooth overnight." All of these claims are false. (While highway troopers do not use Coca-Cola for this purpose, the television program MythBusters showed that Coca-Cola could be used as a blood cleaning agent.) Claims of Coca-Cola's unique tooth dissolving properties have been debunked as urban legend.[1]. Coca-cola was also once believed to have been a possible form of birth control due to this allegedly high acidity level being able to supposedly 'kill sperm'. [2] For more on acidity and health concerns, see the Acidity subsection below.
One unusual use for Coke is as a rust-control substance—the phosphoric acid in Coke converts iron oxide to iron phosphate, and as such can be used as an initial treatment for corroded iron and steel objects being renovated, etc. The acid can be used to anodize titanium according to various websites.[8] Corroded battery terminals on cars are often corrected through the use of Coca-Cola. Another use for Coke is in cooking. When meat (most commonly chicken) is fried in Coke, the sugars and syrup in the coke caramelise. This is effectively a way of making hickory chicken.
In India, some farmers use Coca-Cola as an insecticide. These farmers use Coca-Cola because it is cheaper than commercial insecticides, safe to handle, and does not need diluted. Coca-Cola claims, "Soft drinks do not act in a similar way to pesticides when applied to the ground or crops."
According to popular belief, the coca leaf extract cocaine was once added to Coca-Cola, per se. Because cocaine is naturally present in untreated coca leaves, small amounts of cocaine were also present in the beverage. Today's Coca-Cola uses "spent" coca leaves, those that have been through a cocaine extraction process, to flavor the beverage. Since this process cannot extract the cocaine alkaloids at a molecular level, the drink still contains trace amounts of the stimulant[9]. The United States DEA oversees the importation of coca for Coca-Cola, and later sale of the extracted cocaine to the drug industry where it is used in the creation of many of the common drugs whose names end in "-caine" (such as Procaine and Lidocaine).[10]
Criticisms
Adverse health effects
Most nutritionists advise that Coca-Cola and other soft drinks can be harmful if consumed excessively, particularly to young children whose soft drink consumption competes with, rather than complements, a balanced diet. Studies have shown that regular soft drink users have a lower intake of calcium (which can contribute to osteoporosis), magnesium, ascorbic acid, riboflavin, and vitamin A.[11] The drink has also aroused criticism for its use of caffeine, an addictive substance.[12]
Acidity
Although numerous court cases have been filed against The Coca-Cola Company since the 1920s, alleging that the acidity of the drink is dangerous, no evidence corroborating this claim has been found. In some of these cases, evidence has been presented that claimed Coca-Cola is no more harmful than comparable soft drinks or acidic fruit juices like apple juice. Under normal conditions, scientific evidence indicates Coca-Cola's acidity causes no immediate harm.[13]
Like most other colas, Coca-Cola contains phosphoric acid. One study has shown that this hastens bone loss, contributing to illnesses such as osteoporosis.[14]
High fructose corn syrup
Since the late-1980s in the U.S., Coke has been made with high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar glucose or fructose to reduce costs. This has come under criticism because of concerns that the corn used to produce corn syrup may come from genetically altered plants. [15] Some nutritionists also caution against consumption of high fructose corn syrup because of possible links to obesity and diabetes. [16] High fructose corn syrup has been shown to be metabolized differently by the human body. [17]
There is some demand in the U.S. for Coke manufactured in Mexico, which is made with natural sugar. Though the Coca-Cola company claims that there is no difference in taste, many people claim to prefer Coke made with sugar. This causes problems with Coke's distribution and bottling network, because specific franchise districts are guaranteed an exclusive market area for Coke products. Mexican-made Coke can be found for sale nearly anyplace in the US with a Mexican grocery, and is typically sold in recycled glass bottles. Kosher for Passover Coke is also made with sugar, rather than corn syrup, due to the special dietary restrictions for observant Jews (Ashkenazi Jews are prohibited from consuming corn during this period) during the holiday. This variant can be found in some areas of the US around April.[18] Canadian Coke is also still made with sugar.
Business practices
As the largest seller of soft drinks in the world, including its flagship Coca-Cola drink, the Coca-Cola Company has been criticized for some of its corporate actions, from issues such as monopolistic practices, reliance on low health standards, racist employment practices, the privatization of water supplies, to the abuse of workers' rights, including the assassination of union members. There are many criticisms of both the company's products and trade practices.
Middle East and U.S. foreign policy
Due to its symbolic association with the United States, Coca-Cola has been a target of anti-Americanism in the Middle East. One such instance saw an erroneous claim that the Coca-Cola label contained anti-Islamic phrases in Arabic when viewed in a certain way. The Coca-Cola Company claimed its sales dropped 10 to 15% in Egypt after the rumour began spreading in 2000, even though the Grand Mufti of Egypt declared that the trademarked script logo "does not injure Islam or Muslims".[19]
On the other hand, in the 1960s, Coca-Cola was a target of criticism for not doing business in Israel, for fear of upsetting the Arab nations that surround it. Although the company claimed it had avoided Israel purely because of the small market for soft drinks there, it was revealed that Cyprus, with 1/10th the population of Israel, had a booming Coca-Cola industry. It emerged that Israel had been bypassed due to fears that the Arab League, which opposed Israel, would boycott Coca-Cola in the large market of the Arab states. When this became apparent, several Jewish institutions in the United States announced a boycott of Coca-Cola, which quickly forced the company to establish a franchise in Israel. The Arab League immediately in turn began a boycott of Coke which lasted from 1968 to 1991. Egypt, although not a member of the League, also boycotted the drink from 1968 to 1979.[20]
The United States foreign policy of supporting Israel continued to trouble Coke into the 21st century. In 2002, amidst renewed American support for Israel during the second Palestinian intifada, Mecca-Cola was launched as an alternative to Coca-Cola in Europe and the Middle East. According to its manufacturer, 10% of the proceeds would be donated to Palestinian charities, and another 10% to European ones. The drink's creator said it was produced as a way to combat "America's imperialism and Zionism by providing a substitute for American goods and increasing the blockade of countries boycotting American goods".[21]
India
In India, there exists widespread concern over how Coca-Cola is produced. In particular, it is feared that the water used to produce Coke may contain unhealthy levels of pesticides and other harmful chemicals. It has also been alleged that due to the amount of water required to produce Coca-Cola, aquifers are drying up and forcing farmers to relocate.[22]
In 2003, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-governmental organisation in New Delhi, said aerated waters produced by soft drinks manufacturers in India, including multinational giants Pepsico and Coca-Cola, contained toxins including lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos — pesticides that can contribute to cancer and a breakdown of the immune system. Tested products included Coke, Pepsi, and several other soft drinks, many produced by The Coca-Cola Company. CSE found that the Indian produced Pepsi's soft drink products had 36 times the level of pesticide residues permitted under European Union regulations; Coca Cola's 30 times. CSE said it had tested the same products in the US and found no such residues. After the pesticide allegations were made in 2003, Coca-Cola sales declined by 15%. However as of 2005, Coke and Pepsi together comprise 95% of soft-drink sales in India.[3]
The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo angrily denied the allegations; David Cox, Coke's Hong Kong-based communications director for Asia, accused Sunita Narain, CSE's director, of "brandjacking" — using Coke's brand name to draw attention to her campaign against pesticides. Narain defended CSE's actions by describing them as a natural follow-up to a previous study it did on bottled water.[4] In 2004, an Indian parliamentary committee backed up CSE's findings, and a government-appointed committee was tasked with developing the world's first pesticide standards for soft drinks.
Colombia
Independent delegations to Colombian bottling plants owned by Coca-Cola have resulted in reports of human rights violations and possibly murder. One delegation, led by a New York City council member found 179 cases of human rights abuses.
In 2003, the Colombian trade Union SINALTRAINAL called for an international boycott of Coca-Cola products. SINALTRAINAL alleged The Coca-Cola Company was employing intimidation, kidnapping and murder in Coca-Cola bottling plants through paramilitary units in order to drive down wages in Colombia. Specifically, The Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers were accused of directing or tolerating such tactics in order to prevent their employees from setting up trade unions, resulting in some of the leaders of the trade unions being murdered.[23] With the help of the United Steelworkers of America and the Labor Rights Fund SINALTRAINAL filed a lawsuit in 2001. However in April 2003, the court excluded The Coca-Cola Company and its Colombian unit from the suit because their bottling agreement did not give the company "explicit control" over labour issues in Colombia.
As of 2006, the lawsuit is continuing against the Colombian bottlers — Panamco and Bebidas y Alimentos.[24]
As a result of the SINALTRAINAL call for a boycott after The Coca-Cola Company's dismissal from the case, several universities in the United States such as the University of Michigan and New York University agreed to boycott the drink. However, the boycott was later rescinded by some, after the case was thrown out of court and the company announced it would investigate the charges. Some allege the court's decision and findings were unfair.[citation needed]
Resolutions have been made against Coca-Cola by Michigan State University, the York University Student Union, New York State United Teachers, the Rutgers School of Law Student Bar Association, and other organizations, owing to the company's history of labor and human rights abuses accusations.
International appeal
Coca-Cola is the best-selling soft drink in most countries. Nevertheless, there are some places like New York state in the United States of America, where Pepsi leads the market; Texas, in the USA, where Dr Pepper is the number one soft drink; and Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island in Canada, where Pepsi is the market leader. In Peru, Inca Kola, the "national beverage" (independently produced until 1999, when Coca-Cola acquired Corporación Inca Kola del Perú S.A., the Peruvian company that formerly produced it) is more popular.[5] In Sweden, despite Coca-Cola's strong holiday-oriented marketing efforts, Julmust outsells Coca-Cola during the Christmas season.[6] In Scotland, the locally produced Irn-Bru was more popular until 2005 when it was outsold by both Coca-Cola and Diet Coke[7].
It is often repeated as an urban legend that the Coca-Cola company mistranslated its product's name into a string of characters meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse filled with wax" (depending on local dialect) while attempting to market the product in Chinese. In reality, some local Chinese shopkeepers did create their own signs in an effort to approximate the sound of the product's name, resulting in kǒukē-kǒulà (口蝌口蜡), which might more literally be translated as "mouth tadpole, mouth wax". However, the Coca-Cola company itself never adopted such a translation. After reviewing all of the possible soundalikes, the company officially adopted kěkǒu-kělè (可口可乐), meaning roughly "to allow the mouth to be able to rejoice".
Notes
- ^ "Guinness World Record: Most popular soft drink". Retrieved 2006-05-30.
- ^ Mark Pendergrast (2000). For God, Country and Coca-Cola. Basic Books. pp. 41–45. ISBN 0465054684.
- ^ Pendergrast, pp. 45–47.
- ^ Bricker, Mike (1999). "Collecting Coca-Cola Bottles, Part 1: The First Coca-Cola Bottles". Retrieved May 16, 2006.
- ^ Mikkelson, Barbara (1999). "Design Err Shape". Retrieved May 16, 2006.
- ^ Barbara Mikkelson and David P. Mikkelson, "The Claus That Refreshes," snopes.com, February 27, 2001 (accessed June 10, 2005).
- ^ Jones, Eleanor & Ritzmann, Florian. "The Coca-Cola Company Under the Nazis". Retrieved May 16, 2006.
- ^ Seeley, Bill. "Anodizing". May 1, 1997 (accessed January 15, 2006).
- ^ Rielly, Edward J (2003). Baseball and American Culture: Across the Diamond. Haworth Press. p. 133. ISBN 0789014858.
- ^ Miller, M. "Quality Stuff: Firm is Peddling Cocaine, and Deals are legit" Wall Street Journal 27 October 1994.
- ^ Jacobson, Michael F. (2005). "Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks are Harming Americans' Health". Retrieved June 10, 2005.
- ^ Center for Science in the Public Interest (1997). "Label Caffeine Content of Foods, Scientists Tell FDA." Retrieved June 10, 2005.
- ^ Mikkelson, Barbara & Mikkelson, David P. (2004). "Acid Slip". Retrieved June 10, 2005.
- ^ ASBMR (2003). "Cola Soft Drinks May Contribute to Lower Bone Mineral Density in Women". Retrieved May 16, 2006.
- ^ Forristal, Linda Joyce (2003). "The Murky World of High Fructose Corn Syrup". Retrieved May 16, 2006.
- ^ "Single food ingredient the cause of obesity ? New study has industry up in arms". (Apr. 26, 2004). FoodNavigator.com.
- ^ Sanda, Bill (2004). "The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup". Retrieved May 16, 2006.
- ^ Chu, Louise (Nov. 9, 2004). "Is Mexican Coke the real thing?". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
- ^ Mikkelson, Barbara (2001). "Slam at Islam?". Retrieved May 16, 2006.
- ^ Mikkelson, Barbara (1999). "Red, White, and Jew". Retrieved May 16, 2006.
- ^ Murphy, Verity (Jan. 8, 2003). "Mecca Cola challenges US rival". BBC.
- ^ Jayaraman, Nityanand (May 28, 2002). Coca Cola Parches Agricultural Lands in India. CorpWatch India.
- ^ Adams, Cecil (2005). "Did Coca-Cola torture and kill workers in Latin America?". Retrieved May 20, 2006.
- ^ Armbruster, Stefan (Apr 2, 2003). Coke bottler faces death suit. BBC.
See also
- Odwalla
- The Coca-Cola Company
- The World of Coca-Cola
- Soft drink
- Pepsi-Cola (competitor)
- Cadbury Schweppes
- Jolt Cola
- OpenCola
- Mecca Cola
- Julmust
Brands owned by Coca-Cola
External links
- Official Coca-Cola website
- Ronen Liwski's Coca-Cola Cans Collection
- Coca-Cola UK TV Adverts
- The Straight Dope: Is it true Coca-Cola once contained cocaine?
- Coca-Cola urban legends (or not)
- Coca-Cola Myths & Rumors
- [8]Coca-Cola television advertisements from the motion picture archive at the Library of Congress (needed software: Windows, Mac: [9]Quick Time - Windows: [10]Media Player)
- Article: Mexican Coca Cola popular in United States
- Why Coke uses High Fructose Corn Syrup