Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a

carbonated soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a sugar ...

manufactured by

the Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, ...

. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a

patent medicine A patent medicine, sometimes called a proprietary medicine, is an over-the-counter (nonprescription) medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name (and sometimes a patent) and claimed ...

, it was invented in the late 19th century by

John Stith Pemberton John Stith Pemberton (July 8, 1831 – August 16, 1888) was an American pharmacist and Confederate States Army veteran who is best known as the inventor of Coca-Cola. In May 1886, he developed an early version of a beverage that would later bec ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. In 1888, Pemberton sold Coca-Cola's ownership rights to

Asa Griggs Candler Asa Griggs Candler (December 30, 1851 – March 12, 1929) was an American business tycoon and politician who in 1888 purchased the Coca-Cola formula, Coca-Cola recipe for $238.98 from chemist John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta Georgia, Atlanta, G ...

, a businessman, whose marketing tactics led Coca-Cola to its dominance of the global soft-drink market throughout the 20th and 21st century. The drink's name refers to two of its original ingredients:

coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. The plant is grown as a cash crop in the Argentine Northwest, Bolivia, Al ...

leaves and

kola nut The term kola nut usually refers to the seeds of certain species of plant of the genus ''Cola'', placed formerly in the cocoa family Sterculiaceae and now usually subsumed in the mallow family Malvaceae (as subfamily Sterculioideae). These cola ...

s (a source of

caffeine Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine t ...

). The current formula of Coca-Cola remains a closely guarded

trade secret Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily asc ...

; however, a variety of reported recipes and experimental recreations have been published. The secrecy around the formula has been used by Coca-Cola in its marketing as only a handful of anonymous employees know the formula. The drink has inspired imitators and created a whole classification of soft drink:

cola Cola is a carbonated soft drink flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, citrus oils and other flavorings. Cola became popular worldwide after the American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, a trademarked brand, in 1886, which was imita ...

s. The Coca-Cola Company produces

concentrate A concentrate is a form of Chemical substance, substance that has had the majority of its base component (in the case of a liquid: the solvent) removed. Typically, this will be the removal of water from a Solution (chemistry), solution or suspens ...

, which is then sold to licensed Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world. The bottlers, who hold exclusive territory contracts with the company, produce the finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate, in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. A typical can contains of sugar (usually in the form of

high-fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known as glucose–fructose, isoglucose and glucose–fructose syrup, is a sweetener made from corn starch. As in the production of conventional corn syrup, the starch is broken down into glucose by enzym ...

in North America). The bottlers then sell, distribute, and merchandise Coca-Cola to retail stores, restaurants, and

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...

s throughout the world. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for

soda fountain A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks, called fountain drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The device combines flavored syrup or syrup concent ...

s of major restaurants and

foodservice distributor A food service distributor is a company that provides food and non-food products to restaurants, cafeterias, industrial caterers, hospitals, schools/colleges/universities, nursing homes, and anywhere food is served away from the home. Description ...

s. The Coca-Cola Company has on occasion introduced other cola drinks under the Coke name. The most common of these is

Diet Coke Diet Coke (also branded as Coca-Cola Light, Coca-Cola Diet or Coca-Cola Light Taste) is a sugar-free and low-calorie soft drink produced and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. It contains artificial sweeteners instead of sugar. Unveiled on ...

, along with others including

Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola was introduced in 1983 as a caffeine-free variant of Coca-Cola. It was introduced to compete against Pepsi Free, which is now called Caffeine-Free Pepsi. The diet variant, Caffeine-Free Diet Coke, was the first variant o ...

Diet Coke Caffeine-Free Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola was introduced in 1983 as a caffeine-free variant of Coca-Cola. It was introduced to compete against Pepsi Free, which is now called Caffeine-Free Pepsi. The diet variant, Caffeine-Free Diet Coke, was the first variant o ...

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is a diet cola produced by The Coca-Cola Company. In some countries, it is sold as Coca-Cola No Sugar. The drink was introduced in 2005 as Coca-Cola Zero as a new no-calorie cola. In 2017, the formula was modified and the n ...

Coca-Cola Cherry Coca-Cola Cherry (originally marketed and stil commonly referred to as Cherry Coke) is a cherry-flavored version of Coca-Cola. It is produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers in the United States and some international ...

Coca-Cola Vanilla Coca-Cola Vanilla (commonly referred to as Vanilla Coke) is a vanilla-flavored version of Coca-Cola, invented by Contra and introduced in 2002 but subsequently discontinued in North America and the United Kingdom in 2005, only remaining availabl ...

, and special versions with

lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

, and coffee. Coca-Cola was called Coca-Cola Classic from July 1985 to 2009, to distinguish it from "

New Coke New Coke was the unofficial name of a reformulation of the soft drink Coca-Cola, introduced by The Coca-Cola Company in April 1985. It was renamed Coke II in 1990 and discontinued in July 2002. By 1985, Coca-Cola had been losing market share to ...

". Based on Interbrand's "best global brand" study of 2020, Coca-Cola was the world's sixth most valuable brand. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings each day. Coca-Cola ranked No. 87 in the 2018 ''Fortune'' 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

History

19th century historical origins

Confederate Colonel

John Pemberton John Stith Pemberton (July 8, 1831 – August 16, 1888) was an American pharmacist and Confederate States Army veteran who is best known as the inventor of Coca-Cola. In May 1886, he developed an early version of a beverage that would later bec ...

, wounded in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and addicted to morphine, also had a medical degree and began a quest to find a substitute for the problematic drug. In 1885 at Pemberton's Eagle Drug and Chemical House, his drugstore in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

, he registered

Pemberton's French Wine Coca Pemberton's French Wine Coca was a coca wine created by the druggist John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola. It was an alcoholic beverage, mixed with coca, kola nut, and damiana. The original recipe contained the ingredient cocaethylene (co ...

nerve tonic. Pemberton's tonic may have been inspired by the formidable success of

Vin Mariani Vin Mariani ( French: ''Mariani wine'') was a coca wine and patent medicine created in the 1860s by Angelo Mariani, a French chemist from the island of Corsica. Mariani became intrigued with coca and its medical and economic potential after read ...

, a French-

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

coca wine Coca wine is an alcoholic beverage combining wine with cocaine. One popular brand was ''Vin Mariani'', developed in 1863 by French-Corsican chemist and entrepreneur Angelo Mariani. At the end of the 19th century, the fear of drug abuse made coc ...

, but his recipe additionally included the African

, the beverage's source of caffeine. A Spanish drink called "Kola Coca" was presented at a contest in Philadelphia in 1885, a year before the official birth of Coca-Cola. The rights for this Spanish drink were bought by Coca-Cola in 1953. In 1886, when Atlanta and

Fulton County Fulton County is the name of eight counties in the United States of America. Most are named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the first practical steamboat: *Fulton County, Arkansas, named after Governor William Savin Fulton *Fulton County, Georgia *F ...

passed

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, a nonalcoholic version of

. It was marketed as "Coca-Cola: The temperance drink", which appealed to many people as the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

enjoyed wide support during this time. The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886, where it initially sold for five cents a glass. Drugstore

s were popular in the United States at the time due to the belief that

carbonated water Carbonated water (also known as soda water, sparkling water, fizzy water, club soda, water with gas, in many places as mineral water, or especially in the United States as seltzer or seltzer water) is water containing dissolved carbon dioxide gas, ...

was good for the health, and Pemberton's new drink was marketed and sold as a

, Pemberton claiming it a cure for many diseases, including morphine addiction, indigestion, nerve disorders, headaches, and

impotence Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of male ...

. Pemberton ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29 of the same year in the ''

Atlanta Journal ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

''. By 1888, three versions of Coca-Cola – sold by three separate businesses – were on the market. A co-partnership had been formed on January 14, 1888, between Pemberton and four Atlanta businessmen: J.C. Mayfield, A.O. Murphey, C.O. Mullahy, and E.H. Bloodworth. Not codified by any signed document, a verbal statement given by Asa Candler years later asserted under testimony that he had acquired a stake in Pemberton's company as early as 1887. John Pemberton declared that the "Coca-Cola" belonged to his son, Charley, but the other two manufacturers could continue to use the . Charley Pemberton's record of control over the "Coca-Cola" name was the underlying factor that allowed for him to participate as a major shareholder in the March 1888 Coca-Cola Company incorporation filing made in his father's place. Charley's exclusive control over the "Coca-Cola" name became a continual thorn in Asa Candler's side. Candler's oldest son, Charles Howard Candler, authored a book in 1950 published by

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

. In this definitive biography about his father, Candler specifically states: "on April 14, 1888, the young druggist Asa Griggs Candler purchased a one-third interest in the formula of an almost completely unknown proprietary elixir known as Coca-Cola." The deal was actually between John Pemberton's son Charley and Walker, Candler & Co. – with John Pemberton acting as cosigner for his son. For $50 down and $500 in 30 days, Walker, Candler & Co. obtained all of the one-third interest in the Coca-Cola Company that Charley held, all while Charley still held on to the name. After the April 14 deal, on April 17, 1888, one-half of the Walker/Dozier interest shares were acquired by Candler for an additional $750.

Company

In 1892, Candler set out to incorporate a second company, the Coca-Cola Company (the current corporation). When Candler had the earliest records of the "Coca-Cola Company" destroyed in 1910, the action was claimed to have been made during a move to new corporation offices around this time. After Candler had gained a better foothold on Coca-Cola in April 1888, he nevertheless was forced to sell the beverage he produced with the recipe he had under the names "Yum Yum" and "Koke". This was while Charley Pemberton was selling the elixir, although a cruder mixture, under the name "Coca-Cola", all with his father's blessing. After both names failed to catch on for Candler, by the middle of 1888, the Atlanta pharmacist was quite anxious to establish a firmer legal claim to Coca-Cola, and hoped he could force his two competitors, Walker and Dozier, completely out of the business, as well. John Pemberton died suddenly on August 16, 1888. Asa Candler then decided to move swiftly forward to attain full control of the entire Coca-Cola operation. Charley Pemberton, an alcoholic and opium addict, unnerved Asa Candler more than anyone else. Candler is said to have quickly maneuvered to purchase the exclusive rights to the name "Coca-Cola" from Pemberton's son Charley immediately after he learned of Dr. Pemberton's death. One of several stories states that Candler approached Charley's mother at John Pemberton's funeral and offered her $300 in cash for the title to the name. Charley Pemberton was found on June 23, 1894, unconscious, with a stick of opium by his side. Ten days later, Charley died at Atlanta's Grady Hospital at the age of 40. In Charles Howard Candler's 1950 book about his father, he stated: "On August 30

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he became the sole proprietor of Coca-Cola, a fact which was stated on letterheads, invoice blanks and advertising copy." With this action on August 30, 1888, Candler's sole control became technically all true. Candler had negotiated with Margaret Dozier and her brother Woolfolk Walker a full payment amounting to $1,000, which all agreed Candler could pay off with a series of notes over a specified time span. By May 1, 1889, Candler was now claiming full ownership of the Coca-Cola beverage, with a total investment outlay by Candler for the drink enterprise over the years amounting to $2,300. In 1914, Margaret Dozier, as co-owner of the original Coca-Cola Company in 1888, came forward to claim that her signature on the 1888 Coca-Cola Company bill of sale had been forged. Subsequent analysis of other similar transfer documents had also indicated John Pemberton's signature had most likely been forged as well, which some accounts claim was precipitated by his son Charley. On September 12, 1919, Coca-Cola Co. was purchased by a group of investors led by

Ernest Woodruff Ernest Woodruff (May 23, 1863 – June 5, 1944) was a businessman in the U.S. city of Atlanta, Georgia. Biography Woodruff was born in Columbus, Georgia. After relocating to Atlanta, he made his home in the Inman Park suburb, developed by his ...

Trust Company A trust company is a corporation that acts as a fiduciary, trustee or agent of trusts and agencies. A professional trust company may be independently owned or owned by, for example, a bank or a law firm, and which specializes in being a trust ...

for $25 million and reincorporated under

Delaware General Corporation Law The Delaware General Corporation Law (Title 8, Chapter 1 of the Delaware Code) is the statute of the Delaware Code that governs corporate law in the U.S. state of Delaware. Adopted in 1899, the statute has since seen Delaware become the most imp ...

. The company publicly offered 500,000 shares of the company for $40 a share. In 1986, the Coca-Cola Company merged with two of their bottling operators (owned by JTL Corporation and BCI Holding Corporation) to form Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (CCE). In December 1991, Coca-Cola Enterprises merged with the Johnston Coca-Cola Bottling Group, Inc.

Origins of bottling

The first bottling of Coca-Cola occurred in

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, at the Biedenharn Candy Company on March 12, 1894. The proprietor of the bottling works was

Joseph A. Biedenharn Joseph Augustus Biedenharn (December 13, 1866 – October 9, 1952) was an American businessman and confectioner credited in the summer of 1894 with having first bottled the soda fountain drink, Coca-Cola, at his wholesale candy company building i ...

. The original bottles were Hutchinson bottles, very different from the much later hobble-skirt design of 1915 now so familiar. A few years later two entrepreneurs from

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, namely Benjamin F. Thomas and

Joseph B. Whitehead Joseph Brown Whitehead (1864–1906) was a lawyer, who, along with Benjamin Thomas and John Thomas Lupton, obtained exclusive rights from Asa Candler to bottle and sell Coca-Cola. Early life Whitehead was born in Oxford, Mississippi in 1864. He ...

, proposed the idea of bottling and were so persuasive that Candler signed a contract giving them control of the procedure for only one dollar. Candler later realized that he had made a grave mistake. Candler never collected his dollar, but in 1899, Chattanooga became the site of the first Coca-Cola bottling company. Candler remained very content just selling his company's syrup. The loosely termed contract proved to be problematic for the Coca-Cola Company for decades to come. Legal matters were not helped by the decision of the bottlers to subcontract to other companies, effectively becoming parent bottlers. This contract specified that bottles would be sold at 5¢ each and had no fixed duration, leading to the

fixed price of Coca-Cola from 1886 to 1959 Between 1886 and 1959, the price of a glass or bottle of Coca-Cola was set at five cents, or one nickel, and remained fixed with very little local fluctuation. The Coca-Cola Company was able to maintain this price for several reasons, including ...

20th century

The first outdoor wall advertisement that promoted the Coca-Cola drink was painted in 1894 in

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. Cola syrup was sold as an over-the-counter

dietary supplement A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order ...

for upset stomach. By the time of its 50th anniversary, the soft drink had reached the status of a national icon in the US. In 1935, it was certified kosher by Atlanta rabbi

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. With the help of Harold Hirsch, Geffen was the first person outside the company to see the top-secret ingredients list after Coke faced scrutiny from the American Jewish population regarding the drink's kosher status. Consequently, the company made minor changes in the sourcing of some ingredients so it could continue to be consumed by America's Jewish population, including during

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Ancient Egypt, Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar, He ...

The longest running commercial Coca-Cola soda fountain anywhere was Atlanta's Fleeman's Pharmacy, which first opened its doors in 1914. Jack Fleeman took over the pharmacy from his father and ran it until 1995; closing it after 81 years. On July 12, 1944, the one-billionth gallon of Coca-Cola syrup was manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Cans of Coke first appeared in 1955.

Sugar replaced with high-fructose corn syrup

Sugar prices spiked in the 1970s because of

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

demand/hoarding and possible futures contracts market manipulation. The Soviet Union was the largest producer of sugar at the time. In 1974 Coca-Cola switched over to

because of the elevated prices. Sugar Prices 1962-2022

New Coke

On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola, amid much publicity, attempted to change the formula of the drink with "New Coke". Follow-up taste tests revealed most consumers preferred the taste of New Coke to both Coke and

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

but Coca-Cola management was unprepared for the public's

nostalgia Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek language, Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", ...

for the old drink, leading to a

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. The company gave in to protests and returned to the old formula under the name Coca-Cola Classic, on July 10, 1985. "New Coke" remained available and was renamed

Coke II New Coke was the unofficial name of a reformulation of the soft drink Coca-Cola, introduced by The Coca-Cola Company in April 1985. It was renamed Coke II in 1990 and discontinued in July 2002. By 1985, Coca-Cola had been losing market share to ...

in 1992; it was discontinued in 2002.

21st century

On July 5, 2005, it was revealed that Coca-Cola would resume operations in Iraq for the first time since the

Arab League The Arab League ( ar, الجامعة العربية, ' ), formally the League of Arab States ( ar, جامعة الدول العربية, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world, which is located in Northern Africa, Western Africa, E ...

boycotted the company in 1968. The formula remained unchanged. In January 2009, Coca-Cola stopped printing the word "Classic" on the labels of bottles sold in parts of the southeastern United States. The change was part of a larger strategy to rejuvenate the product's image. The word "Classic" was removed from all Coca-Cola products by 2011. In November 2009, due to a dispute over wholesale prices of Coca-Cola products,

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation (doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores (warehouse club). As of 2022, Costco i ...

stopped restocking its shelves with Coke and Diet Coke for two months; a separate pouring rights deal in 2013 saw Coke products removed from Costco food courts in favor of Pepsi. Some Costco locations (such as the ones in

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) additionally sell imported Coca-Cola from Mexico with cane sugar instead of corn syrup from separate distributors. Coca-Cola introduced the 7.5-ounce mini-can in 2009, and on September 22, 2011, the company announced price reductions, asking retailers to sell eight-packs for $2.99. That same day, Coca-Cola announced the 12.5-ounce bottle, to sell for 89 cents. A 16-ounce bottle has sold well at 99 cents since being re-introduced, but the price was going up to $1.19. In 2012, Coca-Cola resumed business in Myanmar after 60 years of absence due to US-imposed investment sanctions against the country. Coca-Cola's bottling plant is located in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

and is part of the company's five-year plan and $200 million investment in Myanmar. Coca-Cola with its partners is to invest US$5 billion in its operations in India by 2020. In February 2021, as a plan to combat plastic waste, Coca-Cola said that it would start selling its sodas in bottles made from 100% recycled plastic material in the United States, and by 2030 planned to recycle one bottle or can for each one it sold. Coca-Cola started by selling 2000 paper bottles to see if they held up due to the risk of safety and of changing the taste of the drink.

Production

Listed ingredients

* Carbonated water * Sugar (

sucrose Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...

(HFCS) depending on country of origin) *

Caffeine Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine t ...

Phosphoric acid Phosphoric acid (orthophosphoric acid, monophosphoric acid or phosphoric(V) acid) is a colorless, odorless phosphorus-containing solid, and inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is commonly encountered as an 85% aqueous solution, w ...

* Caramel color (E150d) * Natural flavorings A typical can of Coca-Cola (12 fl ounces/355 ml) contains 39 grams of sugar, 50 mg of sodium, 0 grams fat, 0 grams potassium, and 140 calories. On May 5, 2014, Coca-Cola said it was working to remove a controversial ingredient,

brominated vegetable oil Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) is a complex mixture of plant-derived triglycerides that have been reacted to contain atoms of the element bromine bonded to the molecules. Brominated vegetable oil is used primarily to help emulsify citrus-flavored ...

, from its drinks. A UK 330 ml can contains 35 grammes of sugar and 139 calories.

Formula of natural flavorings

The exact formula of Coca-Cola's natural flavorings (but not its other ingredients, which are listed on the side of the bottle or can) is a

. The original copy of the formula was held in

Truist Financial Truist Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company was formed in December 2019 as the result of the merger of BB&T (Branch Banking and Trust Company) and SunTrust Banks. Its b ...

's main vault in Atlanta for 86 years. Its predecessor, the Trust Company, was the

underwriter Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabilit ...

for the Coca-Cola Company's

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

in 1919. On December 8, 2011, the original secret formula was moved from the vault at

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to a new vault containing the formula which will be on display for visitors to its

World of Coca-Cola The World of Coca-Cola is a museum, located in Atlanta, Georgia, showcasing the history of the Coca-Cola Company. The complex opened to the public on May 24, 2007, relocating from and replacing the original exhibit, which was founded in 1990 in ...

museum in downtown Atlanta. Coke Museum

According to Snopes, a popular myth states that only two executives have access to the formula, with each executive having only half the formula. However, several sources state that while Coca-Cola does have a rule restricting access to only two executives, each knows the entire formula and others, in addition to the prescribed duo, have known the formulation process. On February 11, 2011,

Ira Glass Ira Jeffrey Glass (; born March 3, 1959) is an American public radio personality. He is the host and producer of the radio and television series ''This American Life'' and has participated in other NPR programs, including ''Morning Edition'', ...

said on his PRI radio show, ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internation ...

'', that ''TAL'' staffers had found a recipe in "Everett Beal's Recipe Book", reproduced in the February 28, 1979, issue of ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'', that they believed was either Pemberton's original formula for Coca-Cola, or a version that he made either before or after the product hit the market in 1886. The formula basically matched the one found in Pemberton's diary. Coca-Cola archivist Phil Mooney acknowledged that the recipe "could be a precursor" to the formula used in the original 1886 product, but emphasized that Pemberton's original formula is not the same as the one used in the current product.

Use of stimulants in formula

When launched, Coca-Cola's two key ingredients were

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

and

. The cocaine was derived from the

leaf and the caffeine from

(also spelled "cola nut" at the time), leading to the name Coca-Cola.

Coca leaf

Pemberton called for five

ounce The ounce () is any of several different units of mass, weight or volume and is derived almost unchanged from the , an Ancient Roman units of measurement, Ancient Roman unit of measurement. The #International avoirdupois ounce, avoirdupois ounce ...

s of coca leaf per gallon of syrup (approximately 37 g/L), a significant dose; in 1891, Candler claimed his formula (altered extensively from Pemberton's original) contained only a tenth of this amount. Coca-Cola once contained an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per glass. (For comparison, a typical dose or "line" of cocaine is 50–75 mg.) In 1903, it was removed. After 1904, instead of using fresh leaves, Coca-Cola started using "spent" leaves – the leftovers of the cocaine-extraction process with trace levels of cocaine. Since then (by 1929), Coca-Cola has used a cocaine-free coca leaf extract. Today, that extract is prepared at a

Stepan Company Stepan Company is a manufacturer of specialty chemicals headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. The company was founded in 1932 by Alfred C. Stepan, Jr., and has approximately 2,000 employees. It is currently run by his grandson, F. Quinn Stepan, J ...

plant in

Maywood, New Jersey Maywood is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 9,555, Stepan Company extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it then sells to

Mallinckrodt Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals is an American-Irish domiciled manufacturer of specialty pharmaceuticals (namely, adrenocorticotropic hormone), generic drugs and imaging agents. In 2017 it generated 90% of its sales from the U.S. healthcare system. ...

, the only company in the United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use. Long after the syrup had ceased to contain any significant amount of cocaine, in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

"dope" remained a common colloquialism for Coca-Cola, and "dope-wagons" were trucks that transported it.

Kola nuts for caffeine

The kola nut acts as a flavoring and the original source of caffeine in Coca-Cola. It contains about 2.0 to 3.5% caffeine, and has a bitter flavor. In 1911, the US government sued in ''

United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola ''United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola'', 241 U.S. 265 (1916), was a federal suit under which the government unsuccessfully attempted to force The Coca-Cola Company to remove caffeine from its product. Context In 1906, Har ...

'', hoping to force the Coca-Cola Company to remove caffeine from its formula. The court found that the syrup, when diluted as directed, would result in a beverage containing 1.21

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legume ...

(or 78.4 mg) of caffeine per serving. The case was decided in favor of the Coca-Cola Company at the district court, but subsequently in 1912, the US

Pure Food and Drug Act The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, also known as Dr. Wiley's Law, was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws which was enacted by Congress in the 20th century and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. ...

was amended, adding caffeine to the list of "habit-forming" and "deleterious" substances which must be listed on a product's label. In 1913 the case was appealed to the

Sixth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of K ...

in Cincinnati, where the ruling was affirmed, but then appealed again in 1916 to the Supreme Court, where the government effectively won as a new trial was ordered. The company then voluntarily reduced the amount of caffeine in its product, and offered to pay the government's legal costs to settle and avoid further litigation. Coca-Cola contains 34 mg of caffeine per 12 fluid ounces (9.8 mg per 100 ml).

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 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 sweeteners, putting the mixture into cans and bottles, and carbonating it, which the bottlers then sell and distribute to retail stores, vending machines, restaurants, and foodservice distributors. The Coca-Cola Company owns minority shares in some of its largest franchises, such as

Coca-Cola Enterprises Coca-Cola Enterprises was a marketer, producer, and distributor of Coca-Cola products. It was formerly the anchor bottler for Western Europe and most of North America. Coca-Cola Enterprises' products included Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, ...

Coca-Cola Amatil Coca-Cola Amatil Limited (CCA) was an Australian bottler of non-alcoholic beverages that existed from 1904 to 2021, when it merged with Coca-Cola European Partners to form Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. It was one of the largest bottlers of no ...

Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company Coca-Cola HBC AG also known as Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company or just Coca-Cola Hellenic is the world's third-largest Coca-Cola anchor bottler in terms of volume with sales of more than 2 billion unit cases. Coca-Cola HBC's shares are primar ...

, and

Coca-Cola FEMSA Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A.B. de C.V., known as Coca-Cola FEMSA or KOF, is a Mexican multinational beverage company headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is a subsidiary of FEMSA which owns 47.8% of its stock, with 27.8% held by wholly owned subsidi ...

, as well as some smaller ones, such as

Coca-Cola Bottlers Uzbekistan Coca-Cola Bottlers Uzbekistan (Uzbek: Coca-Cola Ichimligi Uzbekiston Ltd.) is a joint venture between the Uzbek state and the Coca-Cola Company established in 1993. The company is headquartered in Tashkent and has four production facilities: two ...

, but fully independent bottlers produce almost half of the volume sold in the world. Independent bottlers are allowed to sweeten the drink according to local tastes. The bottling plant in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

, Macedonia, received the 2009 award for "Best Bottling Company".

Geographic spread

Since it announced its intention to begin distribution in Myanmar in June 2012, Coca-Cola has been officially available in every country in the world except Cuba and North Korea. However, it is reported to be available in both countries as a

grey import A parallel import is a non-counterfeit product imported from another country without the permission of the intellectual property owner. Parallel imports are often referred to as grey product and are implicated in issues of international trade, a ...

. Coca-Cola has been a point of legal discussion in the Middle East. In the early 20th century, a fatwa was created in Egypt to discuss the question of "whether Muslims were permitted to drink Coca-Cola and Pepsi cola." The fatwa states: "According to the Muslim Hanefite, Shafi'ite, etc., the rule in Islamic law of forbidding or allowing foods and beverages is based on the presumption that such things are permitted unless it can be shown that they are forbidden on the basis of the Qur'an." The Muslim jurists stated that, unless the Qu'ran specifically prohibits the consumption of a particular product, it is permissible to consume. Another clause was discussed, whereby the same rules apply if a person is unaware of the condition or ingredients of the item in question. Coca-Cola first entered the Chinese market in the 1920s and opted for a localized name "" (Ke-Ke Ken-La), but the name sounded like chewing wax blocks, resulting in poor product sales. In the 1930s, the new localized name "（）" (Ke-kou ke-le), which means "Tasty and Fun", was replaced, taking into account the effects of syllable translation and meaning translation, so that the sales of the product increased and became a good translation case. The story introduction from Coca-Cola mentions that

Chiang Yee Chiang Yee (; 19 May 1903 – 26 October 1977), self-styled as "The Silent Traveller" (哑行者), was a Chinese poet, author, painter and calligrapher. The success of ''The Silent Traveller: A Chinese Artist in Lakeland'' (1937) was followed by ...

provided the new localized name, but there are also sources that the localized name appeared before 1935, or that it was given by someone named Jerome T. Lieu who studied at Columbia University in New York.

Brand portfolio

This is a list of variants of Coca-Cola introduced around the world. In addition to the caffeine-free version of the original, additional fruit flavors have been included over the years. Not included here are versions of

and

; variant versions of those no-calorie colas can be found at their respective articles. *

(1983–present) – Coca-Cola without the caffeine. *

(1985–present) – Coca-Cola with a cherry flavor. Was available in Canada starting in 1996. Originally marketed as Cherry Coke (Cherry Coca-Cola) in North America until 2006. *

/ Coca-Cola II (1985–2002) – An unpopular formula change, remained after the original formula quickly returned and was later rebranded as Coca-Cola II until its full discontinuation in 2002. In 2019, New Coke was re-introduced to the market to promote the third season of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

original series, ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Prod ...

.'' *

Golden Coca-Cola Golden Coca-Cola was a limited edition of Coca-Cola, produced by Beijing Coca-Cola company to celebrate Beijing's successful bid to host the Olympics. The company produced 30,000 boxes on July 13, 2001. The can is printed in gold and red with pa ...

(2001) was a limited edition produced by Beijing Coca-Cola company to celebrate Beijing's successful bid to host the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. *

Coca-Cola with Lemon Coca-Cola with Lemon is a soft drink brand owned by The Coca-Cola Company, launched to compete with Pepsi Twist. It is produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company's bottlers. Diet Coke ...

(2001–2005) – Coca-Cola with a lemon flavor. Available in: Australia,

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark,

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Republika Srpska. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists ...

, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Korea, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand,

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

- Gaza *

(2002–2005; 2007–present) – Coca-Cola with a vanilla flavor. Available in: Austria, Australia, China, Czech Republic, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Malaysia, Slovakia, South-Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was reintroduced in June 2007 by popular demand. *

Coca-Cola with Lime Coca-Cola with Lime is a variation of the original Coca-Cola. It was introduced in North America in the first quarter of 2005, before being quietly discontinued in 2006. The formula is the same as regular Coke but with added lime flavor. The deci ...

(2005–present) – Coca-Cola with a lime flavor. Available in Belgium, Lithuania, Netherlands, Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. *

Coca-Cola Raspberry Coca-Cola Raspberry is a Coca-Cola drink with a raspberry flavor that was sold in New Zealand on a trial basis. A "Diet Coke Raspberry" version was also sold. Both were first introduced on June 1, 2005, and had been discontinued by the end of the ...

(2005; 2009–present) – Coca-Cola with a raspberry flavor. Originally only available in New Zealand. Available in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom in

Coca-Cola Freestyle Coca-Cola Freestyle is a touch screen soda fountain introduced by The Coca-Cola Company in 2009. The machine features 165 different Coca-Cola drink products, as well as custom flavors. The machine allows users to select from mixtures of flavors o ...

fountain since 2009. *

Coca-Cola Citra Coca-Cola Citra is a beverage made by The Coca-Cola Company. The design shows yellow and green stripes, and a pair of citrus fruits resembling a lemon and a lime. It is accompanied by Coca-Cola Light with Citra in Mexico and Japan, and Diet Coke w ...

(2005–present) – Coca-Cola with a citrus flavor. Only available in New Zealand, and Japan. *

Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla and Diet Coke Black Cherry Vanilla were varieties of Coca-Cola that were launched in January 2006 by The Coca-Cola Company in United States. The diet version was sweetened with a blend of aspartame and acesulfame p ...

(2006–2007) – Coca-Cola with a combination of black cherry and vanilla flavor. It replaced and was replaced by Vanilla Coke in June 2007. *

Coca-Cola Blāk Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

(2006–2008) – Coca-Cola with a rich coffee flavor, formula depends on the country. Only available in the United States, France, Canada, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Lithuania *

Coca-Cola Orange Coca-Cola Orange Vanilla, formerly Coca-Cola Orange and in some markets Coca-Cola with Orange, is a variation of Coca-Cola originally available for a limited time. It was introduced in June 2007, in only Gibraltar, following the success of the ...

(2007) – Coca-Cola with an orange flavor. Was available in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar for a limited time. In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland it is sold under the label

Mezzo Mix Mezzo Mix (official notation: mezzo mix) is a product of The Coca-Cola Company, first introduced in Germany in 1973. It is a mixture of orange soda and cola, a beverage popular in German-speaking countries, commonly known there as spezi, the gen ...

. Currently available in

fountain outlets in the United States since 2009, and in the United Kingdom since 2014. *

Coca-Cola Life Coca-Cola Life is a reduced-calorie version of Coca-Cola, made using stevia and sugar as sweeteners. It was first released in Argentina and Chile after five years of research together in these countries. The formulation varied by market location ...

(2013–2020) – A version of Coca-Cola with

stevia Stevia () is a natural sweetener and sugar substitute derived from the leaves of the plant species ''Stevia rebaudiana'', native to Paraguay and Brazil. The active compounds are steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside), which h ...

and sugar as sweeteners rather than simply sugar. * Coca-Cola Ginger (2016–present) – A version that mixes in the taste of

ginger beer Traditional ginger beer is a sweetened and carbonated, usually non-alcoholic beverage. Historically it was produced by the natural fermentation of prepared ginger spice, yeast and sugar. Current ginger beers are often manufactured rather than ...

. Available in Australia, New Zealand, and as a limited edition in Vietnam. * Coca-Cola Orange Vanilla (2019–2021) – Coca-Cola with an orange vanilla flavor (intended to imitate the flavor of an orange Creamsicle). Made available nationwide in the United States on February 25, 2019. * Coca-Cola Energy (2019–present) – An energy drink with a flavor similar to standard Coca-Cola, with

guarana Guaraná ( from the Portuguese ''guaraná'' ), ''Paullinia cupana'', syns. ''P. crysan, P. sorbilis'') is a climbing plant in the family Sapindaceae, native to the Amazon basin and especially common in Brazil. Guaraná has large leaves and cl ...

vitamin B3 Vitamin B3, colloquially referred to as niacin, is a vitamin family that includes three forms or vitamers: niacin (nicotinic acid), nicotinamide (niacinamide), and nicotinamide riboside. All three forms of vitamin B3 are converted within the bo ...

(

niacinamide Niacinamide or Nicotinamide (NAM) is a form of vitamin B3 found in food and used as a dietary supplement and medication. As a supplement, it is used by mouth to prevent and treat pellagra (niacin deficiency). While nicotinic acid (niacin) may b ...

), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), and extra caffeine. Introduced in 2019 in the United Kingdom, and released in the United States and Canada in January 2020. Also available in zero-sugar, cherry, and zero-sugar + cherry variants. In May 2021, the company announced they would discontinue the product in North America but it will remain available in other places and it will focus on its traditional beverages. * Coca-Cola Cinnamon (2019–2020) – Coca-Cola with cinnamon flavor. Released in October 2019 in the United States as a limited release for the 2019 holiday season. Made available again in 2020 for the holiday season. *Coca-Cola with Coffee (2019–present) – Coca-Cola, with coffee. Introduced in 2019 in various European markets, and released in the United States and Canada in January 2021. Available in dark blend, vanilla and caramel versions, and also in zero-sugar dark blend and vanilla variants. * Coca-Cola Cherry Vanilla (2020–present) – Coca-Cola with cherry vanilla flavor. Released in the United States on February 10, 2020. *

Coca-Cola Starlight Coca-Cola Starlight is a limited-edition variant of Coca-Cola. Introduced in 2022 as the first in the Coca-Cola Creations line, it was produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers. The beverage features a red color and a uni ...

(2022–present) – Coca-Cola with a mysterious space-inspired flavor. Released in North America on February 21, 2022, as a limited edition.

Logo design

The Coca-Cola logo was created by John Pemberton's bookkeeper,

Frank Mason Robinson Frank Mason Robinson (September 12, 1845 – July 8, 1923) was an important early marketer and advertiser of what became known as Coca-Cola. Career During the winter of 1885, Robinson and his business partner, David Doe, came to the South i ...

, in 1885. Robinson came up with the name and chose the logo's distinctive cursive script. The writing style used, known as

Spencerian script Spencerian script is a script style based on Copperplate script that was used in the United States from approximately 1850 to 1925, and was considered the American ''de facto'' standard writing style for business correspondence prior to the wide ...

, was developed in the mid-19th century and was the dominant form of formal handwriting in the United States during that period. Robinson also played a significant role in early Coca-Cola advertising. His promotional suggestions to Pemberton included giving away thousands of free drink coupons and plastering the city of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

with publicity banners and

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

signs. Coca-Cola came under scrutiny in Egypt in 1951 because of a

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

that the Coca-Cola logo, when reflected in a mirror, spells out "No

Mohammed Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

" in Arabic.

Contour bottle design

The Coca-Cola bottle, called the "contour bottle" within the company, was created by bottle designer

Earl R. Dean Earl R. Dean (March 19, 1890 – January 8, 1972) designed the famous contour Coca-Cola bottle. In 1914, Harold Hirsch, a lawyer for the Coca-Cola Company, came up with a plan to launch a national competition in which bottle manufactures across ...

and Coca-Cola's

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

Harold Hirsch Harold D. Hirsch (October 19, 1881 – September 25, 1939) was a student at the University of Georgia from 1898 to 1901 who also played football for his alma mater. After graduation from the University of Georgia, he studied law at Columbia Unive ...

. In 1915, the Coca-Cola Company was represented by their general counsel to launch a competition among its bottle suppliers as well as any competition entrants to create a new bottle for their beverage that would distinguish it from other beverage bottles, "a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was." Chapman J. Root, president of

The Root Glass Company The Root Glass Company originated as Root Glass Works in Vigo County, Indiana. Businessman and Pennsylvania native Chapman J. Root (November 22, 1864 - November 20, 1945) opened the original glass company on May 27, 1901, at Third and Voorhees Stree ...

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

, turned the project over to members of his supervisory staff, including company auditor T. Clyde Edwards, plant superintendent Alexander Samuelsson, and

, bottle designer and supervisor of the bottle molding room. Root and his subordinates decided to base the bottle's design on one of the soda's two ingredients, the

coca leaf Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. The plant is grown as a cash crop in the Argentine Northwest, Bolivia, Al ...

or the

, but were unaware of what either ingredient looked like. Dean and Edwards went to the

Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library is located in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was built in 1906 by the Modern Construction Company of Terre Haute. The building is in the Beaux Arts architectural style. The Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library played an ...

and were unable to find any information about coca or kola. Instead, Dean was inspired by a picture of the gourd-shaped

cocoa pod ''Theobroma cacao'', also called the cacao tree and the cocoa tree, is a small ( tall) evergreen tree in the family Malvaceae. Its seeds, cocoa beans, are used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate. The largest pro ...

in the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

''. Dean made a rough sketch of the pod and returned to the plant to show Root. He explained to Root how he could transform the shape of the pod into a bottle. Root gave Dean his approval. Faced with the upcoming scheduled maintenance of the mold-making machinery, over the next 24 hours Dean sketched out a concept drawing which was approved by Root the next morning. Chapman Root approved the prototype bottle and a

design patent In the United States, a design patent is a form of legal protection granted to the ornamental design of an article of manufacture. Design patents are a type of industrial design right. Ornamental designs of jewelry, furniture, beverage containers ...

was issued on the bottle in November 1915. The prototype never made it to production since its middle diameter was larger than its base, making it unstable on

conveyor belt A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys (sometimes referred to ...

s. Dean resolved this issue by decreasing the bottle's middle diameter. During the 1916 bottler's convention, Dean's contour bottle was chosen over other entries and was on the market the same year. By 1920, the contour bottle became the standard for the Coca-Cola Company. A revised version was also patented in 1923. Because the Patent Office releases the ''Patent Gazette'' on Tuesday, the bottle was patented on December 25, 1923, and was nicknamed the "Christmas bottle." Today, the contour Coca-Cola bottle is one of the most recognized packages on the planet. As a reward for his efforts, Dean was offered a choice between a $500 bonus or a lifetime job at The Root Glass Company. He chose the lifetime job and kept it until the

Owens-Illinois Glass Company O-I Glass, Inc. is an American company that specializes in container glass products. It is one of the world's leading manufacturers of packaging products, holding the position of largest manufacturer of glass containers in North America, South A ...

bought out The Root Glass Company in the mid-1930s. Dean went on to work in other Midwestern glass factories.

Raymond Loewy Raymond Loewy ( , ; November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986) was a French-born American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by ''Time'' magazi ...

updated the design in 1955 to accommodate larger formats. Others have attributed inspiration for the design not to the cocoa pod, but to a Victorian hooped dress. In 1944, Associate Justice

Roger J. Traynor Roger John Traynor (February 12, 1900 – May 14, 1983) was the 23rd Chief Justice of California (1964-1970) and an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California from 1940 to 1964. Previously, he had served as a Deputy Attorney General of ...

of the

Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

took advantage of a case involving a waitress injured by an exploding Coca-Cola bottle to articulate the doctrine of

strict liability In criminal and civil law, strict liability is a standard of liability under which a person is legally responsible for the consequences flowing from an activity even in the absence of fault or criminal intent on the part of the defendant. ...

for defective products. Traynor's

concurring opinion In law, a concurring opinion is in certain legal systems a written opinion by one or more judges of a court which agrees with the decision made by the majority of the court, but states different (or additional) reasons as the basis for their deci ...

in ''

Escola v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. ''Escola v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co.'', 24 Cal.2d 453, 150 P.2d 436 (1944), was a decision of the Supreme Court of California involving an injury caused by an exploding bottle of Coca-Cola. It was an important case in the development of the common ...

'' is widely recognized as a landmark case in US law today.

Examples

File:ContourBottleConceptSketch.jpg,

's original 1915 concept drawing of the contour Coca-Cola bottle File:1915 contour Coca-Cola contour bottle prototype.png, The prototype never made it to production since its middle diameter was larger than its base, making it unstable on

s. File:Coca-Cola 1915 Contour bottle.jpg, Final production version with slimmer middle section File:6 Coca-Cola bottles.jpg, Numerous historical Coke bottles

Designer bottles

Karl Lagerfeld Karl Otto Lagerfeld (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, creative director, artist and photographer. He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position held from 1983 ...

is the latest designer to have created a collection of aluminum bottles for Coca-Cola. Lagerfeld is not the first fashion designer to create a special version of the famous Coca-Cola Contour bottle. A number of other limited edition bottles by fashion designers for Coca-Cola Light soda have been created in the last few years, including

Jean Paul Gaultier Jean Paul Gaultier (; born 24 April 1952) is a French haute couture and prêt-à-porter fashion designer. He is described as an "enfant terrible" of the fashion industry and is known for his unconventional designs with motifs including corsets, ...

. In 2009, in Italy, Coca-Cola Light had a Tribute to Fashion to celebrate 100 years of the recognizable contour bottle. Well known Italian designers

Alberta Ferretti Alberta Ferretti (; ) is an Italian fashion designer and dressmaker. She designs for her namesake brand Alberta Ferretti, and designed for Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti until 2014. Her showroom is in Milan, Italy but her studio is in her nati ...

Blumarine Blufin S.p.A. is an Italian fashion house founded by Anna Molinari and her late husband Gianpaolo Tarabini. The core brand is Blumarine, which they started in 1977, followed by Miss Blumarine (1987, 8- to 14-year-old girls), Blugirl (1995, for te ...

Etro Etro is a family-managed Italian fashion house founded in 1968. It is mainly known for its paisley patterns, which the company started making in 1981. History Etro was founded in 1968 by Gerolamo "Gimmo" Etro as a textile design company. By the t ...

Fendi Fendi () is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925, Fendi is known for its fur, fur accessories, and leather goods. ...

Marni The name Marni originates from several languages, including Hebrew, meaning "rejoice", and Latin as a variant of " Marina", meaning "of the sea". It also has derivations from Gaelic and Swahili. "Marni" and "Marnie" are the two most common spell ...

Missoni Missoni is an Italian luxury fashion house based in Varese, and known for its colorful knitwear designs. The company was founded by Ottavio ("Tai") and Rosita Missoni in 1953. History Early beginnings The business was founded in 1953, when O ...

Moschino Moschino () is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1983 by Franco Moschino in Milan known for over-the-top, campy designs. The company specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, and fashion accessories. History Founding and 1990s Franco Mosc ...

, and

Versace Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978 known for flashy prints and bright colors. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as w ...

each designed limited edition bottles. In 2019, Coca-Cola shared the first beverage bottle made with ocean plastic.

Competitors

, the flagship product of

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...

, the Coca-Cola Company's main rival in the soft drink industry, is usually second to Coke in sales, and outsells Coca-Cola in some markets.

RC Cola RC Cola (short for Royal Crown Cola) is an American brand of cola invented by Claud A. Hatcher in 1905. Royal Crown Ginger Ale was the first product of the RC Cola line, and it referred to the original ingredient: ginger. More ingredients we ...

, now owned by the

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Dr Pepper Snapple Group (also called Dr. Pepper/7up Inc.) was an American multinational soft drink company based in Plano, Texas, and as of July 2018 it is a business unit of the publicly traded conglomerate Keurig Dr Pepper. Formerly Cadbury ...

, the third-largest soft drink manufacturer, is also widely available. Around the world, many local brands compete with Coke. In South and Central America

Kola Real Kola Real ("Royal Cola" or "Real Cola") is one of the most popular brands of Ajegroup,Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

Corsica Cola Corsica Cola is a regional cola distributed by the Corsican brewery Pietra (owner of the brand) but produced in Cholet in western France. Corsica Cola benefited from an unexpected kick start during its launch in May 2003: a heat wave. The stock ...

, made by brewers of the local Pietra beer, is a growing competitor to Coca-Cola. In the French region of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

Breizh Cola Breizh Cola (, from the Breton word for Brittany), is a brand of cola bottled by Phare OuestLiterally ''West lighthouse''. This is a pun on the phrase Far West, the French equivalent of Wild West. and sold in Brittany, France. It is one of many ...

is available. In Peru,

Inca Kola Inca Kola (also known as "the Golden Kola" in international advertising) is a soft drink that was created in Peru in 1935 by British immigrant Joseph Robinson Lindley. The soda has a sweet, fruity flavor that somewhat resembles its main ingredien ...

outsells Coca-Cola, which led the Coca-Cola Company to purchase the brand in 1999. In Sweden,

Julmust ''Julmust'' ( sv, jul "yule" and ' English: 'must' "not-yet-fermented juice of fruit or berries", though there is no such juice in ''julmust'') is a soft drink that is mainly consumed in Sweden around Christmas. During Easter, the name is ' (from ...

outsells Coca-Cola during the Christmas season. In Scotland, the locally produced

Irn-Bru Irn-Bru ( "iron brew", ) is a Scottish carbonated soft drink, often described as "Scotland's other national drink" (after whisky). Introduced in 1901, the drink is produced in Westfield, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, by A.G. Barr of Glasgow ...

was more popular than Coca-Cola until 2005, when Coca-Cola and Diet Coke began to outpace its sales. In the former

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Vita Cola Vita Cola is a cola beverage produced in Germany. Vita Cola's flavor is described as cola-like with a strong note of lemon and fruit flavoring. It is also noticeably less sweet than Afri-Cola, Coca-Cola or Pepsi, and has a slightly thicker consi ...

, invented during communist rule, is gaining popularity. In India, Coca-Cola ranked third behind the leader, Pepsi, and local drink

Thums Up Thums Up is an Indian multinational brand of cola in India. It was introduced in 1977 to offset the withdrawal of The Coca-Cola Company from India. The brand was later bought by Coca-Cola who re-launched it in order to fight against Pepsi to c ...

. The Coca-Cola Company purchased Thums Up in 1993. , Coca-Cola held a 60.9% market-share in India. Tropicola, a domestic drink, is served in Cuba instead of Coca-Cola, due to a United States embargo. French brand

Mecca-Cola Mecca-Cola is a cola-flavoured carbonated beverage. The flagship product of the Mecca Cola World Company, it is marketed as an alternative to U.S. brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola to "pro-Muslim" consumers. The product's name contains the ...

and British brand

Qibla Cola Qibla Cola was a cola-flavored carbonated beverage produced by the Qibla Cola Company, based in Derby, England. The company differentiated itself and its products from its rivals by making an ethical stance in all its operations including givi ...

are competitors to Coca-Cola in the Middle East. In Turkey,

Cola Turka Cola is a carbonated soft drink flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, citrus oils and other flavorings. Cola became popular worldwide after the American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, a trademarked brand, in 1886, which was imita ...

, in Iran and the Middle East, Zamzam and

Parsi Cola Parsi Cola is a cola-flavoured soft drink produced in Iran by Sasan, which bottles Pepsi in the region along with Iranian brands Orange Shad Noosh & Lemon Shad Noosh. It is popular in parts of the Middle East. In Iran it is the main competitor to ...

, in some parts of China,

China Cola Future Cola is a cola-flavoured carbonated beverage manufactured by Hangzhou Wahaha Group of China, where its market share is 12-15%, making it the third-largest manufacturer of soft drinks in China behind Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola. It is dist ...

, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia,

Kofola Kofola () is a carbonated soft drink produced by the eponymous Czech company, which is headquartered in Ostrava, Czech Republic. It is the principal rival of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The company is one of the leading ...

, in Slovenia,

Cockta Cockta () is a soft drink from Croatia. Its main ingredient comes from dog rose hip; the other ingredients come from 11 different herbs, lemon and orange. Its original variant contains neither caffeine nor orthophosphoric acid. Origins The origin ...

, and the inexpensive Mercator Cola, sold only in the country's biggest supermarket chain,

Mercator __NOTOC__ Mercator (Latin for "merchant") may refer to: People * Marius Mercator (c. 390–451), a Catholic ecclesiastical writer * Arnold Mercator, a 16th-century cartographer * Gerardus Mercator, a 16th-century cartographer ** Mercator 1569 ...

, are some of the brand's competitors. Classiko Cola, made by Tiko Group, the largest manufacturing company in Madagascar, is a competitor to Coca-Cola in many regions. In 2021, Coca-Cola petitioned to cancel registrations for the marks Thums Up and

Limca Limca is an Indian multinational brand of lemon- and lime-flavoured carbonated soft drink made primarily in India and certain parts of the U.S. It contains 60 calories per 150ml can. The formula does not include fruit, relying instead on arti ...

issued to Meenaxi Enterprise, Inc. based on misrepresentation of source. The

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) is an administrative tribunal within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The TTAB is empowered to determine the right to register a trademark. It has no authority to determine the righ ...

concluded that "Meenaxi engaged in blatant misuse in a manner calculated to trade on the goodwill and reputation of Coca-Cola in an attempt to confuse consumers in the United States that its Thums Up and Limca marks were licensed or produced by the source of the same types of cola and lemon-lime soda sold under these marks for decades in India."

Advertising

Coca-Cola's advertising has significantly affected

American culture The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The U ...

, and it is frequently credited with inventing the modern image of

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

as an old man in a red-and-white suit. Although the company did start using the red-and-white Santa image in the 1930s, with its winter advertising campaigns illustrated by

Haddon Sundblom Haddon Hubbard "Sunny" Sundblom (June 22, 1899 – March 10, 1976) was an American artist of Swedish and Finnish descent and best known for the images of Santa Claus he created for The Coca-Cola Company. Sundblom's friend Lou Prentice was the ...

, the motif was already common.See George McKa
'Consumption, Coca-colonisation, cultural resistance – and Santa Claus'
, in Sheila Whiteley, ed. (2008) ''Christmas, Ideology and Popular Culture''. Edinburgh University Press, pp. 50–70. Coca-Cola was not even the first soft drink company to use the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising:

White Rock Beverages White Rock Beverages (White Rock Products Corporation) is an American beverage company located in Whitestone, Queens, New York City. The company was established in 1871 by pharmacist H.M. Colver in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The Potawatomi Indians a ...

used Santa in advertisements for its

ginger ale Ginger ale is a carbonated soft drink flavoured with ginger. It is consumed on its own or used as a mixer, often with spirit-based drinks. There are two main types of ginger ale. The golden style is credited to the Irish doctor Thomas Joseph ...

in 1923, after first using him to sell

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. Mineral water may usually be still or sparkling (carbonated/effervescent) according to the presence or absence of added gases. Tra ...

in 1915. Before Santa Claus, Coca-Cola relied on images of smartly dressed young women to sell its beverages. Coca-Cola's first such advertisement appeared in 1895, featuring the young Bostonian actress Hilda Clark as its spokeswoman. 1941 saw the first use of the nickname "Coke" as an official trademark for the product, with a series of advertisements informing consumers that "Coke means Coca-Cola". In 1971, a song from a Coca-Cola commercial called "

I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" is a pop song that originated as the jingle "True Love and Apple Pie", by British hit songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway, and sung by Susan Shirley. The lyrics were rewritten ...

", produced by Billy Davis, became a

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

. During the 1950s the term ''

cola wars The cola wars are the long-time rivalry between cola producers The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, who have engaged in mutually-targeted marketing campaigns for the direct competition between each company's product lines, especially their flags ...

'' emerged, describing the on-going battle between Coca-Cola and Pepsi for supremacy in the soft drink industry. Coca-Cola and Pepsi were competing with new products, global expansion, US marketing initiatives and sport sponsorships. Cabo Verde Fogo CokeBooth

Coke's advertising is pervasive, as one of Woodruff's stated goals was to ensure that everyone on Earth drank Coca-Cola as their preferred beverage. This is especially true in southern areas of the United States, such as

, where Coke was born. Some Coca-Cola

television commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

between 1960 through 1986 were written and produced by former Atlanta radio veteran

Don Naylor Donald Covey Naylor (May 31, 1910 – November 5, 1991) was an American writer, producer, singer and radio personality, a radio and television program director and an advertising creative director throughout a fifty-year career in Atlanta, Georgia. ...

( WGST 1936–1950,

WAGA Waga ( si, වග, ta, வாகா) is an area or a cluster of villages in Colombo District, Sri Lanka. Administrated by Seethawaka Pradeshiya Sabha (Divisional Council). It is within the Seethawaka Divisional Secretariat Division. Waga is said ...

1951–1959) during his career as a producer for the

McCann Erickson McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in 120 countries. McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McCann, expe ...

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

. Many of these early television commercials for Coca-Cola featured movie stars, sports heroes, and popular singers. During the 1980s,

ran a series of television advertisements showing people participating in taste tests demonstrating that, according to the commercials, "fifty percent of the participants who said they preferred Coke chose the Pepsi." Coca-Cola ran ads to combat Pepsi's ads in an incident sometimes referred to as the ''

''; one of Coke's ads compared the so-called

Pepsi challenge The Pepsi Challenge is an ongoing marketing promotion run by PepsiCo since 1975. It is also the name of a cross country ski race at Giant's Ridge Ski Area in Biwabik, Minnesota, an event sponsored by Pepsi. Method The challenge originally took th ...

to two

chimpanzees The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative the ...

deciding which

tennis ball A tennis ball is a ball designed for the sport of tennis. Tennis balls are fluorescent yellow in organised competitions, but in recreational play can be virtually any color. Tennis balls are covered in a fibrous felt which modifies their aerodyna ...

was furrier. Thereafter, Coca-Cola regained its leadership in the market.

Selena Selena Quintanilla Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known mononymously as Selena, was an American Tejano singer. Called the " Queen of Tejano music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mex ...

was a spokesperson for Coca-Cola from 1989 until the time of her death. She filmed three commercials for the company. During 1994, to commemorate her five years with the company, Coca-Cola issued special Selena coke bottles. The Coca-Cola Company purchased

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

in 1982, and began inserting Coke-product images into many of its films. After a few early successes during Coca-Cola's ownership, Columbia began to underperform, and the studio was sold to

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

in 1989. Coca-Cola has gone through a number of different

advertising slogan Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company's marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company's brand. Etym ...

s in its long history, including "The pause that refreshes", "I'd like to buy the world a Coke", and "Coke is it". In 1999, the Coca-Cola Company introduced the Coke Card, a loyalty program that offered deals on items like clothes, entertainment and food when the cardholder purchased a Coca-Cola Classic. The scheme was cancelled after three years, with a Coca-Cola spokesperson declining to state why. The company then introduced another loyalty campaign in 2006,

My Coke Rewards My Coke Rewards was a customer loyalty marketing program for The Coca-Cola Company. Customers entered codes found on specially marked packages of Coca-Cola products on a website. Codes could also be entered "on the go" by texting them from a ce ...

. This allows consumers to earn points by entering codes from specially marked packages of Coca-Cola products into a website. These points can be redeemed for various prizes or sweepstakes entries. In Australia in 2011, Coca-Cola began the "share a Coke" campaign, where the Coca-Cola logo was replaced on the bottles and replaced with first names. Coca-Cola used the 150 most popular names in Australia to print on the bottles. The campaign was paired with a website page, Facebook page, and an online "share a virtual Coke". The same campaign was introduced to Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero bottles and cans in the UK in 2013. Coca-Cola has also advertised its product to be consumed as a breakfast beverage, instead of coffee or tea for the morning caffeine.

5 cents

From 1886 to 1959, the price of Coca-Cola was fixed at five cents, in part due to an advertising campaign.

Holiday campaigns

Throughout the years, Coca-Cola has released limited-time collector bottles for Christmas. Weihnachtstruck

The "Holidays are coming!" advertisement features a train of red delivery trucks, emblazoned with the Coca-Cola name and decorated with

Christmas lights Christmas lights (also known as fairy lights, festive lights or string lights) are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom goe ...

, driving through a snowy landscape and causing everything that they pass to light up and people to watch as they pass through. The advertisement fell into disuse in 2001, as the Coca-Cola Company restructured its advertising campaigns so that advertising around the world was produced locally in each country, rather than centrally in the company's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2007, the company brought back the campaign after, according to the company, many consumers telephoned its information center saying that they considered it to mark the beginning of Christmas. The advertisement was created by US advertising agency Doner, and has been part of the company's global advertising campaign for many years. Keith Law, a producer and writer of commercials for

Belfast CityBeat Q Radio (formerly known as Citybeat and Belfast CityBeat) is a Northern Irish radio station. It broadcasts to Greater Belfast on 96.7 MHz FM and on DAB Digital Radio across all of Northern Ireland. From 5 April 2007, Citybeat became availa ...

, was not convinced by Coca-Cola's reintroduction of the advertisement in 2007, saying that "I do not think there's anything Christmassy about HGVs and the commercial is too generic." In 2001, singer

Melanie Thornton Melanie Janene Thornton (May 13, 1967 – November 24, 2001) was an German-American pop and dance music singer. She was the lead singer of the Eurodance group La Bouche from 1994 to 2000, alongside American rapper Lane McCray. Their two most su ...

recorded the campaign's advertising jingle as a single, " Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming)", which entered the pop-music charts in Germany at no. 9. In 2005, Coca-Cola expanded the advertising campaign to radio, employing several variations of the jingle. In 2011, Coca-Cola launched a campaign for the Indian holiday

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

. The campaign included commercials, a song, and an integration with Shah Rukh Khan's film ''

Ra.One ''Ra.One'' is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language superhero film directed by Anubhav Sinha. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan in double roles and Arjun Rampal as the titular antagonist, with Kareena Kapoor, Armaan Verma, Shahana Goswami, Tom Wu, Da ...

''.

Sports sponsorship

Coca-Cola was the first commercial sponsor of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, at the 1928 games in Amsterdam, and has been an Olympics sponsor ever since. This corporate sponsorship included the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

hosted in

, which allowed Coca-Cola to spotlight its hometown. Most recently, Coca-Cola has released localized commercials for the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

in Vancouver; one Canadian commercial referred to Canada's hockey heritage and was modified after Canada won the gold medal game on February 28, 2010, by changing the ending line of the commercial to say "Now they know whose game they're playing". Since 1978 FIFA World Cup, 1978, Coca-Cola has sponsored the FIFA World Cup, and other competitions organized by FIFA. One FIFA tournament trophy, the FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship from Tunisia in 1977 FIFA World Youth Championship, 1977 to Malaysia in 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, 1997, was called "FIFA – Coca-Cola Cup". In addition, Coca-Cola sponsors NASCAR's annual Coca-Cola 600 and Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina and Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Florida; since 2020, Coca-Cola has served as a premier partner of the NASCAR Cup Series, which includes holding the naming rights to the series' regular season championship trophy. Coca-Cola is also the sponsor of the iRacing Pro Series. Coca-Cola has a long history of sports marketing relationships, which over the years have included Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League, as well as with many teams within those leagues. Coca-Cola has had a longtime relationship with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, due in part to the now-famous Hey Kid, Catch!, 1979 television commercial featuring Joe Greene (American football), "Mean Joe" Greene, leading to the two opening the Coca-Cola Great Hall at Heinz Field in 2001 and a more recent Coca-Cola Zero commercial featuring Troy Polamalu. Coca-Cola is the official soft drink of many College football, collegiate football teams throughout the nation, partly due to Coca-Cola providing those schools with upgraded athletic facilities in exchange for Coca-Cola's sponsorship. This is especially prevalent at the high school level, which is more dependent on such contracts due to tighter budgets. Coca-Cola was one of the official sponsors of the 1996 Cricket World Cup held on the Indian subcontinent. Coca-Cola is also one of the associate sponsors of Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League. In England, Coca-Cola was the main sponsor of The Football League between 2004 and 2010, a name given to the three professional divisions below the Premier League in association football, soccer (football). In 2005, Coca-Cola launched a competition for the 72 clubs of The Football League – it was called "Win a Player". This allowed fans to place one vote per day for their favorite club, with one entry being chosen at random earning £250,000 for the club; this was repeated in 2006. The "Win A Player" competition was very controversial, as at the end of the 2 competitions, Leeds United A.F.C. had the most votes by more than double, yet they did not win any money to spend on a new player for the club. In 2007, the competition changed to "Buy a Player". This competition allowed fans to buy a bottle of Coca-Cola or Coca-Cola Zero and submit the code on the wrapper on the Coca-Cola website. This code could then earn anything from 50p to £100,000 for a club of their choice. This competition was favored over the old "Win a Player" competition, as it allowed all clubs to win some money. Between 1992 and 1998, Coca-Cola was the title sponsor of the Football League Cup (Coca-Cola Cup), the secondary cup tournament of England. Starting in 2019–20 Premier League, 2019–20 season, Coca-Cola has agreed its biggest UK sponsorship deal by becoming Premier League football's seventh and final commercial partner for the UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Egyptian and the West African markets. Between 1994 and 1997, Coca-Cola was also the title sponsor of the Scottish League Cup, renaming it to the Coca-Cola Cup like its English counterpart. From 1998 to 2001, the company was the title sponsor of the Northern Ireland Football League Cup, Irish League Cup in Northern Ireland, where it was named the Coca-Cola League Cup. Coca-Cola is the presenting sponsor of the Tour Championship, the final event of the PGA Tour held each year at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Introduced March 1, 2010, in Canada, to celebrate the

, Coca-Cola sold gold colored cans in packs of 12 each, in select stores. Coca-Cola which has been a partner with UEFA since 1988.

In mass media

Coca-Cola has been prominently featured in many films and television programs. It was a major plot element in films such as ''One, Two, Three'', ''The Coca-Cola Kid'', and ''The Gods Must Be Crazy'', among many others. In music, such as in the Beatles' song, "Come Together", the lyrics say, "He shoot Coca-Cola". The Beach Boys also referenced Coca-Cola in their 1964 song "All Summer Long (The Beach Boys song), All Summer Long", singing "Member when you spilled Coke all over your blouse?" The best selling solo artist of all time Elvis Presley, promoted Coca-Cola during his Elvis in Concert, last tour of 1977. The Coca-Cola Company used Presley's image to promote the product. For example, the company used a song performed by Presley, "A Little Less Conversation", in a Japanese Coca-Cola commercial. Other artists that promoted Coca-Cola include David Bowie, George Michael, Elton John, and Whitney Houston, who appeared in the Diet Coke commercial, among many others. Not all musical references to Coca-Cola went well. A line in "Lola (song), Lola" by the Kinks was originally recorded as "You drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca-Cola." When the British Broadcasting Corporation refused to play the song because of the commercial reference, lead singer Ray Davies re-recorded the lyric as "it tastes just like cherry cola" to get airplay for the song. Political cartoonist Michel Kichka satirized a famous Coca-Cola billboard in his 1982 poster "And I Love New York." On the billboard, the Coca-Cola wave is accompanied by the words "Enjoy Coke." In Kichka's poster, the lettering and script above the Coca-Cola wave instead read "Enjoy Cocaine."

Use as political and corporate symbol

Coca-Cola has a high degree of identification with the United States, being considered by some an "American Brand" or as an item representing America, criticized as Cocacolonization. After World War II, this gave rise to the brief production of White Coke by the request of and for Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov, who did not want to be seen drinking a symbol of American imperialism. The bottles were given by the President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eisenhower during a conference, and Marshal Zhukov enjoyed the drink. The bottles were disguised as vodka bottles, with the cap having a red star design, to avoid suspicion of Soviet officials. The drink is also often a metonymy, metonym for the Coca-Cola Company. Coca-Cola was introduced to China in 1927, and was very popular until 1949. After the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, the beverage was no longer imported into China, as it was perceived to be a symbol of decadent Western culture and capitalism, capitalist lifestyle. Importation and sales of the beverage resumed in 1979, after diplomatic relations between the United States and China were restored. There are some consumer boycotts of Coca-Cola in Arab world, Arab countries due to Coke's early investment in Israel during the Arab League boycott of Israel (its competitor Pepsi stayed out of Israel).

and Pepsi are popular alternatives in the Middle East. A Coca-Cola fountain dispenser (officially a Fluids Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus or FGBA) was developed for use on the Space Shuttle as a test bed to determine if carbonated beverages can be produced from separately stored carbon dioxide, water, and flavored syrups and determine if the resulting fluids can be made available for consumption without bubble nucleation and resulting foam formation. FGBA-1 flew on STS-63 in 1995 and dispensed pre-mixed beverages, followed by FGBA-2 on STS-77 the next year. The latter mixed CO₂, water, and syrup to make beverages. It supplied 1.65 liters each of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke.

Medicinal application

Coca-Cola is sometimes Coca-Cola treatment of phytobezoars, used for the treatment of gastric phytobezoars. In about 50% of cases studied, Coca-Cola alone was found to be effective in gastric phytobezoar dissolution. This treatment can however result in the potential of developing small bowel obstruction in a minority of cases, necessitating surgical intervention.

Criticism

Criticism of Coca-Cola has arisen from various groups around the world, concerning a variety of issues, including health effects, environmental issues, and business practices. The drink's coca flavoring, and the nickname "Coke", remain a common theme of criticism due to the relationship with the illegal drug

. In 1911, the US government seized 40 barrels and 20 kegs of Coca-Cola syrup in

, alleging the caffeine in its drink was "injurious to health", leading to amended food safety legislation. Beginning in the 1940s,

started marketing their drinks to African Americans, a niche market that was largely ignored by white-owned manufacturers in the US, and was able to use its anti-racism stance as a selling point, attacking Coke's reluctance to hire blacks and support by the chairman of the Coca-Cola Company for segregationist Governor of Georgia Herman Talmadge. As a result of this campaign, PepsiCo's market share as compared to Coca-Cola's shot up dramatically in the 1950s with African American soft-drink consumers three times more likely to purchase Pepsi over Coke. The Coca-Cola Company, its subsidiaries and products have been subject to sustained criticism by consumer groups, environmentalists, and Consumer organization, watchdogs, particularly since the early 2000s. In 2019, BreakFreeFromPlastic named Coca-Cola the single biggest plastic polluter in the world. After 72,541 volunteers collected 476,423 pieces of plastic waste from around where they lived, a total of 11,732 pieces were found to be labeled with a Coca-Cola brand (including the Dasani, Sprite (drink), Sprite, and Fanta brands) in 37 countries across four continents. At the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos, Coca-Cola's Head of Sustainability, Bea Perez, said customers like them because they reseal and are lightweight, and "business won't be in business if we don't accommodate consumers." In February 2022, Coca-Cola announced that it will aim to make 25 percent of its packaging reusable by 2030. Coca-Cola Classic is rich in sugars, especially

, which causes dental caries when consumed regularly. Besides this, the high caloric value of the sugars themselves can contribute to obesity. Both are major health issues in the developed world. In February 2021, Coca-Cola received criticism after a video of a training session, which told employees to "try to be less white", was leaked by an employee. The session also said in order to be "less white" employees had to be less "arrogant" and "defensive".

Colombian death-squad allegations

In July 2001, the Coca-Cola Company was sued over its alleged use of far-right death squads (the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) to kidnap, torture, and kill Colombian bottler workers that were linked with trade union activity. Coca-Cola was sued in a US federal court in Miami by the Colombian food and drink union Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de Alimentos, Sinaltrainal. The suit alleged that Coca-Cola was indirectly responsible for having "contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders". This sparked campaigns to boycott Coca-Cola in the UK, US, Germany, Italy, and Australia. Javier Correa, the president of Sinaltrainal, said the campaign aimed to put pressure on Coca-Cola "to mitigate the pain and suffering" that union members had suffered. Speaking from the Coca-Cola Company's headquarters in Atlanta, company spokesperson Rafael Fernandez Quiros said "Coca-Cola denies any connection to any human-rights violation of this type" and added "We do not own or operate the plants".

References

Works cited

* Elmore, Bartow J. "Citizen Coke: An Environmental and Political History of the Coca-Cola Company," ''Enterprise & Society'' (2013) 14#4 pp 717–73
online

External links

*
Kinescope of a live 1954 TV commercial for Coca-Cola (Internet Archive)

Coca-Cola Advertising History

The Contour Bottle

Coca-Cola: Refreshing Memories
– slideshow by ''Life magazine''
China Advisory: Avoiding the Wax Tadpole – Effective Chinese Language Trademark Strategy
– Chinese language trademark for Coca-Cola {{Authority control 1886 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) American brands American drinks American inventions Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola brands Cola brands Kosher drinks Patent medicines Products introduced in 1886 Caffeinated soft drinks