|
Coke
Coke
is one of the world's best known brands.
Campaign
by Human
Statue Bodyart
Coca-Cola
is a cola (a type of carbonated soft drink) sold in
stores, restaurants and vending machines in more than
200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company
and is often referred to simply as Coke. Originally
intended as a patent medicine when it was invented
in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola
was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler,
whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance
of the world soft drink market throughout the 20th
century.
The
company actually produces concentrate for Coca-Cola,
which is then sold to various licensed Coca-Cola bottlers
throughout the world. The bottlers, who hold territorially
exclusive contracts with the company, produce finished
product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in
combination with filtered water and sweeteners. The
bottlers then sell, distribute and merchandise Coca-Cola
in cans and bottles to retail stores and vending machines.
Such bottlers include Coca-Cola Enterprises, which
is the single largest Coca-Cola bottler in North America,
Australia, Asia and Europe. The Coca-Cola Company
also sells concentrate for fountain sales to major
restaurants and food service distributors.
The
Coca-Cola Company has, on occasion, introduced other
cola drinks under the Coke brand name. The most common
of these is Diet Coke, which has become a major diet
cola. However, others exist, including Diet Coke Caffeine-Free,
Cherry Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, Vanilla Coke and special
editions with lemon and with lime, and even with coffee.
History
The
first Coca-Cola recipe was invented in Columbus, Georgia,
by John Stith Pemberton, originally as a cocawine
called Pemberton's French Wine Coca in 1885.[1][2]
He may have been inspired by the formidable success
of European Angelo Mariani's cocawine, Vin Mariani.
In
1885, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed Prohibition
legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola,
essentially a carbonated, non-alcoholic version of
French Wine Cola.
The
first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia,
on May 8, 1886.[4] It was initially sold as a patent
medicine for five cents[5] a glass at soda fountains,
which were popular in the United States at the time
due to the belief that carbonated water was good for
the health.[6] Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured many
diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia,
neurasthenia, headache, and impotence. Pemberton ran
the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29
of the same year in the Atlanta Journal.[7] For the
first eight months only nine drinks were sold each
day.
By
1888, three versions of Coca-Cola — sold by
three separate businesses — were on the market.
Asa Griggs Candler acquired a stake in Pemberton's
company in 1887 and incorporated it as the Coca Cola
Company in 1888.[8] The same year, while suffering
from an ongoing addiction to morphine, Pemberton sold
the rights a second time to four more businessmen:
J.C. Mayfield, A.O. Murphey, C.O. Mullahy and E.H.
Bloodworth. Meanwhile, Pemberton's alcoholic son Charley
Pemberton began selling his own version of the product.[9]
In
an attempt to clarify the situation, John Pemberton
declared that the name Coca-Cola belonged to Charley,
but the other two manufacturers could continue to
use the formula. So, in the summer of 1888, Candler
sold his beverage under the names Yum Yum and Koke.
After both failed to catch on, Candler set out to
establish a legal claim to Coca-Cola in late 1888,
in order to force his two competitors out of the business.
Candler purchased exclusive rights to the formula
from John Pemberton, Margaret Dozier and Woolfolk
Walker. However, in 1914, Dozier came forward to claim
her signature on the bill of sale had been forged,
and subsequent analysis has indicated John Pemberton's
signature was most likely a forgery as well.[10]
In
1892, Candler incorporated a second company, The Coca-Cola
Company (the current corporation), and in 1910, Candler
had the earliest records of the company burned, further
obscuring its legal origins. Regardless, Candler began
marketing the product, although the efficacy of his
concerted advertising campaign would not be realized
until much later. By the time of its 50th anniversary,
the drink had reached the status of a national icon
for the USA. In 1935, it was certified kosher by Rabbi
Tobias Geffen, after the company made minor changes
in the sourcing of some ingredients.[11]
Coca-Cola
was sold in bottles for the first time on March 12,
1894. Cans of Coke first appeared in 1955.[12] The
first bottling of Coca-Cola occurred in Vicksburg,
Mississippi, at the Biedenharn Candy Company in 1891.
Its proprietor was Joseph A. Biedenharn. The original
bottles were Biedenharn bottles, very different from
the much later hobble-skirt design that is now so
familiar. Asa Candler was tentative about bottling
the drink, but the two entrepreneurs who proposed
the idea were so persuasive that Candler signed a
contract giving them control of the procedure. However,
the loosely termed contract proved to be problematic
for the company for decades to come. Legal matters
were not helped by the decision of the bottlers to
subcontract to other companies—in effect, becoming
parent bottlers.[13]
Coke
concentrate, or Coke syrup, was and is sold separately
at pharmacies in small quantities, as an over-the-counter
remedy for nausea or mildly upset stomach.
Use
of stimulants in formula
The
beverage was named Coca-Cola because, originally,
the stimulant mixed in the beverage was coca leaves
from South America, which the drug cocaine is derived
from. In addition, the drink was flavored using kola
nuts, also acting as the beverage's source of caffeine.[14]
Pemberton called for five ounces of coca leaf per
gallon of syrup, a significant dose, whereas, in 1891,
Candler claimed his formula (altered extensively from
Pemberton's original) contained only a tenth of this
amount. Coca-Cola did once contain an estimated nine
milligrams of cocaine per glass, but in 1903 it was
removed.[15] After 1904, Coca-Cola started using,
instead of fresh leaves, "spent" leaves
- the leftovers of the cocaine-extraction process
with cocaine trace levels left over at a molecular
level.[16][17] To this day, Coca-Cola uses as an ingredient
a non-narcotic coca leaf extract prepared at a Stepan
Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey.[18][19] In the
United States, Stepan Company is the only manufacturing
plant authorized by the Federal Government to import
and process the coca plant.[20]
New
Coke
Main article: New Coke
New
Coke stirred up a controversy when it replaced the
original Coca-Cola in 1985. Coca-Cola Classic was
reinstated within a few months of New Coke's introduction
into the market.
New Coke stirred up a controversy when it replaced
the original Coca-Cola in 1985. Coca-Cola Classic
was reinstated within a few months of New Coke's introduction
into the market.
On
April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola, amid much publicity, attempted
to change the formula of the drink. Some authorities
believe that New Coke, as the reformulated drink was
called, was invented specifically to respond to its
commercial competitor, Pepsi[8] (which had more lemon
oil and less orange oil, and used vanillin rather
than vanilla). Double-blind taste tests indicated
that most consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi to
Coke. In taste tests, drinkers were more likely to
respond positively to sweeter drinks, and Pepsi had
the advantage over Coke because it was much sweeter.
Coca-Cola tinkered with the formula and created "New
Coke". Follow-up taste tests revealed that most
consumers preferred the taste of New Coke to both
Coke and Pepsi.[citation needed] The reformulation
was led by the then-CEO of the company, Roberto Goizueta,
and the president Don Keough.
It
is unclear what part long-time company president Robert
W. Woodruff played in the reformulation. Goizueta
claimed that Woodruff endorsed it a few months before
his death in 1985; others have pointed out that, as
the two men were alone when the matter was discussed,
Goizueta might have misinterpreted the wishes of the
dying Woodruff, who could speak only in monosyllables.
It has also been alleged that Woodruff might not have
been able to understand what Goizueta was telling
him.[citation needed]
The
commercial failure of New Coke therefore came as a
grievous blow to the management of the Coca-Cola Company.
It is possible that customers would not have noticed
the change if it had been made secretly or gradually,
and thus brand loyalty could have been maintained.
Coca-Cola management was unprepared, however, for
the nostalgic sentiments the drink aroused in the
American public; some compared changing the Coke formula
to rewriting the American Constitution.[citation needed]
The
new Coca-Cola formula subsequently caused a public
backlash. Gay Mullins, from Seattle, Washington, founded
the Old Cola Drinkers of America organization, which
attempted to sue the company, and lobbied for the
formula of Old Coke to be released into the public
domain. This and other protests caused the company
to return to the old formula under the name Coca-Cola
Classic on July 10, 1985. The company was later accused
of performing this volte-face as an elaborate ruse
to introduce a new product while reviving interest
in the original. Donald Keough, company president
at the time, responded to the accusation by declaring:
"Some critics will say Coca-Cola made a marketing
mistake. Some cynics will say that we planned the
whole thing. The truth is we are not that dumb, and
we are not that smart."
The
Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest consumer
of natural vanilla extract. When New Coke was introduced
in 1985, this had a severe impact on the economy of
Madagascar, a prime vanilla exporter, since New Coke
used vanillin, a less-expensive synthetic substitute.
Purchases of vanilla more than halved during this
period. But the flop of New Coke brought a recovery.
Meanwhile,
the market share for New Coke had dwindled to only
3% by 1986. The company renamed the product "Coke
II" in 1992 (not to be confused with "Coke
C2", a reduced-sugar cola launched by Coca-Cola
in 2004). However, sales falloff caused a severe cutback
in distribution. By 1998, it was sold in only a few
places in the Midwestern U.S.
21st
century
On
February 7, 2005, the Coca-Cola Company announced
that in the second quarter of 2005 they planned a
launch of a Diet Coke product sweetened with the artificial
sweetener sucralose ("Splenda"), the same
sweetener currently used in Pepsi One.[21][22] On
March 21, 2005, it announced another diet product,
"Coca-Cola Zero", sweetened partly with
a blend of aspartame and acesulfame potassium.[23]
Recently Coca-Cola has begun to sell a new "healthy
soda" Diet Coke with Vitamins B6, B12, Magnesium,
Niacin, and Zinc, marketed as "Diet Coke Plus".
In
April 2007, in Canada, the name "Coca-Cola Classic"
was changed back to "Coca-Cola". The word
"Classic" was removed because "New
Coke" was no longer in production, eliminating
the need to differentiate between the two.[24] The
formula remained unchanged.
Production
Formula
Coca-Cola formula
The
exact formula of Coca-Cola is a famous trade secret.
The original copy of the formula is held in SunTrust
Bank's main vault in Atlanta. Its predecessor, the
Trust Company, was the underwriter for the Coca-Cola
Company's initial public offering in 1919. A popular
myth states that only two executives have access to
the formula, with each executive having only half
the formula.[25] The truth is 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.
Franchised
production model
The
actual production and distribution of Coca-Cola follows
a franchising model. The Coca-Cola Company only produces
a syrup concentrate, which it sells to various bottlers
throughout the world who hold Coca-Cola franchises
for one or more geographical areas. The bottlers produce
the final drink by mixing the syrup with filtered
water and sugar (or artificial sweeteners) and then
carbonate it before filling it into cans and bottles,
which the bottlers then sell and distribute to retail
stores, vending machines, restaurants and food service
distributors.[27]
The
Coca-Cola Company owns minority shares in some of
its largest franchises, like Coca-Cola Enterprises,
Coca-Cola Amatil, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company
(CCHBC) and Coca-Cola FEMSA, but fully independent
bottlers produce almost half of the volume sold in
the world. Since independent bottlers add sugar and
sweeteners, the sweetness of the drink differs in
various parts of the world, to cater for local tastes.
Local
competitors
Pepsi
is often second to Coke in terms of sales, but outsells
Coca-Cola in some localities. Around the world, some
local brands do compete with Coke. In South and Central
America, Kola Real, known as Big Cola in Mexico, is
a fast growing competitor to Coca-Cola.[35] On the
French island of Corsica, Corsica Cola, made by brewers
of the local Pietra beer, is a growing competitor
to Coca-Cola. In the French region of Bretagne, Breizh
Cola is available. In Peru, Inca Kola outsells Coca-Cola.
However, The Coca-Cola Company purchased the brand
in 1999. In Sweden, Julmust outsells Coca-Cola during
the Christmas season.[36] In Scotland, the locally-produced
Irn-Bru was more popular than Coca-Cola until 2005,
when Coca-Cola and Diet Coke began to outpace its
sales.[37] In India, Coca-Cola ranked third behind
the leader, Pepsi-Cola, and local drink Thums Up.
However, The Coca-Cola Company purchased Thums Up
in 1993.[38] As of 2004, Coca-Cola held a 60.9% market-share
in India.[39] Tropicola, a domestic drink, is served
in Cuba instead of Coca-Cola, in which there exists
a United States embargo. Mecca Cola and Qibla Cola,
in the Middle East, is a competitor to Coca-Cola.
In Turkey, Cola Turka is a major competitor to Coca-Cola.
In Iran and also many countries of Middle East, Zam
Zam Cola and Parsi Cola are major competitors to Coca-Cola.
In some parts of China, Future cola or ???? can be
bought. In Slovenia, the locally-produced Cockta is
a major competitor to Coca-Cola, as is the inexpensive
Mercator Cola, which is sold only in the country's
biggest supermarket chain, Mercator. In Madagascar,
Classiko Cola, made by Tiko Group, the largest manufacturing
company in the country, is a serious competitor to
Coca-Cola in many regions. On the Portuguese island
of Madeira, Laranjada is the top selling soft drink.
In the UK Coca-Cola stated that Pepsi was not its
main rival, but rather Robinsons drinks.
Advertising
Coca-Cola's
advertising has had a significant impact on American
culture, and is frequently credited with the "invention"
of the modern image of Santa Claus as an old man in
red-and-white garments; however, while the company
did in fact start promoting this image in the 1930s
in its winter advertising campaigns, it was already
common before that.[40] In fact, Coca-Cola was not
even the first soft drink company to utilize the modern
image Santa Claus in its advertising – White
Rock Beverages used Santa in advertisements for its
ginger ale in 1923 after first using him to sell mineral
water in 1915.
Before
Santa Claus, however, Coca-Cola relied on images of
smartly-dressed young women to sell its beverages.
Coca-Cola's first such advertisement appeared in 1895
and featured a young Bostonian actress named Hilda
Clark as its spokesperson.
In
the 1970s, a song from a Coca-Cola commercial called
"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", produced
by Billy Davis, became a popular hit single.
Coca-Cola
has a policy of avoiding using children younger than
the age of 12 in any of its advertising. This decision
was made as a result of a lawsuit from the beginning
of the 20th century that alleged that Coke's caffeine
content was dangerous to children. However, in recent
times, this has not stopped the company from targeting
young consumers.
Coke's
advertising is rather 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 Atlanta, where Coke was born.
Some
of the memorable Coca-Cola television commercials
between 1960 through 1986, were written and produced
by former Atlanta radio veteran Don Naylor (WGST 1936-1950,
WAGA 1951-1959) during his career as a producer for
the McCann Erickson advertising agency. Many of these
early television commercials for Coca-Cola featured
movie stars, sports heroes, and popular singers of
the day.
During
the 1980s, Pepsi-Cola ran a series of television advertisements
showing people participating in taste tests essentially
demonstrating that: "Fifty percent of the participants
who said they preferred Coke actually chose the Pepsi".
Statisticians were quick to point out the problematic
nature of a 50/50 result; that most likely all this
really showed was that in blind tests, most people
simply cannot tell the difference between Pepsi and
Coke. Coca-Cola ran ads to combat Pepsi's ads in an
incident sometimes referred to as the cola wars; one
of Coke's ads compared the so-called Pepsi challenge
to two chimpanzees deciding which tennis ball was
furrier. Thereafter, Coca-Cola regained its leadership
in the market.
Selena
was a spokesperson for Coca-Cola from 1989 till the
time of her death. She filmed three commercials for
the company. In 1994 to commemorate her 5 years with
the company, Coca-Cola issued special Selena coke
bottles.[43]
In
an attempt to broaden its portfolio, Coca-Cola purchased
Columbia Pictures in 1982. Columbia provided subtle
publicity through Coke product placements in many
of its films while under Coke's ownership. However,
after a few early successes, Columbia began to under-perform,
and was dropped by the company in 1989.
Coca-Cola
has gone through a number of different advertising
slogans in its long history, including "The pause
that refreshes", "I'd like to buy the world
a Coke", and "Coke is it" (see Coca-Cola
slogans).
In
2006, Coca-Cola introduced My Coke Rewards, a customer
loyalty campaign where consumers earn virtual "points"
by entering codes from special marked packages of
Coca-Cola products into a website. These points can
in turn be redeemed for various prizes or sweepstakes
entries.
Sponsorship of sporting events
Coca-Cola
was the first-ever sponsor of the Olympic games, at
the 1928 games in Amsterdam and has been an Olympics
sponsor ever since.[45] This corporate sponsorship
included the 1996 Summer Olympics hosted in Atlanta,
which allowed Coca-Cola to spotlight its hometown.
Since 1978 Coca-Cola has sponsored each FIFA World
Cup and other competitions organised by FIFA. In fact,
one of the FIFA tournament trophy: FIFA World Youth
Championship from Tunisia in 1977 to Malaysia in 1997
was called "FIFA - Coca Cola Cup".[46] In
addition, Coca-Cola sponsors the annual Coca-Cola
600 for the NASCAR Nextel Cup auto racing series at
Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Coca-Cola has a long history of sports marketing relationships,
which over the years have included Major League Baseball,
the National Football League, National Basketball
Association and the National Hockey League, as well
as with many teams within those leagues. Coca-Cola
is the official soft drink of many collegiate football
teams throughout the nation.
In
India Coca Cola was the one of the official Sponsors
of the 1996 Cricket World Cup.
In
England, Coca-Cola is the main sponsor of The Football
League, a name given to the three professional divisions
below the Premier League in football (soccer). It
is also responsible for the renaming of these divisions-
until the advent of Coca-Cola sponsorship, they were
referred to as Divisions One, Two and Three. Since
2004, the divisions have been known as The Championship
(equiv. of Division 1), League One (equiv. of Div.
2) and League 2 (equiv. of Division 3). This renaming
has caused unrest amongst some fans who see it as
farcical that the third tier of English Football is
now called "League One." 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 1 vote per day for their beloved
club, with 1 entry being chose 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
AFC 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 Zero or Coca-Cola and submit
the code on the wrapper on the Coca-Cola website {www.coca-colafootball.co.uk}.
This code could then earn anything from 50p to £100,000
for a club of their choice. This competition was favoured
over the old "Win A Player" competition
as it allowed all clubs to win some money, instead
of all the money going to one winning club.
Criticisms
It has been suggested that some of the information
in this article's "Criticism" or "Controversy"
section(s) be merged into other sections to achieve
a more neutral presentation. (Discuss)
Main article: Criticism of Coca-Cola
The
Coca-Cola Company has been criticized for its business
practices as well as the alleged adverse health effects
of its flagship product. A common criticism of Coke
based on its allegedly toxic acidity levels has been
found to be baseless by researchers; lawsuits based
on these criticisms have been dismissed by several
American courts for this reason.
Since
there are indications that "soda and sweetened
drinks are the main source of calories in [the] American
diet,"[47] most nutritionists advise that Coca-Cola
and other soft drinks can be harmful if consumed excessively,
particularly to young children whose soft drink consumption
competes with, rather than complements, a balanced
diet. Studies have shown that regular soft drink users
have a lower intake of calcium (which can contribute
to osteoporosis), magnesium, ascorbic acid, riboflavin,
and vitamin A.[48] The drink has also aroused criticism
for its use of caffeine, due to the possibility of
physical dependence.[49]
Although
numerous court cases have been filed against The Coca-Cola
Company since the 1920s, alleging that the acidity
of the drink is dangerous, no evidence corroborating
this claim has been found. Under normal conditions,
scientific evidence indicates Coca-Cola's acidity
causes no immediate harm.[50]
There
is also some concern regarding the usage of high fructose
corn syrup in the production of Coca-Cola. Since 1985
in the U.S., Coke has been made with high fructose
corn syrup, instead of sugar glucose or fructose,
to reduce costs. This has come under criticism because
of concerns that the corn used to produce corn syrup
may come from genetically altered plants.[51] Some
nutritionists also caution against consumption of
high fructose corn syrup because of possible links
to obesity and type-2 diabetes.[52]
In
India, there exists a major controversy concerning
pesticides and other harmful chemicals in bottled
products including Coca-Cola. In 2003, the Centre
for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-governmental
organization in New Delhi, said aerated waters produced
by soft drinks manufacturers in India, including multinational
giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, contained toxins including
lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos — pesticides
that can contribute to cancer and a breakdown of the
immune system. Tested products included Coke, Pepsi,
and several other soft drinks, many produced by The
Coca-Cola Company. CSE found that the Indian produced
Pepsi's soft drink products had 36 times the level
of pesticide residues permitted under European Union
regulations; Coca-Cola's soft drink was found to have
30 times the permitted amount. CSE said it had tested
the same products sold in the US and found no such
residues.[53] After the pesticide allegations were
made in 2003, Coca-Cola sales declined by 15%. In
2004, an Indian parliamentary committee backed up
CSE's findings, and a government-appointed committee
was tasked with developing the world's first pesticide
standards for soft drinks. The Coca-Cola Company has
responded that its plants filter water to remove potential
contaminants and that its products are tested for
pesticides and must meet minimum health standards
before they are distributed.[54] In the Indian state
of Kerala, sale and production of Coca-Cola, along
with other soft drinks, was initially banned, before
the High Court in Kerala overturned the ban ruling
that only the federal government can ban food products.
Coca-Cola has also been accused of excessive water
usage in India.[55]
In
2006, the United States Food and Drug Administration
responded to reports that the carcinogen benzene was
present in unhealthy levels in certain soft drinks
by conducting a survey of more than 100 soft drinks
and other beverages. Based on this limited survey,
the FDA stated that it "believes that the results
indicate that benzene levels are not a safety concern
for consumers."[56][57][58][59]
Coca-Cola
as a political and corporate symbol
The
Coca-Cola drink has a high degree of identification
with the United States itself, being considered by
some an "American Brand" or to a small extent
as an item representing America. The identification
with the spread of American culture has led to the
pun "Coca-Colanization".[60] The drink is
also often a metonym for the Coca-Cola Company.
There
are some consumer boycotts of Coca-Cola in Arab countries
due to Coke's early investment in Israel during the
Arab League boycott of Israel (this contrasts sharply
to Pepsi which stayed out of Israel).[61] Mecca Cola
and Pepsi has been successful in the Middle East as
an alternative.
The
art group monochrom as part of their 2005 "Experience
The Experience" tour created a "Brick Of
Coke". To do this, they put several gallons of
Coca-Cola into a pot and boiled it down until the
residue left behind could be molded into a brick.
(Credit:
Wikipedia)
Websites
Official
Coke
- The Coca-Cola Company
Coke
Australia
Coca-Cola
Zero
Coca-Cola
Amatil - Australia
Diet
Coke
Unofficial
B&T
News story on Coke
Google
seach on Coke
Articles
What
is coke?
Profiles
Product
Endorsements
Drinks
Disclaimer:
One of Mediaman's clients enjoyed Coke as their client!
|
