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Coca-Cola

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[[Image:Cokecansmall.jpg|thumb|150px|right|The wave shape (known as the "dynamic ribbon device") present on all Coca-Cola cans throughout the world derives from the contour of the d widely sold ha. ===Early years=== passed Prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a carbonated, non-alcoholic version of French Wine Cola. The beverage was named Coca-Cola because originally, the stimulant mixed in the beverage was coca leaves from South America. In addition, the drink was flavored using [[ecords of the company burned, further obscuring its legal origins. Regardless, Candler began aggressively marketing the product — the efficiency of this concerted advertising campaign would not Insert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text herebe realized until much later. By the time of its 50th anniversary, the drink had reached the status of a national icon for the USA. led by the then-CEO of the company, Roberto Goizueta, and the President Don Keough.

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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.

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. On March 21, 2005, it announced another diet product, "Coca-Cola Zero", sweetened partly with a blend of aspartame and acesulfame potassium.

Coca-Cola formula

Main article: 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.[1] A popular myth states that only two executives have access to the formula, with each executive having only half the formula. 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.

Coca-Cola's advertising

File:Cokebottles.jpg
Specially designed Christmas labels featuring Santa Claus give a seasonal twist to these Coca-Cola bottles. The characteristic shape of the bottles is trademarked. It was designed to be universally recognizable, even when broken.
File:Coca-Cola.png
The standard Coca-cola logo used around the world in stores and restaurants to show that Coke is sold there

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.[2] In the 1970s, a song from a Coca-Cola commercial called "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", produced by Billy Davis, became a popular hit single, but there is no evidence that it did anything to increase sales of the soft drink.

Coca-Cola has a policy of avoiding using children younger than the age of 12 in any of its advertising 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. In addition, it has not been disclosed in exact terms how safe Coke is for consumption by young children (or pregnant mothers).

Coke's advertising has been rather pervasive, as one of Woodruff's stated goals was to ensure that everyone on Earth drank Coca-Cola as their preferred beverage. Advertising for Coke is now almost ubiquitous, especially in southern areas of North America, such as Atlanta, where Coke was born. The 1996 Summer Olympics were hosted in Atlanta, and as a result, Coca-Cola effectively received free advertising. Coca-Cola was also the first-ever sponsor of the Olympic games, at the 1928 games in Amsterdam. Since 1978 Coca-Cola has sponsored each FIFA World Cup and other competitions organised by FIFA.

During the 1980s, Pepsi-Cola ran a series of television advertisements showing people participating in taste tests in which they expressed a preference for Pepsi over Coke. Coca-Cola ran ads to combat Pepsi's ads in an incident sometimes referred to as the cola wars; one of Coke's ads compared the so-called Pepsi challenge to two chimpanzees deciding which tennis ball was furrier. Thereafter, Coca-Cola regained its leadership in the market

In an attempt to broaden its portfolio, Coca-Cola purchased Columbia Pictures in 1982. Columbia provided subtle publicity through Coke product placements in many of its films while under Coke's ownership. However, after a few early successes, Columbia began to underperform, 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).

Criticisms

File:Camel-3.jpg
A camel drinks a Coke.

Acidity

Coca-Cola has been the target of urban legends decrying the drink for its supposedly copious amounts of acid (its pH value of 2.5 is midway between vinegar and gastric acid), or the "life-threatening" effects of its carbonated water. These urban legends usually take the form of "fun facts" — for example, "highway troopers use Coke to clean blood from highways after accidents" * ; "somebody once died in a Coke-drinking competition"; or "Coke can dissolve a tooth overnight". All of these claims are false. Evidence has been presented in numerous cases against Coca-Cola since the 1920s that decisively proves that the drink is not more harmful than comparable soft drinks. Under normal conditions, its acidity causes no immediate harm.[3] A 2005 experiment by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry found the pH of the mouth to be 5.5, 5.6 and 5.7 5, 10 and 20 minutes (respectively) after swishing 15ml in the mouth for one minute. None of those are in the critical range to damage tooth enamel. Diet Coke was found to be slightly less acidic. [4]

One unusual use for Coke is as a rust-control substance—the phosphoric acid in coke converts iron oxide to iron phosphate, and as such can be used as an initial treatment for corroded iron and steel objects being renovated, etc. It has also been experimentally used as a pesticide by Indian farmers in Andhra Pradesh.[5]

The numerous urban legends about Coca-Cola have led the Urban Legends Reference Pages to devote a whole section of their site to "Cokelore". One false legend claims that Coke was once green, or was accidentally carbonated when a clerk squirted syrup into the wrong glass.

* Whilst Highway Troopers do not use Coca-Cola for this purpose, it was proved on the television program MythBusters that Coca-Cola can be used quite well as a blood cleaning agent.

Adverse long-term health effects

While many nutritionists believe that "soft drinks and other calorie-rich, nutrient-poor foods can fit into a good diet", it is generally agreed that Coca-Cola and other soft drinks can be harmful if consumed to excess, particularly to young children whose soda consumption competes with, rather than complements, a balanced diet.[6] 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.[7]

The drink has also aroused criticism for its use of phosphoric acid[8] and caffeine.[9] The soft drink industry dismisses many of these criticisms as urban myths.[10] There are some reports that Coca-Cola is addictive, although the veracity of these reports has yet to be established.

For more, see phosphoric acid in food.

Since the late 80's in the US Coke has been made with high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar glucose/fructose. This was done largly due the prices of sugar increasing during these times. There are some groups who criticize this move to use high fructose corn syrup over sugar due to the fact that the corn in which the corn syrup is maintained may come from genetically altered plants.

Business practices

Main article: Coca-Cola Company: Criticisms

As the largest seller of soft drinks in the world, including its flagship Coca-Cola drink, the Coca-Cola Company has been criticized for some of its corporate actions, from issues such as monopolistic practices, reliance on low health standards, racist employment practices, the privatization of water supplies, to the abuse of workers' rights, including the assassination of union members. There are many criticisms of the company's products and trade practices.

  • A number of universities in the UK boycott Coca-Cola products for concerns over human rights abuses.
  • In India, the corporation has provoked a number of boycotts and protests as a result of its perceived low standards of hygiene and adverse impact on the environment.
  • Coca-Cola was denounced in the UK for weaning young children onto junk food.
  • In Colombia, the company is alleged to be responsible for 179 major human rights violations, including nine murders.

International appeal

Coca-Cola is the best-selling soft drink in most countries. Nevertheless, there are some places like Scotland, where the locally produced Irn-Bru is more popular; Peru, where Inca Kola, the "national beverage" (independently produced until 1999, when Coca-Cola acquired Corporación Inca Kola del Perú S.A., the Peruvian company that formerly produced it) is more popular; and Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island in Canada, where Pepsi is the market leader. In Sweden, despite Coca-Cola's strong holiday-oriented marketing efforts, Julmust outsells Coca-Cola during the Christmas season.

The drink as a political and corporate symbol

The Coca-Cola drink has a high degree of identification with the United States itself, being considered an "American brand" or to a small extent as representing America (compare Mickey Mouse). The drink is also often a metonymy for the Coca-Cola Company. The identification with the spread of American culture has led to the pun "Coca-Colonisation".

Coke is less popular in other places, such as India, due to suspicions regarding the health standards of the drink, and in Arab countries, due to disapproval of U.S. foreign policy in Israel and elsewhere. Mecca Cola has become a hit in the Middle East in the past few years.

Colombian trade Union SINALTRAINAL called for an international boycott of Coca-Cola products because of intimidation, kidnapping and murder of workers in Coca Cola bottling plants by paramilitaries who were allegedly acting on behalf of the Coca Cola Company in order to drive down wages in Colombia. With the help of the United Steelworkers of America, SINALTRAINAL filed a lawsuit against the Coca Cola Company.

As part of their 2005 'Experience The Experience' tour, art group monochrom created a 'Brick Of Coke': 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. The performance and talk dealt with the sugar industry and other multinational corporation policies and Coca-Cola as a symbol of corporate power.

Notes

  1. ^ Sun Trust.
  2. ^ Luis A. Gómez, "Peruvian Drug Control Agency: Coca Cola Buys Coca Leaves," Narco News Bulletin, January 28, 2005 (accessed June 10, 2005).
  3. ^ Barbara Mikkelson and David P. Mikkelson, "The Claus That Refreshes," snopes.com, February 27, 2001 (accessed June 10, 2005).
  4. ^ Mikkelson and Mikkelson, "Acid Slip," March 29, 2004 (accessed June 10, 2005); Mikkelson and Mikkelson, "Tooth in Advertising," February 27, 2001 (accessed June 10, 2005); Mikkelson and Mikkelson, "CO2 Fast, 2 Furious," April 2, 2004 (accessed June 10, 2005).
  5. ^ John Vidal, "Things grow better with Coke," Guardian Unlimited, November 2, 2004 (accessed June 10, 2005).
  6. ^ Michael F. Jacobson, "Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks are Harming Americans' Health," Center for Science in the Public Interest (accessed June 10, 2005).
  7. ^ Ibid; Russell Robertson, "Soda, Calcium, and Osteoporosis," Healthlink—Medical College of Wisconsin (accessed June 10, 2005).
  8. ^ "Cola Soft Drinks may Contribite to Lower Bone Mineral Density in Women," American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, September 19, 2003 (accessed June 10, 2005).
  9. ^ "Label Caffeine Content of Foods, Scientists Tell FDA," Center for Science in the Public Interest, July 31, 1997 (accessed June 10, 2005).
  10. ^ Coca-Cola Myths and Rumors The Coca-Cola Company (accessed June 10, 2005); "Caffeine and Dehydration: Myth or Fact?," Food Insight, July–August 2002 (accessed June 10, 2005).


See also

Types of Coke

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