This article is about the beverage. For its manufacturer, see The Coca-Cola Company.
"Coca-Cola Classic" redirects here. For the college football game, see Coca-Cola Classic (college football).
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola logo.svg
Type Cola
Manufacturer The Coca-Cola Company
Country of origin United States
Introduced May 8, 1886; 131 years ago
Color Caramel E-150d
Flavor Cola
Variants
Diet Coke
Diet Coke Caffeine-Free
Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola Zero
Coca-Cola Cherry
Coca-Cola Citra
Coca-Cola Life
Related products Pepsi
Irn-Bru
RC Cola
Afri-Cola
Postobón
Inca Kola
Kola Real
Cavan Cola
Website www.coca-colacompany.com

a Coca-Cola bottle
Coca-Cola (often referred to simply as Coke) is a carbonated soft drink[1] produced by The Coca-Cola Company. Originally intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton and was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coca-Cola to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century. The drink's name refers to two of its original ingredients, which were kola nuts (a source of caffeine) and coca leaves. The current formula of Coca-Cola remains a trade secret, although a variety of reported recipes and experimental recreations have been published.

The Coca-Cola Company produces concentrate, 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 12-US-fluid-ounce (350 ml) can contains 38 grams (1.3 oz) of sugar (usually in the form of high fructose corn syrup). The bottlers then sell, distribute, and merchandise Coca-Cola to retail stores, restaurants, and vending machines throughout the world. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for soda fountains of major restaurants and foodservice distributors.

The Coca-Cola Company has on occasion introduced other cola drinks under the Coke name. The most common of these is Diet Coke, along with others including Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Coca-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola Vanilla, and special versions with lemon, lime, and coffee. Based on Interbrand's "best global brand" study of 2015, Coca-Cola was the world's third most valuable brand.[2] In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries worldwide, with consumers downing more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings each day.[3]

Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 19th-century historical origins
1.2 The Coca-Cola Company
1.3 Origins of bottling
1.4 20th century
1.5 New Coke
1.6 21st century
2 Production
2.1 Ingredients
2.2 Formula of natural flavorings
2.3 Use of stimulants in formula
2.3.1 Coca – cocaine
2.3.2 Kola nuts – caffeine
2.4 Franchised production model
3 Geographic spread
4 Brand portfolio
4.1 Logo design
4.2 Contour bottle design
4.3 Types
4.4 Designer bottles
5 Competitors
6 Advertising
6.1 5 cents
6.2 Holiday campaigns
6.3 Sports sponsorship
6.4 In mass media
7 Medicinal application
8 Criticism
9 Colombian death-squad allegations
10 Use as political and corporate symbol
11 Social causes
12 See also
13 References
14 Further reading
14.1 Primary sources
15 External links
History
19th-century historical origins

Eagle Drug and Chemical House in Columbus, Georgia

John Pemberton, the original inventor of Coca-Cola

Believed to be the first coupon ever, this ticket for a free glass of Coca-Cola was first distributed in 1888 to help promote the drink. By 1913, the company had redeemed 8.5 million tickets.[4]

This Coca-Cola advertisement from 1943 is still displayed in Minden, Louisiana.

Early Coca-Cola bottling machine at Biedenharn Museum and Gardens in Monroe, Louisiana
Confederate Colonel John Pemberton, who was wounded in the American Civil War and became addicted to morphine, began a quest to find a substitute for the problematic drug.[5] The prototype Coca-Cola recipe was formulated at Pemberton's Eagle Drug and Chemical House,[6] a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia, originally as a coca wine.[7][8] He may have been inspired by the formidable success of Vin Mariani, a French coca wine.[9] It is also worth noting that 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 patent for this Spanish drink was bought by Coca-Cola in 1953.[10]

In 1885, Pemberton registered his French Wine Coca nerve tonic.[11] In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, a nonalcoholic version of French Wine Coca.[12] The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886.[13] It was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents[14] 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.[15] Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases, including morphine addiction, indigestion, nerve disorders, headaches, and impotence. Pemberton ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29 of the same year in the Atlanta Journal.[16]

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.[17] John Pemberton declared that the name "Coca-Cola" belonged to his son, Charley, but the other two manufacturers could continue to use the formula.[18]

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.[19] 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. 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."[20]


Old German Coca-Cola bottle opener.
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.[21]

The Coca-Cola 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" burned in 1910, the action was claimed to have been made during a move to new corporation offices around this time.[22]

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 h