Coca Cola

Coca-Cola’s original formula included extracts of the African kola nut and coca leaves, both strong stimulants. It was one of those patent medicines sold in the 1800′s that actually contained traces of use “spent coca leaves“.

It also stopped advertising Coca-Cola as a cure for headaches and other ills. Coca-Cola and the Olympic Games began their association in the Summer of 1928.

In Africa, during WWII, when German forces over ran allied bases stocked with Coke, they would strap Coke bottles wrapped in towels to their aircraft wings, fly around for a short time, then land  and enjoy ice cold Coca Cola’s.

When WWII began, the company’s use of sugar in the manufacturing of syrup for civilian consumption was restricted to 50% of its pre-war average due to rationing.

The rationing ended in August, 1947. If all the Coca-Cola ever produced to this point were to gush from “Old Faithful” at its normal rate of 15,000 gallons every hour, the geyser would flow continually for over 1,685 years.

Another way of putting that fact—if the geyser had been continually erupting since 313 A.D., it would just be running out about now.

In Brazil, a local bottler makes 3-day trips up the Amazon River to deliver Coca-Cola to remote locations. The slogan “Good to the Last Drop” was first used by the Coca-Cola Company in 1908. It later became the slogan for Maxwell House coffee.

Cuba and Panama were the first two countries to bottle Coca-Cola outside of the U.S. Coca-Cola trucks travel over 1,000,000 miles a day to supply consumers with soft drinks.

The greater Mexico City bottler produces the greatest volume of any Coca-Cola bottler on the globe. Coca-Cola was first shipped in used whiskey kegs and barrels, but they were painted red to give them a distinctive mark. The color red has been associated with the product ever since.

It took 58 years–until 1944–to sell the first billion gallons of Coca-Cola syrup. Today, that billion gallon mark falls approximately every 7-1/2 months.

Coca-Cola products are now sold in approximately 200 countries and their logo is written in over 80 languages.

Coca-Cola is the world’s most recognizable trademark—recognized by 94% of the world’s population! If all the vending machines in the United States were stacked one ontop another, the pile would be over 450 miles high.

The consumption of Coca-Cola Classic in the U.S. exceeds each of the following: bottled water, juices, powdered drinks, wine and distilled spirits.

There are 7,000 Coca-Cola products consumed worldwide every single second.

More than 5 billion bottles of Coca-Cola were consumed by military personnel during WWII In 1943, an American soldier stationed in Italy received 2 bottles of Coca-Cola sent from home. He raffled them off at 25 cents a shot and made over $4,000 for charity.

In 1886, sales of Coca-Cola averaged 9 drinks a day. That first year, John Pemberton sold only 25 gallons of syrup. For his efforts, he grossed $50.00 and spent $73.96 in advertising.

Diet Coke is known as Coca-Cola Light in most countries outside of the U.S. and Canada. It is the most popular diet cola worldwide.

The first outdoor sign advertising Coca-Cola still exists. It was originally painted in 1894 and is located in Cartersville, Georgia.

By the 1950′s, automobile service stations sold more Coca-Cola than they did motor oil.

In July, 1985, Coca-Cola became the first soft drink to be enjoyed in outer space…on the Space Shuttle Challenger. A special company-developed space-can was used.

Asa Candler, owner of Coca-Cola from 1891-1919, later became mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.