Coca-Cola is one of the largest beverage companies in the world existing in more than 200 countries with the most cunning and aggressive advertisements in the market. It is believed more than 96% of the people in the world can identify and relate the company’s logo to the brand.
Here are 15 facts we think you will find interesting about Coca-Cola that you may not have heard about.
1. Origins of Coca Cola brand name
The brand name Coca-Cola comes from its original ingredients, “Coca” leaves and “Kola” nuts.
2. Coca-Cola was invented by a pharmacist
Coca-Cola was invented by Atlanta-based pharmacist and former colonel in the US Confederate Army during the Civil War, John S. Pemberton in 1886. The name was made by his bookkeeper, Frank Robinson who is the scripted logo that is still used today in his beautiful handwriting.
3. Coca-Cola once contained cocaine
The very first Coca-Cola products contained about 9 milligrams of cocaine per glass until 1903 when it was removed. It was meant to be a substitute for alcohol and a cure for opium addiction. Today, Coca-Cola contains caffeine.
4. Coca-Cola was ranked as the third most valuable brand
In 2015, Coca-Cola was the world’s third most valuable brand, after Apple and Google. It is worth an estimated $83.8 billion which is more than Budweiser, Subway, Pepsi, and KFC combined.
5. The mystery behind Coca-Cola’s Santa Claus
In 1931, Coca-Cola created the image of modern Santa Claus when illustrator Haddon Sundblom painted a plump, jolly Santa in a red coat with white sleeves and a white beard which represented the brand colours. The image was based on the Clement Moore poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” and Scandinavian heritage.
6. Coca-Cola made Fanta for the German Nazis
Many of the top Coca-Cola executives during WWII were Nazis and when German Coca-Cola plants could no longer ship ingredients to make Coke, the company helped them make Fanta.
7. Coca-Cola can be used as a cure for certain things
Coca-Cola is believed to cure a lot of things such as hiccups, low libido, relieving jellyfish stings and Diet Coke has been proven by studies to kill sperm as a spermicide although it is not recommended to be used as a birth control method.
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8. Coca-Cola is 132 years old
Since its formation in 1886 by Pemberton and later Asa Griggs Candler who took over the business in 1888 following Pemberton’s death. Coca-Cola has been in existence for 132 years.
9. A Coca-Cola can contain 5 tablespoons of sugar
One 12-ounce can of Coke has at least 39 grams of total sugar, which is roughly 5 tablespoons of sugar.
10. Coca-Cola is banned in some countries
North Korea and Cuba are the only countries where Coca-Cola products aren’t sold.
11. Cola-Cola has over 500 brands
Coca-Cola has more than 500 brands (3,500 beverages) in its product portfolio it would take you more than nine years to try them all if you took one per day including energy drinks, soy drinks and soda.
12. Coca-Cola tastes better at 3 degrees Celsius
The perfect temperature to take a Coke according to the company is between 1 – 3 degrees Celsius.
13. Mexico & America are the biggest consumers of Coke products
The biggest drinkers of Coke in the world are Mexicans and Americans. On average, Mexicans drink 745 Coke beverages a year while Americans drink 401.
14. Coca-Cola’s secret formula
Coca-Cola’s formula is no longer a big secret. The original is held in a vault in a branch of SunTrust Bank Atlanta close to the Coca-Cola headquarters.
In 2011, NPR’s This American Life announced that they had found the papers of an Atlanta historian named Charles Salter, who had seen the recipe in a pile of documents belonging to the inventor John Pemberton. It is a fluid extract of coca, lemon oil, cinnamon oil, nutmeg oil and caramel although Coke insisted it is an old version of the solution.
15. Coca-Cola is a danger to your health
Coca-Cola has been believed to have serious health effects. In one documented story, a 30-year-old mother of 8 died after drinking 2 gallons of Coke daily for the year which ruined her liver, and heart and rotted all of her teeth. One of her children was born without enamel on the teeth.
