Coca-Cola:The History

Food+%26+Drink

Taras Chernus

Food & Drink

We all know that Coca-Cola is the number one soft drink brand in the world, but how did it all start and become so successful?

It all started when “Dr. John Pemberton sold the first glass of Coca-Cola at Jacobs’ Pharmacy in downtown Atlanta” on May 8, 1886. Each glass was sold for just five cents and soon became a fountain drink.

Later on, Dr. Pemberton “sold his remaining interest in Coca-Cola to Asa G. Candler” right before his death in 1888. Mr. Candler continued to grow the company after Dr. Pemberton sold him his remaining interest. It wasn’t until 1891 that Mr. Candler officially owned the entire Coca-Cola company.

As many people became more familiar with the fountain drink, more people started to drink it. The company went from selling “9 drinks per day” to selling it in “every state of the US.

The company’s popularity was great, but Thomas and Whitehead wanted to increase the popularity of Coca-Cola. Not only did they want it to be a fountain drink, but they wanted it to be in a bottled glass.

To add on, business owners were very divisive on buying glass bottles because they were very expensive. This meant that not many drinks were sold in bottles, which created a big increase of Coca-Cola’s popularity.

With its popularity increasing, the company wanted to have an advertisement for the Coca-Cola drink. So, by 1993, the first polar bear print appeared in a Coca-Cola ad. In the ad, the polar bears were watching the aurora borealis also known as the Northern Lights. While they were watching the lights, they were drinking Coca-Cola. Ever since, polar bears continued to be in Coca-Cola advertisements and became their mascot.

As Coca-Cola continues to be a very popular drink, myself and others are excited to try their limited edition Starlight flavored drink.