This series excerpts heavily from For God, Country, and Coca-Cola by Mark Pendergrast, 1999, who grew up on “Coca-Cola Row”” and after Harvard, became an investigative journalist and independent scholar, also the author of Uncommon Grounds. Coca-Cola ties in nicely with my own internationally acclaimed Food Series, Marketing Advertising Series, and Public Opinion Series. If there’s one corporation that knows the power of marketing and public opinion, it’s Coca-Cola, imbedded deep in American history, politics, folklore, industry, and now a global icon.
While watching the 2008 Olympics and recovering from the just-seen ExxonMobile commercial that had effected a personal flashback to 1983, SUDDENLY, this Coca-Cola commercial starts and surprisingly mentions its founder - John Pemberton - who concocted Coca-Cola in 1886. “The most uplifting drink of all time” the commercial said. So very true. They should bring back the original formula.
Early History
Other Books:
Secret Formula by Frederick Allen: Unearthed some very interesting internal company lore, particularly regarding Robert Woodruff.
Sweetness and Power by anthropologist Sidney Mintz, traces how sugar and tea were initially considered exotic luxuries available only to the wealthy nobility in
Movies:
The Cola Conquest, documentary
For His Son by D.W. Griffith, 1909 [Birth of a Nation, 1912]: the inventor of a “DOPO-KOKE” watches as his son falls prey to the drink’s cocaine.
[1920s] Soda Fountain Service, Come In, Customer, and These Changing Times: An innovative public relations campaign based on a series of soft-sell movies using professional actors in the role of druggist and dispenser.
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