Coca-Cola
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines internationally. The Coca-Cola Company claims that the beverage is sold in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke (a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company in the United States since March 27, 1944) or (in Europe and America) as cola or pop. Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.
Use as a political and corporate symbol
The Coca-Cola drink has a high degree of identification with the United States, being considered by some an "American Brand" or as an item representing America. The identification with the spread of American culture has led to the pun "Coca-Colanization". The drink is also often a metonym for the Coca-Cola Company.
There are some consumer boycotts of Coca-Cola in Arab countries due to Coke's early investment in Israel during the Arab League boycott of Israel (its competitor Pepsi stayed out of Israel). Mecca Cola and Pepsi have been successful alternatives in the Middle East.
A Coca-Cola fountain dispenser (officially a Fluids Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus-2 or FGBA-2) was developed for use on the Space Shuttle as "a test bed to determine if carbonated beverages can be produced from separately stored carbon dioxide, water and flavored syrups and determine if the resulting fluids can be made available for consumption without bubble nucleation and resulting foam formation". The unit flew in 1996 aboard STS-77 and held 1.65 liters each of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke.
See also
- The Coca-Cola Kid
- popularization and suppression of cocaine
- Cocacolonization
- Big Soda
- List of Coca-Cola slogans
