Coca Cola, the beverage that sports the most recognized trademark in the world, has a fascinating  and sometimes quirky history. It all started with a battlefield wound suffered in 1865 by Confederate officer John Stith Pemberton during the American Civil War. Pemberton had obtained a medical degree at the age of nineteen and had a special interest in chemistry so when he developed chronic pain due to his injury, he knew what to do. Morphine! It solved the pain problem, but Pemberton became addicted to the drug. That triggered a search for a pain killer that was not addictive.
At the time it was already known that indigenous people in the Andes chewed coca leaves to reduce fatigue and ease pain. The active ingredient was not known until in 1860 when German chemist Albert Niemann isolated cocaine from the plant’s leaves. Soon coca extracts began appearing in European medicines including Vin Mariani, a coca infused wine created by French chemist Angelo Mariani that was promoted as a remedy for “nervous disorders.” Queen Victoria, Pope Leo XIII and Thomas Edison were said to be fans. Sometime in the early 1880s Vin Mariani came to the attention of Pemberton who wondered whether this concoction could serve as a model for the pain-killing tonic he was after?
In 1884, he introduced “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca” that he distinguished from other coca laced tonics by adding an extract of kola nuts. A couple of decades earlier caffeine had been extracted from these nuts finally explaining why Kola nuts had a history of being chewed in West Africa for their stimulant effect. Pemberton’s French Wine Coca went on sale in Atlanta claiming to combat fatigue, aid digestion, relieve headaches and help with opium addiction. It sold well until 1886 when temperance laws were enacted in Georgia. The challenge now was to formulate a medicinal product without alcohol.
Many trials ensued until Pemberton with the help of his accountant Frank Robinson came up with a syrup that contained coca and kola extracts. He took a sample to Jacob’s Pharmacy, an establishment in Atlanta that featured a soda fountain to ask the owner, Willis Venable, known as the “soda water king” for some advice on how to market the syrup. Venable added soda water to the syrup and a beverage was born! It was marketed as a delicious, refreshing, exhilarating and invigorating drink, although there were still claims of it being a “valuable brain tonic” and offering relief from exhaustion. However, it was the naming the drink Coca-Cola that led to a marketing breakthrough. Frank Robinson came up with the name that was designed to reflect the main ingredients, changing Kola to Cola for an alliterative sound. Robinson also designed the famed script now recognized all over the world.
Although there was very little cocaine in the formula, all traces were removed in 1903 after physicians who were using cocaine medically began to report dependance on the drug as well side effects like hallucinations and paranoia. Today, coca leaves are still used as a flavoring but only once the cocaine has been removed. Also instead of kola nuts, today caffeine obtained from manufacturers of decaffeinated coffee is added directly to the formula. The brown colour is due to caramel, the acidity due to phosphoric acid, and then of course there is the “7X” secret ingredient composed of various fruit and spice extracts.
The first bottling plant established outside the U.S. was in Toronto in 1906 with syrup shipped from Atlanta to be mixed with carbonated water. Coca Cola entered Germany in 1929 and with aggressive marketing quickly became very popular. In 1933, with the Nazi party rising to power, German-born Max Keith took over the subsidiary. While there is no evidence Keith ever joined the Nazi party, he did recognize that collaboration rather than opposition would be good for business. The company was a sponsor of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and in 1939, a celebration of the tenth anniversary of Coca-Cola coming to Germany included a mass Nazi salute to celebrate Hitler’s 50th birthday. Keith had no issue taking over Coca-Cola plants in Italy, France and Holland after these countries had been conquered.
A major problem cropped up in 1941 when the U.S. entered the war and commerce with Germany was halted. Coca-Cola syrup could not be imported and production of Coke ground to a halt. The company needed to come up with an alternative product to survive. And Keith did! Using apple pulp left over from cider production and whey left over from cheese production he came up with a new soda sweetened with beet sugar. But it needed a name. Apparently, Keith told his staff to use their imagination and one of the salesmen came up with “Fanta,” from the German word for imagination. The drink sold well because the company was seen by the Nazis as operating within the regime.
Some have used the Fanta story to claim that Coca-Cola collaborated with the Nazis. The fact is that the German subsidiary during the war had no contact with the head office in Atlanta and operated independently. However, after the war, headquarters realized that Keith had not only kept the company afloat but also expanded it as the Nazis marched across Europe. He was rewarded by being named head of Coca-Cola Europe. Then in 1955, Keith oversaw the launch of Fanta globally. The new beverage actually came in different versions in different markets. They all had a fruity flavour with orange being popular in North America. The latest change in formulation in 2023 was accompanied by an advertising campaign that included large signs emitting an orangy smell even though the beverage contains no orange juice. Neither does it contain any ingredients that would link it to what some have called the “Nazi beverage.”
