It Began as a Combination of Wine and Cocaine

Coca-Cola was first sold on May 8, 1886 at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. It was sold as a patent medicine for 5 cents. At the time carbonization was thought to good for heath. For the first few months only a few glasses were sold each day.

The formula was created by John Sith Pemberton. It was originally a cocawine, an alcoholic beverage that combined wine and cocaine. In 1886 Georgia introduced Prohibition which forced him to replace the wine with non-alcoholic syrup.

When Pemberton began work on a coca and kola (cola) nut beverage, his intention was to develop a product to stop headaches and calm nervousness. It’s also thought that he was trying to create a pain reliever for himself and other wounded Confederate veterans.

The famous Coca-Cola logo was created in 1885 by Frank Mason Robinson. Robinson at the time was Pemberton’s bookkeeper. Not only did Robinson name the product he was the one who chose the logo’s distinctive cursive script, a typeface known as Spencerian script.

Coca-Cola used the imagine of Santa Claus so well in some of their ads of the early 20th century, some have credited them with the invention of the modern Santa Claus, the Jolly Old Elf in the red suit. That image was common by the time and derives greatly from the 19th century drawings of Santa Claus by Thomas Nast.

In 1971 Coca-Cola started to use an advertising jiggle called, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sings. The song was written by Roger cook, Roger Greenaway, Bill Backer and Billy Davis. The jiggle was so popular that it was recorded by the New Seekers and became a Number 1 hit.