Always Coca-Cola

I hate presentations, especially if I have to do them myself. However in this case I could not get out of it and together with two other guys from class I did a presentation about Coca-Cola today. Plenty of things went wrong during the writing, for the most part that a stupid school computer decided to delete the presentation file when I pulled my USB drive from the computer. That really had me pissed off for a day right there.

But in the end all went okay and I got a nice 8,5 for my part of the presentation, I guess that’s about a B+.

For all those interested I’m posting the presentation below for you all to read! Enjoy!

Coca-Cola is a drink with a very rich history going all the way back to 1885 (eightteen eighty-five) when the original recipe was first invented. John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola, called this early version of the drink Pemberton’s French Wine Coca. The very first version of what would later be Coca-Cola contained, among other things, alcohol and coca leaves.

When Atlanta and Fulton County passed a law that banned all kinds of alcohol, Pemberton decided to change his French Wine Coca recipe. He took out the alcohol and started using carbonated water instead of normal water. Because the effects of cocaine were not yet known back then, the coca leaves stayed in the recipe until 1903 (nineteen o three).

In 1888 (eightteen eighty-eight) a man named Asa Griggs Candler bought exclusive rights to the Coca-Cola formula and started The Coca-Cola Company four years later in 1892 (eightteen ninety-two).

Coca-Cola became available in bottles in 1894 (eightteen ninety-four). The first bottle was filled in Vicksburg, Mississippi by the Biedenharm Candy Company. Candler did not like the idea of bottled Coca-Cola and was about to throw the idea out when his partners convinced him to go ahead with the idea.

The glass Coca-Cola bottle was designed by Earl Dean, who entered a competition to design a unique bottle for Coca-Cola. The first idea was to base the design on one of the drinks ingredients, like coca or the cola nut. In the end the designers used the image of a Cocoa pod. The same bottle has been in use by The Coca-Cola Company since 1920 (nineteen twenty) and is one of the most well known items from Coca-Cola. In 2007 The Coca-Cola Company introduced an aluminum bottle based on the shape of the original bottle.

The Coca-Cola formula is one of the best guarded secrets in the world. Only a few people in The Coca-Cola Company know the complete formula. The original copies of both the original and the modern formula are stored in a bank vault in the SunTrust Bank in Atlanta. Only two of the companies executives have access to the formula.

Cocaine has been part of the Coca-Cola formula since the beginning because of the coca leaves that are used. In Pemberton’s original formula the drink contained at least 100 (one hundred) grams of cocaine. Candler later altered the formula so that it contained only about 10 grams of cocaine. In 1903 (nineteen o three) The Coca-Cola Company decided to start using used coca leaves. Most of the cocaine has been removed from used leaves, but not all. To this day small amounts of cocaine are still present in Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola is also well known for kicking off the holidays at the end of the year. In the famous television commercial a train of red Coca-Cola trucks drive through a snow white forest. The trucks are covered in lights and turn on the christmas lights everywhere they pass. The song that goes with it is called ‘Holidays are coming’ and was released as a single in 2001 and came in on number 9 in the German top 40.

Coca-Cola also sponsers large sporting clubs and events such as The Football League in England. The company is even responsible for the renaming of three of the divisions. The divisions are now known as The Championship, League One and League Two. Before Coca-Cola started their sponsorship the divisions were simply called Division one, two and three.

The company was also the first sponsor of the Olympics at the 1928 (nineteen twenty-eight) games right here in Amsterdam. They have been a sponsor of the Olympics ever since. When the Olympics hit the city of Atlanta in 1996 (nineteen ninety-six) The Coca-Cola Company almost doubled the amount of advertisement and organized Coca-Cola related events to promote the drink’s hometown; Atlanta.

Coca-Cola has also been a sponser of FIFA since 1978 (nineteen seventy-eight) and was present at each FIFA World Cup event and other FIFA competitions. The tournament trophy for the FIFA World Youth Championship was even called “FIFA – Coca-Cola Cup” from 1977 (nineteen seventy-seven) to 1997 (nineteen ninety-seven).

Over the years a total of 25 (twnty-five) different variations of Coca-Cola have existed, among which are Coca-Cola Light and Coca-Cola Zero. Some versions of Coca-Cola are only available in certain countries. Coca-Cola Vanila for example is still only available in ten countries and Coca-Cola Orange is only available in England and Gibraltar.