Tony Talks History
The ENTIRE History of Coca-Cola
For 73 years, a Coca-Cola cost exactly five cents. That is not even the strangest part of the story. It began as a medicine made by a wounded Confederate soldier, its inventor died broke, the man who bought it had to sell it as "Yum Yum", the bottling rights went for one dollar, the shape of the bottle came from a picture of a cocoa pod, a war gave the world Fanta, a Soviet marshal had his Coke made clear, and in 1985 the company swapped its own recipe, and the new one lasted just 79 days before America made it back down. This is the entire history of Coca-Cola, from one glass on a chemist's counter in Atlanta to more than 1.9 billion servings a day.
The numbers in this video
73 yearsHow long a Coca-Cola cost five cents. The price did not move from 1886 to 1959.Source: Wikipedia (Fixed price); NPR Planet Money
9Drinks sold per day, on average, in the first year. This is the company's own figure.Source: Coca-Cola Company history
$1The price of the 1899 deal that let two Chattanooga lawyers bottle Coca-Cola across most of the United States.Source: Tennessee Encyclopedia; Wikipedia (Benjamin Thomas)
$25MWhat a group of investors led by Ernest Woodruff paid for the company in September 1919.Source: Wikipedia (Coca-Cola); Britannica
79 daysHow long New Coke lasted in 1985 before the company brought the original back.Source: History.com; Wikipedia
1.9BServings the company sells every day, more than 1.9 billion. It is the company's own figure and covers all of its drinks.Source: Coca-Cola FAQ
Every number has a source
Chapters
- 0:00Five Cents for 73 Years
- 1:16The Guess
- 1:43The Wounded Pharmacist
- 3:00The First Glass
- 4:17Yum Yum and Koke
- 5:29The Salesman
- 6:48The One Dollar Deal
- 8:04The Bottle
- 9:18The $25 Million Sale
- 10:21The Nickel Trap
- 11:57Santa
- 12:58The War
- 13:58Fanta
- 15:08White Coke
- 16:03New Coke
- 18:01The Vault Today
What we left out
Claims we found and could not stand behind, so they are not in the video.
The first-year story of $50 in revenue against $73.96 of advertising. Those early figures are disputed, so the video uses only the company's own nine drinks a day.
The line that Coca-Cola is the second most understood word after OK. It is unsourced, so it stayed out.
One source's claim that New Coke lasted five months. The research marks that as wrong and uses 79 days.
