Coca-Cola: one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable brands in the world, and one of the best examples of a ruthless and immoral corporation. To understand how it became what it is now, it’s useful to look back at its earlier years: snake oil swindlers, con men, Nazi collaborators, addiction, fraud, greed, political influence. This is the story of Coca-Cola.
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Sources
For God, Country, and Coca-Cola: The Unauthorized History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company that Makes it
https://books.google.com/books/about/For_God_Country_and_Coca_Cola.html?id=Gc6zAAAAIAAJ
Why We Took Cocaine Out of Soda
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/why-we-took-cocaine-out-of-soda/272694/
The Cocaine Wine That Was Endorsed By The Pope And Inspired Coca-Cola
https://www.iflscience.com/the-cocaine-wine-that-was-endorsed-by-the-pope-and-inspired-coca-cola-68097
Coca-Cola’s Creator Said the Drink Would Make You Smarter
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/coca-colas-creator-said-drink-would-make-you-smarter-180962665/
Spanish town claims origins of Coca-Cola
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/08/10/newser-spanish-town-coca-cola/2638515/
John Stith Pemberton
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/business-economy/john-stith-pemberton-1831-1888/
Coca-Cola Candler (obituary)
https://time.com/archive/6659807/coca-cola-candler/
Marketing timeline
https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/company/us/en/about-us/history/coca-cola-a-short-history-125-years-booklet.pdf
Asa Candler
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/asa-candler-1851-1929/
How the Myth of the ‘Negro Cocaine Fiend’ Helped Shape American Drug Policy
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/how-myth-negro-cocaine-fiend-helped-shape-american-drug-policy/
Coca-Cola collaborated with the Nazis in the 1930s, and Fanta is the proof
https://medium.com/timeline/fanta-coca-cola-nazi-845ee7e513af
Coca-Cola pulls 75th anniversary ‘Nazi’ Fanta ad after online backlash https://www.nydailynews.com/2015/03/03/coca-cola-pulls-75th-anniversary-nazi-fanta-ad-after-online-backlash/
The story of the iconic Soviet general and the secret order for a special kind of Coca-Cola
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-secret-clear-coca-cola-for-soviet-gen-georgy-zhukov-2021-7
Q&A: Author of ‘Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African’ on Coke’s surprising history
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2024/03/17/1238540775/coke-history-book-bottled-how-coca-cola-became-african
Trade secrets: Coca-Cola’s hidden formula for avoiding taxes
https://mondediplo.com/openpage/trade-secrets-coca-cola-s-hidden-formula-for
38 Comments
I do like Diet Coke though
Your lava lamp is looking a bit… stiff these days? You should see a doctor about that.
Damn they were all on that lean wishing Mozart would drop a chopped and screwed remix
Coca-Cola: Confederate cocaine water. As per one Fat Electrician
Well then. That's a half hour of coca-cola information I didn't know about. Well done
Man… American business has a history that would make any modern day drug lord blush.
60 y/o. Never heard the full story before, smdh.
23:20 Alolf Hitler tweaking out hella hard.
Thank you for making this very important piece of media, yet again.
This is not the story of Coca-Cola. It is the story of human beings and all the nasty things they do. Liberal human beings, conservative, human beings, communist human beings, fascist human beings they all do the nasty. When we reduce it down to a company, then we feel more comfortable to blame a company instead of our fellow human beings.
Why am I not finding any of this surprising? Great work as always.
bro! this is so bold, so heavy, that i had to pause to say, and type that i didnt know that i needed this.
on my grandma.
Excellent video as always Georg but I’m curious as to where the 70L of water for 1L of Coke statistic comes from?
I'll be honest. I drank two glasses of Coke Zero while watching this 🙁 I'm so sorry
Yeah nah, the company is kinda shady but I had no idea how based they used to be.
Nestle: Coca-Cola! 😠 you made all that money profiteering from water! 😡 and that’s MY job!! 😤 (punch)
(Yeah this is from the movie Hot Shots! 😬😁)
Damn it! I’m drinking a coke right now
Imagine thinking a corporation could have morals.
Well it's nice to know that Nuka-Cola was actually the lesser evil.
Pepsi ftw
To be fair their brains do work differently. They wouldn't need preferential measures if they faired as good as the average anglo Joe. Nor would their continent of origin be dependent on foreign aid since WWII. It wasn't just the rebel conflict that caused the Ebola Virus to touch Cairo 10 years ago.
The fact I chose Coca-Cola wallpaper for my bedroom wall as a kid, says everything.
I haven't drunk it in years now.
coke is cooked
I love coca cola 🤗🇺🇸
As from my understanding. The nazi party operated by inserting party members and party approved personnel into private businesses rather than full state nationalisation like the soviet union.
In such an environment it would be almost impossible to be a worker let alone run a business without rubbing shoulders with the ruling party.
In hindsight people seem to want people that lived at the time in such a state to have ran off to the forest and live like a cave man till the war was over. But we consider contemporary off grid living people as eccentric weirdos not to be emulated.
Does anyone really like their sugar water?. I've never been a fan, leaves a gritty film on your teeth. I'm sure PepsiCo are just as evil but, I'd rather have that, better flavour. I rarely if ever drink fizzy juice though.
Great work ol boy!
Excellent
Thanks, cured me of my habit in 35 minutes. My teeth thank you
You left out Coca-Cola's monopoly on the coca leaf. Millions of people dead due to the prohibition of coca-ne.
This is my favourite pinko commie channel. Well done.👍 😊
Solid as always! Looking forward to part two!
I loved the 2015 Fanta campaign. The lack of self-awareness and how-ha was beautiful
I feel the government has a massive say on what Coke does.
1:40 Abe's Exoddus!
coca cola was, as far as anyone is aware, like one step away from being bottled by concentration camp slaves
This is why I drink Dr Pepper instead
I NEED PART 2