Slim waisted, curvy and voluptuous… 100 years has done little to your affect your gorgeous figure.
Of course I’m talking about none other than Coca-Cola’s very own contour shaped bottle. Who could forget to wish it a big happy birthday on this special occasion? I mean, it’s not every day you turn 100!
Turning 100 is a big event and you certainly can’t celebrate alone so McDonald’s has joined in on the celebrations and are giving away a free Coca-Cola history glass with the purchase of any extra value meal.
There’s six to collect each with its own historical date, design and story.
1899 – Coca-Cola was first bottled.
1916 – The Coca-Cola contour bottle is born.
1955 – First McDonald’s restaurant opened in the U.S.
1961 – Coca-Cola contour bottle shape is a trademark.
1994 – Coca-Cola is ‘the Real Thing’.
2015 – 100th anniversary of the Coca-Cola contour bottle.
It isn’t just these glasses that that have a story behind them, the Coca-Cola company has had a storied history since its beginning in 1886. So here for you is a bunch of interesting facts about the history of Coca-Cola and of course its beautiful contour bottle.
Sadly all the Fun Facts wouldn’t fit in, so here is just one of the many interesting facts about Coke.
It was actually originally created as an alternative medicine to morphine.
After being wounded in the Civil War, Confederate Colonel John Pemberton soon became addicted to morphine and began his quest to find a substitute for the dangerous opiate. At the time it was believed that carbonated water was good for your health, which led to the popularity of soda fountains in the United States. It was because of this that Coke was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents a glass at these soda fountains.
Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases other than just morphine addiction, including; dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headaches and even impotence.
However, this could have something to do with the fact that Coke never used to be the ingredients we know today. The beverage originally had two main ingredients, coca (cocaine) and kola nuts (caffeine). Both of which also helped in naming the drink.
Originally, Pemberton called for five ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, which is a significant dose. In 1891 it was claimed that the formula contained only a tenth of this amount.
In 1903, cocaine was removed completely. Coca-Cola now uses a cocaine-free coca leaf extract prepared at a Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey. In the United States the Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorised by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant, which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia.
The other ingredient, kola nuts, act both as the flavouring as well as the source of the caffeine. Kola nuts contain about 2.0-3.5 per cent caffeine. In 1911, the U.S. government attempted to force Coca-Cola to remove caffeine from its formula. The case was decided in favour of Coca-Cola however, in 1912, the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act was amended, adding caffeine to the list of “habit-forming” and “deleterious” substances which must be listed on the products label.
Now we come to the actual bottle. The whole reason for this birthday celebration.
The Coca-Cola bottle, or the “contour bottle”, was created by bottle designer Earl R. Dean. In 1915, the Coca-Cola Company launched a competition among its bottle suppliers to create a new bottle for their beverage that would distinguish it from other beverage bottles, “a bottle which a person could recognise even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was.”
The original idea for the shape of the bottle was to base the bottle’s design on one of the soda’s two ingredients, the coca leaf or the kola nut, however, no one knew what either ingredient looked like.
After being unable to find any information about coca or kola the new inspiration came from a picture of the gourd-shaped cocoa pod that was found in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Dean made a rough sketch of the pod and returned to the plant. The idea was approved and now Dean had the task of designing a prototype.
The prototype never made it to production since its middle bulged larger than its base, making it unstable on the conveyor belts. Dean resolved this issue by decreasing the bottle’s middle. During the 1916 bottler’s convention, Dean’s contour bottle was chosen over other entries and was on the market the same year. Others have attributed inspiration for the design not to the cocoa pod, but to a Victorian hooped dress, i.e. a woman’s figure, slender yet curvy.
100 years later and this contour bottle is one of the most recognised packages in the world… even in the dark!
After becoming a complete global sensation since Coke announced its intention to begin distribution in Burma in June 2012, Coca-Cola has been officially available in every country in the world except Cuba and North Korea. And what better way to reach out to their world full of fans than by using social media.
Coca-Cola use social media to reach out to their world full of fans and keep them updated and interested in their #CokeJourney. They use this to provide information about the company, their history, their future and their celebrations
So needless to say, we all look forward to seeing what the future holds for Coca-Cola and all its delicious varying beverages. –Photo and report by Isabel Williams
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