The Coca-Cola History Through Ads. 1 – 1886-1919
The Coca-Cola History Through Ads — N.1 (1886-1919)
From Pemberton's back pain to the Coca-Cola Controversy.
The Coca-Cola history told through its own advertising — from the first glass sold in Atlanta in 1886 to the consolidation of a global brand by 1919. Trademark registration, logo design, the cocaine removal from the recipe, and the first systematic campaign against imitation products: each chapter documented through the visual record Coca-Cola left behind.
This first part covers 1886–1919. The series continues into the 1960s.
It all started with Dr. Pemberton's severe back pain.
Dr. John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist and Confederate Colonel wounded in the American Civil War, was addicted to morphine to fight severe back pain. Thanks also to his medical degree, he began to search for a substitute for the problematic drug.
After several attempts, Dr. Pemberton blended an extract of cocaine-rich coca leaves and caffeine-rich cola nuts. These ingredients formed the basis of the original Coca-Cola recipe.
Initially conceived as a patent medicine, the drink was also marketed as a temperance drink. This dual purpose reflected the prevailing health concerns and social attitudes of the time.
On May 8, 1886, he sold the first glass of the drink, later named Coca-Cola, in his pharmacy in Atlanta. During that year, an average of nine drinks a day were sold, marking the humble beginnings of a global phenomenon.
Trademark registration by The Coca-Cola Company for the Coca-Cola brand Nutrient or Tonic Beverages.
Patent N. 22,406, Filed on January 31, 1893, in Atlanta, Ga.
This file, digitally reproduced from the original, is freely downloadable in high resolution at the Library of Congress.
Ticket for a free glass of Coca-Cola — Atlanta 1888
This is believed to be the first coupon ever
Asa Griggs Candler
Dr. Pemberton, though a brilliant mind, faced challenges in the business. His partnership with Asa Griggs Chandler, a visionary businessman, was a turning point.
Mr. Candler, from 1886 to 1888, bought the Coca‑Cola formula and patents from John Pemberton and his partners. In a few decades, Candler's innovative marketing tactics led Coca-Cola to dominate the global soft drink market.
The first crucial move was the creation of a distinctive logo featuring the two Cs in a Spencerian script. This logo would become a cornerstone of Coca-Cola's branding strategy.
On May 14, 1892, The Coca-Cola Company registered, with patent N. 22,406, name, logo, and trademark as a "Nutrient or Tonic Beverage."
By the late 1890s, Coca-Cola had become a household name and America's most popular fountain drink. The scale of its success was staggering, with Coca-Cola sales skyrocketing from one million a year in 1890 to an astonishing one hundred million in 1900.
The original Coca-Cola Trade-Mark, as registered on January 31, 1893, and the current one.
Considering the one-hundred-and-forty years spam, they are impressively similar.
1901. Removing Cocaine from the Recipe for Racial Reasons
The medical community viewed tonics like Coca-Cola—advertised to white, middle-class consumers for their aphrodisiac qualities—as harmless. The situation changed dramatically when black workers in the New Orleans area began using Cocaine to cope with the grueling demands of long, physically taxing workdays. The use of Cocaine spread to workers on plantations and in urban areas throughout the South, becoming a recreational drug in Black and mixed-race neighborhoods as well. Source
Medical journals warned of the so-called “Negro cocaine menace,” and newspapers claimed that the drug drove black men to commit crimes, particularly the rape of white women. Despite these concerns, the company continued to include Cocaine in its formula. However, this approach became increasingly problematic in 1899 when the company expanded its sales of bottled Coke to a national market, and Coca-Cola became accessible outside of white soda fountains to anyone with a nickel, including Black men. Source
1901 the company removed Cocaine from the recipe, replacing it with more sugar and caffeine.
Coca-Cola Delicious Refreshing At Soda Founts, 5¢.
Good Housekeeping Magazine, June 1905.
Patent N. 22,406, Filed on January 31, 1893, in Atlanta, Ga.
This file, digitally reproduced from the original, is freely downloadable in high resolution at the Library of Congress.
Hilda Clark. The first Coca-Cola Model
The model Hilda Clark, a testimonial of the brand, was a popular music hall singer and actress. She became famous as a model in 1895 when she was the first woman featured on a tin Coca-Cola tray. She remained the advertising “face” of Coca-Cola until February 1903.
Drink Coca-Cola 5 cents—an amazing poster from 1885
The model Hilda Clark, a testimonial of the brand, was a popular music hall singer and actress. The artist's signature is unreadable.
Text in the sheet: Home Office
The Coca-Cola Co. Atlanta, Ga.
Branches: Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Dallas.
This is a file from the Library of Congress's digital archive that we digitally restored.
First Coca-Cola Advertisements
The first ads for Coca‑Cola appeared in national magazines in 1904, but the oldest we found was from 1905.
Given the brand's meteoric and impactful success, it's a stretch to say that the company's first advertisements, Hilda Clarks one's aside, were poor and lacked even a minimum corporate image.
Of course, we are discussing something published at the turn of the century. Still, in those years, several companies, such as Kellogg's Corn Flakes or Queen City Printing Inks, released organic ad campaigns with an excellent corporate, coordinated image.
Coca-Cola Revives and Sustains Ad
Good Housekeeping Magazine, May 1905.
Design by Massengale, Atlanta
Take one glass of Coca Cola when weary with shopping. It imparts energy and vigor.
Coca-Cola Delicious Refreshing 5¢, Ad
Harper's Bazaar, May 1905.
Design by Massengale, Atlanta.
It is a beverage in which a toast to health and happiness becomes and accomplished fact, as well as a delightful pleasure. At all founts and in bottles
Drink Coca-Cola. The Ideal Beverage for Discriminating People.
Good Housekeeping Magazine, May 1906..
It is a beverage in which a toast to health and happiness becomes and accomplished fact, as well as a delightful pleasure. At all founts and in bottles
Coca-Cola Ad From the Realm of Fancy to Reality.
Artwork by A.T.Farrel.
Good Housekeeping Magazine, July 1907.
Drink Coca-Cola.
The Satisfying Beverage.
Relieves the fatigue that comes from-over-play, over-work, and over-thinking.
Delicious! Refreshing! Thirst-Quenching!
Coca-Cola Ad From the Realm of Fancy to Reality.
Artwork by A.T.Farrel.
Good Housekeeping Magazine, July 1907.
Coca-Cola makes it possible for you to make your appearance with light step, sparkling eye, steady hand and nerves, and, above all, with a clear head capable of lucid thinking and logical reasoning.
This advertisement can be seen as a company's policy statement listing all the drink's magic features, with the dual purpose of being a healthy mind brightener and refresher. It is a company's Manifesto.
An ingenious idea underappreciated for twenty-four years
In July 1910, a brilliant designer created the Coca-Cola Red Circle with primary red as the color code. In the ads, the logo appeared red on white or white on red inside the circle. The company did not recognize its value — the Red Circle was used only a handful of times in the following decades.
Only in 1935 was it revived, becoming one of the cornerstones of Coca-Cola's branding strategy. From then on, it appeared in practically every ad.
Whenever you see an Arrow, Think of Coca-Cola — Get What You Ask For. Red Book Magazine, July 1910
This is probably the first advertisement showcasing the Red Circle, which would later become a cornerstone of Coca-Cola Branding.
Coca-Cola Branding Journey and Imitations Fighting
As Coca-Cola's popularity grew, so did attempts to imitate it. Starting in 1908, the first response to this imitation was the introduction of "Follow the Arrow," which featured arrow-shaped signs to promote Soda Fountains selling the original. The Arrow was also widely used in advertisements during this time.
From 1910, the company, to protect the brand from imitations, began publishing an impressive number of text ads, often double-page spreads, warning against imitations. Sometimes, these ads directly address the reader. In some cases, they were even threatening, particularly towards druggists who sold other drinks that imitated Coca-Cola's names and features.
While these ads may make us smile, they are a blast from the past and a reminder of a bygone era.
Hot Sun- Much Thirst A Notice to Druggists
Red Book Magazine, July 1910
Here's to Your Good Health and Pleasure —The Why of Imitations
Red Book Magazine, August 1911
Here's to Your Good Health and Pleasure — The Why of Imitations
Red Book Magazine, August 1911
Harvey Washington Wiley and the "Coca-Cola Controversy"
Harvey Washington Wiley was an American physician and chemist known for his successful advocacy for the passage of the landmark Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Following this achievement, he worked at the Good Housekeeping Institute laboratories.
He was the first commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration. Wiley's advocacy for stricter food and drug regulations indirectly contributed to Coca-Cola's decision to remove cocaine from its formula in the early 20th century.
After his government tenure ended in 1912, Harvey Washington Wiley took charge of the laboratories at Good Housekeeping Magazine as the Director of the Bureau of Foods, Sanitation, and Health.
In September 1912, the magazine published a daring ten-page essay titled "The Coca-Cola Controversy." This piece, which featured both text and cartoons, openly criticized the popular beverage, warning about the dangers associated with "artificial" caffeine. This move is astonishing by today’s standards, especially considering that Coca-Cola was a vital advertiser.
The Coca-Cola Controversy.
Good Housekeeping Magazine, September 1912.
A daring ten-page essay titled "The Coca-Cola Controversy": The Facts and Dr. Wiley's Opinion, Together with a Talk on the Drugging of Soft Drinks.
This piece, which featured both text and cartoons, openly criticized the popular beverage, warning about the dangers associated with "artificial" caffeine.
This move is astonishing by today’s standards, especially considering that Coca-Cola was a vital advertiser.
The Coca-Cola Controversy.
Good Housekeeping Magazine, September 1912.
This essay is astonishing by today’s standards, especially considering that Coca-Cola was a vital advertiser.
The Pivotal Coca-Cola Trial — United States v. Coca-Cola, 1912
In a famous action brought against The Coca-Cola Company in 1911, Mr. Wiley contended that it was illegal to use the name Coca-Cola when there was no actual cocaine in the drink and also that it was unlawful for it to contain caffeine as an additive.
With the threat of having to remove caffeine, Coca-Cola was teetering on the edge of a defeat that could have been catastrophic. The Company faced a challenge in finding a renowned psychologist to validate the non-dangerousness of caffeine. In a stroke of luck, Coca-Cola enlisted the services of a brilliant doctoral student, Harry Hollingworth, who needed research funds.
With the trial looming, the need for results was pressing. In a race against time, Hollingworth devised a series of three studies that were completed in just 40 days. These studies, known for their methodological sophistication, were crucial to the case.
We won't tell you the whole story here, but Coca-Cola ultimately won in this existential trial.
Hollingworth was nicknamed "the man who saved Coca-Cola.
The Coca-Cola Controversy.
Good Housekeeping Magazine, September 1912.
Cartoon detail.
A number of the experts who testified as to the harmlessness of caffeine had formerly expressed different opinions.
