See how Coca-Cola took on the war effort.
In the heat of World War II, just after Axis troops surrendered in North Africa, an urgent cable arrived in Washington, DC, from General Dwight D. Eisenhower: "On early convoy request shipment 3 million bottled Coca-Cola (filled) and complete equipment for bottling, washing, capping same quantity twice monthly."
This was a dazzling triumph. An unprecedented war effort was trampling nearly everything non-essential, from silk stockings to rubber tires. And the Coca-Cola Company, through an ingenious mix of power, patriotism, and promotion, had turned a soft drink into a necessity.
At the start of the war, sugar rationing threatened to cut Coke production in half. But, armed with an exemption for products shipped to the military, the Coca-Cola machine sprang into action. The company slipped one of its executives onto the sugar rationing board. The marketing department churned out images linking Coke with the war effort.
In 1942, Coke dispatched the first of 248 "Coca-Cola Colonels" to orchestrate the construction of bottling plants overseas. They wore army uniforms, got seats on military transports, and proudly wore a patch designating them "technical observers." By the end of the war, the Colonels had built 64 new bottling plants and dispensed 10 billion Cokes to Allied fighting men.
Even the enemy had
gotten the message: Coca-Cola was an indispensable part of the American way of life. "Wouldn't it be nice to have an ice-cold Coca-Cola?" teased Tokyo Rose over the airwaves. "Can't you just hear the ice tinkling in the glass?" Or, as one soldier put it in a letter home: "If anyone were to ask us what we are fighting for, we think half of us would answer, the right to buy Coca-Cola again."
Just thought it interesting....
HB
.
In the heat of World War II, just after Axis troops surrendered in North Africa, an urgent cable arrived in Washington, DC, from General Dwight D. Eisenhower: "On early convoy request shipment 3 million bottled Coca-Cola (filled) and complete equipment for bottling, washing, capping same quantity twice monthly."
This was a dazzling triumph. An unprecedented war effort was trampling nearly everything non-essential, from silk stockings to rubber tires. And the Coca-Cola Company, through an ingenious mix of power, patriotism, and promotion, had turned a soft drink into a necessity.
At the start of the war, sugar rationing threatened to cut Coke production in half. But, armed with an exemption for products shipped to the military, the Coca-Cola machine sprang into action. The company slipped one of its executives onto the sugar rationing board. The marketing department churned out images linking Coke with the war effort.
In 1942, Coke dispatched the first of 248 "Coca-Cola Colonels" to orchestrate the construction of bottling plants overseas. They wore army uniforms, got seats on military transports, and proudly wore a patch designating them "technical observers." By the end of the war, the Colonels had built 64 new bottling plants and dispensed 10 billion Cokes to Allied fighting men.
Even the enemy had
gotten the message: Coca-Cola was an indispensable part of the American way of life. "Wouldn't it be nice to have an ice-cold Coca-Cola?" teased Tokyo Rose over the airwaves. "Can't you just hear the ice tinkling in the glass?" Or, as one soldier put it in a letter home: "If anyone were to ask us what we are fighting for, we think half of us would answer, the right to buy Coca-Cola again."
Just thought it interesting....
HB
.
