For the last several weeks, and continuing until July 17th, Muslims around the world have been celebrating the holiday of Ramadan, during which observant practitioners traditionally fast during daylight hours, eating and drinking only after dark. To mark the occasion, Coca-Cola has temporarily removed its iconic signature from pop cans sold across the Middle East, replacing its familiar calligraphic name with a simple message of open-minded tolerance.
When it first aired in 1971, Coca-Cola’s “Hilltop” ad was the most expensive commercial ever recorded, launching not only the careers of The Hillside Singers, but also a new era in advertising altogether. It has since gone down in history as one of the most effective commercials of all time, earning both industry accolades, and a coveted spot as the ultimate Don Draper creation in the final moments of TV’s Mad Men. Armed with a message of global feel-good-ness and an impossibly catchy jingle, Coke’s Hilltop commercial sold more than just bottles of pop (though it sold plenty of those)—it sold a lifestyle in which the product became synonymous with multi-cultural good vibes. And who wouldn’t want to get some of that?
Dan Lewis, author of the daily newsletter Now I Know (“Learn Something New Every Day, By Email”) joins us Wednesdays with surprising facts about the world of business.
At the time, Coke contained 80 milligrams of caffeine per serving, as much as a Red Bull today. To defend themselves against the government's charge that caffeine was a harmful ingredient, they hired a scientist to look at the effects of the stimulant on the mental and motor skills of both abstainers, occasional, and heavy users. No one had gathered this kind of data before.
Here, the formula for Coca-Cola Classic, complete with the ultra-secret "7X flavor" that makes Coke so unique:
