55: Soft Drinks and Hard Drugs: Coca-Cola's Story is Soda-pressing
43:24 Share

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year. So you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

This is an ad by BetterHelp. What?

What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere. And the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory.

Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my study and my podcast, Dark History. Hello, hi. If you don't know, this is a chance to tell the story like it is and to share the history of stuff we would never think about. So all I need you to do is sit back, relax, and just let me talk away and I'm going to tell you some hot, juicy history goss. So, let's get started.

Paul, if you're watching over on YouTube, Paul had a rough night. Okay, he's wearing a wig. I don't know what happened. I'll ask questions later. Okay, so what is it with companies and their secrets, right? Like every major company has vaults and vaults of stuff they don't want the world to know. I mean, that's fair. We all have secrets and there's just some stuff that people will never understand. I get it, right? But there's always the shady stuff.

I'm talking about like secret recipes and stuff. Pharma companies and like how they make their drugs or how they make their money. KFC and like how that Colonel guy makes that bomb ass chicken. And Coca-Cola with their iconic soda. I mean you can't think about America without thinking about Coca-Cola, right? So that got me wondering, has anyone ever gotten their hands on Coke's famous recipe? Do they even have a famous recipe?

What's up with Coke? Naturally, just like every other episode, I got to Googling and listen to this. First of all, the recipe for Coke is held behind the giant steel door of a multimillion dollar vault.

Very dramatic, right? And only two people on the whole entire planet currently know the exact recipe for Coca-Cola. And they are so special that they never fly together. That way, if one of the planes go down with one of the guys in it with the recipe, at least the other one's alive, you know? They both can't die because then we're going to be screwed. Anyway, in 2006, a pissed off Coca-Cola employee tried to steal the recipe and sell it to their biggest competitor,

Pepsi. Yeah, Pepsi. The whole story is like a spy novel full of lies, deceit, and confidential documents. Eventually, that Coke employee who tried selling the recipe to who he thought was a Pepsi executive, turns out that was an FBI agent. Ugh.

Whoops. Well, if you're gonna protect Coke as if it's some kind of national treasure, they gotta have some other secrets hiding in their vaults, right? Any salacious scandals we should know about, Coca-Cola? This story will shake up how you look at your favorite little innocent addiction, soda.

From initially importing cocaine to creating an environmental horror show to doctors and politicians taking money under the table. Actually, I don't know why I said that. It was straight up over the table. Yeah, Coca-Cola was giving them cash. So it's safe to say Coca-Cola is not what you think it is. It was crazy times, man. I mean, the original Coca-Cola, you probably heard, had straight up cocaine in it. And that's very much true. No wonder America got so much shit done because cocaine was like literally in everything.

Cocaine was considered a wonder drug. Now, doctors were using it to numb patients' eyes and sinuses before surgeries. Dentists were telling people it could help cure toothaches. It was believed to help with tons of other medical issues, including allergies, headaches, nervousness, sore throats, depression, impotence, and, okay, alcoholism.

Cocaine helps with alcoholism. And the details about what's really behind this seemingly squeaky clean all-American brand? Well, spoiler alert, they ain't good. So let's go.

To understand the origin of Coca-Cola, we first have to talk about a French beverage that really sets the stage. It all starts in 1863 when a French scientist named Angelo Mariani has this wild idea to mix cocaine with red wine and market it as a fun, feel-good drink.

You see, in the Bordeaux region of France, Mariani got this idea because where he lived, he was surrounded by vineyards and lots and lots of wine. Everyone in town was making and selling wine.

So he thought, you know, how can I make some money but stand out in this sea of wine? It had to be splashy, had to be delicious, and it had to keep people coming back for more. That's when he gets this brilliant idea to add a little fairy dust to his beverage. What was that? Cocaine. I know, that's a big jump, bro. It's like, look, okay, whoa, calm down.

Cocaine isn't illegal yet and was making its way around the world. So, Mariani mixes the two together. Cocaine, wine, takes a sip. He's like...

I'm onto something here. I feel like Superman. I mean, he wasn't the first guy to figure this out. For thousands of years, indigenous people in the Andes chewed on the cocoa leaf to get a little buzz. They also used it to suppress their appetite, and some cultures even used it in religious ceremonies. Oh yeah, cocaine. Mm, fun.

In the mid 1800s, scientists figured out how to extract that high feeling from the coca leaf, purify it, and then boom, that's cocaine. I mean, so easy. Scientists were super excited about it and doctors were sure that this was like the new wonder drug.

Everyone was talking about how great cocaine was and like all the benefits that it had, including Mariani. People on that Hannah Montana were happy. They got a boost in energy and they could think quicker. And not only this, but his drink made people feel good because when cocaine and alcohol are consumed together,

It produces like another chemical in your body, but it gives you a sense of total euphoria. So this scientist decides to name the cocktail after himself, and it becomes known as Vin Mariani, and it contained a lot of cocaine in it. So Mariani was thinking this could be pretty much a cure-all, and by drinking his wine, their health would get better. I mean, they'd become stronger and more energetic.

Anyone with any sort of issue should drink his special health beverage and watch as the magic of wine and cocaine brought them back to life. Mariani knows he needs to market his new product in order for people to get out there and try it, right? So he runs ads in newspapers and magazines for his beverage. And he even distributed little leaflets around town about the health benefits of his drink.

But the smartest thing he probably did was sending out free Vin Mariani to celebrities, artists, and politicians, and in return asking for their feedback.

They tried his cocaine wine, they loved it, and Mariani published their positive review in his advertisements. People loved it because they were getting shit done. They were like, "Five stars! I cleaned the whole house after drinking this!" Now, his biggest endorsement actually came from the Pope. Yeah. Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius X loved coca wine.

And you can't do much better than having Jesus' PR guy as a spokesperson for your product. I mean, come on. Meanwhile, the drink ends up getting so popular, so big, that Mariani is like, you know what? America, I should hit them up. They love this shit. So Mariani is shipped overseas to the good old U.S. of A. Now, a big problem in America at the time was actually morphine addiction.

Yeah. So morphine, it was an opium-based painkiller and it was used all the time to treat injured soldiers during civil war. So after all the fighting was over, like a ton of soldiers came home, not only with war wounds, but also with really like serious addictions.

"This was such a common problem, it became known as the soldier's disease." I mean, there's a reason they don't give it out at CVS today. "If you've ever had it in the hospital, you know it's a dangerously good time. It made me see air. It was wild." I could save that story for another day. So one war veteran decides to do something about this growing morphine problem.

And his name was John Pemberton. And he knew firsthand just how powerful a morphing addiction could be because he had been addicted to it since getting slashed with a sword in a battle.

John was a pharmacist, so he got to work figuring out a cure, something opium-free that would help him and his soldier friends kick their bad habit or just get off the morphine. He does experiments in his backyard, trying to find the perfect combo to create something worth selling. Now, he was inspired by Vin Mariani, so Pemberton decides to try and make his

own cocaine wine version, he decides to add in syrup from the kola nut, which is like a fruit jam packed with caffeine. Opium wreaked havoc on your stomach and the kola nut was supposedly very good for your tummy. So it was like a win-win. And this kola nut is what gives his drink its signature flavor.

which is similar to the unique taste of Coca-Cola today. Pemberton was sure that the healthy properties of cocaine could get everyone to switch from morphine to cocaine and his little drink could do just that. So he carries a big old jug of his new creation, which he called Pemberton's French Wine Coca, down the street to a place called Jacob's Pharmacy. So once he goes down to this pharmacy, he gives everyone a sample and people are like, "What? This is amazing. We love this. What is it?"

and naturally they buy a whole barrel and they start selling it for five cents a glass. What a steal. He's not just selling this drink because it tastes good. He starts telling his people, you got to try this. They'll fix anything you got. Pemberton said his little wine, Coca, was especially good at invigorating the sexual organs. And not only this, he called it a health tonic and said it cured headaches, which sounds...

Sounds like a medicine, right? Because of these health benefits, his drink starts taking off. He wants to bring it to other pharmacies, but they're a little hesitant. I mean, they didn't know if the drink would be popular. Local pharmacists received customer coupons for one free glass of Pemberton's French wine coca, telling them they could give them to their customers for free. Pharmacists were like, yeah, yeah, okay, give me the stupid coupons. And then it was like Black Friday. People were just rolling in.

They're like, they have all these coupons. Give me that Coke. Give me that Coke. Have you had that Coke? You gotta have that Coke. Pharmacists in the area realized they could turn a huge profit. So they told Pemberton, we're in. We want more of it. Make us a batch. This is also when the French wine coca and soda fountains start to take off.

Soda fountains were usually found in pharmacies, so it was kind of like a one-stop shop. You could get your prescriptions, your toothpaste, your floss, your soda, and then also you can kind of chat and hang out with your friends. So French wine coca at soda fountains is doing well, but then it hits a little speed bump.

Pemberton lives in Atlanta and just as his business is like really starting to take off, a local prohibition goes into effect, which means alcohol becomes illegal in Georgia. Alcohol, illegal. Cocaine, you're good. Wild times. So this is bad news, but Pemberton, he's not a quitter. He's like, that's okay. I can regroup. I can change the recipe.

Yeah, I'm gonna do that. And he does. He ends up replacing the wine with sugar syrup. Yeah, much healthier. He launches this revised recipe in 1886 and it's a total hit. But since the name is Pemberton's French Wine Coca and there's no like booze in it, he's got to rebrand. He's got to change the name. And that's when Pemberton's business partner suggests a new brand name based on the two main ingredients, cocaine and cola nuts.

mush them together, what do you get? Coca-Cola, yay! I was imagining we were all saying it together in our head. Yay! You know? Okay, and I know what you're thinking. Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, shut up. Are you high? Yes.

But cocaine was so common that you could just go to the store. You could go to Sears, okay? And you could get some cocaine tablets for like 50 cents a box. People thought it was just like tame, right? It wasn't harmful. It wasn't anything like cocaine we know today, but it was a nice boost. Years later, people would realize that the side effects of cocaine were actually causing

A lot of problems. Damn it. They were too hopped up on cheap cocaine tablets to care and probably too addicted. And that's actually a big theme of this episode, right? Addiction. Because so far, if we do a recap, Coca-Cola was invented in America to cure an opium addiction, which leads to a bunch of people developing alcohol and cocaine addictions.

And then sugar gets thrown into the mix, which if you have a sweet tooth like me, you know sugar is the shit and it's very addictive. Well in 2016, a bunch of scientists ran some study and ended up getting a bunch of rats addicted to cocaine. And when the rats were given the choice between sugar and cocaine, the rats always picked sugar. That's how strong the urge for sugar can be.

I guess moral of the story is we gotta do more cocaine, you guys. But all this addiction is great news for the creator of Coca-Cola because if people are addicted to your product, they're just gonna keep on buying it. So Coke is on its way to becoming America's favorite drink. With the home base of operations in Atlanta, Pemberton gets his drink in front of some very important people and Coca-Cola goes from being like a delicious drink in Georgia to getting like...

nationwide. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer survey who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations.

Buzz. So we've got cocaine, we've got sugar, and basically we have the beginning of what will become America's number one beverage. And what's not to love? I mean, it's totally legal and it makes you feel amazing, right? Well, by 1888, Pemberton's concoction was making waves in Georgia. I mean, people are buzzing about it. Everyone's talking, okay? And you know what happens when everyone talks.

Everyone talks and things happen and get this around this time,

coke got a big endorsement not as big as the pope but pretty significant in the united states yeah i mean the surgeon general of the united states army one of the nation's top doctors gives a big old thumbs up to the medical use of cocaine love to see it i'm just kidding everyone thinks i do drugs and i really don't but i might as well at this point everyone thinks i do being a perfect little angel is so boring

Anyway, so people are like, "Look, if it's good for the soldiers, then it's definitely good for us, right?" Hell yeah, brother. Hell yeah, brother. So this very official green light from the government caught the attention of a slick businessman who had Pemberton and his creation on his radar. Mm-hmm, sure did. So let me introduce you to a man named Asa Candler Griggs.

This young man here, he loved Coca-Cola. But more than that, he saw how much everyone around him also loved Coca-Cola. And he was like, hmm, this is very interesting information I'm seeing right now. And this guy, he was a local businessman from a wealthy family. So he had like a lot of connections and a lot of money.

When he sees the Coca-Cola stuff popping off, he wants in on it. Okay? He knows this is going to make him some money. He's seeing dollar signs. So...

He ends up taking a meeting with Pemberton and they hit it off. The girls are laughing and giggling. And it went so well that Griggs buys part of the Coca-Cola company and becomes part owner. But being part owner wasn't enough for greedy Griggs, nay nay. He actually buys the formula for Coca-Cola off of Pemberton because he saw the huge potential. And guess how much Pemberton sold it for? Yes, you're never gonna guess this.

No, he sold it for $2,300. Yeah. Which is about like $75,000 today. And think about it. Like, that's it. You know? Yeah. And think of like what Coca-Cola is today. Oh, poor guy.

Anyways, Griggs, he made off. He was stoked, right? He got a hot diggity dog deal. And Griggs became the owner of what would become one of the most valuable brands the planet has ever seen.

Okay, so Pemberton was still involved in the company, but sadly he developed a really horrible stomach illness and his invention couldn't cure his morphine addiction and he ended up passing away in like 1888. Pemberton's body was still warm when Griggs decided to come for everything.

I mean he bought the remaining portion of the company from Pemberton's family and became the sole owner of Coca-Cola. And in 1892 the Coca-Cola company was officially born. Now before I move on I bet you're wondering, "Am I still doing coke when I drink coke?" No, I'm sorry, you're not. You see because of all that good press about its magical health benefits, cocaine wasn't just in coke.

It was everywhere. It was easily accessible. So, I mean, it didn't take long for a whole bunch of people to get hooked on it. Literally. By the early 1900s, some reports say that there were hundreds of thousands of cocaine addicts all over the country. Politicians and newspapers falsely blamed the crime in society on Black Americans.

now we covered this in the crack versus cocaine episode but people were saying some like crazy shit like cocaine made black men more murderous it's insanity and this inspired a ton of racist laws but I bring it up here because it was one of the reasons coca-cola began removing cocaine from their drink in 1903 coke without cocaine didn't kill the brand I mean it actually took it to the next level so this was kind of a

Good move, I guess. I don't know. Griggs, he was a ruthless, dirty, ugly businessman. And because of this, Coke thrived despite this recipe change. Now he ended up shutting down any copycat cola beverages that would pop up. I mean, did it taste like Coke? Coca-Cola is coming after you. Was the font similar to Coke? Well, yeah, your ass was gonna get sued real quick. They're gonna come for me, aren't they?

The reason they did this or they went so hard is because they wanted to make sure that there was only one Coca-Cola out there. This is when Coke gets smart with marketing. I mean, they were one of the first companies to have celebrities endorse their products. A famous singer/actress named Hilda Clark became one of the most famous faces of the brand and people loved it. By 1895, people were drinking Coke in every state and territory in the United States.

And as the country started to move towards being alcohol-free, Griggs immediately started marketing Coke as the perfect alternative to booze. I mean, it was delicious. It was refreshing. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking.

Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts.

discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. It was a miracle. Every few years, the company rolled out a new slogan to keep the brand's image fresh, which is pretty advanced for how long ago this was. And even though the slogans changed, it's not like the recipe was being improved or anything.

They were just really good at selling this one thing and they were really good at keeping it new and exciting to the consumer. Even though the cocaine had been removed, people were still heavily addicted to it because there's sugar in it. Remember that rat study? The rats went always back to the sugar. And if you're not catching on, we're the rats.

So Coca-Cola pulls out all the stops when it comes to advertising. And in 1901, they spent $100,000 on advertisements, which is like spending 3.5 million today. By 1911, they were spending more than a million dollars per year. And guess what, baby? That sent sales through the damn roof. By 1917, Americans were buying a total of 3 million bottles of Coke per day. Damn right.

they were everywhere and in all parts of people's lives. To further advertise coke they would put it on like schoolhouse clocks so kids would see it every day when they looked at the time because you know kids are always looking at the time. I want to go home they're gonna see coca-cola. The company they started taking out full-page ads and magazines and putting up like banners at pharmacies. They even partnered with the freaking red cross to make it seem like if you were chugging coke

You were helping America or something like that, you know? I don't know. You were just helping. Yeah. Okay, so it's around this time that we start to see how the Coca-Cola spider starts spitting its web across America, sucking natural resources dry. The company taps into nearby water sources, guzzling millions of gallons of water meant for local towns and people. Why? Well, because the biggest ingredient in Coke is carbonated water, right?

So Coke would take local water already headed to the public, then they would make it bubbly, add their secret ingredients, bottle it, and sell it for profit. So essentially, people were paying for water twice. And to keep up with demand, Coca-Cola starts tapping into bigger sources to get all of their ingredients. So you know, like the water, the sugar, the cocoa leaf extract, etc., etc.?

At first, Coca-Cola was going to smaller suppliers and farms to get their ingredients, but those smaller operations couldn't keep up with Coke's growing demand. I mean, think about it. Farms can only produce so many coca leaves and cola nuts a year.

So what would happen if Coke would basically take everything those suppliers had? I mean they could like end up leaving those businesses totally depleted before moving on to someone bigger that could keep up and that's essentially what they were doing. Coke's business practices had horrible effects on the environment and just really ruined the lives of tons of farmers not just in America but in other countries like Peru and Bolivia. So Coke just keeps winning

and taking and taking and taking at everyone else's expense. As you can imagine, their success starts to snowball in a very big way. The company gets bigger and bigger and it needs more and more and more and more and soon it's just too big to fail and honestly it can't be tamed. Because of this, Coca-Cola turns to other huge corporations to put up the money for farms and factories to make the ingredients for their soda.

Now, Coca-Cola historically has used two types of sweetener to make their trademark drink tasty. First, let's talk about something called saccharin. Now, this is an artificial sweetener that is cooked up by humans. So what I'm saying is it doesn't grow like naturally, you know? Someone needs to actually physically make it. So the Coke Monster turns to a company, maybe you've heard of them before, a company that goes by the name of Monsanto. Mwah!

Now I said Monsanto, all creepy like that because this company is huge. They're based in Missouri. They've been involved in a whole bunch of drama on their own, okay? They're a very large corporation that makes all sorts of chemicals like pesticides. They also produced Agent Orange, which was a chemical used as a weapon in the Vietnam War that killed a bunch of people and caused cancer in others. Long story short, I guess, they're low-key trying to kill us.

Well, in the early 1900s, Coca-Cola became the biggest buyer of Monsanto's saccharin. They bought so much of it that even Monsanto itself says that if not for Coca-Cola, their company would have gone under by 1905. But they weren't the only household name Coke made strategic partnerships with.

The list of their partners in the 20th century were like the biggest businesses in America. I mean, they've worked with everybody. General Foods, Kraft, Pfizer, Hershey's, the list goes on and on and on.

Coke relied on them, they relied on Coke, they were all high-fiving each other, circle jerking, human centipede, you know it, you love it. By the mid-1900s, Coca-Cola, the company, was the biggest buyer of sugar on the planet. Yeah, they beat out candy companies. It was also the biggest importer of coca leaves, aluminum cans, and it used more caffeine than anyone else on the planet. Coca-Cola was taking a bunch of natural resources

to make a profit, you know? You just really screwed everyone else. Basically, a ton of natural resources are required for Coca-Cola to make a profit, and boy, are they profiting.

And that snowball I mentioned earlier, well now. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what.

It's an avalanche.

So in the 1950s, America was thriving. So this is when drinking Coca-Cola becomes something that's not only fun, but something that's a symbol of American pride. It's being sold as part of the American dream. I mean, having a barbecue, having friends over, cracking open a nice cold Coca-Cola, you know?

People would gather up the kids, load them into the station wagon and like go grab a bunch of sodas as a family. I guess essentially this could be seen as like the golden age of soda. Advertising for it was everywhere. Coca-Cola went full glam and became the first product to be featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1950. Now at this time, if you made it on the cover of Time, that means you made it, baby. Like officially made it. You know, you're a big deal.

But there was another form of media exploding at the time, and Coke was not going to be left out: television. Oh yes, television became a staple of the American household, and now Coke could make its way into your living room. In 1950, Coke's first television commercial aired during a Thanksgiving special broadcast across the entire country. So millions of eyes were on this advertisement.

This right here alone set the bar high for other companies. They all saw this and they were like, oh man, we got to get on that level. We got to get on that Coca-Cola level. They had FOMO.

So like all American kids with a dream, Coca-Cola wanted to get into the movie theaters. So in 1961, Coke ends up striking a very big deal with a director at the time and makes its debut in like a super big time Hollywood movie called 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3, the day. Oh my God. 1, 2, 3. Oh my God, you guys, we should like do a little dance. Okay, I'm sorry.

One, two, three. Oh, the main character of this movie, his character literally was a Coca-Cola executive. So it was like, it's just one big Coke advertisement. The movie was a hit. There was like a little under 6 million people who went and saw it. Yeah. Then Coke goes on to sponsor one of the biggest TV events of all time.

I'm talking about the premiere of Charlie Brown Christmas. Yeah, if you don't know, if you've never seen it, it's an animated movie that you should highly watch. Well, if you want. So Coca-Cola is sponsoring Charlie Brown Christmas. They're getting it from children, targeting ads towards the kids. Get them when they're young. That's what they're doing. During the 1950s and 60s, Coke was on top of the world. I'm king of the world! That's Coke.

And by 1959, people were drinking Coke in over 100 countries worldwide. They should rename Coke Pitbull because he's Mr. Worldwide. Look, listen, hi. There's a lot to say about advertising, marketing, branding, right? Don't worry. I got an episode coming up on that. But what I am going to say is that Coca-Cola, they knew what they were doing when it came to advertising and marketing. Like they're really ahead of their game. And for that,

I give snaps. Gotta give them props for that. But what I'm getting at is, you know, Coca-Cola, they have, they got a lot of power and to keep the power, they need to identify their weaknesses and their enemies. But that's when Coke realizes its biggest enemy is itself, emo. In the 1980s, diet culture in America starts to really take off and people are starting to get concerned or just maybe pay more attention to their sugar intake.

Now this was a new thing because before the 80s, people thought that it was fat that made you fat, not sugar. This pushed the American FDA to change health guidelines to suggest that you should not have more than six teaspoons of sugar a day. Honestly, six teaspoons does not sound like a lot. I know I'm consuming at least like three cups, you know? But in one can of Coke, there were seven teaspoons of sugar. Whoa.

So if you had one can of Coke, which at the time had seven teaspoons of sugar, you're already well over your daily amount. So Coke is like, oh no, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? Oh no, they're panicking, right? They're like, hold up. Hey man, like no sugar, that's not bad. Everyone loves sugar. Rats love sugar, sugar, you know? But Cokes, they can't change their recipe. So what are they gonna do? Well, they got a bunch of money. You know what they can do?

change your mind. That's what they can do. So Coke creates this big PR campaign out of thin air to change the way that people saw their brand. And it seemed like one big like magic trick like, "Ooh, look over here. Don't look over there, the sugar. Look over here. Kids laughing, smiling, things sports. They drink Coke. Don't you love it? How can it be bad? Oh." And a big part of that distraction campaign was marketing.

This is when Coke makes a huge shift. Not only are they selling Coke, the product, but now they're selling Coke, the brand and the lifestyle.

And boy, did they sell that brand. In the 80s, Coke had an advertising budget of over $100 million. The product is on billboards. It's in magazines. They're on TV. They're in movies. You can't go anywhere without seeing Coca-Cola. Bleep, blop, bloop. Drink Coke, you thirst sluts. You know you want it. Shove it down your throat. Goddamn, chill out. Coke, you're everywhere. They still are. Fine, I'll drink a Coke. You know, it's like, damn. So, like...

think about coca-cola when you're in childhood and you see that polar bear chugging the coca-cola or like santa drinking a coca-cola in his suit during the holidays it wasn't about the soda anymore it was about creating this

family friendly brand, memories, happiness, joy. I don't know. They were creating it. And people started to forget about the whole like, "Don't eat sugar" thing. Especially like when it came to Coke.

Then in 1997, the World Health Organization came out and declared obesity as the newest global epidemic. Whoa, it isn't looking good for you, Coca-Cola. What are you going to do? Coca-Cola could have just let people read those studies and make like their own decisions as far as, you know, should I keep drinking this? Should I not?

Whatever. They rounded up their troops and decided to just go full blown DuPont on everyone's ass. - The poison in the water! - So how does Coca-Cola take control of the sugar narrative? Well, we should hire scientists who say sugar is good for you. So the company ends up getting in bed with a bunch of colleges. And what do universities always need besides soda?

So Coke flips over some couch cushions and they're like, "Hey, we found a few million dollars lying around. Maybe this could help you with your research." Proving to the people that, I don't know, maybe Coke isn't causing obesity. Wink, wink. Right, Bradley? Don't you want a new Ferrari, Bradley? Don't you want that new science building, Bradley? Anyways. So the academics are like, "Yeah,

I'll take the money. You know, you get it for school, you get it for your programs, you get it. Yeah, they're going to take the money. So the academics are like, thank you very much. I will accept this cash payment. And we will have your pro-Coke reports. I mean, your unbiased reports very shortly. Now, I'm not kidding about the millions. Researchers admitted just one of the gifts from Coke was as high as 1.5 million. Yeah, I do it.

You don't even gotta ask me to. I would do it. Yep. Bye. Great. Coke is good for you. So these researchers are willing to do whatever to keep the money flowing in.

And in just a few years, Koch funneled $120 million to medical experts and health groups. And they're mainly spending this money as an investment because this money is going to help them. You know, because these researchers who, wink, wink, are not on Koch's payroll, happen to come out with their studies. And these studies make the Koch executives very happy. These reports basically say exactly what Koch wanted them to say before.

that Americans aren't exercising and that's the real problem not coke you're the problem you and the coke executives want the world to know

So they end up inviting a bunch of journalists to a conference also paid for by Coca-Cola. And shocker, Coca-Cola friendly articles start coming out of newspapers all over the country. But it didn't stop there. A lot of the science kind of funded by Coca-Cola is used to help create a nonprofit organization to spread all this disinformation. It was called like the Global Balanced Energy Network.

and existed for just two years. And I guess everyone like found out that it was really Coke in disguise. It was just a front company exposed drama. So like there was all these accusations flying around that Coca-Cola is messing with science. They're burying the data. They're just screwing with people's heads.

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer survey who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations.

- Ugh, that's just a lot. Circling back to the part where the scientists came out and said like, you need to exercise and whatnot, 'cause I know there's gonna be debates in the comment section saying like, well, it is up to you, the consumer, to make choices, right? Like healthy choices.

And I agree, yes, but companies need to be honest as to how much sugar or fat or whatever is in their product instead of burying it and making it so complicated to understand. Do you know what you're reading on those nutritional thingies? Because it'll be like sugar and then it'll be like more sugar, added sugar, sugar, sugar.

You know, it's like, I don't know. They just make it so complicated. And we're just asking for more transparency as we should ask from these companies. So before anyone gets on Coca-Cola's side and starts blaming the customers, chill the fuck out, take a breather. I'm like, let's just be transparent. That's all we want. That's it. Thank you. It's not just humans Coca-Cola is messing with. They're also messing with the earth, right?

They created a ton of garbage. So I was wondering about all those plastic bottles, right? Well, Coca-Cola has been wreaking havoc on the environment for fricking decades. As a company, they produce about 3 million tons of plastic each year. In case you're having a hard time visualing that, it's about 200,000 plastic bottles a minute. And this episode is like 50 minutes long. So that's 10 million bottles just while we've been sitting here talking.

Now this makes coke the world's biggest plastic polluter. And that's not just my opinion. That's the cold hard facts, brother. And in addition to all the plastic coke is putting into the world, the company uses about 305 billion liters of water every year. Because without water, there would be no Coca-Cola. It takes nearly three liters of water to make just one liter of Coca-Cola.

So it makes sense that in the 136 years that Coke has been around, they've used a lot of water. In fact, they've used up storage supplies of water called aquifers all around the world.

These are big underground chambers that collect water slowly over time, sometimes over hundreds of years. In 1999, for example, Coca-Cola built a bottling plant in a village in India called Kala Dera. It's pretty dry. It's basically a desert. And Coca-Cola totally drained their supply of groundwater over the last 20 years.

So now in Caldera, farmers can't irrigate their land or sustain their crops, and this puts entire families at risk of losing their farms or even starving. The locals worry that this will soon become a dark zone, which means an area that is totally abandoned due to a lack of water supply. It's turning it into essentially a ghost town.

Now the annoying part, the part that drives me freaking nuts is like you'll see all these dumb commercials by Coke and they're like you need to do your part and recycle ya. Have you ever heard of the term greenwashing? Eye roll. It's like what a company is like, "Eww these products are great for the environment" and it turns out that they're not because they're usually not. They're just staying that's why we'll buy it. This is like a classic example of that.

But then Coke is like, if we all do our part, we can save the planet. And honestly, it's like, you first, Coke. You first. Sources say that the Coca-Cola, they suck. They haven't achieved any, like, environmental sustainability goal it has ever set. And anytime they make some big pledge about all the recycling they're going to do, it seems like they just move their goalposts, you know, so it doesn't look like they've failed.

They want us to keep America beautiful and that's great, I agree. We all want to keep it beautiful. But hey Coca-Cola, why don't you stop polluting it? Why don't you stop making plastic bottles? Why don't you stop this huge production of all of this? Because you're the ones making the plastic bottles and whether or not we drink it or not, it's still made.

Okay, look, but every time they do like launch some kind of new initiative to make things better, it's some date that's super far in the future. And tons of companies do this if you pay attention. For example, like with Coke, they have a current recycling program. It's called like World Without Waste Initiative, which is cute. And they're telling us by 2030...

coke's bottles will be made of 50% recycled material don't fall for this bullshit first of all and I'll tell you why they're only moving the goalposts that far because they're not going to make any changes and then when 2030 comes around most likely there's going to be different laws there's going to be different people in charge they'll deal with it then they're not going to make any changes and by 2030 we're all going to be on fire

I mean, again, it's not about the year 2030. It's about what they're actually doing in that time to make it happen. I mean, if we're looking at their track record, let's be honest, they're not doing anything. Like, they're not going to do anything. Why would they? They own us. So what did we learn today, friends? I don't even know. You guys tell me.

I would love to hear what you learned. I feel very helpless in this situation, you know, because it's like, sometimes I bring my reusable tote to the grocery store and then I use like my reusable water bottle. I drink out of those shitty paper straws because you can't have straw, right? They dissolve. Sucks. Anyways, what I'm getting at is like, sometimes you feel, I don't know if any of you at home can feel this, but you just like in this endless hamster wheel of the

The blame is always put back on us to recycle, to be better, to do better, blah, blah, blah. But these companies also aren't doing their part. And it's like, you could try your best, but, you know, what's the point if big companies are producing so much plastic? I'm not saying that you shouldn't recycle or anything. Totally believe in that. That's great. Good for you. But like, Coca-Cola.

I don't know. We as consumers have the power though, did you know that? I know it feels like we don't a lot of the times, but we actually do. When we buy products from Coca-Cola, you know, we keep the lights on for that company. Instead of just being like, "Well, Bailey, I'm not gonna stop drinking Coke. It's literally the only thing that helps me with my hangover." Maybe instead of pointing the fingers at like one another, we should be pointing the fingers at these brands and holding them accountable.

If we keep them accountable, they have to listen. Demand more. We deserve it. We don't need them. They literally need us. What are they going to do? Poison us? It's too late, bitch. Get in line. Well, everyone, thank you so much for learning with me today. Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions and don't be afraid to hold large corporations accountable because we deserve that. They suck.

I'd love to hear your guys' reaction to today's story, so make sure to use the hashtag Dark History over on social media so I can follow along. Also, join me over on my YouTube, where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, check out my murder mystery makeup. I hope you have a wonderful day today. You make good choices. And I'll be talking to you next week.

Dark History is an Audioboom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Kimberly Jacobs, Junya McNeely from 3Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner from Maiden Network. Writers, Katie Burris, Alison Filobos, Joey Scaluzzo, and me, Bailey Sarian. Shot by Tafadzwa Nemarumdwe. Research provided by Ashley Spurgeon.

A big special thank you to our expert, Mark Pendergast. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian.

America, we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. By honoring your sacred vocation of nursing, you impact your family, your friends, and your community. At Grand Canyon University, our online

R.N. to B.S.N., M.S.N., or D. and P. degree programs allow you to balance online coursework with local in-person clinical, practicum, or immersion hours. Find your purpose at GCU. Private. Christian. Affordable. Visit gcu.edu.

This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com.

Did you know a 2018 study showed half of prenatal vitamins tested had unacceptable levels of heavy metals? I'm Kat, mother of three and founder of Ritual. When I was four months pregnant, I couldn't find a prenatal I could trust, so I created my own. Ours is matricable, third-party tested for heavy metals, and recently earned the Purity Award from the Clean Label Project.

But don't just take my word for it. Get 25% off at ritual.com slash prenatal.