Coca-Col Story Of Race And Class

The development of Coca-Cola in its first 100 years was a story of both race and class. Early Coca-Cola advertisements of the 1800s to 1910 maintained a unifying theme: “Pleasant people in pleasant places doing pleasant things as a pleasant nation went pleasantly on its course” (Watters 218). During this time, Coca-Cola advertisements reflected the racial and class distinctions within society. The ads were placed in various magazines and journals to target white, upper class individuals.

Many ads such as the one bcoca-cola rich 2elow featured beautiful people in elegant surroundings drinking Coke. The elaborate dress of the woman and the tailored suit of the man both indicate the couple is wealthy and likely part of the upper class. The outfits

Through advertisements like these that contain high class individuals wearing expensive clothing, in elegant surroundings, and featuring popular sports, Coca-Cola suggests not only what type of person should drink Coke, but how individuals should feel when drinking Coke. Rather than sell Coca-Cola's taste, the company markets Coca-Cola as a feeling and a lifestyle. The beverage is associated with the upper class lifestyle that many work to achieve. By this skilled use of imagery, Coca-Cola made it so that Americans "were to see themselves and the best of their lives reflected in the advertising, the beginning of the Coca-Cola’s effort to make the drink a symbol of the nation itself” (Watters 86). The ads worked to associate Coca-Cola with happiness and success, whether that was reminding individuals of the best parts of their own lives, or making people feel as though they could one day experience the lifestyle the ads displayed.

With the development of bottled Coca-Cola in the early 1900s, the company feared that they would be unable to maintain Coke as a high class fountain drink once the democratic tide of bottling began. The company's owner at the time, Asa Candler, stated that "we must not cater to the dives and cheap places" (Pendergrast 96). At first, Candler attempted to maintain the drink's current association with high class individuals by limiting the types of businesses that Coca-Cola was sold at. However, realizing the necessity of targeting a broader audience to expand the business, Coca-Cola adopted a new marketing