Before World War II, a well-known drink in the United States was Coca-Cola, and it just so happened that Coca-Cola was also very popular in Germany at this time, and young people in Germany also liked to drink Coke. In World War II, the German Coca-Cola Company and the American Coca-Cola Company sold two different products, one called Fanta, one called Coca-Cola, one for the German Army, and one for the American Army.
In 1929, Coke entered Germany, but at that time, Coca-Cola sales were not good, selling up to 6,000 cases per year. The biggest turnaround for Coca-Cola in Germany was after the Nazis came to power, and after 1933, Coca-Cola sales began to soar, jumping to 100,000 cases.
At that time, the German government was also more favorable to Coca-Cola, and at the gatherings of Hitler Goebbels and others, there would be advertisements for Coca-Cola. And the Germans believe that drinking Coke is better than drinking alcohol and does not affect work. During the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, it was the most glorious moment of Coca-Cola in Germany, and Coca-Cola posters appeared in various sports competitions in Germany, and sales further increased.
The Germans launched a war in 1939 and invaded Poland, at a time when Coca-Cola had only been in Germany for a decade. Two years later, the Americans went to war. At this time, the Coca-Cola Company in Germany and the Coca-Cola Company in the United States cut off contact, and the United States imposed a total embargo on Germany, including Coca-Cola's syrup. This is a devastating blow to The German Coca-Cola, you know, foreign factories are filled with syrup Coke, without syrup, they naturally have no Coke production.
The problem of no Coke is not small, young people in Germany already like Coke, and young people in Germany also want to drink it. No way, the German Coca-Cola company began to develop a new beverage, using apple residue to mix pigments to make a new apple-flavored soda, that is, Fanta. From then on, the Germans took Fanta and began to fight the world.
The US military also has a mysterious attachment to Coke. The American soldiers who came out to fight the war missed the taste of their hometown very much, and when they wrote to their families, they would mention Coca-Cola.
In 1943, Eisenhower sent an urgent telegram to the U.S. mainland, asking the mainland to send 3 million bottles of Coke to North Africa to boost morale and make soldiers happy. But Eisenhower also said that these colas should not affect the transportation of other materials. Soon, Eisenhower's request was approved by Marshall, and the Coca-Cola Company was more than happy to respond to the call.
Woodruff, the president of Coca-Cola at the time, announced that as long as he wore a U.S. military uniform, no matter where he was, no matter the cost, he could buy a coca-Cola for five cents. Moreover, the personal relationship between Woodruff and Eisenhower at that time was still very good, and in addition, the Coca-Cola Company was willing to take advantage of the opportunity to advertise during this war.
So, the American troops on the front line attacked the city, and the Coca-Cola Company followed behind to open the Coke bottling plant there. At that time, Coke was in glass bottles, which was not easy to transport, and the Coca-Cola Company directly transported the syrup to the past, bottled on the spot, and then distributed to the American soldiers. Moreover, the employees in these bottling plants, wearing U.S. military uniforms, are actually employees recruited by Coca-Cola itself, not U.S. soldiers.
World War II was a very good opportunity for Coca-Cola, and their marketing approach was excellent, bringing people and countries together through Coke, rather than simply displaying goods. That's how Coca-Cola followed the pace of American soldiers around the world. After the end of the war, the Coca-Cola Company in Germany and the Coca-Cola Company in the United States were re-merged, and the Fanta of the German Army became history, and today's Fanta, in fact, was created by the Italians, was born in 1955, and is orange-flavored.