Fifty years of Coca-Cola, from 1886 to 1936

When I stumbled on this image at the Duke University site, it really tickled me. I like Coca-Cola, and I like old advertising. This is from 1936, when Coca-Cola had been around for fifty years. Here, I'll zoom in on the billboard for you:


It says, "50th Anniversary", and on the left "1886" and on the right "1936". I would guess if you sold this on eBay it would fetch a good price, although it would be difficult to ship!

Speaking for myself, as of this writing, I've been drinking Coke for fifty years, at least. I don't recall the first time I had a genuine Coca-Cola, but my parents always had it around the house, in the refrigerator in the basement in Minneapolis. Every once in a while my mom would try to pawn off the generic "store brand" cola, but even us kids knew the difference. By the way, I also like Pepsi, and RC (just for the record). But Shasta Cola? Yuk!


Now let's take a look at the cars. I'm no expert, but my best guess is that the one on the left went A-OO-gah, and the one on the right didn't. Times were changing, but Coca-Cola remained the same.


I'm old graphic designer, and I REALLY like that the logo for Coca-Coca hasn't changed. It's based on the handwriting of one of the employees of the company, and other than some small refinement, it's remained the same. And except for the slight problem in the mid 1980s (which I won't mention!) Coca-Cola is something that I can rely on, and hope to for the next fifty years at least!

The 1936 images are from the Duke University Libraries Digital Collection, the photo of the side of the Coke truck I took this morning at the QT.
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