Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation podcast
Jul 10, 2024 · 34 min · 10 segments
Today, we kick off Season 6 of Plants of the Gods, as host Dr. Mark Plotkin of the Amazon Conservation Team explores the fascinating history of cacao, highlighting its ancient origins in the Amazon…
Mark PlotkinHost
At the beginning of the previous century, Coca-Cola was sold in a plain glass bottle like those then used by most soft drink manufacturers.
It had been invented in Atlanta by pharmacist John Pemberton in 1886, but as its popularity rapidly spread across the country, competitors began producing similar drinks with similar names, counting on boosting sales by confusing customers.
In 1915, the Coca-Cola Company decided to hold a contest to create a bottle so distinctive that any person could tell it was a real Coca-Cola, even when they were reaching into a dark icebox.
Several employees visited their local library to learn more about Coke's ingredients, which included both the coca leaf and the cola nut, thinking that these tropical fruits might inspire some design ideas.
While flipping through some encyclopedia entries, there was no internet available then in 1886, imagine that, they stumbled across a drawing of a cacao pod.
Although cacao was never an ingredient in Coca-Cola, the designers were inspired by the indented striations along the length of the cacao pod and its elongated shape and swollen middle, resulting in their Coke bottle being given a central bulge and longitudinal grooves deep in the tapered end of the bottle, identical to the Amazonian fruit.
The result was an enduring, distinctive, and iconic design that enhanced brand identity, provided a comfortable grip, and has played a key role in making the Coke bottle one of the most recognized symbols around the world, celebrated in art by everyone from Salvador Dali to Andy Warhol.
Perhaps the most iconic and enduring symbol of American capitalism is a bottle which contains a drink, Coca-Cola, made from a combination of flavors derived from a combination of a tropical South American plant, that is coca, and a tropical African plant, cola, and the bottle is based on an Amazonian fruit, cacao, but is regarded as a symbol of America.
At the beginning of the previous century, Coca-Cola was sold in a plain glass bottle like those then used by most soft drink manufacturers.
It had been invented in Atlanta by pharmacist John Pemberton in 1886, but as its popularity rapidly spread across the country, competitors began producing similar drinks with similar names, counting on boosting sales by confusing customers.
In 1915, the Coca-Cola Company decided to hold a contest to create a bottle so distinctive that any person could tell it was a real Coca-Cola, even when they were reaching into a dark icebox.
Several employees visited their local library to learn more about Coke's ingredients, which included both the coca leaf and the cola nut, thinking that these tropical fruits might inspire some design ideas.
While flipping through some encyclopedia entries, there was no internet available then in 1886, imagine that, they stumbled across a drawing of a cacao pod.
Although cacao was never an ingredient in Coca-Cola, the designers were inspired by the indented striations along the length of the cacao pod and its elongated shape and swollen middle, resulting in their Coke bottle being given a central bulge and longitudinal grooves deep in the tapered end of the bottle, identical to the Amazonian fruit.
The result was an enduring, distinctive, and iconic design that enhanced brand identity, provided a comfortable grip, and has played a key role in making the Coke bottle one of the most recognized symbols around the world, celebrated in art by everyone from Salvador Dali to Andy Warhol.
Perhaps the most iconic and enduring symbol of American capitalism is a bottle which contains a drink, Coca-Cola, made from a combination of flavors derived from a combination of a tropical South American plant, that is coca, and a tropical African plant, cola, and the bottle is based on an Amazonian fruit, cacao, but is regarded as a symbol of America.
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