|
By
Mary
Bellis
Caleb Bradham
of New Bern, North
Carolina was a pharmacist. Like many pharmacists at the turn of the
century he had a soda fountain in his drugstore, where he served his customers
refreshing drinks, that he created himself. His most popular beverage was
something he called "Brad's drink" made of carbonated water, sugar, vanilla,
rare oils, pepsin and cola nuts.
"Brad's drink",
created in the summer of 1893, was later renamed Pepsi Cola in 1898 after the pepsin
and cola nuts used in the recipe. In 1898, Caleb Bradham wisely bought the trade
name "Pep Cola" for $100 from a competitor from Newark, New Jersey
that had gone broke. The
new name was trademarked on June 16th,
1903. Bradham's neighbor, an artist designed the first Pepsi logo and
ninety-seven shares of stock for Bradham's new company were issued.
After seventeen
years of success, Caleb Bradham lost Pepsi Cola. He had gambled on the
fluctuations of sugar prices during W.W.I, believing that sugar prices would
continue to rise but they fell instead leaving Caleb Bradham with an overpriced
sugar inventory. Pepsi
Cola went bankrupt in 1923.
In 1931, Pepsi
Cola was bought by the Loft Candy Company Loft president, Charles G. Guth who
reformulated the popular soft drink. Guth struggled to make a success of Pepsi
and even offered to sell Pepsi to the Coca-Cola
company, who refused to offer a bid.
In 1940, history
was made when the first advertising jingle was broadcast nationally. The
jingle was "Nickel Nickel" an advertisement for Pepsi Cola that referred to the
price of Pepsi and the quantity for that price. "Nickel Nickel" became
a hit record and was recorded into fifty-five languages.
In 1964, Diet
Pepsi was introduced.
Next
page > History
of Coca Cola
|
