The history of "Coca-Cola" in the USSR

• The history of "Coca-Cola" in the USSR

131 years ago in Atlanta, Colonel John Pemberton, a pharmacist by training, trying to find a remedy for headaches and invented the recipe for the legendary drink Coca-Cola. In May 1886 Pemberton released his first sale, designated as a medicine "against any nervous disorders." Today it is one of the most popular soft drinks, which are sold in more than 200 countries.

But here in the vast expanses of the USSR Coca-Cola did not sell the lion's share of the existence of the Union. We decided to recall, as the Coca-Cola broke into the territory of the USSR and won the hearts of our fellow citizens.

Zhukov was drinking colorless Coke.

When Marshal Zhukov met with Dwight D. Eisenhower, who commanded US forces in Europe during World War II, he gave him a Coke. Zhukov liked a drink, and he asked Eisenhower to organize its delivery to their headquarters, but only in the bleached version, so that he looked like a vodka. Through President Truman's request was transmitted to the Coca-Cola plant, which chemists have been able to remove the color of the dye. Soda spilled into simple bottle with a white cap on which was printed a red star, and at least 50 boxes sent Zhukov.

Nikita Khrushchev, unwittingly advertised longtime rival "Coca-Cola" - "Pepsi".

The eternal struggle between the two giants - Coca-Cola and Pepsico - took place on the territory of the USSR. In this case, "Coca-Cola" was losing the battle, because the "Pepsi" unwittingly advertised Khrushchev himself. In 1959 Moscow hosted the American National Exhibition, where Khrushchev offered to try Pepsi. He agreed and, without realizing it, has become the unwitting poster boy for the company, as the next day the photo was published in newspapers all over the world, in which the Soviet leader drank Pepsi.

In contrast to the rest of the world, on the territory of the USSR during the Brezhnev stagnation "Coca-Cola" shamefully lost his battle with "Pepsi".

Production of Pepsi-Cola in the Soviet Union began during the discharge of conflict relations between the West and the Soviet Union, it had begun meeting in 1971, the president of PepsiCo, Donald Kendall with the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Alexei Kosygin. In this case, as in the Soviet Union fought against all forms of foreign, "Pepsi" on the bottles was written in Russian. "Coca-Cola" also broke the iron curtain until much later.

"At the very moment when Coca-Cola starts shipping in any country, we can say with confidence that the expected major changes in it. Coca-Cola - this is the essence of capitalism, encased in a bottle "(Tom Stendidzh," The history of the world in six cups ").

It is believed that the drink "Coca-Cola" was first started selling in the Soviet Union during the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. However, the American writer and researcher Mark Pendergrast in his book "For God, country, and Coca-Cola" writes that "Coca-Cola" has signed a cooperation agreement with the State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers on Science and Technology for 6 years before the Games, in June 1974. Then an agreement was reached on the issue in the USSR forfeits. The first line of bottling it opened in the Moscow Brewing and Soft Drinks Plant in August 1979, and even then limited batch of the product appeared on the shelves of the capital's shops, the sale involved "Souzplodoimport" and "Technopromimport". Besides Moscow Fanta could be bought in Tallinn and Kiev.

In 1980, Coca-Cola is the official drink of the Olympic Games in Moscow. When the administration of President Ronald Reagan decided to boycott the Olympic Games in Moscow, "Coca-Cola" company's management did not support the boycott, saying that because it is an intercontinental corporation is above political games. Therefore, in 1980, the drink Coca-Cola and Fanta became the official drink of the Moscow Olympics.

At the Games drinks poured into disposable cups, which was a great novelty for Soviet consumers.

Neat paper and polystyrene cups are pleasantly surprised by the Soviet consumer, while local vending machines poured soda into a single faceted glass, from which everyone drank. Special tents in which to sell the drink during the Olympics-80, brought from Germany - in the USSR at that time such was not simple. After the Games tents donated to the Soviet government.

In the 80s finally had Coke with a treasured inscription "Made in the USSR".

In December 1986 it signed an agreement on the production of the "Soviet" Coke for general sale. Under the contract, the concentrate Coke Atlanta Distributed in Moscow, where converted into the beverage and pours. At the same time in the newspaper "Izvestia" published an article, reports that sales of bottled Coca-Cola with the inscription "Made in the USSR" will begin in May 1987. Although the concentrate while the import into the Union in miniscule quantities, was important not the amount, but the fact of entering the Soviet market.

The car "Lada" in return for a concentrate.

"Coca-Cola" even agreed to receive instead concentrate Soviet car "Lada" for resale in England. Neville Isdell, in his book "Inside Coca-Cola" says: "The machines were assembled so that in Britain had three days to work on their modification, before put on the market. We lost money in the Soviet Union, but were there to gain a foothold for the future. "

In the wave of democratization of the USSR in the late 80's "Coca-Cola" has made its triumphal Back in the USSR.

Anyway, in the end, "Coca-Cola" was published in the Soviet market. In 1988, the beverage production has been established on the Moskva brewery. In the same year, in the lobby of the hotel "International" in Moscow was installed first in the Soviet Union vending Coca-Cola beverages.

The unprecedented character of the new time.

In 1989, a symbol of the new era has become a huge neon sign Coca-Cola on Pushkin Square in Moscow. By and large signboard Coca-Cola became the first full-fledged outdoor advertising in the USSR before the streets of Soviet cities were decorated with non-alternative sentences like "to fly planes" Aeroflot or "Keep your money in a savings bank!" "!".

During his trip to the USSR in 1957, the writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez described the Land of the Soviets as the 22.4 million square kilometers without a single advertising Coca-Cola. But new times bring new trends.