Progressivism Research

First coke bottle
early coke bottle

Coke ads have also evolved from newspaper ads, to more commercial ads on TV.
early coke ad

     In my research of this era of progressivism, coke played a fairly important role. Coke had a major part in the new craze over consumer goods and the elevation of consumption by the American population. I have discovered that coke made a huge impact on the culture of Americans.

     This new consumption of "coke" even changed the ways of the craze for consumption of alcohol. Alcohol consumption began to be a huge problem, hints the prohibition era that occurred during progressivism. The manufacturing of coke added to this and changed the ways of drinking by adding "mixed drinks" to the playing field. The new mass consumption of alcohol began to affect how society functioned as a whole. The men would come home after work hammered, leaving the wife to do all of the work at home and caring for the children. This began to severely anger the women of this society.

    The invention of coke and other soft drinks also relates to progressivism by taking a leap forward to what we have today. The entire point of progressivism was to make a reform. Before coke and other soda products, people only consumed water and juice as beverages. With the new variety of drinks came a sense of progressing towards a more advanced society. Coke began selling at 5 cents per bottle. This alone shows how consumer goods and progressivism has affected the coke and soda industry. Coke today sells for about $2, this is forty times the amount it cost when coke was first invented. The mass distribution of coke and how far it has progressed forward is amazing. It started out only being sold in one pharmacy located in Atlanta, Georgia. Now, coke is a global phenomenon.

    Americans began to use coke as a recreational drink. The commercials for coke began to center around fun, family, friends, and gathering together. This goes all the way back to the era of progressivism because of how much coke and other soda products have evolved since they were first invented in in the progressive time period.

  


sources:

coca-cola facts
learner.org

notes:

- the soda craze began in the late 1800s
- coke was invented by John Pemberton in 1886
- first offered in an Atlanta, Georgia pharmacy
- in the early years of cokes there were many lawsuits against the ingredients that is in coke
- contained cocaine from cocoa leaves, which was very questionable
- the use of cocaine in soda was changed in 1914 by the Harrison Act
- began using the image of Santa Clause in the 1930s
-coke started at 5cents a bottle

Coke has evolved from being purely coke, to having many different versions and flavors.
coke vs. diet coke image