Coca-Cola about thirty years ago New coke When he introduced it, he realized a historic event, albeit short-lived, and changed the secret formula he had been using for 99 years.

Forty years before the new Cola provoked the wrath of customers, Coca-Cola made another major change to its well-known product for an important customer. transparent color He produced “White Coke”. This client was an important Soviet general.

Coke was very popular during World War II.

According to Mark Pendengrast, author of “For God, Country and Coca-Cola,” the fizzy drink he was the best at raising morale and soldiers on both sides craved coke. Cola, scarce and quickly sold out, had become a luxury drink. So much so that at auction in Italy $4,000 per bottle found a buyer. “I saw four senior officers open a bottle of Coke,” one US soldier wrote, “as if they were opening a bottle of 1929 Cordon Rogue.”

Cola is a drink associated with America. Depending on which side of the war you’re on, you can see it as a symbol of sweet democracy or tacky capitalism. Coca-Cola was eager to win over customers from every faction, and by the time the war ended, it had spread across Europe and the Pacific. There were more than 60 bottling plants. Some of them were behind enemy lines, and it was then that citizens living in these areas first became acquainted with this drink.

One of Coca-Cola’s biggest fans was US General Dwight D. Eisenhower. He is responsible not only for sending American soldiers, but also for introducing Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov to coke. Zhukov was one of the greatest soldiers in Soviet history and he played a large part in the victory over Nazi Germany. According to Pendergrast, “this infamous leader protected Moscow from Hitler’s frenzied soldiers, ended German resistance at Stalingrad, lifted the siege of Leningrad, and became the leader of the proud Russian advance from Warsaw to Berlin.”

Of course, it is quite normal for Zhukov to want a drink. Eisenhower was the first to give this man a glass of Coke. Zhukov this foreign drink infused like drinking vodka, Eisenhower had a good laugh as bubbles came out of his nose.

The Russian war hero quickly became addicted to Coke, and when the war ended, he wanted more from his American supplier. The drink was banned in the Soviet Union, and Zhukov said one of his top commanders, whom he had appointed to rule Soviet-occupied Germany, symbol of American capitalism He knew he wouldn’t accept it. For this reason, they had some demands from their suppliers. “Don’t make it look like an American product. Don’t put it in that funny bottle.” said Zhukov, and also “Change the color too.” gave his guidance.

This request went all the way to US President Harry Truman. President, Mladin Zarubica, one of the leading names of Coca-Cola Europe, for this position, a cola that looks clear like vodka find a pharmacy that can do it and remove the artificial coloring from the drink and put it on the bottles. a red star was ordered to convert “The first batch I sent to Zhukov was 50 cases,” Zarubica later said. “White Coke for the Russians. It was our secret, dark secret.”

Zhukov’s white colas were never discovered, but when the general began to be seen as a potential rival to Stalin and fell out of favor, he returned to Zhukov’s home in Moscow. was raided. The raid revealed that Zhukov had collected other spoils of war, such as gold, jewelry, tapestries and paintings that he had looted from Germany.

For its part, Coca-Cola was pleased with its immeasurable growth around the world after the war, but it was not until ten years after Zhukov’s death that the iconic American drink hit the Russian shelves. If the calendars say 1985 Americans met white coke, Russians, on the other hand, could legally taste cola for the first time. In 2014, Coca-Cola’s regional distributor shipped more than two billion cases to its 589 million customers in Russia and surrounding countries, despite Russia’s restrictions. Not bad for a market where fifty boxes of products were sold to one customer at once.