Past Writings

Research

Research Description:

Coca Cola, a carbonated soda, was first planned to be used as a medicine. It was originally created by John Pemberton in the late 19th century in Georgia at a drugstore named Pemberton's Eagle Drug and Chemical House. Coca Cola was served through a soda fountain. Pemberton claimed that his Coca Cola was good for getting rid of many diseases such as morphine addiction, indigestion, nerve disorders, headaches, and impotence. However, when the prohibition occurred, a nonalcoholic version of coca cola was manufactured. The first nonalcoholic Coca Cola ( nickname "Coke") drink was manufactured in the United States. It was introduced as a nonalcoholic beverage to the public on May 8, 1886 (132 Year's ago). It only became a popular drink with the world when Asa Griggs Candler bought Coca Cola from Pemberton. Asa Griggs Candler's clever ideas how to advertise it made it popular in the world throughout the 20th century (en.m.wikipedia.org ).

Coke's rival, Pepsi, was first created in 1893 by a pharmacist named Caleb Bradham in a drugstore in North Carolina. Like Coca Cola, Pepsi was served through a soda fountain, and it was also advertised as being able to supposedly aid in digestion. As time passed, Pepsi switched the way they advertised their soda. They began to use celebrities as a way to make the public want to buy their soda (Thoughtco.com)

The rivalry between coke and Pepsi has been going on for many years. In fact, in 1985, coke made a mistake when it changed its formula and renamed it the "New Coke" in an attempt to gain sales back they were losing from the Pepsi Cola Company. They had been steadily losing sales over a period of 15 years. When they lost even more sales from changing the formula, they quickly went back to the original formula calling it "classic coke" (Campaign live.com).

A lot of research has been done regarding whether most people prefer Coca Cola or Pepsi and why. Studies have found that participants liked Pepsi better than Coca Cola if they only sampled one sip while participants who sampled quite a bit more soda tended to like Coca Cola better than Pepsi (Wikihow.com). The reasoning behind these studies were that the sharper sweeter taste of Pepsi creates a stronger reaction, whereas the smoother less sweet flavor of Coca Cola allows one to drink larger quantities with more ease (Wikihow). Studies have also found that participants in blind taste tests could not tell the difference between Coca Cola and Pepsi (wikihow.com). It has been found that knowledge about the brand of soft drink being tasted, Coca Cola or Pepsi, can change the participants perception of that brand. (ijaiem.org and eurekalert.org). This was why a single blinded taste test was done for this study.