Monday, June 06, 2005

FANTA

Fanta is a surprisingly interesting pop. We call it pop. We call the frunchroom the frunchroom, and we call pop pop. No need to comment on it. No need to be surprised. That's how we talk in the Chi.

Anyway, back to my tale. I don't drink a lot of Fanta. The machine (here) at work has orange, but I never see pineapple, strawberry, or grape when I am at the store. Well, actually, that is not completely true. I never see Fanta in MY neighborhood. However, on Memorial Day I went by my cousin N's place for a little BBQ. He lives in Humboldt Park. I tried to stop to get ice, and was unsuccessful. However, in his heavily Puerto Rican hood they had all kinds of Fanta. Hmmm. Coincidence? We have Orangina in my hood. N has Fanta in his.

Anyway, the story of Fanta is kind of interesting. As related by snopes.com, "In 1938, the man in charge of Coca-Cola's operations in Germany, American-born Ray Powers, died of injuries received in an automobile accident. His right-hand man, German-born Max Keith, took over. Meanwhile, the German government placed Max Keith in charge of Coca-Cola's properties in the occupied countries, and he sent word through Coca-Cola's bottler in neutral Switzerland that he would try to keep the enterprises alive. But with no means of getting ingredients, Keith stopped making Coca-Cola and began marketing an entirely new soft drink he called Fanta, a light-colored beverage that resembled ginger ale." Smart.

Snopes also indicates that "until the end of the war, Coca-Cola executives in Atlanta did not know if Keith was working for the company or for the Nazis, because communication with him was impossible. Their misgivings aside, Keith was safeguarding Coca-Cola interests and people during that period of no contact. It was thanks largely to his efforts that Coca-Cola was able to re-establish production in Germany virtually immediately after World War II.

According to a report prepared by an investigator commissioned by Coca-Cola to examine Max Keith's actions during that unsupervised period, Keith had never been a Nazi, even though he'd been repeatedly pressured to become one and indeed had endured hardships because of his refusal. He also could have made a fortune for himself by bottling and selling Fanta under his own name. Instead, in the face of having to work for the German government, he kept the Coca-Cola plants in Germany running and various Coca-Cola men alive throughout the war. At the end of the conflict, he welcomed the Coca-Cola company back to its German operations and handed over both the profits from the war years and the new soft drink."

Fanta is still big in Germany. Much, much bigger than here. Well, once again, I guess that depends on the area. I think it is fair to say that Fanta is working to exploit the Latin market. For instance, we have the Fantanas! The web page says that "their raison d'etre is to bring fun into your life." I'll say. I think a mix of Capri, Lola and Sophia could bring some fun into my life... Fanta Fanta, don't you want a Fanta Fanta.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

definately the latin mkt.

fanta hoochies, who would have thunk!

Frank

9:44 PM  

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