Fanta traces its origins back to World War II. At the time, the Coca-Cola business in Germany was one of the world’s most successful, second only to the company’s sales in the United States.
In the period leading up to World War II, between 1930 and 1936, Coca-Cola set up a division of the company in Germany, and continued that venture during the war. In 1939 Coca-Cola had 43 bottling plants and over 600 local distributors across the country.
Hitler’s invasion of Europe in 1939 didn’t faze Atlanta-based Coca-Cola: The company continuously supplied its German subsidiary with syrup and supplies. In addition, the company followed German troops into conquered countries—such as Italy, France, and Holland—to take over their respective Coca-Cola businesses.
With the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States formally entered World War II and declared Germany an enemy. It used the Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917 to enforce a full embargo on the Axis powers.
With full embargo it became impossible to import the ingredients needed to formulate Coke. The German-born head of the local operation, Max Keith, came up with a idea to use sugar beet rather than cane to sweeten it, and the name is based on ‘Fantasie’. In 1941 he developed Fanta orange soda using orange flavoring and all the German-made Coke ingredients.
It recreated its image as a German company and allowed the Germans to produce all but two, secret, Coca-Cola ingredients in their own factories. With few soft-drink alternatives, its popularity exploded. Its prominence allowed it to skirt the sugar rationing, making it the sweetest drink on the market. This made it increasingly popular as an additive in soups and stews.
Despite the increasing devastation caused by Allied bombing, for most the war the German Coke company maintained profitable annual sales figures of about sixty million bottles. In 1960, Coca-Coca added its first new line in the United States, Fanta. Fanta products, which come in a variety of fruit flavors such as orange and grape, had been sold by Coke bottlers in other countries for many years.
The current version of Fanta gradually evolved from its rebrand, Fanta Orange, which was introduced to Italy in 1955. This new beverage was a vibrant orange color and was produced using local citrus ingredients.
Fanta in the early 1970s, were attacked because they had artificial color. Competitors used this to demean the product even though the coloring was quite safe. The company replaced the artificial coloring with natural coloring, but the impact on product sales was severe for about five years before began to grow again.
Fanta soda in history
