Tag: Coca-Cola

In the 1960s, most decisions in Atlanta could be traced to a dozen or so business leaders who called the shots. All were men. Today, many executives are transplants to Atlanta; CEOs tend to have shorter tenures, and they exert less influence. But that also means business has become more diverse, both in staffing and scope.

Inside The Neon Company studio on DeKalb Avenue, a guild of craftspeople spends their days hand-fabricating neon signs in much the same way their progenitors did a century ago. The company, which launched in 1983, is one of the last remaining neon signage outfits in the country, having survived the many booms and busts of the industry.

In the 1980s, the Cold War was still raging—and so were the Cola Wars. Maybe it was inevitable that in the summer of 1985, the Pepsi Challenge would make its way into space aboard the Challenger’s Spacelab 2 mission, piloted by Atlanta native Roy D. Bridges Jr.

In summer 2022, a hot-pink digital billboard popped up downtown near the headquarters of the Coca-Cola Co., bearing a series of paeans to the diet beverage TaB: “I’m saving a can of TaB to be buried with me.” “I spent more for my last TaB than I did on my wedding dress.” Here and in Buckhead, the billboards were paid for by the SaveTaBSoda Committee, which formed after Coca-Cola put a number of underperforming products, including TaB, on ice.

"One day, when we were all in our early 30s, Martin Luther King Jr. said to our little ragtag bunch, 'Everybody here has got to be clinically insane to think that with no money, no political power, no army, no nothing, we are going to redeem the soul of America.' And then, he said, 'We’ll be lucky to make it to 40. But if we make it past 40, we’re going to have to make it to 100 because this is not an easy job. It’ll take more than our lifetimes to get it right.' Well, I think that planted it in my mind, especially after he was killed, that I had to make it to 100."

A small-town boy from rural Georgia, he figured he’d follow his mom, a nurse, into medicine. But at the last minute, he applied to SCAD Atlanta instead of Emory.

The era was nothing if not optimistic. Our early days as a Chamber of Commerce publication.

The Communicable Disease Center, first located on Peachtree Street in downtown, initially focused on eradicating malaria. But Dr. Joseph Mountin pushed to expand its mission to other diseases. With financial support from Coca-Cola tycoon and philanthropist Robert Woodruff, the CDC did exactly that.

As a promotion for season three of Stranger Things, Coca-Cola is selling limited edition cans of New Coke—yes, the actual New Coke formula that spurred so much outrage in 1985—online. Does it really taste that bad?

Mercedes-Benz Stadium will serve a "Rams" hot dog with chicharrones and a "Patriots" dog topped with baked beans. And they'll be selling both Coke and Pepsi.