Fanta

First Mention: 1941

Use: It’s soda, think about it…

Fanta Fanta, don’t you want a Fanta? Why yes  scantily dressed lady who makes me think of grapes, I do want a Fanta! But tell me where did Fanta come from? I mean it seems as though it’s been around forever.

The story of Fanta goes back to the not so long time of the 1940s and involves one company’s (Coca Cola) struggle to spread its carbonated youth syrup to all parts of the world, regardless of ethnical or political differences. Making a long story short, Coca Cola, a US based company, had by the 1940s gone global with bottling plants in all corners of the world. However, certain events, particularly WWII, caused trouble for Coca Cola’s public image. After all, if American’s knew the evil Nazi Germans were enjoying the same bubbly goodness with Coca Cola’s consent, it is clear to see what sort of backlash the company would attain.

So in order to avoid being labeled as Fascist sympathizers, Coca Cola decided to haul over its German production plants to produce a similar product but without the Coca Cola brand label. The result was Max Keith, Coca Cola’s German representative’s, brain child of Fanta, which would be made of products solely attained in Germany…that is primarily whey and pomace (otherwise known as the “leftovers of leftovers”).

Even the name of Fanta came out in a rush, as Keith told his team to brainstorm a name quickly to put on the product. He instructed his team to “use their imagination,” (“Fantasie” in German), and there came Fanta.

It seems as though not all things associated with Nazis are bad, I mean we got Fanta from them didn’t we?