What Lies Behind the Tag

You have probably done at least one of these two things in your lifetime. One, you’ve stayed for dinner at your relatives’ house and, since no juice has been made, they’ve offered you a cold, refreshing, type II diabetes glass of Coca-Cola and, shaming yourself for your deepest sugar cravings, you accept it. Or two, you’ve taken Bayer brand Alka-Seltzer, mixed in with your bubbly drink and appreciate the cool explosion and the huge mess you've just made.

These companies are staples of everyday life and a lot of people seem to take for granted the huge popularity and brand recognition they´ve made for themselves throughout their multiple years in the market. Certainly speaking, they´re icons of neighborhood stores, big supermarkets, and extensive pharmacies and, whether we love or hate them, they’ ve earned a spot in mass media and pop culture. However, what if I told you that these unmistakable brands, have some problematic origins, to say the least? Would you believe me if I told you how the most recognized soda in the whole world, was originally meant to be medicine? Or how a reliable drug company used to sell, well, actual drugs? Here are the stories of Coca-Cola´s and Bayer´s not-so-bright beginnings.

Let's start with everyone's favorite brand of bottled carbonated black syrup: Coca-Cola! Created in 1886 by an Atlanta pharmacist, John S. Pemberton, the soft drink was originally advertised as a so-called miracle beverage, the marketing team behind Coke claimed 'the drink supposedly cured mental and physical exhaustion, chronic and wasting diseases, dyspepsia, kidney and liver issues, heart disease, melancholia, hysteria, neuralgia, sick headache, throat and lung issues, sleeplessness, despondency, and even tired feelings'. In truth, the soft drink contained kola nut, damiana, coca and alcohol (wine). The cola nut was the source of the caffeine; Damiana, a shrub with unproven claims that it aided anxiety; coca and coca leaves supplied the naturally occurring cocaine extracted by a chemical process. It wasn't until the early 20th century and the 1920´s that the cocaine and wine were respectively removed from the formula.

Now we´ll examine the case for Bayer AG company founded in 1863 in Barmen, Germany. In 1898, Felix Hoffman, wrongly credited as the person behind the product when it was, in fact, a creation by Jewish chemist Arthur Eichengrun, began commercializing heroin syrup worldwide and marketing it as “a non-addictive medicinal alternative to morphine and codeine”. Heroin was touted as a miracle cure for coughs, hailed as being 10 times more effective than codeine and with few side effects, hence being regarded as a “wonder drug”. If that isn´t creepy enough, then know that, years later, the company was also a major player in a pharmaceutical conglomerate, IG Farben, during WWII that went into business with Hitler and “enjoyed a long relationship with the dictator”. IG Farben utilized prisoners in Auschwitz to build a new factory near the camp that began not as an extermination camp but as a slave labor camp.

Thankfully for us (and them) policies have changed over the years and these companies now take several measures to assure the safety and wellbeing of both their customers and workers. By knowing the history of these aforementioned brands, we can better understand the position and importance they hold in the world of today.

By Silvana Sepúlveda, 10B