Coca-Cola has been around for 133 years, so it would make sense if the formula of the staple Coca-Cola product, co*ke, had changed.
However, there have not been many alternations to the secret formula, but the changes they have tried to make were not very successful. The main ingredients of co*ke that have remained consistent are: sugar, water, caffeine, coca leaves, and corn syrup (Elmore, 2014). The one change in the formula that stuck was the removal of the traces of the addictive drug cocaine in 1903. Coca-Cola was originally marked, under the name French Wine of Coca, as a tonic that would remedy headaches, be a replacement for alcoholic beverages, and solve any other ailment the consumer is experiencing. But when rumors surfaced that the consumption of Coca-Cola could lead to a cocaine like addiction and a released study identified small traces of cocaine in the drink, the owner of the company at the time, Asa Candler, discredited these accusations since he was a very religious man that was against drug use. As a result, he hired chemists to rid of any traces of cocaine from the product and was successful in 1903, right before the Food and Drug Act was created in 1906 (Watters, 1978).
Despite all of this, the exact formula of the Coca-Cola syrup has remained a secret. There are less than 10 people today who know this formula, known as Merchandise 7X, standing for the seven mystery ingredients. The written transcription is hidden under lock and key in the Trust Company of Georgia Bank (Watters, 1978). Their secrecy could be on the account that there have been many companies that attempted to create similar beverages, but their secrecy could raise alarm for the lack of transparency. For instance, for many years Coca-Cola tried to hide the ingredient coca leaf from their labels in the general spices listing because of the stigma surrounding the coca leaf. This has attributed to some confusion in the general public whether co*ke actually contained any cocaine at some point in time and if it is still an ingredient today. I remember when I was a kid, someone told me co*ke was so good and addicting because it contained cocaine and I believed it for some time. Further details on how Coca-Cola was able to hide coca leaf in their ingredients is discussed in another section.
However, this was not the only ingredient that Coca-Cola tried to mask. The caffeine content in their drinks were under scrutiny during the 1960s when a study published the negative health impacts of excessive caffeine consumption, like births defects bladder and pancreatic cancer (Elmore, 2015, p.214). But the company was not keen on sharing their ingredients with the public to the fullest degree as they were exempted from the FDA regulations on the thought that caffeine was a key ingredient in their product. As the pressure to list all ingredients on the label increased, Coca-Cola voluntarily listed caffeine as an ingredient in 1971 (Elmore, 2015, p.214-217). Transparency is a key factor in creating sustainable corporations. Coca-Cola should continue to work on their transparency of their corporate actions today and in the future as follow this to take on this initiative.
