The World of Coca-Cola Museum is situated in Downtown Atlanta, opposite the Georgia Aquarium in Pemberton Place (named after John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola). It is also close to Centennial Park, the College Football Hall of Fame, The National Centre for Human and Civil Rights and the Children’s Museum of Atlanta and is an essential part of what must be one of the most eclectic collection of museums within such a small area anywhere in the USA.
The World of Coca-Cola Museum takes you on a tour of the history of what is arguably the world’s most well-known soft drink. The tour begins in the main foyer where four colourful, over-sized bottles of Coke built to commemorate the 1996 Olympics stand while the crowd waits to be called into the main museum space.
When the doors open, visitors are ushered into a vibrant, split-level room full of Coca-Cola artefacts, advertising props, posters and mascots from over the years and around the world. A performer pumps up the crowd with interesting facts and figures about the company’s history and asks people questions about various objects displayed around the room. This first room is a feast for the eyes and resembles a bric-a-brac shop (or eccentric professor’s study) but with a focus firmly on the Coca-Cola brand. Some of the exhibits are serious but most are playful or light-hearted, reflecting the subject matter of the museum.
Once the performer has finished, visitors are led into a small theatre for a short film presentation before moving out into the main atrium where everyone is then free to roam through the different rooms focussing on different exhibits from the history of Coca-Cola, including the large vault where the secret formula is allegedly kept.
The individual exhibition rooms show different aspects of the company’s history – from the development of John Pemberton’s original nerve tonic (that was sold as an alternative to alcohol) to the sale of the rights to a local businessman whose marketing skills set the company on a path to becoming the dominant force it is today. Many of the exhibits are interactive – including a chance to try to draw the famous logo on a touch screen – and there are also standard museum display cases with old bottles, pictures and household items from the era of the company’s inception in the late 19th century. There is even a chance to test your speed at bottling using an old foot pump – although none of the visitors managed to get anywhere near the 350 bottles a day the actual operatives were able to fill back in the days before bottling plants were introduced.
Moving through the exhibit rooms, visitors encounter old vending machines, advertising posters, promotional items and more from the golden age of both Coca-Cola and product advertising. There is an American theme to much of this (as would be expected) but there is a fascinating display of bottles, cans and cartons from around the world showing how advertisers change their strategies and colours to reflect the tastes and cultures of different countries and time periods.
A bottling plant is the next exhibit and shows just how much technology and robotics are required to deposit soft drinks into bottles and there is then the option of seeing a short, animated 3D movie before heading into the ‘Pop Culture’ section of the museum which has hundreds of random exhibits from dinosaurs made from Coke cans to a ‘design your own label’ interactive screen and various pictures of Christmas advertising campaigns.
The final – and most anticipated – stop on the tout is the tasting room which has serving stations with all of the different soft drinks made by the Coca-Cola Company around the world. Disposable plastic cups allow people to serve themselves and the tasing stations are separated by continent and have a wide variety of drinks to try; some of these are quite palatable but others are truly terrible! The museum ends with the obligatory gift shop which sells just about everything you could want with a Coca-Cola theme and is perfect for those whole really love the brand and its distinctive red and white colours.
The World of Coca-Cola Museum is a large, modern, vibrant museum that is as much an homage to 1950s America and large-scale corporate advertising as it is to the world’s most popular soft drink. This is not one of those stuffy, worthy war museums that make you think how lucky we are to live in the present day; it is more of a fun, interactive place that is aimed at the whole family. While the bright, primary colours and mascots might suggest the target audience would be young, there are a lot of drier historical sections detailing the founder’s early work as a chemist and the sheer power of corporate advertising that are aimed clearly at an older, more nostalgic audience.
For anyone with even a passing interest in Coca-Cola, 50s Americana or the power of advertising, this is a must-see place – although having tried all of the 100+ flavours of drinks available at the tasting station, it is clear why the original remains the best.
The museum has different opening hours based on the season but is typically open from 10am to 6pm every day.
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Rob Hickman is an IT consultant, keen traveller and author of four hilarious comedy novels. He loves travelling around the UK, Europe and the USA, visiting museums and watching people spit their coffee out while reading one of his novels. Find out more here: www.lost-boys-books.co.uk