Fanta is a global
brandThe American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks from the Coca-Cola Company. There are over
90 flavors worldwideFanta is a global brand of fruit-flavoured soft drink from the Coca-Cola Company. There are over 90 flavours worldwide; however, most of them are only available by region in some countries.-* Orange* Grapefruit* Apple...
. The drink debuted in
GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1941 and originally sold only in Europe.
History
Fanta originated when it became difficult to import
Coca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
into Nazi Germany during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. As a result,
Max KeithMax Keith was the head of Coca-Cola GmbH, the major bottler of Coca-Cola during the Nazi period of German history.Coca-Cola GmbH was unable to obtain Coca-Cola syrup during World War II, because of the Allied blockade...
, the man in charge of Coca-Cola Deutschland during the Second World War, decided to create a new product for the German market, using only ingredients available in Germany at the time, including
wheyWhey or Milk Serum is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a by-product of the manufacture of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is manufactured during the making of rennet types of hard cheese like cheddar or Swiss cheese...
and
pomacePomace , or marc , is the solid remains of grapes, olives, or other fruit after pressing for juice or oil. It contains the skins, pulp, seeds, and stems of the fruit....
– the
"leftovers of leftovers", as Keith later recalled. The name was the result of a brief brainstorming session, which started with Keith exhorting his team to "use their imagination" (
"Fantasie" in German), to which one of his salesmen, Joe Knipp, immediately retorted
"Fanta!"
USA
Fanta is known for its upbeat
advertisingAdvertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
; in the United States, it showcases The Fantanas, a casted group of young female models, each of whom promotes an individual Fanta flavor. For the re-introduction of Fanta in the United States, Coca-Cola worked with the ad agency
OgilvyOgilvy & Mather is an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency based in Manhattan and owned by the WPP Group. The company operates 497 offices in 125 countries with approximately 16,000 employees.-History:...
(NYC) in 2001. After a brainstorming session, the Ogilvy creative team of Andrea Scaglione, Andrew Ladden and Bill Davaris, created the tagline
"Wanta Fanta!" which became the jingle for the
FantanasThe Fantanas are a group of spokesmodels who were created to promote Coca-Cola's Fanta brand of soft drinks in the United States. The quartet has appeared since 2002 in advertising and personal appearances. There have been four different versions of Fantanas since its debut...
in the broadcast campaign. The campaign lasted from summer 2001, in the form of a successful trial run, to October 1st 2006. Three years later, in June 2009, Fanta re-launched the campaign. They also held a talent search to find the
PineapplePineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...
FantanaThe Fantanas are a group of spokesmodels who were created to promote Coca-Cola's Fanta brand of soft drinks in the United States. The quartet has appeared since 2002 in advertising and personal appearances. There have been four different versions of Fantanas since its debut...
, and, in September selected Shakira Barrera to become the fourth Fantana. After Barrera won the search, she spent a year at her post, with the latter six months as an actual Fantana called Lily. Three months before her leave, another search was hosted, with the winner being Brittany Hampton. However, her name wasn't revealed as the campaign is now being put on hiatus for 2011. They are currently using the international campaign with the slogan of
"More Fanta, Less Serious!".
India
In India, Fanta entered the market as a substitute for the then popular Indian soft drink
Gold SpotGold Spot was one of the three brands of aerated soft drink started in India by Parle under the initiative of its founder and CEO Mr. Ramesh Chauhan in 1977 after the exit of Coca-Cola and Fanta from the Indian market.It was artifically flavoured and coloured orange. Gold Spot was introduced along...
. When
Coca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
re-entered the Indian market in 1993, it bought Gold Spot from
ParleParle Agro is an Indian private limited company. It owns the brands like Frooti, Appy, LMN, Hippo and Bailley.- History :Parle Products was founded in 1929 in British India. It was owned by the Chauhan family of Vile Parle, Mumbai...
and withdrew it from the market in order to make space for Fanta.
International availability
There are over 90 different flavors worldwide. In
RomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
,
SerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
,
MacedoniaMacedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
,
BosniaBosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
,
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and some other countries, there is
"Fanta Shokata" (a wordplay between
"soc" -elderberry in Romanian- and
"shock") based on an
elderflowerSambucus is a genus of between 5 and 30 species of shrubs or small trees in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. It was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified due to genetic evidence...
blossom extract drink, traditional in Romania (where it is called
SocatăSocată is a traditional Romanian soft drink made from the flowers of the European elder shrub, Sambucus nigra . The European elderberry also grows spontaneously in North America....
), Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and other Balkan countries. In
SwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, the local
blackcurrantBlackcurrant, Ribes nigrum, is a species of Ribes berry native to central and northern Europe and northern Asia, and is a perennial....
is used to produce Fanta as well. Some identical flavors have different names in different markets.
The original formula of Orange Fanta, available in Germany, Austria, and other countries, is completely different from the drink marketed in the United States as Orange Fanta. The original contains orange juice and has a color similar to orange juice, while the version made for the US market is artificially colored red-orange and does not taste like fruit juice. The US version also contains
brominated vegetable oilBrominated vegetable oil is vegetable oil that has had atoms of the element bromine bonded to it. Brominated vegetable oil is used as an emulsifier in citrus-flavored soft drinks to help natural fat-soluble citrus flavors stay suspended in the drink and to produce a cloudy appearance...
similar to other orange/citrus drinks marketed in the US, such as
Mountain DewMountain Dew is a citrus-flavored carbonated soft drink brand produced and owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in the 1940s by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman and was first marketed in Marion, VA, Knoxville and Johnson City, Tennessee. A revised formula was...
. This ingredient gives a beverage a candy-like flavor that seems to stick to the tongue; it is prohibited in India and some countries in Europe due to health concerns. The other three flavours introduced to the US in 2002 are not available in Germany; although in Germany 'lemon' Fanta is available.
Primary competitors to Fanta have included
TangoTango is a carbonated soft drink sold primarily in the United Kingdom and Ireland and from 2010 in Sweden, Norway and Hungary as well, first launched by Corona in 1950. Corona were bought by the Beecham Group in 1958, and Beecham Soft Drinks were bought by Britvic in 1987...
,
MirindaMirinda is a brand of soft drink originally created in Spain, but with global distribution. The word Mirinda means "admirable, wonderful" in Esperanto....
,
SliceSlice is a line of fruit-flavored soft drinks manufactured by PepsiCo and introduced in 1984, with the lemon-lime flavor replacing Teem.Varieties of Slice have included apple, fruit punch, grape, passionfruit, peach glaze, Mandarin orange, pineapple, strawberry, Cherry Cola, "Red", Cherry-Lime, and...
, Sumol, Crush, and Tropicana Twister. Fanta was the second drink to be produced by
Coca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, after the original Coca-Cola.
International popularity
- In Spaniard
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
culture, a "Pagafantas" (Fantapayer) is a man in love with a young woman who does not love him back. The phrase suggests always being the one paying for another's soft drink.
Controversy
A 2005
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television advert for Fanta Z showed a couple enjoying a picnic on a beach and drinking from their cans of Fanta Light, but then calmly spitting the drink out. Others were also shown spitting the drink out in similar ways. The viewers complained that the ad condoned spitting and that children were reported to have copied the ad. A head teacher said that a number of children in the playground had also mimicked the commercial. The majority of complainants to the
Advertising Standards AuthorityThe Advertising Standards Authority is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances...
(ASA) said the images were disgusting and thought it was inappropriate because spitting posed a health risk. The ad became restricted to the post-9pm broadcasts. The ASA agreed that viewers would not want children to see something that is perceived as anti-social, however it did not consider that the images showing people spitting would cause widespread offense or pose a significant health risk.
External links