Advertising from: 1930 – 1950

Thirst – aid for good scouts

Coca-Cola ad from "The boy scouts of America" newspaper 1936

Coca-Cola WWII American airplane posters

Coca-Cola has done a lot of posters with American planes. Throughout their history, posters have been a significant means of mass communication, often with striking visual effect.

The posters were framed and hung in bottling plant lobbies, schools, and other places. Students were instructed on the airplanes so that they knew the difference between friendly planes and enemy aircraft in preparation for bomb drills.

Grumman "Hellcat" F6F Fighter - U.S. Navy 1943

F4U-1 "Corsair" U.S. Navy - fighter 1943

Douglas B-19 "Guardian of a Hemisphere" U.S. Army - Long Range Bomber

Halloween Coca-Cola posters

Coca-Cola Halloween poster 1944

Halloween "Trick or Treat" poster from 1954

Coca-Cola Halloween poster from 1964

Coca-Cola around the world, World War II

Wartime Ad Campaigns

“There’s a friendly phrase that speaks the allied language. It’s Have a “Coke.” Friendliness enters the picture when ice-cold Coca-Cola appears. Over tinkling glasses of ice-cold “Coke,” minds meet and hearts are closer together. It’s a happy custom that’s spreading ’round the globe.”

By 1944, Coca-Cola became known as “The Global High Sign.” This ad campaign showed men in uniform together enjoying Coca-Colas. The advertisements reinterpreted friendship and community.

American soldier in Alaska, Coca-Cola ad 1943

American soldiers in China, Coca-Cola ad 1943

American soldier in Iceland, Coca-Cola ad 1943

The cast of the movie “Dinner at eight” in Coca-Cola advert

A masterfully-directed, poignant melodramatic comedy by director George Cukor and producer David O. Selznick, Dinner at Eight (1933) was filled with a tremendous cast of stars, who are all invited to a Manhattan formal dinner party during the height of the Depression. Many of the stars in the film first became known in silent cinema, including John and Lionel Barrymore, and Marie Dressler.

The cast of the movie "Dinner at eight" in Coca Cola advert 1933

Ice cold Coca-Cola for 7ct

This newspaper ad from 1951 years is really weird, someone was selling ice cold Coca-Cola for 7 cents and getting 2 cents more than the rest of the country.

Newspaper ad from 1951, Coca-Cola for 7 cents

Maybe this somehow related to these ads from 1947 and 1949, where was 2 cents wartime tax included or maybe not…

1947 Coca Cola advertisement. Illustrated in vibrant color. Includes 2¢ wartime tax special pricing.

1949 Coca Cola advertisement. Illustrated in vivid color at the seaside with an ice cooler below. Price still included the 2¢ wartime tax.

Coca-Cola ads by Gil Elvgren

Gil Elvgren – a student of Haddon Sundblom, Elvgren is perhaps best known for drawing and painting pin-up girls. His style was so similar to Sundblom’s that he could finish paintings that his mentor had started. Working with Sundblom Gil Elvgren contributed to various Coca-Cola ads himself.
The first advertising artwork for Coca-Cola that Elvgren worked on was in 1939. It is a scene of a pilot and a flight attendant in an airport snack bar having a Coca-Cola with a plane flying past the window behind them.

"Take of... refreshed" 1939 by Gil Elvgren

"The Pause That Refreshes" 1939 by Gil Elvgren

"Home refreshment" 1944 by Gil Elvgren

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Coca-Cola delivery trucks 1930 – 1940s

Coca-Cola Fountain Car, 1930's

Coca Cola Truck 1930's 2 Ladies with Handy 6 pack

Coca Cola Truck 1930's Featuring the Handy 6 Pack

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Coca-Cola Santa Claus 1931 – 1949

Although many credit our modern day Santa to Thomas Nast, Santa’s jolly look all started in 1931 with Haddon Sundblom and Coca-Cola.
Legendary illustrator Haddon Sundblom created the rosy-cheeked figure – today’s traditionally accepted appearance of the jolly old elf – in 1931 for a Coke holiday advertising campaign. Since that time, the Coca-Cola Santa has become one of the most beloved cultural icons and an anticipated part of holiday tradition.

My hat's off to the pause that refreshes 1931

It will refresh you too 1932

Away with a tired thirsty face 1933

Coca-Cola Uncle Remus Cutout 1931

1932 Coca-Cola Uncle Remus Cutout That Sparked Copyright Lawsuit

In 1932, the Coca-Cola Company issued a children’s cutout based on the Uncle Remus stories. The Company had negotiated rights with the publisher, Appleton, to use the Arthur Frost illustrations on the advertising. Mrs. Harris sued for copyright infringement. Ultimately, the courts ruled in favor of the Company. While Mrs. Harris had the rights to the stories, the illustrations belonged to the publisher.