Fanta

 

Hey, here’s a strange, World War II-ish fact I came across out of the blue a few days ago.

 

Do you know the soft drink Fanta? Though I don’t think I ever had one, I do remember seeing those colorfully musical commercials where a bunch of Latinas dance wildly while chugging the flavored sodas. I guess I must’ve thought that it was some sort of South American product that came up north twenty or twenty-five years ago to wrest some market share from Coke, Pepsi, Dr Pepper, etc. Certainly that seems to be the way it was marketed, at least to my nondiscriminating mind.

 

Anyway, I just found out that Fanta is not South American. It has nothing to do with Latinas, Latinos, or Latin culture.

 

Fanta had its birth in 1942 in Nazi Germany.

 

From what I read (from two apparently reputable sources online, so take that for what its worth), Coca Cola had a fairly sizeable share of the German market up until the American trade embargo of Nazi Germany in 1941. The head of Coke’s division in Germany simply rebranded the beverage as “Fanta” and soon almost three million cases were selling annually in Deutschland.

 

It tasted different from traditional Coca Cola because it could only be made with German-sourced products (the syrup that made Coca Cola Coca Cola was prohibited due to the embargo and the British naval blockade). The name is a take on the German word for imagination, Fantasie.

 

Seems Fanta production ceased in 1949 and was not restarted until 1955, this time in Italy, where orange Fanta was created using actual Italian oranges as an ingredient. It made its way across Europe and overseas to South America while several new flavors were introduced. In 1960 Coca Cola bought the brand, but sales were kept limited in the States until 2001 – when it was pushed to the growing Hispanic community throughout the US.

 

Me, I won’t be trying a Fanta anytime soon. To date I’m 221 days into being soda free in 2024, one of two resolutions I’ve successfully maintained from this past News Year Eve. To be honest I can’t say if I feel better or worse, but no doubt my liver and my teeth thank me and I’ve probably extended my life expectancy at my current age by a few months.