Coca-Cola Girls: An Advertising Art History

by Chris H. Beyer

Collectors Press, 282 pp., $60

The history of Coca-Cola dates back over 100 years to the birth of modern industrialism. In Coca-Cola Girls, Chris H. Beyer mines the many facets of this history with winning results. From the earliest traces of the popular soda in pharmacies at the turn of the century through the 1950s, Coca-Cola Girls marks the evolution of an advertising icon (the girl) as she changes from Victorian matron to Fifties sunbather. This fascinating retrospective is full of lovely, richly colored illustrations that reveal just how integral the Coca-Cola Girl was in representing both social and economic change, especially during the era of World War II-inspired propaganda. Initially marketed to “discriminating people,” Coca-Cola ultimately became a merchandising phenomenon as the famed soda girl found herself on calendars, ashtrays, billboards, and the like. It’s all here in resplendent detail, along with a concise written history peppered throughout the illustrations which links the Coca-Cola Girl with the progress of history. Sadly, the Coca-Cola Girl was ultimately replaced by such modern mascots as Polar Bears and Disney characters, but Beyer reminds us that there’s nothing so refreshing as a nice taste of nostalgia.

This article appears in December 22 • 2000.

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