Coca-Cola's Uplifting Origin Story Leaves Out The Part About Its Morphine-Addicted Inventor

Public DomainDr. John Pemberton, inventor of Coca-Cola

In an op-ed published Monday by Ad Age, Coca-Cola marketing executive Wendy Clark discussed how important it is for companies to remain focused not only on what they're selling, but why they're selling it.

Echoing a TED Talk given by motivational speaker Simon Sinek, Clark writes that at Coca-Cola, the marketing team stays focused on the company's primary reason for existence since it was founded by Dr. John Pemberton in 1886: "to make the world happier."

Clark writes: "Coca-Cola was created in 1886 by Dr. John Pemberton, a pharmacist who wanted to create an elixir that would give people a moment of refreshment and uplift, a moment of happiness. And thus our why was evident: to make the world happier."

While this statement isn't necessarily a factual inaccuracy, the historical record on Dr. Pemberton shows that he was probably more concerned with his own morphine addiction than "making the world happier."

A slave owner and Confederate soldier, Pemberton suffered injuries during the Civil War and became addicted to morphine after he started using it to quell the pain, according to "The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics" by Richard Davenport-Hines.

In 1884, he attempted to use his background as a pharmacist to cure this addiction by creating French Wine Coca, a predecessor to Coca-Cola made up of wine, cocaine, and caffeine-containing kola nuts. The product was advertised as being able to cure everything from constipation to chronic diseases, as well as acting as a "most wonderful invigorator of the sexual organs."

With Prohibition looming, Pemberton took the alcohol out of his formula to create the first batch of Coca-Cola in 1886. The drink contained cocaine until the beginning of the 1900s, when fear spread throughout the South that black men were using the substance before raping white women, according to "The Pursuit of Oblivion."

Despite the claims made about the drink's restorative powers, Pemberton remained poor and addicted to morphine until he died of stomach cancer in 1888, according to "For God, Country, and Coca-Cola" by Mark Prendergast.

So while it's perhaps true that Pemberton thought his concoction could "make the world happier," such a short description of the company's origin leaves out a couple critical details.