Fanta

Fanta is an orange soft drink. It was created in Germany in 1940.

Logo

Old Fanta logo on 'Fanta Orange'

Fanta was created during World War II in Nazi Germany by the German Coca-Cola (GmbH) bottling company. Because of the war, there was no shipping between Nazi Germany and the United States. Therefore, the German bottling plant could no longer get Coca-Cola syrup. The manager of the plant, Max Keith, needed to do something to keep the plant going. He came up with a fruit-flavored drink made from whatever he could find. Using apple fiber leftover from lollipops and whey, from cheesemakers, Fanta was created and became quite popular. The original German Fanta had a red-orange color from beets and tasted different from today's Fanta Orange; the flavor would change during the war, depending on what ingredients could be found.

Back in America, the Coca-Cola Company—led by Robert Woodruff—did not discourage this. The company sponsored the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which Woodruff attended, and made banners featuring the Coca-Cola logo alongside the Swastika. Keith used a 10th anniversary party for Coca-Cola GmbH to order a mass Sieg-Heil (Nazi salute) in honor of the dictator’s 50th birthday. He declared that this was “to commemorate our deepest admiration for our Fuhrer.”

The name 'Fanta' came during an employee contest to name the new beverage. Keith told them to let their Fantasie (German for imagination) run wild. On hearing that, salesman Joe Knipp thought of the name Fanta.

After the war, Fanta was brought to the United States by Coca-Cola, and in 1960 they bought the trademark. Fanta Orange is the most popular Fanta flavor. It is available in 180 countries. Fanta is more popular in Europe and South America than in the United States. There are over 90 different flavors worldwide. Most of them are only available by region in some countries. For example, in Romania (and some other countries), there is "Fanta Shokata" based on the traditional Romanian drink "Socată". This drink is made from Elderflower. In Switzerland and the Netherlands the local fruit, blackcurrant is used to make Fanta as well. Some identical flavors have different names in different markets. “The classic orange”, for example, was renamed "Fanta Funky Orange" in 2003 for the Nordic countries and Belgium, while other countries have kept the older "Fanta Orange" brand name. As of the year 2005, the Fanta brand has been connected with the word Bambaacha (or Bamboocha), which is often seen in the Fanta commercials. TaB diet Cola was originally produced by the Fanta division of Coca-Cola. It was available in different non-cola flavors as well. Later in 2005, Fanta branched out into new Fanta Zero (diet versions) varieties in Great Britain and in other countries as well.