Short Stuff: Fanta - Nazi Favorite? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to the short stuff I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Chuck I have. a question for you yes don't you want to. Fanta was that a slogan. mhm oh don't you wna yeah yeah I. remember that now it very catchy don't. you fan Don't You Wanna was that it. don't you want to. [Laughter]. Fanta that's how I remember okay uh I.

love F I mean wait wait wait you never. answered my question well yeah of course. I do if I love it good um I think I've. mentioned plenty of times that I I did. not grow up drinking much soda because. as a family we didn't have the kind of. money to just load up the house with. sodas so sodas were only reserved for my. mom to drink tab oh yeah she was a tab. Drinker huh yeah we had money for that. uh but I didn't drink much soda growing. up so I don't drink soda now thankfully. because that stuff is so bad for you.

uh generally speaking but I I will um. hammer down six Cokes a year and maybe. four or five fan oranges all at once. once a year I love them I love that fan. orange I just you know you can't drink. that stuff a lot have you had any of the. other fantas the grape and Etc uh I. think I like dabbled in the grape and KN. High grape and stuff when I was a kid. but it's really that and I like. sun-kissed preferred sun-kissed as a kid. here and there suned.

yeah yeah um but Fanta orange is one of. my rare rare guilty pleasures I got you. I was more of a Figo man as as a kid I I. never drank those and I also never have. drank any of the clear or yellows like. I've never tasted Mountain Dew uh didn't. drink Mello yellow or Sprite or seven up. or anything like that you missed out you. never tasted Mountain Dew or Mello. yellow I just want to make sure I have. that correct I don't think so wow I. can't remember ever doing it I I mean I.

don't even know what it tastes like it. looks lemon limey but no no it's not. it's its own thing for sure I don't know. that you should ever break the the. streak now that you've reached this this. long without trying it but yeah it's not. lemon lime it's a own thing uh but what. we're talking about is whether or not. Fanta is a Nazi drink uh and we're going. to go into the history of that we're. going to start out talking a little bit. about Coca-Cola the parent company uh as. every most people know by now it was. invented um by Dr uh John Stith.

pimberton in 1886 he was a morphine. addicted Civil War veteran looking for a. better way to feel better than morphine. and put together some cocoa leaves and. colon nuts um which had you know were. stimulants because of cocaine and. caffeine MH and said hey this is like a. new kind of medicine uh and after he. died it went on to be a very very. popular drink it sure did.

um one of the things that Coca-Cola did. over time was they expanded around the. world they became an ambassador of. American democracy um one of the places. they expanded to is Germany pre-war. Germany or maybe inw War Germany I'm not. sure when they showed up but regardless. by the time World War II was starting to. ramp up say the 30s the late 30s. Coca-Cola was heavily entrenched in. Germany and its subsidiary was Coca-Cola. gmbh which stands for gsha MIT.

B haong which translates to company with. limited liability and um there was a guy. named Max kite who ran the show there. and boy oh boy was he dedicated to. cocacola and furthering the cause of. Coca-Cola in Germany yes for sure uh he. there's a guy named Mark Pendergrast who. wrote a book called for God country and. cocacola no colon way to go Mark yeah. that's incredible.

uh and he said that you know this guy. loved Coke so much he really just wanted. to weave it into uh every aspect of. German life um including the the Nazi. party even though supposedly he never. was officially joined the Nazi party um. and you think like well Koke probably. wasn't super stoked about this uh they. didn't care uh Robert Woodruff was. running Koke at the time and he was like. hey this is all good uh we're going to. co-sponsor the 1936 Berlin Olympics uh. we're going to hang up some banners.

there with our logo right next to the. swastika and it's all it's all good. everybody yeah can you imagine I looked. high and low for a photograph of that. and I could not find it I'm sure. Coca-Cola is dedicated a significant. amount of its operational funding to. destroying any evidence of of that. Banner ever I I haven't been to the. World of Coke Museum uh but I bet right. here in Atlanta I bet it's not in there. I'll bet they don't have it up too um. there was also for the 10th anniversary.

of Coca-Cola. gmbh um the they decided to commemorate. their deepest admiration for the furer. for Hitler's 50th birthday with a mass. Nazi salute I I guess of employes who. worked there at the time yeah exactly so. Coca-Cola was very much entrenched in. Nazi Germany even before the war. especially Before the War I should say. well yeah because once the war started. uh they're like oh well I guess we can't.

do business with Germany anymore right. and Germany was um seizing enemy-- owned. businesses at will uh I think General. Motors actually got out of Germany but. they did seize IBM and Coca-Cola said. sorry kite we got to stop sending you. our 7x flavoring and he said but that is. the secret and they went I know and I'm. really sorry but even though we're. friends our countries aren't friends. right now and that was a a huge huge hit.

on Coca-Cola LLC gmbh Germany uh he. couldn't make Coke so he was like I got. to come up with a new plan yeah and also. at the same time he's walking this this. fine line between not having access to. the product that his company makes and. trying to keep the German government. from officially seizing and taking over. his company and to do that he needs he. needs a hit he needs the most delicious. most nutritious thing you could possibly. put together that's going to sweep.

Germany right off right off the bat and. I feel like we should talk about this. product that Max kite introduced after a. break. [Music]. [Music].

okay Chuck so max kite's like what am I. going to do I need to come up with. something fast to keep my company afloat. um I think I'll just create a entirely. new drink that no one's ever even. thought of making before uh and because. there's so many wartime rations going on. I'm going to have to get really creative. here but I'm going to do it yeah I mean. not only did he was he not getting that. that sweet sweet s 7x uh Coke syrup M he.

didn't have sugar or at least much they. were rationing sugar at the time so he. said all right uh he ended up saying the. recipe was made from The Leftovers of. the leftovers uh the the first Fanta. which by the way is the German word for. uh fantasy or imagination and supposedly. he said hey marketing team uh use your. fantasy to think of a good name and they. said how about Fanta and he went that's. great how about. guy I think was a guy named Joe nip uh.

who officially thought of the name but. um he got H apple pulp from leftover. apple cider making uh beet sugar and. Whey and by all accounts it was not. orange at all and it tasted like sweet. garbage it's um yeah it took me a couple. of reads to be like well wait a minute. how does that taste like Fanta and then. I realized with just sudden horror it. didn't taste anything like Fanta and. apparently it didn't taste very well at. all.

um historians no one knows what it. tasted like or at least no one's been. able to find somebody who actually drank. this stuff um but they're like just look. at the ingredients there's no way it. tasted good and they think that it was. probably mostly sold to be used as like. a flavor agent for Soups and stews and. stuff like that uh that people weren't. just knocking back bottles of this stuff. because they would have vomited until. they died I guess um instead they were. just using it another ways but that's.

not to say it wasn't a huge hit it was a. big seller and not only that it. instilled like a kind of national pride. among Germans like look at how. resourceful we are in the face of you. know wartime scarcity but have you tried. this stuff yeah it was it was their own. they're like we have Fanta and beer and. like we're going to claim those uh and. and love those and drink those until we. fall over so he he did Even though like. I said he officially supposedly never. joined the party he did work very.

closely with the Nazi party uh because. he needed their help he needed their um. help making sure that production. continued um and you know the. cooperation with the Nazis was a key. part of that uh but that was able to. keep the doors open at least uh. officially cocacola in April of 1955 uh. postwar said why don't we um rejigger. Fanta and make it taste good and we've. got the name um we have it copyrighted.

and it's already sort of got a little. bit of uh a cred at least in Europe so. let's just keep the name and hopefully. no one will remember the Nazi ties yeah. but also so this name just the name. right they could have come up with. anything else but just the name has uh. has Nazi ties like you said it was. created in and for Nazi Germany and it. was also made from apple pulp and beet. sugar and Whey why why would you use.

that I would think you would want to do. the exact opposite and bury that name. like it was a banner with the coch logo. and a swasa but instead they just went. with it and they introduced it in Italy. first as this the version we know now. this orange soda version uh and Italy. was like yeah it's pretty good let's go. with that and they started to export it. finally made it into the United States. in 1958 which was I think three years. after they reintroduced it in Italy yeah. I think what the deal was is it wasn't.

widely known outside of Germany so it's. not like uh the word Fanta had some. negative connotation all over the world. uh and the Germans loved it so it. actually had a positive connotation in. at least one market so yeah I I get it I. mean maybe it would have been a good PR. move to change it because of the Nazi. thing but right I don't think it was. like some otherwise tainted name uh I. see I see what you mean uh and they were. like I'm sure people just forget about. it anyway within a year to anybody who.

even knows about it it'll never come out. yeah until you know people started. calling it a Nazi drink and you know on. the internet right and the idea kind of. spread uh and it was you know it was. Fanta and not. Fanta uh but yeah people largely didn't. think much about it and I still don't. think much about it I mean it's not like. if you buy a Fanta or something today. you're supporting Nazis right it goes to. support the upkeep of Hitler's tomb or. something like. that small donation but the auth. Pendergrass was like um it's this is.

pretty it is still pretty significant. that people like this drink enough that. even knowing it's its roots or where it. came from you're just like it's just. it's an orange soda I like it for what. it is um and it's not just orange as we. said they have a whole line of flavors. including grape um and I think it's much. more popular in South America right now. but it's still pretty pretty big in in. America in the United States man we keep. getting a task for that for calling the.

US America yeah sorry everybody that's. what that's what they tell us that's. what they teach us here yeah and hey. pretty soon a lot of parts of the world. are going to be called. America so get used to it everyone uh as. far as kite goes um he stuck around and. the Coca-Cola company said you know what. um even though your drink was garbage. you did the Yan's work way back then and. kept that brand alive and uh so he was. made eventually the head of Coca-Cola.

Europe and uh you know seems like had a. pretty good career as a soda guy oh one. other thing about that too is kite as. the Nazis rolled into country after. country kite was right behind the tanks. going your division of Coca-Cola is now. part of Coca-Cola deuts land your. division of Coca-Cola is now part of. Coca-Cola Deutschland and so when he was. made the head of Coca-Cola Europe he had. Consolidated through conquering other. businesses he had he had Consolidated.

all into one company because of the. Nazis conquering these countries isn't. that nuts yeah I mean who better to lead. the Coca-Cola Europe you know I guess he. was already in place yeah he kept. pounding his fist in his hand whenever. he he talked at like board meetings and. in investors meetings that's right okay. well that's it for Fanta uh do you want. to Fanta I don't know that's only a. question you can answer yourself and. while you think about that we're done.

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