In 1886, Coca-Cola was marketed with what temperance-era phrase?

In 1886, Coca-Cola was marketed as “The temperance drink.”

The phrase connected the new beverage to the temperance movement, which supported reducing or banning alcohol. Atlanta and Fulton County had enacted prohibition legislation, and John Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola as a non-alcoholic alternative to his earlier alcoholic French Wine Coca.

Coca-Cola was still presented as more than a refreshment. It was sold through drugstore soda fountains and promoted as a patent medicine, with claims involving headaches, indigestion, nerve disorders, morphine addiction and other conditions. Carbonated water was also widely believed to have health benefits at the time.

The wording can be confused with Coca-Cola’s first advertising language, which described the drink as “Delicious! Refreshing! Exhilarating! Invigorating!” That wording appeared in an 1886 advertisement, but it was not the temperance-era phrase asked about here. Coca-Cola’s earliest identity combined a soft drink, a medicinal tonic and a socially acceptable alternative to alcohol.