America's 250th Anniversary
Coca-Cola and America grew up together. For 140 years, wherever America went, Coke followed, bottling optimism and shipping it to every country on earth. The taste of a promise. The promise of a pursuit.
On July 4, 1776, 56 men signed a document declaring three things inalienable: Life. Liberty. And the pursuit of Happiness. Not happiness itself. The pursuit.
That document didn't stay in Philadelphia. It traveled. Paris, 1789. Haiti, 1804. Caracas, 1811. In 1945, Ho Chi Minh stood before a nation and opened his declaration of independence with Jefferson's exact words.
The Declaration of Independence was never just American.
Neither is Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. This is everyone's redeclaration.
The Declaration was written in one language and heard in many. From the French Revolution (1789) to the first declaration by a formerly enslaved people, Haiti (1804), to Simón Bolívar across South America, to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam (1945), who opened his nation's declaration with Jefferson's exact words. The shot was heard around the world. Tasted sweet around the world.
It rippled around the world. France. Haiti. Venezuela. Brazil. Vietnam. Every nation that reached for self-determination reached for the same language. We made a 60-second proof of concept for Coca-Cola — one brand, one song, six statues, six countries. This is what it could be.
