Very few company logoed promotional products spark as much nostalgia as the Coca Cola glasses do. With this product; nostalgia and retail go hand and hand. Coca Cola glasses can be found in traditional store fronts, flea markets, trade shows and online retailers. A simple web search will bring up several retailers such as Macys, Target and Wal-Mart that are selling a variety of Coca Cola memorabilia and Coca Cola glasses. EBay has multiple listings which include a set of six 1989 Wizard of Oz 50th Anniversary Collectable Coca Cola glasses and a 1976 King Kong Coca Cola glasses.
It seems that almost every person in the world has a story that is surrounded by a Coca Cola product or memorabilia. The Coca Cola glasses, because of their vast styles would have to be one of the leading story contributors. You have the traditional 6” tall glass in clear, smoky brown, turquoise, and green just to name a few. Don’t forget the plastic, Styrofoam and paper traditional look a likes to the original Coca Cola glasses. If the traditional glass is not for you, there are mugs, tumblers and even a 12oz. Coca Cola Can Glass in a variety of colors.
Coca Cola glasses not only spark a nostalgic story and tell a history lesson, they incite a cultural craze. Every generation seems to have a Coca Cola glasses to commemorate their decade. Restaurants like McDonalds help fuel the generational cultural craze with glasses such as the 1982 McDonalds’ World’s Fair 5 1/2″ Flare Top Knoxville, Tennessee USA and the 1980 McDonalds’ Coca Cola Limited edition Tiffany Glasses. A story about Coca Cola glasses would not be complete with out a mention of the holiday glasses, like the 1997 Enjoy Coca Cola Bell Shaped 6″ Happy Holidays Santa Clause or the 2002 Coca Cola Bell Shaped 6″ White Trees With Red Birds. The cultural craze goes so deep that even if the glass was not there originally in history, we may still have Coca Cola glasses to commemorate the anniversary; such as the 1976 Heritage Collector Series 5 5/8″ Paul Revere Declaration of Independence and 1976 Heritage Collector Series 6 1/8″ Paul “The Regulars are Out”.
Maybe it is my youth but I have not fully bought into the vast cultural generational craze of the Coca Cola memorabilia and the Coca Cola glasses, so I decided to talk to a family expert. My Grandma Prow collects anything and everything Coca Cola, including Coca Cola glasses. When I asked her why she collected so much Coca Cola memorabilia and why there is such a cultural generational craze, she stated “Coca Cola is a part of my personal history and it is an American tradition”. A simple straight forward answer from a straight forward gal who has seen Coca Cola and the world go through many decades of change. Sorry Pepsi in this family Coca Cola and Coca Cola glasses are as American as apple pie.