awake; white teeth revealing braces, biting the bottom lip of its mouth; a finger scratching off bright pink nail polish; a pencil filling in circles on a test exam; hands holding pencils to said exams down a row of desks; a student rubbing his face; a violinist messing up a lick; a teacher looming over the test takers; a clock ticking; a teenage soccer player grabbing another’s jersey, tripping, and getting a red card; “Un-der Pres-sure”; a glimpse of Coca-Cola iconic green-tinted glass bottle with beads of condensation appearing; a drop of sweat dripping down a boy’s temple; a mom with a baby in her arms lecturing her teenage son while he is rapidly chopping vegetables by the stove; the face of a diver with his back to the pool taking a deep breath, about to jump, preparing, accidentally falling, flailing in the air, dropping into the pool, immediately punching through water and kicking back up; “Un-der Pres-sure”; bubbles are rising up in the Coca-Cola bottle; a ballet dancer falling from the point of her toes; a daughter and mom fighting in the car, the daughter gets out; the teenage boy who slapped himself awake is down on his knee and reaches for the hand of a teenage girl, their hands touch, drums build up, fireworks, he stands up, a white froth of bubbles pushes against the top of the Coca-Cola bottle, the music stops— Release. The bottle cap pops and a fountain of black liquid miraculously erupts. The song opens up into a reprise sung by a choir. Several coke bottles are opened in a flash—psht-psht-psht-psht. The Millennials each have a drink and, now they can overcome: the boy and girl embrace in a kiss; the parent and daughter hug; when the soccer team loses, the player walks off the field and takes solace in the Coke he is drinking; the mouth with braces belongs to a Homecoming Queen; the student rubbing his face during the test is now outside laughing with friends; dinner has been served and the teenage cook is seen downing his last sip of Coke; the dancer pirouettes; the boy and girl end their kiss and begin to open their eyes; the diver’s dive is a perfect swish and so this time he lets gravity take him its full length down underwater. Just at the point where his descent stops and his ascent is supposed to begin, Coca-Cola’s logo appears over the water and the tagline is “Taste the Feeling.” ab Before 1980, the taste of Coca-Cola wasn’t as syrupy and sweet to Americans because real sugar was used. Coca-Cola switched to high fructose corn syrup because subsidies on corn made it cheaper. Before 1916, the feeling after drinking Coca-Cola carried a greater buzz, as it had a greater amount of caffeine. That year, a judge ruled that Coca-Cola had to use less of it for health reasons, but he still let the company use some for “the product would lack one of its essential elements and fail to produce upon the consumers a characteristic if not the most characteristic effect which is obtained from its use.” As stated on an 1885 label, Coca-Cola’s predecessor, Pemberton’s French Wine Coca, was designed to be (1) an “ideal nerve tonic,” (2) a “health restorer” or (3) “stimulant.” In the Atlanta
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