Coca Cola was invented back in 1885....Marty should've cashed IN!!! - Back to the Future Part III (1990) Discussion

It didn't hit the market until 1886. And obviously, Marty would not want to be screwing with the Timeline anymore.

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[–] persen1 9 years ago

He would not have cashed in, because it did not begin as the popular soft drink of today. In the beginning it was only sold as being a patent medicine in John Pimperton's own pharmacy located in Atlanta, claiming it could cure all sorts of diseases, you know, being sold on a whole bunch of lies.

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[–] Totemkauf 9 years ago

But if the 'family' had been investing in the company since then, the theory is that by the time Marty was around the family would have been rich.

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[–] Littlebitsofgaming 9 years ago

He would not have cashed in, because it did not begin as the popular soft drink of today. In the beginning it was only sold as being a patent medicine in John Pimperton's own pharmacy located in Atlanta, claiming it could cure all sorts of diseases, you know, being sold on a whole bunch of lies.

So?
Makes no difference what it was originally being sold as.
It still eventually became one of the world's biggest soft drinks companies and a worldwide brand.
He still would have made money on the investment in the future. So he definitely would have "cashed in" by 1985.

And so, God came forth and proclaimed widescreen is the best.
Sony 16:9

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[–] pooka5472 9 years ago

Are you kidding me? After the time travel debacle that occurred in Back to the Future Part II, Marty has probably had enough of messing with the timeline.

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[–] avortac4 (3458) 3 years ago

"It didn't hit the market until 1886."

Think about what you are saying.

Someone gives you information about a company to invest in 1885, but because it 'doesn't HIT the market' until the next year, you will.. what? Forget it? Decide against it?

Is it not possible to retain important, valuable information for one (1) year, and then take action based on that information? Is this out of the realm of possibilities for you, but time-traveling flying trains are perfectly possible?

WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?

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[–] grand_theft_toaster 9 years ago

Interesting that the original script for the first BTTF ended in an alternate timeline where Coke is used as the worlds main fuel source.

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[–] mikeyg24 9 years ago

To be fair he knew Coca Cola was going to be big bucks back then but how do you convince somebody to invest in one of a long line of crazy idea's without persuading them he's from the future? Then they'd have to take into consideration who's doing the persuading. I mean his credibility was kind of shot the moment he came crashing through their fence, forgot his hat, took on Mad Dog Tannen and described a pie plate as 'far out' when in actual fact 'twas right in front of him'.

I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time Del Boy, it's them that started me drinking!

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[–] zendaddy621 9 years ago

As you may also remember, Marty had a difficult time convincing Doc that Ronald Reagan was president in 1985; since Coca-Cola was all but unknown outside Atlanta in 1885, he most likely would have kept his knowledge of the future to himself lest he be branded a lunatic and committed to a hellish asylum...

"...And on this farm he had an igloo..."

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[–] Lisaluv1 9 years ago

Obviously someone already made the comment regarding how Marty didn't want to mess up the time loop as much as he already did (i.e. BTTF2) and to add ... Pepsi was the promoter of these movies so there was no reason by now they should even consider mentioning Coca Cola.

Trivia ~ Pepsi was not invented until 1898 (and Coke in 1886) so there were no colas in the 1885 setting for Back to the Future Part III. However, there is a Pepsi billboard at the Pohatchee Drive-In as Marty prepares to leave 1955.

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[–] Burning_Sosobra 9 years ago

Dr. Pepper was invented in 1885 as well, though it wasn't sold nationally until 1904 I believe. Crazy to think that a few well known soft drinks that are popular today were invented 130 years ago. Although I'm sure they tasted nothing like they do today. Especially Coca Cola, which actually had coke in it. Sure would've liked to have tried the original Coke back in the day. I bet it gave people a lot of energy like no energy drink today can give you. Although the comedown from Coca Cola would've been a bummer. But then you just drink another Coke and you're back up again. There was even a popular wine back then that had cocaine in it. Hell, in the late 19th/early 20th century you could order a heroin kit through the Sears catalog. Or just walk into your local pharmacy and purchase morphine and other fun opiates right over the counter, no prescription necessary. Those were the good old days.

Funny thing killin' a man. You take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have.

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[–] Whiskyfeet 8 years ago

You can still do this in mexico with a LOT of different prescription only drugs. Stroll into the wal mart pharmacy there and walk out with basically whatever you want

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[–] Whiskyfeet 8 years ago

I'd be interested to see Coca Colas first investors family line and see how rich they are today. Would be awesome if someone gave them a few bucks back then and are now multi multi millionaires or more. If the family line made it of course...

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[–] Ilyathe2nd (146) 3 years ago

That would be the family of Asa Griggs Candler, who bought the recipe from John Pemberton for $238.98 in 1888. His children sold all the stock for 25 million to a consortium of inverstors in 1919. Rather a nice profit. They all became philanthropists.
I'm sure the family's later history can be researched.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asa_Griggs_Candler

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/113015/if-you-had-invested-right-after-cocacolas-ipo.asp

edit:
The leading investor from 1919, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Woodruff also became important in the company, as did his children
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Woodruff

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Woodruff

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[–] hurricane (1908) 2 years ago

If Marty has learned anything from the past two films, it's that meddling with history never goes well.

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[–] LennyNero (474) 2 years ago

Well, at the very least, Marty will know who wins the World Series in 2015.

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