gest consumer of soft drinks, is declining in proportional terms, and some projections say will decline in absolute num bers.
Significant opportunities are also available to the softdrink industry in early 1990. One of these opportunities is the other side of the coin of the declining significance for the industry of the teenaged population segment. The baby boom generation is aging. The soft drink producers have an opportun ity to reverse the trend of low per capita soft drink consump tion among the older population segments. A second major oppor tunity for the soft drink industry involves the underdeveloped (in the context of soft drink consumption) of foreign markets.
For the last decade in the 20th century, the greatest growth for the soft drink producers will likely occur outside of the United States. Within the United States, the greatest growth will occur in older age population groups. Coca Cola has taken the lead in seeking to exploit each of these 3opportunities. PepsiCo has begun to move in the foreign mar kets. With respect to the domestic market, however, PepsiCo continues to promote its products primarily to the rapidly declining teenaged population segment.
Various people in the United States had been experimenting with a variety of ingredients for almost one hundred years, in an attempt to develop a satisfactory soft drink, when John Pem berton concocted a blend of kola nut, fruit syrup, and coca leaf extract in Columbus, Georgia in 1867 (Dietz, 1973, 15). Pemberton did not market his new formula at the time of its discovery. It was not until 1886, after he had moved to Atlanta, that he presented the product to the public (Dietz, 1973, 16).
Pemberton was a pharmacist, and his assistant at the phar macy accidentally mixed his formula syrup with carbonated water. Prior to this accidental mixture, Pemberton had mixed his syrup with plain water. The accidental mixture of the syrup and car bonated ...