Part 22 (2/2)

In 1950 Americans consumed an average of 177 soft drinks a year. By the end of the decade they would gulp 235 annually.

82.

As an adult, Joe Leahy would become a wealthy New Guinea coffee planter (see chapter 17).

83.

A jacu jacu is a Brazilian game bird notorious for flying directly toward hunters who whistle properly. is a Brazilian game bird notorious for flying directly toward hunters who whistle properly.

84.

The FTC eventually published its 523-page report, blaming the 1954 price hike on poor crop estimates, speculation at the coffee exchange, and inventory h.o.a.rding by large U.S. roasters. By that time, however, coffee prices were dropping and the matter no longer seemed urgent.

85.

United Fruit also was involved in the coffee trade. Its Great White Fleet offered weekly sailings that handled exported coffee from Colombia and Central American ports.

86.

The United States poured over $100 million into Guatemala between 1954 and 1960, but most of it went toward highway construction and other programs designed to help U.S. businesses. ”Of all the many millions that we have spent in Guatemala,” noted a U.S. senator in 1958, ”little has trickled down to the two million Indians of the country, who are the people who really need our help. They are still poor, while the businessmen are prospering.”

87.

John Hartford died in 1951 at seventy-nine, followed by ninety-two-year-old George Hartford in 1957.

88.

Such counterintuitive advertising also worked for Wilkins Coffee, a regional Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., roaster. In 1957 the firm commissioned local puppeteer Jim Henson to create seven-second television spots featuring Wilkins and Wontkins, two Muppets Muppets (from (from marionette marionette and and puppet puppet). In the ads Wontkins, a gruff naysayer, always refuses to drink his coffee, with dire results. Wilkins shoots, brands, drowns, clubs, slashes, freezes, and blows up his buddy Wontkins. In a typical commercial Wilkins asks, ”Have some Wilkins Coffee?” Wontkins hesitates, ”Well, I . . . I . . . ,” so Wilkins. .h.i.ts him over the head a few times. ”I'll take some,” Wontkins growls. ”Surprising how many are switching to Wilkins Coffee.” Coffee sales soared, as did Henson's subsequent career.

89.

Ironically, Latin American countries exported their best beans and consumed cheap instant coffee, much to the chagrin of the growers, who coined the phrase, ”Nescafe, no es cafe,” meaning ”Nescafe is not coffee.”

90.

The name Tchibo Tchibo derived from Tchilling-Hirrian and derived from Tchilling-Hirrian and bohne bohne, the German word for bean.

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