Orange Soda
notes: label: Description
content: Experiments with canning carbonated beverages were taking place as early as the 1930s, complicated by the corrosion of tin and iron caused by the acids contained in soft drinks. Adjustments on the canned containers were being made into the 60s to improve the closure and eliminate the metallic aftertaste. Cans finally took over returnable bottles in the late 70s, along with the distribution of vending machines. The steel can, such as this Orange Soda can, was used in the soft-drink industry as an alternative to glass bottles. By the 1960s, however, aluminum was starting to take over the steel industry in the metal container market, becoming the most popular beverage container material by 1985. The efficiency and low costs of the material was appealing to manufacturers - a single press could make sheets of aluminum that was made into light, thin-walled, and rigid containers that could withstand carbonated pressure and resist corrosion.
label: Description
content: Along with the competition between steel and aluminum, competing beverage companies such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi were faced with a common enemy - the retailers and their generic brands. Supermarket chains produced their own private-label products and often sold them at a price lower than brand-labels, eager to gain the high profit margin of soft drinks. They were able to dictate the timing and location of brand-label deliveries, as well as shelf arrangements and layouts in their stores. Bottlers were frustrated by this arrangement, which could lead to their loss in sales and market shares. While detailed adjustments were being made to the aluminum can in the 60s, supermarket chains discovered that a segment of the market simply preferred to have no-deposit, no-return containers over these small changes. The chains took advantage of this discovery and placed their entire stock of private label brands into cans, taking over nearly a fifth of the beverage market. Until beverage companies arranged for co-op canning plants, bottlers had a difficult time keeping up with the efficiencies of the chains.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Agriculture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ZZ.RSN80544Y24
objectType: label: Object Name
content: container
label: Object Name
content: can
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: aluminum (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 7/8 in x 2 3/4 in; 12.3825 cm x 6.985 cm