THAI COKE

Pasalubong from Thailand by a good friend Jun Fernandez.

RECYCLING ( 1 )

This large Cage infront of the Coca-cola Plant in Sta. Rosa Laguna is an excellent place to throw our empty plastic coke bottles.


These Pet Bottles are NOT for Re-use, but they are crushed flat and turn into granules by some process inside the Plant. The end product is commonly called RESIN. These grains are sold to people who will use them as part or base material for another product.

COKE FROM DUBAI

Coke Classic, Coke light and Coke Zero... From my brother Dong who is working in Dubai.

PRIZED SHOT

The price I have to pay for this picture…

As I get off the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) train in Guadalupe Station, I quickly grab my camera from my bag. Carefully, I aim at this massive billboard and swiftly took a number of shots! This Coke Litro Billboard stands enormous in the corner of EDSA and Pasig River. The only way to get an eye level shot is inside the MRT station.

True enough, a couple of minutes later, I am being whistled at by the security guard. NO PICTURE TAKING INSIDE THE MRT PREMISES.

The next train arrived. The train’s door open in front of me, I went inside as if nothing happened.

RAISE THE ROOF

The Owners of this establishment probably love Coca-cola so much (or earn so much from Coke?) that they tinted their roof RED and painted it with COCA-COLA emblem.

All stores and eateries under this roof sell cokes.

ONE WISH GRANTED. ELEVEN WISHES TO GO

In the same shop (inside Cubao Shoe Expo), I browse through their old magazines and patiently look for Coca-cola ads in each magazine (I’ve noticed that there are more Pepsi ads in these magazines than Coke. So if you go for Vintage Pepsi ads, this is the place for you!)…Until I find what I was looking for…

I remember when I was a kid, we used to sing the Coca-cola Jingle (IT’S THE REAL THING) with altered lyrics (My apology, especially to the Noranians, I hope it will not bring back painful memories)… it goes like this…

IT’S THE REAL THING
SI NORANG *****,
NAGTAGO SA DILIM
LALO *****!

Now that I’m a grown-up, I realized how racist it was….

This 1971 Magazine priced @ P250 but I bought it for a reasonable P150 (though I think I can still get it @ P100, I just tell my self that the additional P50 is the storage fee for keeping the magazine in good condition after 38 years!) and got my wish to have a 1970’s vintage Coke Ad (see my complete COKE WISH LIST on the right side of this page)

LET THEM DRINK COKE

I recently visited Cubao Shoe Expo (Saturday, 10/24/09) for some window shopping. I went inside a shop where they sell old magazines (1950s to 80’s). Lo and behold! A picture of AMALIA FUENTES holding a Coca-cola is hanging on their wall!

As for those who grew up in the 1960’s, Amalia is the Elizabeth Taylor of the Philippines and dubbed as the Queen of the Philippine Movies. During that same era, another big star is being considered as the Queen, and that is Susan Roces, and that’s another story.

In this Coke Ad, Amalia is probably in her early teens, in her pre-Queen days.


Queen Elizabeth (not Taylor) once said “Let them eat Cake…”
Another Queen said “Let them drink Coke.”

COKE PROMOTIONAL ADS

10/25/09.

I bought a couple of Coke Promotional Ads (SINO UMINOM NG COKE SA VILA VILLA & VANILLA COKE) from this guy, George Bonsay. His shop is lin the ground floor of Swapmeet Bldg in Kamuning Road, Quezon City.

COOL COKE PLATES

These plates are gift from Bea, the daughter of neighbor Evar & Vien Medina. (10/20/09)

Not all BIG are BETTER..!

These Tricycle Coke Deliveries are a common sight in highways in Laguna. Particularly here in Sta. Rosa where the Coca-cola Starosa Plant 1 & 2 are located.





Just the right vehicle for small time deliveries. Faster. Practical. Economical.

Tales of Two Richards.

RICHARD GUTIEREZ.
My neighbor Pete (in the photo) gave me this Zorro Poster. But my love affair with Coke Posters did not start there... It started several weeks before that...

The first time I saw this ZORRO Poster of Richard Gutierrez for Coke Zero was on August 2009, along the National Highway in San Pedro Laguna. I was on my way to a fellow Artist living in this old town for a project (will tell you about this project sometime in the future, coz it also involves Coke!).

I already started my Coke collecting then but the reason why this “encounter” with Zorro a special one is because that was the turning point when I finally decided to include Print Ads to my Coke Collection (I only collect Bottles and Glasses then).

I find this Zorro poster different. Maybe the right term is “it’s a novelty”, seeing Zorro holding Zero (coke zero). With that decision, I also realized I missed the other unique Coke posters (the Angel and the Mermaid) but I am confident that in the future, I will also get a copy of these two.

Right now, I have 3 copies of this Zorro poster. Two of which I got from stores in public market, while the other one was given by Pete, a neighbor who owns a Sari-sari store inside the subdivision (that’s him in the picture holding a Zorro poster1. 0/21/09).


RICHARD GOMEZ.

This story happened October 5, 2009, a week after the typhoon Ondoy flooded my Parents’ house (more that 6 feet inside our home!) in Pasay City. I discovered this long forgotten magazine Ad underneath the clothes, as it serves as a mat to protect the clothes against the wood’s dust and smell. It was a pleasant surprise ‘coz I had no recollection that Richard had a Diet Coke Advertisement.

It’s the REAL Angel

Remember the Angel Coke poster I was talking about in my first Blog entrée? Well, here’s the complete story…

It was October 8, 2009 and I was already late for office. I was rushing my way through people when my eyes caught a familiar figure – a Coke.

A coke poster except it has unfamiliar figure, an ANGEL reaching down for a coke bottle (this particular print Ad was issued maybe late last year or early this year for a very limited time). This Bakery (Bread Box Bakery) has several plastic posters hanging on their wall so I was confident I can ask for at least 1 poster. I politely begged the lady Cashier (that's the gurl in the picture!) even for just 1 copy but turned me down. I was 28 minutes late in my office that day.

I went back to that place three more times during the week but received the same response – NO! The sad part of the story is to find out later that the posters was removed by the deliveryman and replaced them with ICE TEA posters! (Waaaht!)

Until I met the real “ANGEL”…

Meet ELMO (he's the guy in the picture holding the angel poster). He works there as a Baker but in another branch. To make the long story short and simple, I told him my wish for copy of that Coke poster in their other store and my own experience with their “heartless” Cashier (believe me, she's not very nice in person). It turned out that the he knows the Delivery guy who removed the Coke posters. Elmo talked to the guy (who happens to be there at that time) and the guy said he will try to see if he can get a similar poster in other stores. Elmo told me to return the next day.

The following day, October 13, I returned and I got the Angel poster, not one, but three posters! Thank God for Elmo!

ICON.

Even if you don't see the Bottle, you know it's COKE ZERO.

It all started with a BOTTLE (the gods must be crazy!)

I seriously started my COKE Collection July 11, 2009.

Prior to that, the items I had, mostly Coke contour glasses, were freebies that I mindlessly availed from some local promos. My very first actual purchase was an unopened 1994 Commemorative (Santa Claus) Coke Bottle from the US. I bought it at P120 in the Talipapa flea market in Evangelista Street, Makati City. Since my collecting is still on-going, I would NOT say “and the rest is history” but history is still unfolding..!

Perhaps the world’s most recognizable label (even if one can’t real, he can probably still “read” the word Coca-cola). It has that certain attraction to the eyes – you can spot it even in a crowded market or a busy street. Even in a row of Carinderias or Sari-sari stores on national highways, the Coke sign always stand out and easily recognized.

For five months now, I’ve already amass a number of coke items (bottles, stuff toys, posters, drinking glasses, etc) with little stories behind each one of them – some serious, some are funny, some are surprising (like finding a 1990 Coke Ad of Richard Gomez, hidden inside the cabinet, used as a mat for clothes, during the time typhoon Ondoy), and few are heart breaking (like finding a rare Angel Coke poster in a small bakery but the cashier refused to give the poster away, only to be replaced by a new poster that same day and that rare opportunity to own that poster is lost forever! Sigh! Sad talaga!).

Yes, the reward of finally getting the item is sweet but it’s the memories behind it are even sweeter… and bitter-sweet if I failed to get it.

Posters fade. Bottles and glasses break. Plastics may stretch or may shrink over time. Toys we will outgrow. But the memories behind them we will always cherish.


Join me in my adventure in pursuing this most famous cola bottle! Watch me go gaga over this red & white, and sometimes black & gray (coke zero) label.

It’s the REAL Thing. This is it, so let’s open HAPPINESS.

The Sweetest Thing...

SWEET = sugary. HOSTAGE = captive.

SWEET HOSTAGE.

Why COKE?

Before they pop the question, you will see a surprise look in their eyes first...

When people asked me why I collect Coke items, I pause and take a deep breath, hoping to come out with a reasonable answer why Coke it is, OR why I’m collecting in the first place…

But there are SIMPLE things in life that’s too COMPLEX to elaborate, so why not give them a SIMPLE answer… I tell them it’s like collecting Stamps. They smile and immediately they understand why.