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Afri-Cola commercial (1968)

Mark Frauenfelder at 9:46 am Wed, Nov 30, 2011

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[Video Link] Here's the video of a 1968 TV commercial for Afri-Cola that Cory wrote about in 2005. Love the soundtrack!

(Via Cynical-C)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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  • netdivaweb

    I think I really want to try that drink.

  • JeffreyMartin360Cities

    I bought and drank some of this in Berlin about 9 years ago. I liked the bottle and kept it around in my apartment, but it’s since gotten lost. Not sure if it’s the same stuff, or if someone licensed the brand for use in Germany, or what (I don’t live in Germany). Are there any Berlin folks around who might be able to confirm that Afri-Cola is still sold there?

    • http://www.facebook.com/jkrems Jan Olaf Krems

      It’s still sold in Germany. Not in as many bars as Coca Cola but it’s pretty common.

  • Editz

    I keep expecting to see either a Dharma Initiative logo or THX 1138 staring back at me.

  • astridcoleslaw

    Yep it’s still all over the place here. Has loads of caffeine. 

  • wobinidan

    It comes in that tiny bottle, which is frustrating.   But it tastes fine, I guess.

  • catcrobatics

    tastes like a fine blend of alkaseltzer and piss

    • MarcVader

      If you are referring to your own piss you should really stop drinking it and go see a doctor as soon as possible.

  • Chuck

    Dammit.  The girl from The Ring crawled out of my monitor while I was watching that.  Hate it when that happens.  On top of that, now I have an irresistible urge to carry out a string of political assassinations.

  • http://profiles.google.com/keithdtyler Keith Tyler

    All I can think of now is “Kannaaaaaa… HAKK… LI-ha!” http://boingboing.net/2008/07/25/sovietera-estonian-m.html

  • http://www.mrericsir.com MrEricSir

    You don’t have to go to Europe to find that stuff, I bought a bottle of it at a grocery store in Palo Alto years ago.

    It tastes similar to Coke, but it’s a little more full-bodied and mellow.

  • flosofl

    For some reason it made me think the “Sprockets” skit on SNL that featured “Germany’s Most Disturbing Home Videos”

  • noah django

    when I read the headline, I assumed it was from Africa; you know, like AFRI-ColA, right?  *kind* of a mind-fuck when I played the video.  now I can only assume the “afri” prefix is related to “aphrodisiac?”

  • Antinous / Moderator

    Suddenly, Zima doesn’t seem so wrong.

  • Ipo

    It’s the house brand in my favorite local bar. 
    Better than Pepsi when mixed with bourbon. 
    Not special, just flavored, carbonated, dyed sugar water. 

  • Oliver Schneider

    The idea to this ad campaign came from Charles Wilp:
    http://www.charleswilp.org
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Paul_Wilp

    Famous models of 1960s like Marianne Faithfull, Amanda Lear, Donna Summer, Marsha Hunt were photographed behind windows with ice-crystals. Also Wilp was, as painter Yves Klein called him, the “prince of space” and built a modular “space age” house right at river bank of the Rhine in Düsseldorf in the Seventies. The house has been on tour through Germany in 2010 according to his website.

    The soundtrack has been republished on “Atatak” in 1999, a influential music label from Düsseldorf which also relaesed work by Der Plan, Pyrolator, S.Y.P.H and Die Tödliche Doris:
    http://www.atatak.com/tontraeger/wilp/wr74cd.html

    “Super-sexy-mini-flower-pop-op-cola – alles ist in Afri-Cola“

  • David Kopelman

    Damn. Now I can’t taste my breakfast cereal. That music sounded like someone inside a dumpster beating against it with their bloody stumps.

  • eltiki

    Looks like it’s straight out of Putney Swope: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064855/