Teaching The World To Sing — The Story Behind The Iconic Coke Ad

Coca Cola Commercial – I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony) – 1971

New York Times:  Bill Backer, Who Taught the World (and Don Draper) to Sing, Dies at 89

Bill Backer, a lapsed lyricist whose classic 1971 commercial taught a fractious world of potential Coca-Cola consumers to sing in perfect harmony and was featured in the finale of “Mad Men,” died on Friday in Warrenton, Va. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by his wife and only immediate survivor, the former Ann Mudge.

Mr. Backer and his team immortalized jingles and slogans that proclaimed “Things go better with Coke” and defined the soft drink as “the real thing”; declared that Miller Lite was “everything you ever wanted in a beer… and less”; elevated the Campbell’s brand by asserting that “soup is good food”; and allowed that “little girls have pretty curls, but I like Oreo.”

The Final Scene of Mad Men

The series ended with the iconic ad, Coca-Cola’s 1971 “Hilltop” ad.

 

 

 

 

 



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