Fanta Bottle Magic

Fanta, the orange fizzy drink, was once my favourite soft drink. I had never had it in the United Kingdom until I arrived in Nigeria in the mid-1970s. One often drank it with malted biscuits and was enjoyable for young dating and friendship. This piece does not focus on fizzy drinks. But a different sort of drink that’s not soft. It’s among the hardest strongest drinks available and its interesting drinking aesthetics.

Goscolene is a fancy name for ogogoro, an alcohol drink made from the fermented juice of palm sap. Stories concerning goscolene sound similar; the one I tell here is different.

People do not enjoy drinking beer from plastic containers. It must be from a glass tumbler or bottle.

Through years of keen observing, it’s easy to see that goscolene sells in plastic jerry cans or tin drums. As such, you buy it retail in used containers or bottles. The most popular bottle retailers of goscolene measure and sell it in is Schnapps bottles. You can buy a full 70cl or a half bottle. Also, you can opt for the small quarter measure bottle. “Madam, give me one quarter” is a common request of drinkers who intend to drink just a little. Don’t believe them. A guy I once knew in Orerokpe named Ilorin, often swore, “Today I will drink only one quarter bottle,” the reality is one day he drank twenty-six quarters.

I often wondered why sellers do not use colourless Gordon Gin, White Horse Whisky, or bottles of other strong alcohols to sell goscolene. A lady who sells the stuff at a corner shop one day told me why in the Delta Steel Complex camp in Ovwian-Aladja, Delta State, Nigeria.

She explained the square green Schnapps bottle of Warri or Delta person has long been their favourite. Especially men who drink roots, another big seller. Next she said something else I had seen for years but did not regard. People who sit in or outside drinking shops prefer to drink goscolene sold in Fanta bottles. How did that pass me by? “Madam, give me one Fanta bottle there” was far more common than “Madam, give me one quarter bottle or one shot.” And buyers pronounce Fanta with affect like when you call a sweetheart’s name.

Curiosity

Although I was a big Gulder drinker, curiosity made me wonder why the Fanta bottle sells strong drink.

Is it Fanta bottle’s shape or labelling? I have no clue. Yet, sellers of goscolene understand they sell more when retailing it in Fanta bottles. It’s a simple enough trick. The seller pours the goscolene with a small funnel from a large container into the Fanta bottle while you wait. The drinking thus begins.

But, no one drinks goscolene straight from the bottle. 5cl shot glasses, ganasi, that come with the Schnapps bottles are the standard for all strong alcohol drunk in the land. Guynes! For over 30 years, it surprises me how the mere sight of a Fanta bottle and a shot glass can alter the mood of a buyer even before tasting the first shot. A Fanta bottle contains seven shots.

The surprise increases when I also notice that the Coke bottle measure, though the same 35cl is unacceptable. Bottles of Pepsi, Miranda, Gold Spot, Limca, Guarana and Mission are taboos for the same purpose. Others tried to sell it in brown malt bottles, but they failed. If it is goscolene, it must be the Fanta bottle or Schnapps bottle. Fanta bottle is the favourite.

I have asked a couple of elite marketers who specialise in product design to explain why the Fanta bottle rhymes so well with goscolene sales and drinking. Their answers were simple. No one can explain why people go with certain product designs. It just works well without explanation.

The thing I would still like an explanation for this is the drink and Fanta bottle design originated in Germany as a wartime Coca Cola alternative to sell to its citizens. How is it that same design improves the sales of goscolene, a strong alcohol drink, by the millions of litres every year in a small corner of Africa?

Fanta Bottle Magic is real and here to stay, but I do not know if the newer bottle has the same effect.

Be good, not lucky.