Buy a Coke from Mr. Gates!

Our next Coke celebrity is none other than one of the world's wealthiest people.  It's Bill Gates! Sure, Bill doesn't really need the money. That's part of the gag in this commercial where he tries to buy a Coke while working late.  He is out of money, so he gets not Coke. You see him walking down the darkened hallway asking to borrow some money.

2014 Summer Diet Coke Can "Go-Getter"

Actually, Bill has always been a Coke supporter.  When Microsoft first started, among other perks, employees had access to free Coca-Cola.  Now that sounds like a place I'd life to work at, especially if they let me keep the cans. Ironically, it also means the commercial was inaccurate...maybe Bill was moonlighting at a rival company that night.  Food, or actually drink, for thought...

Mr. Bill "Billions" Gates

Buy a Coke from LeBron and Yao!

This post will bring you two Coke cans and two Coca-Cola celebrities. Here, we see NBA stars LeBron James and Yao Ming in a Coca-Cola commercial for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.  You can see it here. It's actually quite good.

2014 Summer Diet Coke Can "BFF"

In the commercial, Lebron and Yao try to one up each other by slinging out American and Chinese icons. LeBron whips out a cowboy and Yao whips out panda bears. Their duels escalates into a massive parade of objects, until they both whip out a Coke. Hey, now!  How about that? The conflict then disappears, because we all know Coke is great everywhere in the world. They toast, Yao Ming says, "Cheers", and LeBron mumbles something in Chinese, which I am assuming also means cheers. What a smart guy!

Yao Ming

LeBron James

Again, more old-fashioned Coca-Cola love.  Seriously, its one of the most brilliant advertising themes in history.

Buy a Coke from J-Lo!

Our next Coca-Cola celebrity is Jennifer Lopez.  Jenny did a Coca-Cola commercial back in 1998. You can watch it here.

2014 Summer Diet Coke Can "Dad"

The commercial is very much in the usual vein of Coca-Cola's desiring to make its product synonymous with love, family, good times, and happy thoughts.  We see Jennifer Lopez as a movie star, as a kid at her own birthday party, auditioning her way through rejection, and sipping Coca-Cola through it all. While Pepsi has Britney Spears and Michael Jackson dance amid sparks and bright lights, Coca-Cola just keeps it real.

Buy a Coke from Michelle

Our next Coca-Cola spokes person brings the Coke to us ice cold. (She what I did there?) Michelle Kwan, Olympic figure skater, appears in Coca-Cola ads. I read somewhere she gets a little flack by being a Coke speaker while also an Olympic athlete, but I mean, seriously, folks, Coca-Cola is one of THE BIGGEST Olympic sponsors.  Them and McDonald's.  So give Michelle and the other athletes a break.

2014 Summer Diet Coke Can "Pal"

Here is Michelle, sharing a stunning leap and a Coke with the world! Looking good!

Buy a Coke from Charlie Rose!

I thought my run of Coca-Cola cans for the summer of 2014 was done. Coca-Cola had their share-a-Coke campaign, and I listed celebrities who endorsed Coca-Cola. Turns out there were more cans than I expected. Coke Zero released share-a-Coke cans and so did Diet Coke.

2014 Summer Coke Can "Star"

This is means there are far more celebrities to unearth as Coca-Cola folks. So here you go.

I know.  You are like, who is this guy?  Well it's Charlie Rose, a guy who hosts a talk show on PBS. I was watching it the other day, struggling to stay informed with the world, and I noticed the show is brought to us buy the sponsor....Coca-Cola! Buy the world a Coke, Charlie!

Buy a Coke from Elton!

Our next Coca-Cola celebrity is Elton John.  You can see Elton John tickling the ivories about Diet Coke being "the one" here.

"Buy a Coke for a Buddy"
2014 Summer Coca-Cola Can

If you notice, outside of Bill Cosby, many of Coca-Cola's celebrities are musicians.  I mean, lets be honest, being able to sing and dance a jingle is a big deal for a soft drink company.  So if you are looking to following in their footsteps and getting your own Coca-Cola endorsement paycheck, you better not flunk out of music class.

Buy a Coke from Taylor!

Our last Coca-Cola celebrity is arguably the most prominent as of this writing.  It's none other than the girl-next-door super star Taylor Swift.  You've probably already seen oodles of her Diet Coke commercials, but you can view a brief one here if you have been late to the party.

"Buy a Coke for a Friend"
2014 Summer Coca-Cola Can

So we've covered Bill Cosby, Whitney Houston, Paula Abdul, and Taylor Swift.  There are others, but I am out of the friendship cans currently, so those celebrities will have to wait.  I hope you've enjoyed these celebrity endorsements.  I'm sure the celebrities enjoyed making them to. Remember, they got paid for them.

Buy a Coke from Paula!

Our next Red-Side-Of-The-Cola-Wars celebrity is Paula Abdul.  Here,you can view a catchy jingle laden commercial of Paula Abdul singing and dancing to the greatness of Diet Coke.

"Buy a Coke for a Legend"
Summer 2014 Coca-Cola Can

Paula Abdul was actually a double-threat for the Pepsi competitor.  While Paula's popularity waned for a while, perhaps making Pepsi executives breathe a sigh of relief, she came into prominence again with the success of the reality show juggernaut America Idol, which was also a big Coca-Cola peddling machine.  It was as if Paula's Coke enthusiasm shined all over again.

Buy a Coke from Whitney!

Our next celebrity profile that took the Red side of the Cola wars is Whitney Houston.  You can get a glimpse of an 1980s Diet Coke commercial by Whitney here.

"Buy a Coke for Your Soulmate"
Coca-Cola Summer Can 2014

My brief research for this post was actually rather sobering. While every other celebrity I searched for under the tags Coke gave me a smiling advertisement of the celebrity swigging Coca-Cola with a proverbial thumbs-up.  Unfortunately, searching for Whitney Houston and Coke did not bring up Coca-Cola advertisements.  It's sad, really.  Stay off drugs, people.

Buy a Coke from Bill

Since Coca-Cola's summer advertising is about buying your friends a Coke, I thought it would be nice to profile some of Coca-Cola's best buddies.  Instead of you buying them a Coke, they are trying to sell you one!  Our first is Bill Cosby. You can see him in a commercial for the controversial New Coke in 1985 here.

"Buy a Coke for your BFF"
Summer Coke Can 2014

It's unique to be a Coca-Cola spokesperson.  Pepsi is the brand that is far more celebrity driven. Let's give cheer for over the next couple of weeks for the underdog celebrities who had the guts (and generous paychecks) to take the Red side of the Cola Wars.

Summer Can Countdown 3

Introducing Coca-Cola summer can number 3 from 2013.  Ah, baseball!  What could be more American than baseball and Coca-Cola taken together?

Coca-Cola Summer Can 3 of 6 2013

If you want to dig even a bit deeper between the natural nostalgia of Coca-Cola and a ball game, did you know that Coca-Cola owned the Atlanta Crackers, a minor league baseball team?  They owned the team from 1929 until 1949.  A significant achievement of the team was being one of the first to stand up against segregation in baseball.  That's Coca-Cola for you, I suppose, bringing people together!  I love the baseball on this can.  It's like...BAM!...it's being thrown right at ya!

Summer Can Countdown 2

So here is our next summer Coca-Cola can for our countdown to summer. It's a surfer perched atop a wave ready to take the plunge into the deep, sugary, syrupy goodness of Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola Summer Can 2 of 6 2013

The surfer got me thinking.  I did some research and did you know that Coca-Cola sponsored a surfing competition in Australia from 1974 - 1991?  That's a pretty long run.  I mean Coca-Cola sponsors a little bit of everything theses days, so a surfing competition is really no surprise, but it's nice to just know a little history isn't it?

Coca-Cola Summer Countdown Can 1

So yes, it is December, but even amid the snow and blow I am already fantasizing about summer. I thought of all the ways I could get a jump on the summer season, you know, like maybe working on those abdominal muscles to look good in a swimsuit, but that takes to much work.  So I'll toss up a soda can instead.  (Utterly diametric, I know.)

Coca-Cola Summer Can 2013 1 of 6 

BAM!  So Coca-cola released 6 summer coke cans last summer in 2013.  Above is can 1 of 6 cheerfully spouting the 2013 tagline "Open for Summer."  Yours truly hunted hard and collected all six.  I will be tossing up a summer can a month from December through May.  Once they are all up Memorial Day will be here and we will be open for summer once again.  Bring it on.