1982
IT HAPPENED IN…1982
Inflation decreased to 6%, the Consumer Price
Index rose 3.9%, the Gross National Product fell 1.8%, high interest
rates slowed housing starts, and over 30 banks failed.
Unemployment averaged 9.7% with 4.6 million receiving
compensation, the most since the program’s founding in the 1930s.
Braniff International, the nation’s eighth
largest airline, filed for bankruptcy.
AT&T agreed to divest itself of its 22 Bell
Telephone operating systems.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in
Washington, DC.
Cyanide placed in Tylenol capsules killed seven
people in the Chicago area and a nationwide alert was announced.
Tylenol was recalled but the killer was never found.
President Ronald Reagan declared war on drugs.
Over 25 million Americans were smoking marijuana, spending
$24 billion per year on the substance.
The 1982 world’s fair was held in Knoxville,
Tennessee.
Commodore’s VIC-20 was the best-selling computer
in 1982, selling over one million units.
Time
magazine’s “Man of the Year” was a personal computer.
Sony Corporation introduced the first CD player.
Japanese automaker Honda began manufacturing the
Honda Accord at Marysville, Ohio.
National Football League players struck for 57
days during the regular season.
Network television premieres included “Late Night
with David Letterman,” “Cagney and Lacey,” “Cheers,” and “St.
Elsewhere.”
Michael Jackson’s
Thriller, the
best-selling album of all time, was released.
USA Today
began publication.
The Coca-Cola Company developed Diet Coke and
also purchased Columbia Pictures.
McDonald’s introduced Chicken McNuggets.
1,643 U.S. soft drink bottling plants were in
operation.
Beverage World
magazine, the soft drink industry’s premier trade publication, produced
a 100 Year History 1882-1982 and
Future Probe. In
addition to celebrating the centennial of the founding of
National Bottlers’ Gazette,
the 600+ page tome includes a 100 year soft drink industry history.
The staff used early issues of the magazine as a primary
resource, presenting a challenge editor Samuel R. Kaplan described as
“It is just impossible to start looking through these old volumes of
National Bottlers’ Gazette
without being magically transported to the exciting, early days of the
country’s industrial expansion and the very start of the explosive
growth of the beverage industry.”
Many current industry firms placed material, including Crush
International Inc. who ran this full page advertisement for their Hires,
Crush, and Sun-Drop brands in Canada.
%20Root%20Beer,%20Crush,%20and%20Sun-drop%20-%20Crush%20International%20Inc.%20-%20Beverage%20World%20100%20Year%20History%201882-1982.jpg)
(Figure 1982-01,
Beverage World 100 Year
History 1882-1982 and Future Probe)
Meanwhile, in the U.S., Procter and Gamble promoted
14 ounce, plastic Hires mugs from July l – October 31, 1982.
The offer certificate included these details:
BUILD YOUR HIRES MUG SET BY MAIL
HIRES ROOT BEER PLASTIC MUG for 89¢ each by mail
BUY:
One 6/8 pack of bottles/cans or one 2-liter bottle of Hires Root Beer.
MAIL: This required certificate, 89¢ for each mug
ordered, plus the cash register tape with the purchase price of one 6/8
pack of bottles/cans or one 2-liter bottle of Hires Root Beer circled
and the Universal Product Code numbers written next to the purchase
price of Hires Root Beer to the address on the back.
RECEIVE: By mail your Hires Root Beer Plastic Mug(s)
plus a 25¢ coupon good toward the purchase of one 6/8 pack of
bottles/cans or one 2-liter bottle of Hires Root Beer with each mug
purchased.
PLEASE NOTE THESE ADDITIONAL TERMS:
1. Offer good only in U.S.A.
2. THE ATTACHED CERTIFICATE MAY NOT BE MECHANICALLY REPRODUCED AND MUST ACCOMPANY YOUR ORDER.
3. Your offer rights may not be assigned or transferred.
4. Limit five Hires Root Beer Mugs per name or address.
5. Offer good from July 1, 1982 to October 31, 1982.
6. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.
%20Root%20Beer%20-%20plastic%20mug.jpg)
(Figure 1982-02, plastic mug, 5.25” tall,
3.0” diameter)