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In 1924, Columbus grocer Claud A. Hatcher launched Nehi soda from his Union Bottle Works factory in Georgia.
The company, which had been selling Cherry-Cola since 1915, needed new flavors to compete with industry giants like Coca-Cola.
Hatcher developed Nehi in grape, orange, and peach varieties, packaging them in distinctive 12-inch glass bottles that towered over competitors' 6-inch containers.
The bottles' height inspired the name "Nehi" (pronounced "knee-high"), a marketing choice that resonated with customers who could easily spot the tall bottles on store shelves.
Sales of Nehi sodas surged from 1924 to 1928, growing from 10,000 cases per year to over 600,000 cases annually.
Hatcher rebranded his entire company as the Nehi Corporation in 1928.
Nehi maintained operations during the Great Depression, even after its sales plummeted from $12 million to $11 million in 1930.
The company survived via cost-cutting measures like streamlining distribution and focusing on its most profitable flavors.
By 1935, Nehi had doubled its pre-Depression sales to $24 million.
In 1926, Nehi Beverages launched a provocative advertising campaign centered on its logo:
The design deliberately emphasized the visual connection between the stockings' height and the pronunciation of "Nehi" as "knee-high."
By 1928, they created a bolder variant:
Forty years later, this memorable advertising image directly shaped Jean Shepherd's description of the "Major Award" leg lamp in his 1966 story "My Old Man and the Lascivious Special Award That Heralded the Birth of Pop Art."
It was later introduced in the 1983's "A Christmas Story," where the infamous lamp featured a black-stockinged leg with a prominent back seam.
In 1944, Nehi launched a print advertising campaign featuring endorsements by Hollywood stars.
Bing Crosby appeared in Life Magazine ads, holding a bottle of Nehi grape soda while praising its "natural grape flavor."
Joan Crawford's endorsement ran in full-color spreads in Ladies' Home Journal, showing her sipping Nehi orange soda on the set of "Mildred Pierce."
Bob Hope incorporated Nehi Royal Crown Cola into his live USO show routines and radio broadcasts, often joking about needing the caffeine boost during long performance tours.
These celebrity endorsements helped boost Nehi's national sales by 32% between 1944 and 1946.
Nehi placed full-color cardboard signs featuring Hedy Lamarr in 5,000 drugstore windows across America in September 1947.
The signs showed Lamarr in a red evening gown, holding a bottle of grape Nehi against a purple backdrop.
That same year, Robert Ripley mentioned Nehi three times per week during his 9:30 PM Tuesday radio broadcasts, telling his 14 million listeners that the soft drink's unique bottle shape made it "impossible to tip over."
In MAS*H's eleven seasons (1972-1983), Radar O'Reilly drank Grape Nehi in 47 episodes, often sipping the purple soda during emotional moments in the 4077th mess tent.
His childlike preference for the sweet beverage, instead of the beer and martinis favored by other characters, reinforced his innocent farm-boy persona.
In one memorable scene from Season 3, Radar trades his entire month's coffee ration for a single case of Grape Nehi, declaring "Worth every bean!"
While Nehi never paid for this product placement, the company's grape soda sales increased 12% during the show's peak years.
In 1955, Nehi produced 14 distinct soda flavors, including Dr. Nehi (a spiced cherry blend), Nehi Chocolate (which had a malted milk undertone), and Nehi Blue Cream (a vanilla-based soda with hints of berry).
These joined their core flavors of grape, orange, and peach sodas.
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In 1905, Claud A. Hatcher founded Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works in Columbus, Georgia, initially bottling ginger ale and root beer.
After launching Nehi fruit-flavored sodas in 1924 and seeing them outsell all other products, the company changed its name to Nehi Corporation in 1928.
When their new RC Cola became their top seller in 1934, generating over $1 million in annual sales, the company rebranded again to Royal Crown Company in 1959.
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