The glass Coke bottle has been named in a new book as one of the most iconic images in the world.

Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor in the History of Art at Trinity College, Oxford, UK, has published a book entitled Christ to Coke: How Image Becomes Icon, which examines 11 well-known images and explores how they have become iconic around the world.

One of the best known is the glass Coke bottle, which Mr Kemp describes as a pop icon. Known as the ‘contour’ design, the bottle was originally created in 1915 in response to a Coca-Cola Company competition for a new bottle. The rules of the competition required a solution that: “A person could recognise even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was.” The design is recognised worldwide and Coke still uses it today.

Of all the packaging materials in the world, only glass makes the list of icons.