Potter's Pause That Refreshes

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/15/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Harry Potter may be British, but he's about to latch onto an American icon. Hollywood's Warner Bros. movie studios (which, like PEOPLE, is part of AOL Time Warner) announced on Tuesday that the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. will be its sole promotional partner for the upcoming movie based on the J.K. Rowling bestseller, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," due in theaters Nov. 16. The deal is said to be worth $150 million, with Coke expected to flex its considerable promotional power by combining ads for its signature soft drink (and those of other Coca-Cola Co. products, such as Minute Maid orange juice and Hi-C drinks) with the Potter movie. A Coke spokesman assured the Associated Press that the Potter campaign will stress literacy -- in lieu of promotional toys to be sold a fast-food chains -- and that Harry will not be shown drinking Coke in the movie or in any of the ads generated by the business partnership. That's good news for diabetic Muggles.