Ken Stabler’s Snake Venom Cola represents an unusual intersection of professional football, commercial advertising, beverage history, and snake imagery in American popular culture. The cola was associated with quarterback Ken Stabler during his Houston Oilers years, approximately 1980 to 1981, and took its identity from Stabler’s famous nickname, “The Snake.” Rather than presenting the snake only as an animal to fear, the product turns the snake and its venom into a playful commercial identity associated with a popular athlete. Surviving cans later became collectible sports memorabilia and were already being described as scarce in a 2002 auction catalog. Preserving the can documents another way snake imagery moved beyond natural history and herpetoculture into mainstream American advertising and popular culture.
