Comments on: Cola Economics

By: Teri Lester

Teri Lester — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Here's a dream: Coke, in the interests of moving more product, accomplishes what no government so far has been able to do -- builds a delivery infrastructure throughout Africa and Asia.

By: cj

cj — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Hey, I'm all for a good distribution infrastructure.

Care to address the addictive component of high fructose corn syrup? And how that is addressed by current economic models?

By: Boyd

Boyd — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Sugar water is addictive? My, my, my. The things you learn on the Internet.

By: Tioedong

Tioedong — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

"And the fact that large sectors of the worldâs population canât afford expensive sugar water. " Actually, not true. Twenty years ago, I could buy Coke and Fanta in isolated African villages, Nicaraguan towns, and Andean tourist traps. All these areas had "unsafe" water, so drinking bottled sodapop was important...My adopted son's Colombian village had no electricity and they slept on mats, but his uncle sold beer with a battery radio to supply music, and when he moved to the local city, they watched the "A team" and the intercity buses ran Charles Bronson movies to keep the customers happy... And most of my traveling was done twenty years ago, so I suspect it is more common today. You have no idea how globalization has impacted the most isolated area (remember the Far Sides cartoon of natives hiding the VCR's at the cry "anthropologist, anthropologists"? It's true... our Filippino farm village got electricity 12 years ago, and now we see tv antennas and signs in houses: Cellphone calls available here, long distance to US, Saudi Arabia etc...(about a million Filippinos work in the Gulf states)... Africa has gone backwards in some ways, but radios in remote villages and buying a Fanta Orange to refresh yourself on shopping day is a pleasure that outweighs other less needed things, such as clean water...true, in areas where refugees and starvation due to bad governments occur will not have such things, but let things stablize and you'll see people "investing" in common pleasures once again...

By: Dean Esmay

Dean Esmay — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Keep in mind, the rate of population growth has been steadily declining and most current estimates show world population growth stopping and possibly even beginning to decline by 2050.

Also the rate of world poverty continues to decline steadily, which it has been for decades.

Just thought I'd point that out. ;-)

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Tioedong, I've bought colas in the Third World, too. But, then, I came with an American wallet. The Philippines is relatively wealthy. I'd still wager that the average villager in Burkina Faso can't afford a Coca-Cola.

By: Little Miss Attila

Little Miss Attila — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Your point about the new brandlets is good, though: I only drink standard Coke on special occasions, and hate Diet Coke . . . but now that I'm thinking about losing weight, I'm giving the Diet Coke sub-genres a look: Cherry DC, Lemon DC, and Lime DC are all good low-cal alternatives to my beloved Hansen's creme soda.

---