Which Coca-Cola is the real “Real Thing”? Is it Citizen Coke, the responsible corporation that promotes local economic development and brings happiness and the American way of life to millions around the world? Or is it Killer Coke, a company that exploits public water, transportation, and waste systems to profit at the public’s expense, relentlessly promotes products to children that contribute to premature death, despoils the environment with its waste, underpays and mistreats the workers who produce its ingredients, and lobbies to defeat laws that protect public health?
In Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism, Bartow J. Elmore, an environmental historian at the University of Alabama, tells us that the answer isn’t “either/or.” Citizen Coke and Killer Coke are conjoined twins, each providing the other with essential life support.
Elmore defines Citizen Coke as a company that sees itself as a manufacturer that meets consumer demands for refreshment and pleasure, whose business practices promote community development and local businesses, whose employment practices create jobs for hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and whose philanthropy supports the arts, health, and global sustainability. Like Charles Wilson, the General Motors CEO who became Secretary of Defense in 1953 and asserted at his confirmation hearing that what “was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa”, Citizen Coke equates corporate and national well-being. As Elmore describes in detail, from its founding in 1886 to today, some elements of this flattering self-portrait are true.
But then there’s the evil twin. Killer Coke—my term, not Elmore’s—played an essential role in increasing consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a product implicated in the global rise of diet-related chronic diseases such as diabetes and fatty liver disease. Between 1960 and 1997, per capita consumption of added fructose in the United States increased 140-fold. In the mid-1980s, Coke began using HFCS as its sole sweetener because it was much cheaper, and even sweeter, than cane sugar. By 2004, writes Elmore, sweetened beverages were the largest single source of calories in the American diet.
Killer Coke also uses its political clout to thwart public health measures such as soda taxes, product labeling, and portion-size limitations, measures that public health researchers believe could help reduce the growing burden of diet-related diseases. Since 2009, reports the Wall Street Journal, soda companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group have spent more than $100 million to defeat proposed taxes on sugary drinks in more than two dozen cities and states.
Killer Coke, labor activists charge, also colludes with growers and bottlers in the systematic intimidation, kidnapping, torture, and even murder of union leaders. In Colombia, for example, a Coke worker and union leader in Barranquilla was murdered in January 2012. Coca-Cola denies any involvement but has opposed an independent investigation into these allegations and released what activists called misleading information about the murder to the public and its shareholders.
A central theme of Citizen Coke is that Coke has created a brand of capitalism that increasingly dominates the global economy. What are the essential elements of Coca-Cola capitalism?
First, Coke capitalism looks to protect profit by outsourcing expensive or risky operations to others. From its early days, Coca-Cola decided to leave bottling to separate local companies. It thus avoided building expensive bottling plants, investing in new bottling technologies, or paying to transport filled bottles, rather than syrup, around the nation and the world. Later, when Coke did buy up some of its bottlers, profits fell. In 2013, Coke began to again spin off some of its bottlers. Similarly, unlike other food manufacturers, Coke never bought sugar or coffee plantations, leaving to others the risks of owning property in volatile business and political climates.
Second, Coca-Cola avidly pursues government subsidies. Local investments in water infrastructure, highways, and public recycling programs have enabled Coke to produce, distribute, and dispose of its products largely on the public dime. Without the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (for water infrastructure), the postwar Highway Trust Fund (for a national highway system), the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (public-funded recycling), and the trade and intellectual property rules of the 1995 World Trade Organization, Coca-Cola would have been unable to shift so many of its fixed costs to taxpayers. In this way, Coke more resembles one of Mitt Romney’s “takers” than it does the beneficent contributor to the American economy that the Citizen Coke image suggests.
Third, Coca-Cola has lots of local partners who look out for the company’s interests. Bottling plants, local food retailers, and fast food outlets prosper when they sell more Coke, making them an ardent sales force. Producers of bottles, cans and packaging, natural and synthetic caffeine, and sugar and HFCS also benefit when Coke sells well (as did cocaine producers, before the ingredient was removed in 1928). Having such powerful local, national, and global allies helps Coca-Cola in its lobbying and public relations campaigns.
Which Coca-Cola is the real “Real Thing”? Is it Citizen Coke, the responsible corporation that promotes local economic development and brings happiness and the American way of life to millions around the world? Or is it Killer Coke, a company that exploits public water, transportation, and waste systems to profit at the public’s expense, relentlessly promotes products to children that contribute to premature death, despoils the environment with its waste, underpays and mistreats the workers who produce its ingredients, and lobbies to defeat laws that protect public health?
In Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism, Bartow J. Elmore, an environmental historian at the University of Alabama, tells us that the answer isn’t “either/or.” Citizen Coke and Killer Coke are conjoined twins, each providing the other with essential life support.
Elmore defines Citizen Coke as a company that sees itself as a manufacturer that meets consumer demands for refreshment and pleasure, whose business practices promote community development and local businesses, whose employment practices create jobs for hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and whose philanthropy supports the arts, health, and global sustainability. Like Charles Wilson, the General Motors CEO who became Secretary of Defense in 1953 and asserted at his confirmation hearing that what “was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa”, Citizen Coke equates corporate and national well-being. As Elmore describes in detail, from its founding in 1886 to today, some elements of this flattering self-portrait are true.
But then there’s the evil twin. Killer Coke—my term, not Elmore’s—played an essential role in increasing consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a product implicated in the global rise of diet-related chronic diseases such as diabetes and fatty liver disease. Between 1960 and 1997, per capita consumption of added fructose in the United States increased 140-fold. In the mid-1980s, Coke began using HFCS as its sole sweetener because it was much cheaper, and even sweeter, than cane sugar. By 2004, writes Elmore, sweetened beverages were the largest single source of calories in the American diet.
Killer Coke also uses its political clout to thwart public health measures such as soda taxes, product labeling, and portion-size limitations, measures that public health researchers believe could help reduce the growing burden of diet-related diseases. Since 2009, reports the Wall Street Journal, soda companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group have spent more than $100 million to defeat proposed taxes on sugary drinks in more than two dozen cities and states.
Killer Coke, labor activists charge, also colludes with growers and bottlers in the systematic intimidation, kidnapping, torture, and even murder of union leaders. In Colombia, for example, a Coke worker and union leader in Barranquilla was murdered in January 2012. Coca-Cola denies any involvement but has opposed an independent investigation into these allegations and released what activists called misleading information about the murder to the public and its shareholders.
A central theme of Citizen Coke is that Coke has created a brand of capitalism that increasingly dominates the global economy. What are the essential elements of Coca-Cola capitalism?
First, Coke capitalism looks to protect profit by outsourcing expensive or risky operations to others. From its early days, Coca-Cola decided to leave bottling to separate local companies. It thus avoided building expensive bottling plants, investing in new bottling technologies, or paying to transport filled bottles, rather than syrup, around the nation and the world. Later, when Coke did buy up some of its bottlers, profits fell. In 2013, Coke began to again spin off some of its bottlers. Similarly, unlike other food manufacturers, Coke never bought sugar or coffee plantations, leaving to others the risks of owning property in volatile business and political climates.
Second, Coca-Cola avidly pursues government subsidies. Local investments in water infrastructure, highways, and public recycling programs have enabled Coke to produce, distribute, and dispose of its products largely on the public dime. Without the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (for water infrastructure), the postwar Highway Trust Fund (for a national highway system), the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (public-funded recycling), and the trade and intellectual property rules of the 1995 World Trade Organization, Coca-Cola would have been unable to shift so many of its fixed costs to taxpayers. In this way, Coke more resembles one of Mitt Romney’s “takers” than it does the beneficent contributor to the American economy that the Citizen Coke image suggests.
Third, Coca-Cola has lots of local partners who look out for the company’s interests. Bottling plants, local food retailers, and fast food outlets prosper when they sell more Coke, making them an ardent sales force. Producers of bottles, cans and packaging, natural and synthetic caffeine, and sugar and HFCS also benefit when Coke sells well (as did cocaine producers, before the ingredient was removed in 1928). Having such powerful local, national, and global allies helps Coca-Cola in its lobbying and public relations campaigns.
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