The bigger they are, the harder they fall – or so they say. Maybe, in fact, the bigger they are, the better equipped they are to ignore criticism.
Big corporations and their operations often prompt big consumer reactions, be it positive or negative. Wal-Mart and Mcdonalds have both been regularly attacked over the last couple of decades. Now, a new book by Michael Blanding called The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink takes on the sugary-sweet reputation of the world's largest purveyor of soda pop.
I don't think even the most naive consumer believes that the real world of the Coca Cola Corporation bears any resemblance to the treacly love-ins featured on their commercials. However, even I was surprised to learn some of the tidbits that Blanding has in this book. For example, at the beginning of World War II, to avoid the sugar rationing that affected its production during the First World War, Coca Cola successfully lobbied the government to be declared a "necessity" for US soldiers. Meanwhile, they continued to produce and market Coke in Nazi Germany – and when they ran out of their trademarked flavoured syrup and couldn't import more, they created a new syrup with a grapefruit base, and marketed it under the name Fanta.
Yikes! Fanta: the pause that refreshes the Third Reich.
Will this story, and the other revelations in this book – about union busting, marketing to kids, and an awful environmental record – do any damage to the Coca Cola brand? Probably not – it's unlikely that enough people will read it to make any difference to their phenomenal international sales numbers. Wal-Mart has survived much more persistent types of criticism, including a 2005 documentary which attacked the company on almost every level. Mcdonalds sales may have slipped a bit in recent years, but it still services more than 58 million customers daily.
After all, even author Blanding admits that he kept drinking Coke the whole time he was writing the book, despite the dirt he was digging up. Now that's a powerful brand!