17 May 2010

Coke Makes Everything Taste Better: Part II

While we are on this topic, it would be appropriate to show this photo of Moscow Coke girls handling out samples of the product at the Mayakovskaya Metro station on Saturday, which happens to be one of the busiest automobile and pedestrian traffic locations in Moscow.
Given Coke's marketing tactic in this case, the title of this blog is not on apropos.  It should be "Marketeers Bet That Young Women Make Coke More Attractive (and maybe even create the psychological aura of a better taste)," but that sort of overt discussion of the obvious would be tasteless, wouldn't you think?  Hence, we will keep pretending and, as such, obfuscations will continue.

There is a bigger point about Coke:  While this company is an American symbol, the multinational firm is about as American as Toyota is.  In the world of easily-accessed financial markets, Coke and Toyota owners (stockholders) may be of any nationality.  Moreover, Nearly all of Toyota automobiles sold in America are produced in America; I am certain that all of the Coke consumed in Russia is produced (except maybe for the secret sauce) and bottled in Russia.  In other words, Toyota creates jobs in America while Coca Cola produces jobs in Russia, despite their respective Japanese and American origins.

Multiply the multinational firm force by as many multinational firms there are, and you will notice a global economic force that is a motivation for keeping wars at bay and political cooperation in vogue.  Of course, we are not talking about isolated states like North Korea and Iran that are out of the reach of these multinationals (in whose case the very same multinationals may contribute to political considerations for instigating a war).

The lesson is this:  Enjoy Coke because, for various reasons, life tends to taste better in places when the Coca Cola company can sell its goods liberally.

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