The world according to Coca-Cola 0
Well I never thought I would pay 15 dollars to watch an hour-long Coca-Cola advert, but I was spurred on by Atlantans who said The World of Coca-Cola museum was worth a visit.
Most memorable was the “4D” movie theater where wind, water, moving seats, and 3D glasses, brought a really poorly scripted film to life; and the tasting room, where dozens of Coca-Cola company beverages from around the world could be sampled (from Djibouti to Japan). It was an ode to their global franchise model and advertising campaigns. Brilliant propaganda.
Most interesting, was how they managed to avoid more than a single reference to the purported medicinal qualities of the beverage when it was first invented in 1885. And they only mention the controversial coca leaf (which was originally a main ingredient) once in an anecdote about how the bottle was designed. They must have thought people wouldn’t be interested to know whether it’s true they still purchase synthetic coca from this company.
Nor was there any mention of Coca-Cola’s involvement in trade union struggles in Colombia or overuse of pesticides in India, but that would probably be asking too much.
As far as museums go, I would much sooner recommend the thoughtful and charming Coca Museum in Bolivia. It explains the crazy history of how foreign powers since colonial times have tried rather irrationally to vilify and ban a plant. The coca leaf is used to produce cocaine, but only in enormously concentrated amounts, mixed with a cocktail of chemicals developed in the west, which have never garnered the same scrutiny.
