A decent investigation into the history and business practices of one of the world's most successful corporations. Most interesting is the portion covering Coca-Cola’s bottled water ventures and consequent attempts to exploit weak municipal water distribution. ( )

Interesting story, excellent narrator. The history part of Coke was interesting but the narrator digressed into his/her own opinions of what Coke executives were thinking, strategizing, how capitalism and business work and should work, etc... and that was truly appalling. I caught myself saying "did you just say what I think you said? what an idiot" several times. However, it is his/her book so I guess the author can posit whatever s/he wants. I recommend the book for the history information if for nothing else (and I pretty much think "nothing else" is correct). Bonus, if you're like me and always wondered about the Coke/Cocaine connection, it is explained in the book - won't give it away but I'm glad I finally can tuck that bit of trivia away in my soon-to-be-forgotten brain repository data. ( )

Now this book, unlike Empire of Cotton, has a real working definition of the kind of capitalism it identifies: capitalism in which private profits are enabled by resource extraction subsidized by the state, epitomized by Coca-Cola’s success at getting others to bear the costs of its ventures. These others include grocery stores, local water sources, local landfills, coffee and coca farmers, etc.—by owning very little except the syrup making itself, Coca-Cola is able to buy from the cheapest source worldwide and use its brand name to produce huge profits year after year. I was particularly interested in how Elmore, given his thesis, presented the use of trademark law to go after cola competitors like Koke as an example of Coca-Cola’s deployment of state power to secure its own profits. He finds the same pattern in water, caffeine, bottling materials, and other raw materials. The chapter on litter also was very insightful, focusing on Coca-Cola’s public service campaigns that instructed consumers that “Cleaning up America is your job.” This anti-litter campaign excused litter from being Coca-Cola’s problem in that Coca-Cola was the entity that created nonreturnables because they were cheaper (they didn’t require transportation back to the bottling plant). As with Coca-Cola’s free/subsidized water, subsidized sweetener, etc., the company managed to individualize and offload costs on the reception end just as much as on the production end. ( )

If you thought "Fast Food Nation" was a blockbuster, wait till you read this one. My reaction on reading this interesting history of Coke was to ask, "is coke the real thing?" Coke seems to have had a business plan based on using others to make money for them. Or, in their own words if they could get somebody else to do something better than they themselves could why not allow them? Coke convinced the public that they were in the business of selling one thing and that was "taste." Coke took on the persona of a citizen during the war and stated repeatedly that it was enlisting its sugar for the public good. Despite being the number one brand in the world, coke was always a net consumer not a net producer since it outsourced all its production - way before the word 'outsourced' attained its current popularity.

These and several other facts about the ingredients in coke made the book a fascinating, easy read. ( )