As Catholic as the Coke

January 13, 2006

Grant McCracken is back from Italy, and several new posts enhance his This Blog Sits brand identity of interesting, well-written, anthropology + commerce.

We were especially engaged, for reasons clear in his comments section, by Who's Coke is It, Anyway?*, a post discussing the "we are not amused" reaction of The Coca Cola Company [USA] to the sudden new popularity of Mexican Coke, which we heard someone discussing at the next lunch table just today. Apparently in Austin the going rate is $1.50/bottle, well above the $.25 premium in Connecticut.

People like Mexican Coke. TCCC doesn't like that people like Mexican Coke. Comments ensue. Our comment references a discussion of high-fructose corn syrup vs. cane sugar as used in food processing:

It's more than the palate. I have a third-hand impression, as well as a perceptible metabolic response, that makes me think high-fructose corn syrup is physically -- not just gustatorially -- inferior, maybe a different glycemic score. There's been a good bit of inconclusive discussion about health impact from high-fructose corn syrup vs. cane sugar, e.g. Googled at random here:

If this difference exists, and customers can sense it, and Coke USA (having switched to corn syrup in the 80s to cut production costs) comes over all-heavy-handed to limit access to the sugar-sweetened Mexican Coke, the ethical ramifications deepen IMO from simple reflex brand-control-freak psychology, almost taking on a certain tobacco-flavored aroma.

[*We would like to further enhance the trademark literacy of the brand by venturing to comment meekly and hesitantly on the title: It's whose, whose, whose!!  Who's is the contraction of who, and is. Whose is the possessive form of who. Who's drinking that Coke, vs. Whose Coke is being drunk? Well, we feel better now...]