Americans at home: "Man, I hate these tasteless corporate brews. Gonna get myself some artisan-brewed traditionally-aged root beer without chemical preservatives from one of the local farms, and laugh at all the normies who think Pepsi and Coca-Cola are real sodas."
Americans abroad: "NO COCA-COLA? THIS IS OUTRAGE"
I do not appreciate this slander of craft soda. We will have state-selected expert local soda brewers after the revolution!
Completely in the spirit of Dengism
Common DPRK and Cuba W
Even if true, which it definitely isn’t for Cuba, the reason people care is the same obsession that capitalism has successfully created through advertising and we saw great examples of during the Cold War. The obsession with owning a pair of jeans and whatnot. Things that objectively do not matter but Americans latch onto as an entire lifestyle and project that lifestyle via media and advertising onto the rest of the world and it gets reflected back, “confirming” their beliefs.
When life has no meaning or purpose beyond commodity consumption, as is true in the imperial core, what commodities one owns and consumes become their purpose and meaning. A reflection of who they are and the ideals and morality of their civilization. Subconsciously, but vocalized by these hypothetical (but very real) reactionaries, Americans “know” that Coca-Cola is a symbol of freedom, liberal values, wealth, etc. and they tie their own selves so strongly to the idea of a strong nation that they cannot envision such a country that doesn’t overly value meaningless consumption of brand name commodities. How could a country be a success if it “can’t afford” to lavish its population with sugar-water with our logo? Or a specific type of cloth we’ve made seem fashionable and desirable?
The worse part is that thinking is obviously favored by a lot of people, thus the existence and success of advertising as an industry, which means the portrayals in US media (movies, tv, news, etc.) have completely permeated the globe for decades now, so it’s not just an American-held belief… it’s practically a truth at this point. Your wealth and prestige IS encapsulated in a slick logo on an otherwise low-value commodity and this is true because it’s how the world is perceived… or something to that effect anyway.
It’s all very sad and bleak and feels unmovable when you really disassociate and try to look upon it from an outside, elevated place. It’s hard to not see how thoroughly the capitalist class has dug its roots in so deep that even beginning to pull a few smaller roots makes YOU a threat to the entire thing. “Hey, he wants to take away Coke! Get him!” It’s even sadder when you realize the entire system wasn’t built with some sort of ultimate design to addict humanity to slogans and cool colors; it was individuals and groups along the way, working in their own “logical best interests,” which built this tangled web so complex and entangled with our entire lives. It’s easy to see why people fall into conspiracy theories and lose all hope for anything different.
This post is written so well that it could be a part of an article (if truly anti-capitalist magazines were common).
Assuming this is genuine- thank you! I’m by absolutely no fucking means a professional writer, but it has long been a side-passion of mine. I wrote this between workout sets while sitting on my bench. I actually forgot I wrote it, but I’m glad someone enjoyed it.
(If Coca-Cola or Levi Strauss would like to hire me, I am willing to write the exact opposite of the above for a small six figure salary. Send dms!)
This is why I'm cooking up the concept of Americanism in my head.
it would at least make some sense if it was “you cannot buy soda in North Korea or Cuba” but that’s almost definitely untrue and the person who made the meme knew it lmao
I had locally developed cola in the DPRK, so it absolutely would be untrue. It wasn't great, admittedly, but I also am not normally a big soda drinker. Just wanted to try it out of curiosity. There was a peach soda I actually really liked though.
This lie has been disproven as well. You can buy Coca Cola nearly everywhere in Cuba, they simply import the original recipe variety made in Mexico with cane sugar and less chemicals, making it much much better then the common US made corn syrup based Coca Cola. Though you can find the American variety in stores as well.
The Coca Cola company is simply banned from marketing its products in Cuba, but you can still buy them.
https://www.foodpolitics.com/2015/06/yes-you-can-buy-coke-and-pepsi-in-cuba/
OH NO! Anyway...
Imagine associating this amount of dread with such an insignificant privation. Must be hard living like this honestly
in capitalism, you destroy you own teeth and health!
Tasted coca cola. I felt like puking.
Coca Cola used to be made with cocaine so it’s not a huge loss. Theres way better pop out there. Personally, I hate fizz anyway so it’s a win for me.
