The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink

The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink

by Michael Blanding
The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink

The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink

by Michael Blanding

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Overview

The Coke Machine takes readers deep inside the Coca-Cola Company and its international franchisees to reveal how they became the number one brand in the world, and just how far they'll go to stay there.

Ever since its "I'd like to teach the world to sing" commercials from the 1970s, Coca-Cola has billed itself as the world's beverage, uniting all colors and cultures in a mutual love of its caramel-sweet sugar water. The formula has worked incredibly well-making it one of the most profitable companies on the planet and "Coca-Cola" the world's second- most recognized word after "hello." However, as the company expands its reach into both domestic and foreign markets, an increasing number of the world's citizens are finding the taste of Coke more bitter than sweet.

Journalist Michael Blanding's The Coke Machine probes shocking accusations about the company's global impact, including:

? Coca-Cola's history of winning at any cost, even if it meant that its franchisees were making deals with the Nazis and Guatemalan paramilitary squads

? How Coke has harmed children's health and contributed to an obesity epidemic through exclusive soda contracts in schools

? The horrific environmental impact of Coke bottling plants in India and Mexico, where water supplies have been decimated while toxic pollution has escalated

? That Coke bottlers stand accused of conspiring with paramilitaries to threaten, kidnap, and murder union leaders in their bottling plants in Colombia

A disturbing portrait drawn from an award-winning journalist's daring, in-depth research, The Coke Machine is the first comprehensive probe of the company and its secret formula for greed.

COKE is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company.
This book is not authorized by or endorsed by The Coca-Cola Company.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781101551066
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 09/06/2011
Sold by: Penguin Group
Format: eBook
Pages: 384
Sales rank: 923,609
File size: 760 KB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Michael Blanding is an award-winning magazine writer whose investigative journalism has taken him around the globe. Based in Boston, he has written for The Nation, The New Republic, Salon, The Boston Globe, Conde Nast Traveler, and Boston magazine, where he is a contributing editor.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1 "All that America Stands for"

1 A Brief History of Coke 9

2 Building the Brand 33

3 Biggering and Biggering 63

4 The Battle for Schools 89

5 The Bottled Water Lie 118

Part 2 Teaching the World to Sing

6 "¡Toma lo Bueno!" 145

7 "Syrup in the Veins" 171

8 The Full Force of the Law 201

9 All the Water in India 227

10 The Case Against "Killer Coke" 260

Acknowledgments 293

Notes 295

Bibliography 359

Index 369

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Put down your soda, read The Coke Machine, and join the global movement to rein in unaccountable corporations.” —-Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Brightsided

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