Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism

by Bartow J. Elmore Narrated by William Hughes

Overview

Coke's insatiable thirst for resources shapes the company and reshapes the globe in this absorbing history.

Coca-Cola's success in building a global empire out of sugary water drew on more than a secret formula and brilliant advertising. The real secret to Coke's success was its strategy, from the beginning, to offload production costs and risks onto suppliers and franchisees. Outsourcing and a trim corporate profile enabled Coke to scale up production of a low-price beverage and realize huge profits.

But the costs shed by Coke have fallen on the public at large. Coke now uses an annual 79 billion gallons of water, an increasingly precious global resource, and its reliance on corn syrup has helped fuel our obesity crisis. Bartow J. Elmore explores Coke through its ingredients, showing how the company secured massive quantities of coca leaf, caffeine, sugar, and other inputs. Citizen Coke became a giant in a world of abundance; in a world of scarcity, it is a strain on resources and all who depend on them.

Editorial Reviews

Ted Steinberg

"Coca-Cola is one of the most powerful economic institutions of our time, but its social and ecological impacts remain understudied. Now, in the hands of a talented young historian, corporate capitalism gets the attention it deserves in a careful dissection of the material underpinnings of the world’s most valuable brand. Citizen Coke will cause you to drink less and think more."

Michael Pollan

"As the soda wars heat up, this book is an indispensable resource."

Vandana Shiva

"Citizen Coke is a brilliant analysis of Coke’s empire in ecological, economic, and social terms. It allows us to see the contours of an economy based on partnerships between governments and corporations like Coca-Cola. It makes us conscious of the giant ecological footprint of the Real Thing, which impacts the real lives of real people. If you want a deeper understanding of our world today, read Citizen Coke."

Wall Street Journal - Marc Levinson

"[Elmore offers] unaccustomed perspectives on a company whose leading product is a household name around the globe…I doubt the Coca-Cola Co. will much like it."

Beth Macy

"What Elmore does best is analyze how Coke takes advantage of global public works and government interventions to boost its place in world markets…Citizen Coke began as a dissertation, and its points are lucid and logically presented; the language is accessible, and punchy chapter endings propel the story."

Mark Pendergrast

"A fascinating, thought-provoking approach to Coca-Cola history through the drink’s primary ingredients—water, sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, coca leaf, caffeine—and the glass, plastic, and aluminum that contain them."

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2014-09-16
An eye-opening account of the "unmatched ecological appetite" behind Coca-Cola's worldwide success. In this deeply informed debut, Elmore (History/Univ. of Alabama) details the outsourcing strategy that he calls "Coca-Cola Capitalism," which has allowed Coke to become the world's top brand, with operations in more than 200 countries, at a huge cost to the environment and human health. Acknowledging the company's marketing genius, Elmore claims that Coke's real secret formula has been to rely on other people's time and money, often using public infrastructure to extract raw materials and transport finished products. The strategy—first developed by mass marketers at the turn of the 20th century and later imitated by McDonald's, large software firms and other corporations—eliminates upfront costs and risky investments. Since its founding in 1886, Coke has relied on partnerships for the sugar, caffeine, water, cans and bottles, and other raw materials needed to create its beverages (now selling more than 1.8 billion servings per day). Drawing on archival sources, the author devotes chapters to the ecological impact of each key Coke ingredient. At little cost, the company uses 79 billion gallons of public water supplies yearly to dilute Coke syrup and an estimated 8 trillion gallons to produce bottles and agricultural commodities. The company also has bottling operations in many arid world regions. Elmore describes how Coke has weathered supply disruptions and controversies regarding caffeine and sugar obtained from others and how its huge success during World War II paved the way for overseas expansion. In recent years, the company's sugary beverages have been a major factor in the worldwide obesity epidemic. Without a doubt, Coke has been a good public citizen that stimulates economies and improves lives, writes the author, but the costs to taxpayers—for recycling systems, public pipes and subsidized farms—and the environment call into question how such unsustainable practices can continue in an age of scarcity. A superb, quietly devastating environmental and business history.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169604313
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	11/03/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged

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