CNBC takes a deep dive into Coca-Cola in this 14-minute video, analyzing the future of this brand. One of the first things mentioned in this video is that "Coke started selling their product for 5 cents and currently has a roster of 200 brands." The brand originated in Atlanta, Georgia and was advertised as a drink that could cure morphine addiction. Of course, this wasn't the case, and as time went on, Asa Candler bought Coke and popularized it throughout the country. "By 1895 Coca-Cola was available in every state in the US." From that point on, Coca-Cola continued to expand its influence in the US, "and in 1971, the iconic "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" commercial aired" (https://youtu.be/1VM2eLhvsSM). This commercial is frequently considered one of the most popular commercials of all time due to the major social influence it had. Other milestones followed, but one notable moment was in in the early 2000's, when soda consumption started to decline due to an increase concern in consumer health concerns. This decline in soda consumption can be related to the topic of consumer behavior that we learned about in class. In class, it was mentioned that people will buy products that enhance their ideal self-image, and at the time, many people wanted a healthier self-image. A MorningStar analyst featured in the CNBC video stated that "per capita consumption has been declining ever since the early 2000's."

With that being said, soda is still widely popular in many areas of the world. The video states that "Coke's products are sold in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide." They also get more than "40% of sales from developing and emerging economies with a growing middle class." Coke has also taken an approach to try and win back some of its health-conscious consumers with Coke Zero and by acquiring a minority ownership stake in Body Armor. Furthermore, Coke has a bright future ahead, as a substantial amount of Coke's revenue comes from bars and fast food restaurants. Many of which were closed over the last two years and are slowly opening back up, meaning increased revenue for Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola started to globalize in the early 1900s. But it was not until WW2 and the Cold War ended that "Coca-Cola had established itself as a true global corporation." This article goes over the topic of globalization, which is a prominent central theme in this course. Coca-Cola is probably one of the most well-known global brands, and they did so by employing three strategies that are mentioned in this article. The first one mentioned is the use of slogans. "Things go better with Coke, Life tastes good, It's the real thing," etc. The second global marketing technique mentioned was the popularized "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" commercial that I mentioned in the "History and Future of Coca-Cola" journal entry. The third global marketing strategy mentioned was Coca-Cola's advertising efforts during the Olympics. "Coca-Cola was the first commercial sponsor of the Olympic Games in 1928." 

Despite Coca-Cola's global success, they have had many issues regarding the health issues associated with their product. The article states that "many countries have banned the use of Coca-Cola products, claiming that these products are "threatening public health" and "encouraging obesity."" The article also mentions the large number of labor practice suits that have been filed against Coca-Cola. Some of these labor practice suits are regarding topics such as "child labor sweatshops" and "discrimination in providing health care benefits to workers." In the next journal entry, I will analyze some of these labor practice suits against Coca-Cola and look into the validity of such claims.

Link to article: (https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/BUS208-2.5.6-Globalization-and-The-Coca-Cola-Company-FINAL.pdf)

"In 2001, 15 incidents of child labor were found on farms in Mpumalanga's Onderberg region, and since then, no evidence of child labor has been found on sugarcane farms" (The Coca-Cola Company 4). The Human Rights Watch stated that children often use machetes and sharp knives and frequently cut themselves. The Human Rights Watch article further stated that up to one-third of the workers on El Salvador's sugarcane plantations are children (this is referring to all workers in El Salvador, not just the ones employed by Coca-Cola). Coca-Cola has a loose set of "guiding principles" that does not cover plantations and therefore allowed child labor to take place in El Salvador.

Link to Human Rights Watch Article: (https://www.hrw.org/news/2004/06/09/el-salvador-child-labor-sugar-plantations)

Upon further research, I found another child labor report directly from Coca-Cola that was published in 2021 and states, "We do not typically purchase ingredients directly from farms, but our direct suppliers do. We hold our direct suppliers accountable for ensuring that children under the age of 18 are not working in the harvest of agricultural commodities" (Coca-Cola Company 2). Interpret this as you will, but I see this as a way for Coca-Cola to push the responsibility onto someone else when it comes to child labor. So despite the fact that Coca-Cola reported in 2001 that there has been no evidence of child labor since the 15 incidents were found, it seems that they've simply found a workaround that allows them to use child labor without taking responsibility.

Coca-Cola is notorious for having some of the most iconic advertisements of all time. One of their best-known advertisements is the "I'd like to buy the world a coke" commercial. This advertisement was shown in class as an example of an effective advertisement, and I think it is fitting for the themes of globalization, culture and values, and consumer behaviors that I stated I would cover in these journal entries. Firstly, the ad helped spread Coca-Cola's global image by using actors from many different backgrounds. This way, the commercial would resonate with people everywhere in the world. Establishing Coca-Cola as a global brand while still appealing to many different kinds of local customs and cultures. That leads me to my second point: that this ad is a good example of culture and values, as it shows people from many different cultures and effectively targets a broad audience because of the varied representation of culture seen in this ad. This ad also heavily correlates with one of Coca-Cola's main brand values of being "the real thing." Not only because that phrase is repeatedly sung in the ad, but also because of the authenticity portrayed in the ad. The actors are all singing in unison on top of a hill while holding Coke's in their hands. I think this imagery lends to Coke's brand value of authenticity, and it would be reasonable to assume that it resonated with many consumers. As authenticity is a highly valued quality among many people, this same point lends itself to the correlation between this ad and consumer behavior. Consumers tend to value "the real thing." We can see this in many different markets where people are willing to spend more for the "real brand" as opposed to buying a knockoff brand for a cheaper price. One could infer from this that consumers value authenticity, or, in other words, "the real thing." Therefore, Coke marketing themselves as "the real thing" proved to be quite effective in aligning their brand values with the commonly observed consumer behavior of valuing authenticity. 

Link to Advertisement: https://youtu.be/1VM2eLhvsSM

The recent Coca-Cola advertisement that I would like to look at is one titled "The World Needs More Santas" (https://youtu.be/znIyaGS5BNc). This is a recent ad that is intended to target consumers during the holiday season. The goal of this ad is to encourage consumers to share with others (of course, Coca-Cola hopes consumers share Coke with each other). Coca-Cola uses this ad to try and target consumers during a time of the year when people are more likely to be in the mood to give. This is an example of a massive brand such as Coca-Cola having a good understanding of consumer behavior. Coca-Cola knows that many people want to give during the holiday season, and they intentionally target those people with this ad. One could also argue that Coca-Cola encourages people to be "givers" (or Santas), and by doing so, they are trying to influence their consumers' self-image. And as we learned in class, self-image plays a big role in consumer behavior. If Coke is successful in persuading the person watching their ad to be a giver during the holiday season, the consumer is more likely to associate giving with Coke and therefore gift someone a Coke during the holiday season. 

I would also like to compare this ad with the "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" commercial that was covered in the previous journal entry. One of the main similarities that I noticed was the use of catchy and unique music in their ads. The song sung in the "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" commercial is very catchy, as I found it stuck in my own head after listening to the ad a couple times whilst doing research for this project. Likewise, the song in the recent "The World Needs More Santas" advertisement is also very catchy. One of the top comments on the YouTube post of this advertisement stated, "Waiting for this song to be available on Spotify. I NEED it for my Xmas Playlist!" This comment was followed by other commentators stating how good they thought this song was. Another similarity that I noticed included the use of a diverse range of actors. In both advertisements, we can see actors from all races and cultures being represented. This is one way for Coca-Cola to glocalize their brand, as they make people from all demographics feel represented in their ads. With these two similarities being pointed out, I would like to address some of the minor differences I saw in the two advertisements. While I did not notice many changes in Coca-Cola's advertisement format, one thing I did notice is that the pace of the ad seemed to be much quicker than the pace of the "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" advertisement. By "pace," I am simply referring to the pace of the cuts used in the commercial, as the cuts seemed much more frequent in this more recent advertisement. 

I looked at a case study written by Rahul Arun to analyze different aspects of Coca-Cola's marketing strategy. One thing I found particularly interesting that was mentioned in the "geographical segmentation" portion of the case study is that "the Asian version is sweeter than other countries" (referring to Coke). Rahul also states that the company targets different segments based on the country that they are advertising in. For example, in America, Coca-Cola has a comparatively large audience of older people, and they tweak their marketing in accordance with this fact. While all this is interesting, I want to stick with the theme of advertising and not get too deep into information about Coca-Cola's marketing.

For advertising information, I found an article written by Sadnan Bin Sattar that went over seven of Coca-Cola's main advertising strategies. Those are social media, television commercials, sponsorships, print media, outdoor advertising, global awareness, and differentiation of products. I would like to focus on three of these seven advertising strategies, as I feel they are the most effective and unique. The three strategies I would like to focus on are social media, sponsorships, and global awareness. On social media, Coca-Cola focuses on "brand recognition, customer engagement, and being very active on their platforms" (specifically X, where they have more than three million followers). When it comes to sponsorships, Coca-Cola is notorious for sponsoring different sporting events. One of the most well-known Coca-Cola sponsorships is the Olympics, as they were the first commercial sponsors of the Olympics. This attempt to not only sponsor sports but specifically global sports helped Coca-Cola obtain its large worldwide market share. Such sponsorships also contributed to the globalization of Coca-Cola. More recently, Coca-Cola sponsored the 2014 World Cup Trophy tour, where their "Share a Coke" campaign was popularized around the world (another example of Coca-Cola successfully globalizing their brand). Lastly, I would like to touch on Coca-Cola's efforts to increase global awareness. "During Hurricane Dorian in the northwestern West Indies, the Coca-Cola Company helped with supplying reliefs and gave their efforts to recover fully from this disaster." By helping in such a situation, Coca-Cola is spreading its brand image globally and painting a positive image of its brand in different parts of the world.