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

Michael Blanding (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 16, 2010

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Blanding roots his tale in the birth of the advertising era, and he is particularly effective in telling the story of how Coke fought to monopolize the sale of soft drinks to school children." --Salon.com

"Like Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me and Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, The Coke Machine embeds current issues with history, policy, and interviews to reveal the wizard behind the curtain." --Suite101.com

"An eye opening expose which blows the plastic lids off a company known to associate itself with love and happiness... The book lays out the case against Coke in startling clarity." --TowerReview.com

"The book's sixty-three pages of notes attest to [Blanding's] careful research, and lend a vital legitimacy to his allegations--this is much more than an activist's polemic." --[tk] review

"Important and readable... Blanding's painstakingly reported book reminds us that Coke's global success--perhaps like all spectacular global success--came at a price" --The Atlantic

"Every company has a dark side, and you won't believe how dark Coca-Cola's is. After reading this book, good luck having a Coke and smile." --Morgan Spurlock, director of Super Size Me

"Coca-Cola wants to teach the world to sing, but in the process they've trashed water supplies, peddled sugar to generations of kids, and undermined worker rights around the world. Put down your soda, read The Coke Machine and join the global movement to rein in unaccountable corporations." --Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed and Brightsided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America

"In The Coke Machine, Michael Blanding takes a tough, unsweetened look at the business practices of this iconic American company. His investigations reveal the costs--in ethics, health, public resources, and sometimes even human life--of Coca-Cola's relentless pressure to expand sales of its products. This book is a terrific introduction to the inner workings of corporate capitalism as it plays out on a global scale." --Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, and author of Food Politics and What to Eat

"In shocking detail, Blanding uncovers Coke's numerous transgressions against humanity and nature... Blanding's thoroughly detailed, stimulating and challenging study will have many readers saying, 'Give me a Pepsi.'" --BookPage, September 2010

"By this account, Coke's domination of the market begins to look less like a triumph of advertising and more like a symptom of the dark side of globalisation." --The Financial Times, September 20, 2010

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avery (September 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583334068
• ISBN-13: 978-1583334065
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #687,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Blanding is an award-winning magazine writer who covers politics, social issues, and travel. He has written for publications including The Nation, The New Republic, AlterNet, The Boston Globe, Condé Nast Traveler, and Boston Magazine, where he is a contributing editor. He has also several travel guides to New England destinations for Moon Handbooks and taught journalism at Tufts University and Emerson College. His first book of investigative non-fiction, The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink, was published by Avery/Penguin in September 2010.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars There's something interesting for everyone in this book because the Coca-Cola Company is ubiquitous in the US ... October 14, 2010

By Laura L. Noah

Format:Hardcover

If you're planning on reading Blanding's THE COKE MACHINE there's one thing you need to be prepared for: you'll walk away from the book with a Coke jingle or two stuck in your head indefinitely. Despite this, the book is an excellent read that should be passed along to family and friends because when you're done with it you'll want to discuss it.

From a purely aesthetic point of view, THE COKE MACHINE is well organized, strongly researched and superbly written. The introduction begins with a grueling story of a murdered union worker in Columbia and compels the reader to consider the complex question of corporate responsibility for moral and ethical behavior in the face of a corporation's drive toward stakeholder profits. Blanding builds momentum by describing the history of Coke, its ad campaigns, and its national struggles to resist any negative mark on its brand image. Part two weaves Coke's international story through Mexico, Colombia, India and Guatemala, raising questions about Coke's role in environmental destruction, water shortages, dismantling of unions, and even murder.

There's something interesting for everyone in this book, because the Coca-Cola Company is ubiquitous within the United States and internationally, and because it has affected all of our lives whether we realize it or not. As The Coke Machine describes, Coke has spent its more than one hundred years in existence protecting its image and sales beyond anything else; the "dirty truth" about Coke that Blanding so factually lays out before us. If you're a parent, the book's chapter on "The Battle for Schools" should not go unread. If you're a social activist, there are lessons to learn from the international labor struggles workers have suffered at the hands of Coke (or their bottlers, as Coke might argue, passing the buck on social responsibility). If you're an environmentalist, Coke's role in international water shortages and pollution as described in THE COKE MACHINE cannot be ignored. And if you're a fan of the hit AMC television series, MAD MEN, you'll undoubtedly find the chapters on advertising as deep, dark and mysterious--yet also painfully revealing--as the dapper Don Draper.

Calling on all of us to hold Coke accountable, Blanding makes the difficult task of holding a mirror up to a massive, beloved U.S. based corporation look easy through his use of strong interviewing and writing skills. The question remains as to a corporation's true role in its larger community: brand image and profits versus moral and ethical social responsibility. While these need not be mutually exclusive, Blanding puts Coke on serious notice, and forces all of us to question whether Coke actually "exists to refresh and benefit everyone it touches" or if its existence is about something else entirely.

Laura L. Noah's editorials have been published in the NEW YORK TIMES, THE SUN MAGAZINE AND GIRLFRIENDS MAGAZINE.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A well-written mix of history, current events, and corporate expose October 25, 2010

By mbz

Format:Hardcover

I had a hard time deciding which part of The Coke Machine I found most compelling. In the first third of the book Blanding creates an absolutely riveting history of the Coca-Cola corporation despite being shut out for interviews by company employees. Court documents with corporate officials admitting that the original formula had coca leaves and kola nut in it are juxtaposed against current corporate officers' claims to the contrary. Blanding examines Coca-Cola's aspirational advertising push (or should I say "putsche"?), with the company focusing less on product quality and more on emotional branding, including some arm-twisting contracts with public schools designed to brand 5 year old kindergarteners and train them to have a Coke with that gap-toothed smile.

The last section of the book deals with Coca-Cola's constant growth, requiring globalization and aspirational marketing that paints Coca-Cola as a squeaky-clean beverage company even if the reality is dirtied water supplies in India, contaminated sludge sold as fertilizer, toxic chemicals in recycled tap water marketed under the Dasani brand in England and France, or the snuffing out (quite literally, in the case of the murder of union organizer Isidro Gil in Venezuela) of union organization worldwide.

The Coke Machine ties together disparate memes such as obesity, underfunded public schools, environmental damage, corporate overreach and globalization and does it well. A wild ride and a great read.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A disjointed, yet passionate critical appraisal of a global brand December 7, 2010

By Sreeram Ramakrishnan VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Books in the business profiles categories typically fall into two categories - blind adulation or angry tirades. This one tries to avoid becoming "Exhibit A" for the latter...almost admirably. Blanding does a good job in outlining some of the key controversies Coke has been involved in - bottled water, water pollution, handling unions,impact of advertising on kids, etc. While Blanding takes on a decidely, pre-determined critical view of Coke's role, the issues are well recounted, though one would hard-pressed to find anything significantly "new" information.

Blanding's eagerness for a passionate argument for encouraging readers to take a critical look at Coke would have been helped if the book was better organized - perhaps across 3-4 themes - environmental (bottled water, pollution in India), union and labor standards (most of the events around bottlers in Latin America) and other issues such as advertising and obesity. The frequent shifting of the narrative from one of these themes to another is distracting and prevents Blanding from building a real case, even if there is sufficient research (mostly by his own interviews) into his narrative. In fact, the final chapter, "The case against coke" is a disappointment - instead of summarizing the key arguments and suggest remedial measures and/or any actions by an average reader, Blanding falls back to continue his narrative and fails to make a powerful closing argument.

Blanding's recounting and first-person reporting on the issues around bottlers/unions in itself an interesting read. Perhaps, focusing on this theme alone would have given the book far more attention than what it will probably receive. Overall, a well-researched re-hash of Coke controversies - that unfortunately doesn't live up to its potential. An OK read. 3.5*