Dimensions
136 x 213 x 29mm
More controversial and attention grabbing than ever, Mark's turns his investigative eye to global corporation Coca-Cola. This is a company that sponsors the Olympics, backs US presidents and has even enlisted child-friendly Santa Claus to sell more coke - surely the company must be fairly squeaky clean?
Wrong. Mark reveals their chequered history, such as how Coca-Cola Germany flourished during the Nazi era. It advertised in Nazi army papers, on the back of Hitler Youth books, and at the entrances to rallies, before developing Fanta specifically for this market when the syrup needed for coke was in short supply. Mark goes on to investigate the company's current business practices around the world - from using child labour in El Salvador, to sacking workers attempting to form trade unions in Pakistan and the Dominican Republic, and the case of one American employee who was sacked for drinking Pepsi during his lunch break!
Topically, the book will look at the environmental impact that the production of Coca-Cola has in places such as El Salvador - where its bottling plant is polluting the river - and Nigeria, where the company has now admitted to polluting the lakes, affecting the livelihood of hundreds of local fisherman.
And the marketing: this is a company that spends $2 billion a year on advertising to make us lifelong addicts of this caffeine-based brown sugar water. Now they're using the latest neuro marketing techniques based on MRI scans that detect the 'buy button' in our brains. Scary.
Mark travels across continents to source the funniest, weirdest and saddest stories from those involved with the company or affected by it. The exploitation of workers, the damage to the environment and the hypocrisy of this global brand is something that, over the years, Mark has come to feel incredibly passionate about. And now he's pulling no punches. This is a real David and Goliath mission.
In the style of Naomi Klein's No Logo, Michael Moore's Stupid White Men and Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, this will be a thought-provoking, funny, controversial, and timely book that will change our perecption of a drink that is already a part of everyday life.
