How Coca Cola Spread Throughout the World
Coca Cola sells its soft drink to more countries around the world than any other company. Currently, there are only two countries where Coca Cola cannot be bought: Cuba has been banned from selling Coca Cola since 1962 and people in North Korea have not been able to buy the soft drink since the Korean War in 1950. Both countries are not allowed to officially trade with the US.
The sugary black soda drink was first created in 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia. The company started expanding in its early years and by 1900 it had spread to Asia and Europe.
Throughout World War II American troops were provided with Coca Cola and at that time it was manufactured in over 60 factories around the world. It became a global symbol of Americanism. Not everyone, however, welcomed Coca Cola. In the 1950s the French captured truckloads of bottles and smashed them on the ground.
During the Cold War Coca Cola became a symbol of capitalism and the free world. It was not allowed in the Soviet Union; however in 1979 it became an official sponsor at the 1980 World Ice Hockey Championships in Moscow. After Mao Zedong had died, China opened itself to the west and after ten years of talks Coca Cola became officially allowed for the first time in the Communist era.
East Germans provocatively drank Coca Cola after the Berlin Wall came down when Communism collapsed in the country in 1989.
In 1996 Coca Cola became the number one advertiser at the Summer Olympic Games which were held in its home town, Atlanta.
In the Middle East the company fought hard to get back into the market after it had been banned in Arab countries. This came about because Coca Cola sold their product to enemy Israel as well. In contrast, Pepsi became more popular and dominated the Arabian market.
Recently Coca Cola has been allowed on sale again in Burma, or Myanmar, after sixty years of abstinence, because of the military dictatorship that ruled the Asian country in the last six decades. The trade embargo was lifted as the government started to move towards democracy.
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Words
- abstinence = not being present
- advertise = to tell everyone about your product so that you can sell it
- ban = forbid, not allowed
- came about = happened
- capture = to get control of something
- Cold War = unfriendly relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II
- collapse = break down
- create = make
- currently = right now, at the moment
- dominate = to become number one
- expand = grow
- global = worldwide
- however = but
- in contrast = on the other side
- lift = stop
- manufacture = produce
- official = allowed, legal
- on sale = here: in shops so that you can buy it
- open = here: to trade with; to have relations with
- popular = well-known, liked
- provide = give to
- provocative = to do something that makes others angry
- recently = lately, in the last few months, weeks etc..
- smash = throw down so that something will break
- soft drink = a cold drink that does not have any alcohol
- Soviet Union = communist country that was founded after the Russian Revolution and existed until 1991
- sugary = with a lot of sugary
- throughout = in all of
- trade = to buy products from and sell them to other countries
- trade embargo = when a country orders its people and companies not to trade with a country