Bottled : how Coca-Cola became African
Publication Information
New York : Oxford University Press, [2023]
Physical Description
xvii, 366 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm
Summary
"Bottled is the first assessment of the social, commercial and environmental impact of one of the planet's biggest brands and largest corporations, in Africa. Sara Byala charts the company's century-long involvement in everything from recycling and education to the anti-apartheid struggle, showing that Africans have harnessed Coca-Cola in varied expressions of modernity and self-determination: this is not a story of American capitalism running amok, but rather of a company becoming African, bending to consumer power in ways big and small. In late capitalism, everyone's fates are bound together. A beverage in Atlanta and a beverage in Johannesburg pull us all towards the same end narrative. This story matters for more than just the local reasons, enhancing our understanding of our globalised, integrated world. Drawing on fieldwork and research in company archives, Byala asks a question for our time: does Coca-Cola's generative work offset the human and planetary costs associated with its growth in the twenty-first century?."--Publisher's description.
Contents
- All that sparkles : how Coca-Cola established a foothold in South Africa
- From Cape to Cairo : the sun never sets on Coca-Cola
- Know your country : how Coca-Cola branded a continent and itself
- The link between old and new : securing a license to operate
- A catalytic role untold : Coca-Cola and the undoing of apartheid
- Believe in Africa : Coca-Cola in the new millennium
- The bottom line : weighing Coca-Cola's sustainability.