It's from a collection of essays. The title of the book and one of the essays was "The Grand Miracle", and I took the quote from the "Scraps" section.

On the question of body image Coke started advertising in 19th Century with paintings of pretty young women who (supposedly) were the kind who drank Coke and would be (supposedly) attracted to men who drank coke. It was the women who eventually asked Coke to stop marketing itself as a tonic.

Ironically, in Scotland there is a local soda drink known as Irn Bru, which had to change its spelling from "Iron Brew" because it was illegal to advertise as having health giving properties. Interestingly, the mascot figure on the drink was the famous Scottish wrestler and heavy athlete, Donald Dinnie.

trevek,

What get's me is that you can walk into a t-shirt store, plunk down 15 dollars US (around 9 Pounds, British), and pay for the privledge of advertising for Coca-Cola.

Sheesh! Marketing genius to have you buy the stuff, and pay to advertise it.

yes ... and even though we know we're buying into, and reinforcing the image-product branding, we still do it.

Coca-cola - the bottle itself, "wickedly shaped like a woman."

Quote:

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A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good.

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I believe this is life - whatever we have - we want better - but in truth whilst a Bentley R motor vehicle is hand made using the best of everything available - it is - when all said and done - a car...

The old question - should we strive to own the Bentley or accept that the battered up old wreck we can afford is still a car and gets us where we want to go?

In martial art terms many of us strive to better ourselves - and in truth we should not worry about what the next man or woman is doing - or whether somone's hand is an inch lower in a different style. The martial arts are about the betterment of the individual and the minute we lose track of this - we start to notice Wal-mart Cola is different from Coca Cola.

Get the mind set that all coke is the same and if you choose a brand because you like that brand - good for you - but equally - having a seizure because your neighbour is different will give you a stroke and is largely pointless as the neighbour is going to keep drinking something different anyway

All Cola rules....

Respectfully and Happy New Year,

Ah, but there is a point. While all colas are colas only one is Coke!

Interesting how the free-market is allegedly about choice and yet Coke shows the power of utilitarreanism.

I thought I 'was' saying there is a point

Yes, but there was another point