For consumers only

I am writing this column for Anthony Cava who texted this: Just read your article today titled “A Branded Life.” I agree how we’ve all been “brandwashed” by certain companies to buy their products. Awesome article! Can you please tell me what are the wrong points activists say about Coca-Cola as you mentioned? I’m just curious.” 

I worked in advertising for more than 30 years, beginning in accounts, where you talked to clients, got their requirements, passed them on to creative. When I began to work in 1969, accounts people had to do media planning. So I know about  traditional media — print, TV, radio, billboards then. I moved to Creatives because I’m a fairly good writer. Then I moved back to accounts on Coca-Cola before I joined Coca-Cola as corporate communications director, concurrently chairman and president of Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines. My last job was president of J. Romero & Associates. That is my advertising background so I know what I’m talking about.

Advertising was started after the printing press was invented. They realized that circulation alone — the people who bought the newspapers or magazines — could not pay for the total cost of printing. Someone got the bright idea of selling space to product manufacturers to make sure the publication made some money. No matter how you look at life we all need to make money. Why do you think beggars beg? To make money to support themselves. Later radio and TV followed.

In every endeavor we often forget that the people that matter most are the consumers, those who enjoy the product and therefore buy it regularly. This is what led to the creation of brands. When you got a product the first step was to determine what the product offered that would interest potential consumers. Coca-Cola began as some kind of medicine. This was in the 1800s. It was given to soda fountains in Atlanta and the soda jerks were told to offer it to women who needed to be refreshed after shopping. All they had to do was add cold water. One day one soda jerk made the mistake of serving it with bubbly soda water. Then the women felt truly refreshed. It became the Coca-Cola we know now. 

Coca-Cola never made any claims to health. It was always a refreshment, a delicious cold drink for quenching your thirst, the pause that refreshes. It was always advertised with emotions. Once upon a time Coke ads always made you feel good. They appealed to consumers so they drank Coke regularly.  No one in the world foresaw that there would be people who would drink two-liter bottles in one go. Coke has a lot of sugar, as do iced tea, most fruit “juices,” and other instant drinks. 

Then the activists appeared. They said if you put a human tooth in a glass of Coke it would completely dissolve in 10 days. What crazy person would put a pulled tooth in a glass of Coke or any other sugared beverage? Only an obsessive-compulsive parent who needs to melt her children’s milk teeth to prevent their discovering that there is no tooth fairy after all. 

If you drink a bottle of Coke there is your saliva that will interact with the sugar and then even if you only brush your teeth before going to bed, there is your toothpaste and toothbrush that cleans your teeth. So this sort of thinking doesn’t work in reality. But also in reality there are many consumers dumb enough to panic and just drink water. That’s okay. They miss out on the pleasure of an ice-cold glass of Coca-Cola or any other soft drink. But that is the consumer’s choice.

There is the boy I once met who told about an activist he met who showed him a raw pork chop,  poured Seven-Up or Sprite over it and left it on the table. After a few days it had maggots. Yuck, he said. But even if you had not poured anything on it, if it was unrefrigerated for that long, it would get maggots because the meat would rot. He didn’t believe me.  That was his choice. 

And there’s the story about Coca-Cola being a good cleaning fluid for toilets. I don’t know. Why would I want to clean my toilet bowl with Coke? It’s a waste of my money and my refreshment. Why don’t I clean it with a brush and toilet bowl cleaner? That is certainly more sanitary.

In the end it is all about the consumer and his or her choice. You say “brandwashed,” and that’s clever, though wrong. The consumer does not sit in front of the TV allowing her brain to be washed. When the commercials come on she goes to the bathroom, does one of her quick chores, makes a fast phone call. She (or he) uses her own judgment. Advertising is often ignored. That’s why it’s repetitive.

I could go on and on but I usually stay within an 800-850 word range or I would get boring. Just remember this. To advertisers the consumer is intelligent enough to choose for him/herself. If you question the consumer’s intelligence then maybe you should talk to the activists? Just joking and having a wonderful, loud laugh.

* * *

Please text your comments to 0917-8155570.