Part 4: The Coca Cola Betrayal
Sometime in high school, I was at a seminar in New Mexico where a Coca Cola executive talked before us. He relayed the story of how Coca Cola created the modern image of Santa Clause.
I did not know then but I do know now that the man was lying through his teeth — propping up a corporate myth on the backs of a supposedly great Commercial Holiday for the sake of the bottom line.
But then again, the man reeked like a used car salesman. He also sold us the line about “New Coke” being a clever marketing ploy, a throwaway product to resell Old Coke to the public.
When I was a child, my dad dressed up as Santa Clause. I knew it was my dad, but I went through the motions anyway. I begged him for a Cabbage Patch Kid. I whined and cojoled him, threatening to rip off his beard if he didn’t deliver my Precious Cabbage Patch Kid. The next year I did the same thing only this time for a Transformer.
Coca Cola has destroyed that image of my childhood. They claimed to own that childhood, taking it away from where it belongs: the makers of those Cabbage Patch Kids, the Transformers, and those Saturday Morning cartoon tv commercials that told me I wanted them. I bought into into the Coke myth. And then they sold me out.
A pox on their house!
May Pepsi Cola Eat them alive!