Coke In Your Faucet? - Douglas Daft, executive - Interview

Defending Coke's marketing practices in the Third World, Coke's Doug Ivester, CEO from 1997 to 1999, noted that "fluid replenishment is a key to health," and went on to claim that "Coca-Cola does a great service because it encourages people to take in more and more liquids."

Coca-Cola is peddling drugs, albeit mild ones. Six of the seven most popular soft drinks in this country contain caffeine. Sugar helps the buzz, too, so when cola manufacturers produce sugar-free colas, they up the caffeine content to compensate, according to a February 27 article in The Washington Post. (Industry groups claim that they use caffeine to enhance the flavor of the drink, but blind taste tests by the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions have shown that most people can't detect the presence or absence of caffeine in their colas.

Perhaps there was a hint of prophetic intervention when the wind distorted one of Coke's first skywritten messages to unsuspecting Cubans in pre-revolutionary times. According to Pendergrast's book, instead of "Tome Coca-Cola" ("Drink Coca-Cola"), the message across the sky read instead, "Teme Coca-Cola" ("Fear Coca-Cola").

Coke's plan to bring its soft drinks to your kitchen faucet is still in its early stages. But the market for Coke-on-the-kitchen-tap could be huge, says Pendergrast.

"If they can work out the kinks technically, and if they offer a real break in the price per ounce to homeowners who want to install a system in their recreation rooms, I think you might see a real market open up," Pendergrast says. "What if they made a deal with refrigerator manufacturers to offer it as part of the front-off-fridge device that currently dispenses crushed ice or ice water? It's a tantalizing possibility for them."

One unnamed Coke spokesperson told Off Licence News, a British beverage industry weekly, in March that the units could be installed in apartment blocks.

"There's not a market yet," Daft said. "People still like to physically go and buy things. But one day, yes, this will be a reality."

Sonia Shah is a freelance writer and a former editor/publisher at South End Press. She lives in Storrs, Connecticut.

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