Coke’s Prize in Disguise
Coca-Cola recently unveiled their all new state of the art, “world-changing” Freestyle Fountain soft-drink dispensers.
Just to preface the rest of the post, I’m a bit put off by the freewheeling tendencies that come with this machine. The hype, the calories, the promises – all seem empty to me. It all sort of bubbled to the surface when I read a recently posted BusinessWeek article that featured the new dispensers. The piece opened by saying “The inventor of life-saving medical devices (Dean Kamen) sees Coca-Cola’s new Freestyle fountain as a way to make progress on his plan to deliver potable water to kids worldwide.”
As the article continues it moves from its inspiring headline, highlighting a potential opportunity to aid the water-deprived children of the world, to highlighting the features of the machine and advantages of its technology. So as I am reading further and further into the article I’m searching for more information on this water-aid for children plan, but to my dismay it turns out that this plan isn’t a plan at all, but rather a “What-if?” idea that may never become a plan at all. So now I’m feeling disappointed and a bit mislead. Why is it that this article needed to be highlighted with information that has almost nothing to do with the article itself? I think Steve Jobs hit it on the nose with his critique: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?” They realized they had a pretty empty invention on their hands and tried to compensate with hypothetical situations to save the world (whose prospects are pretty bleak with the absence of an actual plan to roll out the machines in developing countries). Nonetheless, the machine hasn’t been a total failure: “Retailers testing the Freestyle have reported double-digit increases in beverage sales.” And that is where the truth comes out. These machines aren’t intended to provide potable water for thirsty children, but rather an increased profit for Coca-Cola and a higher risk of diabetes for our already 23.6 million and rising American diabetic population.
Does anything like that ever happen to you? Like when you go to the mall and see the shiny new cars next to the big banners that scream “free” or “sign up to win” promoting some large amount of money, all of which encourage you to sign up for a free* chance to win a brand new car or all expenses paid trip to somewhere exotic, but then after you’ve filled out the info card you go home to find your inbox filled with new messages from the dealer informing you that the only way you’ll have a chance at winning that brand new car or exotic trip is if you purchase one of their cars?… sigh. As a designer, I understand the ploy such verbiage can have on certain people, and how easily it can be overlooked, outweighed, or made completely irrelevant.
If the article had done without the inclusion of this water for kids idea, or even its headline choice, then I wouldn’t have had as big of an issue with it, but using it in such a way to get people’s minds off of what’s really happening is a poor means of introducing the latest and greatest for a company of such scale.
What the article is really about according to its contents…
What the article should really be about according to its headline…
