Coca Cola: The American staple of beverage

     Coca Cola is an American staple in the soft drink game. Created in 1888, Coke has only seen subtle changes in its nearly 150 year history which has made it a global sensation and an anchor of consistency throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. That does not mean that Coke hasn’t rolled out different variations of itself to try and attract more buyers, creating different flavor variations such as cherry coke or vanilla coke, or even marketing itself as a diet beverage for those who still want to enjoy a Coke but not at the expense of their weight with Diet Coke and Coke Zero (referring to the alleged 0g of sugar). This type of constant consistency combined with slight variations in flavor has created an almost cult-like following around Coke has some people refuse to drink any other soft drink that is not a part of the Coca Cola family. 

    Like I mentioned in the opening paragraph, Coke has not changed much throughout its history. Its formula is a secret and its signature glass bottle has only seen minor tweaks since it was first put on shelves. In addition to some added flavors for variation, in 1985 Coke wanted to better rival its main competing company in Pepsi by changing Coke's formula slightly to make it sweeter like Pepsi. This New Coke, as the Coca Cola company marketed it failed miserably, with people rushing to take the last of the original Coke off the shelves and the masses to demand that they go back to their original flavor that created this “fandom” for nearly a hundred years at that point. Coca Cola listened and since has only released slight variations of its original recipe always keeping the original available at abundance to sell. 

    As was demonstrated by the near New Coke disaster for Coca Cola, the pseudo-individualization of Coke is a constant in an ever changing world. My feeling is that people cling to the things that they know and are comfortable with, and the fact that Coke has not changed in 150 years is a fact that people take comfort in. It is the same beverage that they enjoyed as a child and it has never changed. You can still get Coke in that slim glass bottle, which has become an icon across American pop culture for its appearance. Coca Cola has become an American staple with its consistent taste and appearance.

Culture Indistry: Bottled water

HISTORY: The first bottled water was sold in the US by Jackson's Spa in Boston in 1767. The water had supposed therapeutic benefits. In the 1850s bottled water was a status symbol, it was seen as clean and stylish (Elite culture). During this time it was also widely purchased due to fears of typhoid and cholera in municipal water supplies. It hit its big break into the mass culture in the1970s after the development of the PET plastic bottle. The 2000s saw a war between tap and bottled water, and more recently, environmental concerns have led to the creation of much lighter plastic bottles.

There are many aspects that invoke the idea of standardization and pseudo-individualization.  Bottled water is everywhere. You go to any event and you can't get a cup of water or find a bubbler anywhere. In most cases you can't bring your own, so you have only 1 option if you choose to drink water: buy a bottle. We also see bottled water in TV, movies, advertisements, music videos, print ads. Many restaurants now ask you if you want water from the tap or bottled.

Pseudo-individualization comes from thousands of water brands available worldwide. Check out this site that lists the world's bottled waters. I was astounded at the numbers. There are numerous types: spring, purified, artesian, well, glacial, deep sea, rain, and iceberg....BUT it's all just WATER. This artifact is a prime example of commodity fetishism. A bottle of Poland Springs costs 1/4 of Voss, and as such it's perceived as better. While there are subtle differences in mineral content and acidity, there is no reliable data proving one is necessarily better than another.

This example contributes to distracting us from authentically changing the world and reinforces our connection with popular culture by just existing. Plastic is becoming a global problem. There is far more in existence than will ever disintegrate or be recycled. Advances in public water systems and filtration systems worldwide have reduced the need for bottled water and yet as Americans, we are addicted to it. It's not much more difficult to use a reusable water bottle and fill it as you go, but we don't. Purchased water bottles carry a warning on the back to not refill them, contributing further to the problem. Much of the world is addicted to convenience and we don't make lasting, meaningful changes unless forced to do so.



Sources:
https://myownwater.com/blog/history-of-bottled-water

Fashion

Fashion is something in modern day society that is changing frequently, almost never staying the same for longer than a few months time. In popular culture, fashion refers to terms like purchase of clothing, marketing, changes in production, and more. Fashion is constantly evolving, as it is a competitive business. Throughout fashion, strong celebrity names hold a strong presence in not only the fashion world, but popular culture in general. Fashion role models such as Jay Z have progressed the world of fashion throughout his career, often times being noted for the way he dressed.
Fashion can show up in different parts of society, from boutiques to runways, in clothing shops as well as on the streets. Continuously producing new versions of itself throughout different channels, fashion is a competitive business between designers, often times fighting for the most popular celebrities to "promote" their styles and fashions to society. By doing this, designers are marketing their products, to go along with and follow a certain type of consumer fashion style that is currently popular. By having a specific type of fashion, designers and brands often times grow their follower base, cementing people in society to specific cultures. Often times, designers and big name clothing brands will use a point person, or marketer such as professional athletes to promote their products, most of the time being able to control what current fashion statements are considered popular or "in" at the moment. Fashion plays a big part of popular culture as it is something that will always play a role in society, and it is constantly evolving. By constantly evolving, and becoming "better", fashion creates a self - perpetuating reinvestment aspect within popular culture.

Culture Industry and Sneakers

Culture industry is a theory that an industry is jeopardizing culture and society. If you look at sneakers, there are only a handful of big brand names, but almost every shoe brand has tried an athletic shoe design. In this case, the price isn’t necessarily as important as the product, but it does play a factor when comparing between social classes. Those in the lower class will save up, borrow, or steal to get the latest pair of sneakers, just to have them. The average price of Nike Air Max sneakers, for example, is about $150. If you have the means to afford spending $150 every week or so on shoes you are going to wear once in a while, fine. But if you don’t have the money, it puts a strain on your other responsibilities and things you need to pay for. 

As far as design, while there are different color combinations and ‘uses’ for the shoes, they’re ultimately all of the same thing. There aren’t many professional runners in the world, but there are hundreds of people that have multiple pairs of seemingly different running shoes. Also, this culture industry cements people to their popular culture. People that collect sneakers often have no real use for them and they collect because its cool and something to do. It doesn’t take them out of their element or open their eyes that these shoes are often made in third-world countries where people are being exploited for their work and are usually not making livable wages to produce these shoes. This has to do with the exchange value being off. The cost of production is less than what the product is worth. Therefore, it brings looking at the sneakers as ‘what can they be sold for?’ over ‘how much are they worth?’ 

In March, there over 30 different Nike designs being released. There is a shoe for every day, with a few to spare. The different designs create a self-perpetuating reinvestment in the culture because in order to support your favorite basketball player, you need to buy his shoes. But you can’t wear them because they won’t look good for long, so you at least need another pair to wear everyday. 

These ideas and actions are the enslavement in capitalism. Within the culture, there is a false sense of need made up, consumers are willing to overlook their true needs to fulfill their false needs, as the false needs are met new forms of false needs are made, the purchase power makes people believe they are buying happiness, the consumption further enslaves them because they cannot fulfill their true needs with the way capitalism works. So there is a constant reinvestment in capitalism because as long as people will keep buying new sneakers, they’ll keep making them.