The change we need...also "Coca cola does it in Australia"

It was but expected by Coca Cola to take people on ball ride in poorer and societies with extreme disparities like India. The focus on urban youth and their lifestyle demands positioning is understandable. The shift from exploitation of natural resources and threat to livelihood of millions to change (and targeting politicians) was an easy ploy. Easy because they have so much money and access (the pliable Market media). Add to it the concern (the groovy part) you have a recipe to be in TV channels. So it seems Indian urban youth is going to make our life better. It is the scariest thought I am having in recent times!!.

The so called agents of change as also our friendly guardian bend on saving us common people are having an outing. Never mind they are all from the same strata, same market friendly bunch with a big appetite for lick. The indulgent lot has found their calling. The elite are aware that world is watching so have position for big lick. Some innovative also play victim for sake of us. Its like if you are concerned about poor India, exploited Indians, biased Indians…whatever Indians the pit stop is here. Feed us we will pass on. With a billion and counting population this is huge, and they know very few can easily usurp this one. The stampede is on.

India incidentally is home to roughly one-third of all poor people in the world. It also has a higher proportion of its population living on less than $2 per day than even sub Saharan Africa. Also note 42% of the population living below the new international poverty line of $1.25 per day. The number of Indian poor also constitutes 33% of the global poor, which is pegged at 1.4 billion people.

Now the fat part, the Black money in Swiss banks -- Swiss Banking Association report, 2006 details bank deposits in the territory of Switzerland by nationals of following countries:

Top Five
India---- $1456 billion
Russia---$ 470 billion
UK-------$390 billion
Ukraine- $100 billion
China-----$ 96 billion

India with $1456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined. It is one of the biggest loots witnessed by mankind -- the loot of the Aam Aadmi (common man) since 1947.

Raymond Baker -- in his widely celebrated book titled 'Capitalism’s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free Market System’ -- estimates that at least $5 trillion have been shifted out of poorer countries to the West since the mid-1970. It is further estimated by experts that one per cent of the world’s population holds more than 57 per cent of total global wealth, routing it invariably through these tax havens. How much of this is from India is anybody’s guess. The market based economy has made many of them quite bold. And the desultory ease with which they work is a study in itself.

But working in developed countries like Australia is different you really cannot get away with free media (unlike market driven media in Indian context, it is easy money in poorer societies). Coca cola was taken to task for misleading ads. “Coca-Cola Busted for Big Fat Rotten Lies" ran the blunt headline in the Sydney Morning Herald, a major news outlet in Australia. Coca-Cola had placed a groovy full-page print ads all across Australia featuring Kerry Armstrong, an Australian actress, with the heading "Kerry Armstrong on Motherhood & Myth-Busting". Well they cannot work on change in Australia!!. It is different strategy. Representing Ms. Armstrong as a responsible "mum" who is "often bombarded by conflicting messages on food and drinks", the ad goes on to establish the facts about Coca-Cola by busting myths about Coca-Cola.

The ad tries to bust the myths that Coca-Cola makes you fat, rots your teeth and is packed with caffeine, among others.

The fact though is different: a good number of scientific studies have confirmed strong linkages between the consumption of soft drinks and obesity and a host of other health problems. To add to this body of evidence, the New England Journal of Medicine has just published an article advocating a 'penny-per-ounce' tax on soft drinks because, "Sugar-sweetened beverages (soda sweetened with sugar, corn syrup, or other caloric sweeteners and other carbonated and uncarbonated drinks, such as sports and energy drinks) may be the single largest driver of the obesity epidemic."

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took swift action and on April 2, 2009, the commission issued court enforceable orders to Coca-Cola, including:

• Publish advertisements correcting the misleading claims made in the "Myth Busting" ad in every publication the original ad was published in and of equal prominence and size
• Barred Coca-Cola for three years from making the claims that Coca-Cola cannot contribute to weight gain and tooth decay, and that Diet Coca-Cola contains only half the caffeine as a cup of tea, unless these can be substantiated
• Provide a link to the corrected ad from its corporate social responsibility website

Clearly the elite stand to gain from these exploitative products. The reason why we don’t see any policy initiatives nor market media’s big concerns. It is about live and let live in the elite circle. Sab aram se chato, sab ke liye hai.

(Inputs from Net..Photo of children protesting against Coke-Pepsi also taken from Net)