Coca Colla: The New 'Real Thing' in Bolivia
THE GUARDIAN: Bolivian president approves Coca-based dark soft drink / Coca-Cola company yet to comment on red-labelled beverage

Coca Colla being distributed in La Paz this week. The drink is named after the Bolivian Colla people. Photograph: The Guardian
A certain US soft drinks giant may disagree, but Bolivia has come up with a fizzy beverage it says is the real thing: Coca Colla.

The drink, made from the coca leaf and named after the indigenous Colla people from Bolivia's highlands, went on sale this week across the South American country.

It is black, sweet and comes in a bottle with a red label – but similarities to Coca-Cola end there. One is a symbol of US-led globalisation and corporate might; the other could be considered a socialist-tinged affront to western imperialism.

The first batch of 12,000 bottles, priced about $1.50 (96p) for half a litre, were distributed in the capital, La Paz, as well as Santa Cruz and Cochabamba.

The familiar-sounding name and packaging may rile the Atlanta-based soft drinks manufacturer, but Coca Colla could also cause groans in Washington.

It is made from the coca leaf, a mild stimulant that wards off fatigue and hunger, and has been used in the Andes for thousands of years in cooking, medicine and religious rites.

Coca is also the raw ingredient of cocaine, the powerful narcotic that is the primary target of the US-led "war on drugs".

Bolivia tried to wipe out the leaf at Washington's behest. But that was before Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian and coca grower, was elected president, championing coca as a crop with legitimate uses. >>> Rory Carroll | Wednesday, April 14, 2010

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Coca-Cola sous la pression d'associations musulmanes
LE FIGARO: Rumeurs et campagnes d'opinion obligent les grandes marques à certifier que leurs produits sont compatibles avec l'islam.

Tout commence il y a deux ans, par une rumeur insistante : le Coca-Cola contiendrait de l'alcool. Accusation farfelue mais immédiatement reprise par les sites musulmans, de forums en articles plus ou moins étayés. Associations et médias communautaires, dont le blog Al-Kanz, très en vogue, assaillent Coca-Cola France de questions. Et reçoivent une réponse standard : «Nos boissons sont reconnues comme non alcoolisées par les autorités gouvernementales de chaque pays.» Une missive qui laisse insatisfaits les plus intransigeants. La législation française considère en effet qu'une boisson est «sans alcool» lorsqu'elle en contient moins de 1,2 %. Qu'en est-il alors du fameux breuvage à la recette secrète ?

Après quelques hésitations, la direction de Coca-Cola France décide de faire appel à «l'organisme de certification de la mosquée de Paris», explique Philippe Marty le porte-parole de la firme. Celle-ci commande une analyse du Coca par un laboratoire indépendant. «Ensuite, nous avons garanti que Coca Cola était parfaitement sans alcool et donc halal», détaille le chef de la certification à la mosquée, Al Sid Cheikh, qui regrette de voir fleurir «beaucoup d'accusations sans aucun fondement religieux. C'est plutôt politique. Mais les sociétés s'inquiètent pour leur notoriété». >>> C. G. | Jeudi 20 Août 2009

Facebook Attracts Top US Advertisers
THE TELEGRAPH: The majority of top US brands are using Facebook to promote their products, dispelling the myth that the social networking site is an unattractive environment for advertisers.

According to Facebook, 83 of the top 100 advertising spenders in the US, as ranked by AdAge, the research group, use the site and have signed commercial partnerships.

Brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola and Starbucks, advertise across the site in a variety of ways. Many brands also have their own profile pages which they do not have to pay for and often boast several millions fans. This facilitates a lot of commercial activity on people’s personal pages, often without them thinking of it in that fashion. Starbucks, for instance, has more than 3.7 million fans on its page.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer told the Financial Times: “If you look at people’s profile pages, you’ll see a lot of commercial activity even without advertising.”

The news appears to counter the initial hesitancy many advertisers felts about promoting their brands via the popular social network – for fear of their logos appearing alongside inappropriate or offensive material.

As recently as May this year, Tesco pulled advertising from all Facebook group pages after its adverts were being served alongside groups supporting Holocaust denial and the BNP. The company, and others which suffered a similar experience, such as Vodafone and O2, continued to advertise on the Facebook home page or personal profile pages. >>> Emma Barnett, Technology and Digital Media Correspondent | Monday, August 10, 2009

France Targets Coca-Cola in Escalating 'Cheese Wars'
Photo courtesy of Google Images
THE TELEGRAPH: The French government is facing calls to slap a massive import tax on Coca-Cola in retaliation for punitive American duties levelled on the salty, blue-veined, sheep cheese roquefort.

The American measures were taken as part of a trade dispute, now known as "cheese wars", in which the Bush administration took action against the European Union's ban on imports of US hormone-treated beef.

Last week, America imposed a 100 per cent import duty on a long list of EU products, but singled roquefort out for a 300 per cent tariff.

"Symbol versus symbol," said Philippe Folliot, a French member of parliament whose Tarn constituency contains many roquefort producers. "Since the United States has decided to surtax one of the most ancient (cheese) appellations, I think that the French government, with the European Union, must think about a heavy specific tax on imports of Coca-Cola concentrates produced in the US." >>> By Henry Samuel in Paris | Wednesday, January 21, 2009

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