David Rosenthal: belief

Transcript context

…Whether the rest of the world looked at it that way, TBD, but I’m sure the US government looked at it as a great ambassador of our values. And however people around the world saw it at the time, one way or another, they ended up drinking Coca-Cola. First, at the outset of the war, the US introduces sugar rationing. Coca-Cola immediately lobbies the government for an exemption, and they produce supporting evidence like this letter from a military supply officer. “Very few people have ever stopped to consider the great part that Coca-Cola plays in the building and maintaining of morale among military personnel. Frankly speaking, we would be at a loss to find anything as satisfying and refreshing a beverage to replace Coca-Cola. In our opinion, Coca-Cola could be classified as one of the essential morale building products for the boys in the service. ” Which is interesting because what Coke doesn’t win is an exemption on the sugar rationing. What they do win is they get to supply Coca-Cola free of rations to the military, and they just get to take a really broad lens on what ‘to the military’ means.…

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