“He has found out our dinner hour, that’s all, and chooses to interrupt us every time, in order to show his power.”
That quote is from E.M. Forster’s classic book, A Passage to India. The passage it comes from describes the Indian characters’ belief that the white colonists feel superior to the Indians and don’t hesitate to disrupt the Indians’ lives for their own gain. It seemed to me a perfect allegory for this blog post, which was prompted by an article I received from David VanAvermaete, CEO of Psilos portfolio company VeraLight.
The article, entitled “Coke Plans $2 Billion Investment in India,” describes how the Coca Cola Corporation has become so enamored of the Indian market opportunity that they intend to invest $2 billion in India over the next 5 years on top of the $2 billion they have invested to grow their business there since 1993. “It would not surprise me if India became one of the top five markets globally for the company by the end of the decade,” Coca-Cola Eurasia and Africa group president Ahmet Bozer said in the article.
As David VanAvermaete so aptly pointed out, this is probably not a marketing plan that has Coke Zero as its centerpiece. Once again, the white guys’ company is ruining the Indian guys’ dinner. First we outsource our jobs, then we outsource our diabetes epidemic. You’re welcome.
The massive investment by Coke in India may be good news for local job creation, but it is not so good for their health. You see, India already holds the #2 spot for highest prevalence of diabetes among the world’s countries (China is #1). There are 61 million diagnosed diabetics in India today and that number is expected to reach 101 million by 2030, according to the International Diabetes Federation. Fyi, the United States is number three on the hit parade.
The Indian government, recognizing the crisis that Type II diabetes has become (from both a public health and economic standpoint), has committed to invest an estimated $1 billion in a massive effort to screen up to 150 million of its citizens for Type II diabetes over the next several years. This is in addition to what they already spend in a nationalized health system to treat and manage the heavy diabetes burden that they have already borne. On the diabetes screening front, it looks like Coke can out-invest the government 2:1, ensuring that their diabetes screening work will never be done. The irony is profound.
If you do a Google search for Coca Cola slogans you can actually find that one of the recent ones they have used in India was “Jo chaho ho jaye, Coca-Cola enjoy!” which translates to “Whatever you wish will come true, enjoy Coca-Cola!” As long as Indians are wishing to have more diabetes, Coca Cola is definitely going to come through for them. In the U.S. Coke’s current slogan is “Life Begins Here.” Not exactly truth in advertising since life pretty much starts to unravel if you become a Type II diabetic. The disease can set off a cascade of healthcare miseries that will make you wish you had passed on both the Coke and the smile. Life Begins to End Here is more like it. In 1989 their U.S. slogan was “Can’t Beat the Feeling.” If they want to save some money on the advertising front, Coke can just change that to “Can’t Beat the Feeling I am developing peripheral neuropathies” and their Indian marketing strategy will be ready to rock and roll.
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