I always knew that soft drinks were very popular in USA and Coca-Cola is one of the larges companies in the world. However, I could never imagine that Americans consumed so much soft drinks. Indian economy may be growing fast but Indians are far behind than USA in terms of consumption of soft drinks. I am quoting from a report of Washington Post:
"The country, while not a big soft drink market, would seem to have a lot of growth potential. But Indians consume an average of only eight 8-ounce soft drink servings per year, compared with an average of 837 for Americans, according to Beverage Digest statistics."
I am not so good at math but you can easily understand that on an average Americans consume soft drinks 104 times more than the Indians. Well, America is the richest country in the world and there drinking Coke or Pepsi is no big deal. However, many people in India are poor and a bottle of Coke or Pepsi is not their first priority when they are fighting to get 3 meals a day. Cultural difference is another factor too. Soft drink has become a part of the popular culture in USA but not in South Asia.
Both Coke and Pepsi are under immense pressure in India over the pesticide issue. Demand is rising in more and more Indian states to ban their products. Coke and Pepsi bosses seem to be in a relax mood until now. They have only published some advertisements claiming that their products are safe and meet the International standard. I felt a bit surprised about it. I guess if the same thing happened in USA then these two giants would use their huge PR machineries to assure the people round the clock. May be the size of the market in India has something to do about it. After all, Indians consume soft drinks 100 times less that Americans.
What is your idea about it?
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How does it matter if American's per capita consumption is over 100 times the Indian figure? Indians do not have to ape American lifestyles nor they can be browbeaten to condone serious quality compromises made by the two most visible corporate giants. The matter should not be viewed and dealt merely as a PR exercise.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 10, 2006 8:00 AM | Permalink to Comment