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] Perspectives
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Holly Sanders
COLONIALISM
Only a
corporation
could view
Africa as a
prime market
for sugary
soft drinks
Kameron
Cole
Imagine that you are a cor
poration. You can give
yourself a name, design a
logo, and produce an an
nual report if you like — what
ever gets you in the mood. Now
consider the following conun
drum: You’ve glutted most avail
able markets, and while you’re not
doing bad, you could be doing better.
What do you do? Well, if you’re a
good corporation with any kind of
business savvy, you will do the logical
thing. You will hire a consultant to tell
you what to do and then you do it.
This is because, as difficult as it is
for some of us to believe, business is a
pretty logical enterprise. Of course, it
doesn’t use the same logic that most of
us mere mortals accept. No, corporate
logic is an entirely different beast.
Take, for example, the strange prac
tices of the Coca-Cola Co. The soft
drink behemoth hasn’t exactly been
hurting in the revenue department,
but it has recently been inspired by
that good oT corporate logic. See, Coke
doles out quite a bit of money every
year to keep tabs on how much, where
and to whom its product is being sold.
The results of this research has alerted
Coke to the fact that they have been
letting an enormous opportunity slip
away, that there are millions of poten
tial consumers just aching for their
product.
That’s right — Africa!
Coke’s research has shown that
Africans drink more water and fruit
juice than Coca-Cola. This, of course,
makes perfect sense when you consid
er that these beverages are relatively
abundant, inexpensive and healthy.
Coke, however, has managed to ignore
these facts. The way they see it,
Africa’s population is exploding, so
the number of loyal Coke drinkers
should be rising as well.
Coke’s new chairman and CEO, M.
Douglas Ivester, has drawn deeply
from the well of corporate logic to
come up
with responses to
criticisms of his
company’s increased
marketing in Africa.
The health question?
Coke is actually “quite
healthy,” he says. Fluid
replenishment is essen
tial to health and Coke is
a fluid, right? So what’s
the problem?
Forget the other re- 1
search that’s been done —
by people who don’t work for
Coca-Cola. This is research that
points to increased rates of den
tal problems in people who, even if
they could afford to get to a dentist,
would be hard pressed to find one in
their area.
And what about the questionable
ethics that have the Coca-Cola Co. pre
pared to launch a large-scale market
ing campaign designed to persuade the
poorest people in the poorest coun
tries to spend their money on bottles
of sugary syrup with trace nutritional
value?
Ivester’s answer: The presence of
“luxury” items like Coke in the mar
ketplace stimulates entrepreneurship.
Anyone who can raise $7 to purchase
a case of the beverage (no small feat in
most parts of Africa) can sell it at a
profit that he can then use to purchase
more Coke.
Sure. Fine. Whatever.
There’s no real novelty here. You
CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald
>
can see corporate logic in action every
where these days. It’s what Nike has
used for years to justify its unsavory
labor practices, and it’s how Disney
explains the fact that they’ve teamed
up with McDonald’s to tout their Ani
mal Kingdom.
Now return to your role as fictional
CEO. These things might just start to
take different dimensions. Suddenly,
people in underdeveloped countries
need soft drinks. Sweatshops are good.
And Disney loves animals — they’re
delicious! If you think like a corpora
tion, you’d be amazed at what kind of
things start to make sense to you.
Kameron Cole is a columnist for the Emer
ald. Her work appears on alternate
Wednesdays. Her views do not necessarily
represent those of the newspaper.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Heal with love
On May 21, just before school
started at Thurston High School, a
15-year-old student allegedly com
mitted an act so tragic that it will
never be forgotten. His actions have
and will change many lives. The un
thinkable that we had all feared has
become the reality that we are left
with. And what are we left with? A
murderer? A disaster? A tragedy? A
massacre? Yes, we are left with all of
these to cope with. And where do
we go from here? The healing
process is very painful and perhaps
it will never be completed. What
about the 15-year-old? He will be
subjected to an Oregon law that will
try him as an adult. He has de
stroyed many lives, and as a result,
he has destroyed his own. This
tragedy has consumed my every
thought since I heard about the
shootings. My heart goes out to all
those who are victimized by what
has happened at Thurston. Besides
the hurt and pain, 1 feel defeated. I
feel as though I am guilty. I feel part
ly responsible for all the carnage
and destruction inflicted on those
students, parents, relatives, teachers
and the community. I feel as though
my actions will ultimately affect
everyone in some manner. Negativi
ty will always produce negative ef
fects. This applies to all of us and
that is why I feel responsible for
what has happened. Somehow,
some way, each of our individual
actions and choices will affect all of
us in the long run. I firmly believe
God allows tragedy to happen so
that we can learn something from it.
The problem is that it is up to us to
learn from what has happened. And
I must ask myself, “What does this
all mean?” I now know what I had
learned and that is that I am not try
ing hard enough. I haven’t given it
my all. 1 haven’t been dedicated to
living a life for God. I had fallen
short, but now it is apparent what I
should do. I need to remember that
we are all in it together and that
what I do to someone may affect
someone else. There is far too much
pain, anguish, resentment, hatred
and death in this world; it has to
end and I know it must start with
me.
I hope that what I am saying isn’t
changing the focus of what has hap
pened. My heart goes out to those
hurt and in pain and my prayers are
with you. Kip Kinkel, 1 may not un
derstand what you have done, and I
will never quite know why you
have done what you did, but I will
also be praying for you. The healing
will happen; it will be slow, but
with the help of God it will happen.
As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
13:13, "And now these remain:
faith, hope and love. But the great
est of these is love.”
John Skalberg
Political Science
Support OSPIRG
OSPIRG is one of the few funda
mental grassroots organizations that
allow students avenues to activism
on all levels. As an organization it
promotes issues ranging from envi
ronmental education to renters’
rights — issues with direct rele
vance to all of our lives. It’s a gross
misconception that OSPIRG pro
motes its own political and environ
mental agendas because it is run by
the students for the students. Unfor
tunately, after the recent elections,
students do not associate OSPIRG
with the good it accomplishes but
with its annual budget of $147,000.
The bottom line is that it takes mon
ey to fund programs, and when bro
ken down, each student is only pay
ing $2.88 a term. OSPIRG is an
organization that has had profound
influence on this campus since
1971.1 urge you to revisit your deci
sion regarding OSPIRG and realize
that losing such an important stu
dent organization — one that pro
motes student activism, student in
volvement and student voices —
would be a loss beyond any dollar
sign.
Courtney Kroupa
ASUO Programs Administrator
Thumbs
/i
To the malfunc
tioning communi
cations satellite:
There’s nothing
wrong with tech
nology, but every
once in a white it's
nice to have a re
minder that we
shouldn't rely on it
too heavily. The re
cent problems with
a major satellite left
millions of people
in the lurch; paging
services, banking
transfers, even
news services were
delayed or lost in
space as those af
fected scrambled
to find alternatives
to the inoperative
satellite. Because it
didn’t have a per
manent effect, the
problem should do
little more than re
mind people of the
unstable nature of
technology and en
sure that organiza
tions develop and
test backup mea
sures.
To Bob Tieman:
The former state
representative re
cently placed sec
onds the primary,
putting him In a fall
runoff for the emp
ty Oregon Supreme
Court seat, Tieman
has repeatedly indi
cated he wants the
judicial seatto be
more political, and
revelations that he
received large con
tributions from
three conservative
Oregon business
men only verified
tbatTieman's
“qualification" for
the seat was his
far-right political
view, not his skill
as a litigator. As we
have stated before,
judges should not
be able to buy their
seats with dona
tions or argue their
way into seats with
popular but legally
unsound politfoai
views. The entire
purpose of the judi
cial branch is to
create a section of
governmenttbat
will objectively
evaluate laws with
out alio wing politi
cal factors to come
into play.