As I have already explored in my Bangkok Snapshot post, tourists often reach for the familiar curly red and white writing when in SE Asia, but in Cambodia especially for some this could cause a moral conflict of interests.
There is a sliding scale of the types of travellers which pass through this part of the world, ranging from a fully fledged “good time traveller” to the conscientious “cultural traveller”. The good time traveller, is here to party: the booze is cheap and plentiful, the scenery provides the perfect selfie background and they can escape that horrendous 9-5 – prime location for these travellers in Khao San Rd, tubing in Vang Vieng and the all-you-can-drink “happy hour” bucket bars which litter the streets in touristy areas. Where as the cultural traveller wants to see different people and communties in action, they want to see the “real Asian” and experience the world from a different perspective – you will find them in homestays in Sapa, cycling round the outer Wats of Siem Reap and drinking Bia Hoi on tiny plastic chairs on beer street in Vietnam. You will appreciate that these are massive generalisations and the majority of people occupy somewhere in the middle, wanting or have a drink or two but also see a different world.
For the cultural traveller in all of us, however big or small it is, drinking Coca-Cola questions our ethics. Coca-Cola in the West especially is seen as a humongous conglomerate who cares very little for the people it crushes on the way to world domination. When I was talking to 3 travellers in Phnom Penh about drinking Coke they used words like “Hate but love”, “consumerism” and “dangerous” demonstrating the negative associations the beverage has (Belching out the Devil: Global adventures with Coca-Cola by Mark Thomas is just one example of the hate felt in the western world towards Coke). And yet, these 3 same travellers, who all agree they would not drink Coke as home, 2/3 said they have been drinking it in Cambodia (one traveller was still holding out describing it as it as “a personal challenge”). This is a lot to do with the fear of becoming ill from local drinks, and also knowing exactly what you are getting.
But should the cultural traveller in us be so easily appeased by phrases like “it is just more trustworthy” or “it is familiar so I find myself reaching for it”? A quick Google of the words “Cambodia” and “Coca-Cola” throw up a surprising set of articles from the beginning of this year: “Oxfam singled out Coca-Cola and nine other global brands for not doing enough to ensure that they were sourcing their sugar ethically in a report the NGO put out in October”, sugar which infact was coming from Cambodia (Full Article here). Coca-Cola argues it had no visibility of its suppliers behaviour in Cambodia and is now investigating the accusations of land grabbing, but now not only is Coca-Cola a big bad corporate giant, it is potentially a big bad corporate giant taking advantage of Cambodia – it is enough to make your fizzy pop go flat.
However, Coca-Cola does seem to do lots to counter this poor reputation it has. Coke has something called the Coca-Cola Foundation, which, in Cambodia and across the world, allows charities and non-profit organisations to apply for funding from Coke. For example, in 2011 Coke invested 45,000USD in the Cambodian Women for Peace and Development campaign for “Communities Clean Water Supply and Sanitation”. This money went toward improving the sanitation and clean water supplies in Phnom Penh, with a focus on improving the lives of women and their children (full report here). If you look at the full list for 2011 you will find there is still an US skew to those receiving funding (potentially caused by more US charities applying for grants) but this is one of many ways which Coca-Cola tries to fight its negative reputation. The question is does it work?
I think for the cynical cultural traveller it is still the feeling that you cannot polish a turd, and Coca-Cola remains a frienemy in this foreign land – someone to stick by for now, but you secretly hate.
However, one thing which I think Coca-Cola does very well in Cambodia is keep its name out of the gutter, literally. Cambodia suffers from poor infrastructure when it comes to the cleanliness of its cities, with rubbish and suspicious looking liquids littering the streets and roadsides across the country, but one name noticeably not onto floor is Coke. I am not sure if it is a Coca-Cola initiative or government led with Coke benefitting, but plastic bottles, cans and glass bottles can all be collected up and traded in for a fee, some of the poorest people in the community go round collecting empty bottles and cans, whilst crates of glass bottles and are sent back to the bottling factories, to be washed and refilled, or used to hold homemade fuel for the mopeds which speed round Cambodia. This recycling is not a system unique to Cambodia but it has a more obvious effect in the street of Phnom Penh and alike because the streets are so poor otherwise. (This also helps highlight the class divide in Cambodia: the rich buy the Coke bottles and throw them in the bin, the poor fish out the bottles and trade them in for pennies).
But after all of this, can the cultural tourist justify their purchase of the red labelled bottle; is Coke really Cambodia’s friend? I think the answer is still ambiguous, there is a lot of suspicion in western countries towards big corporate companies like Coca-Cola and however much charity money, recycling and cleaning up their act Coke manages to achieve, they will still be regarded very cynically. In terms of drinking Coca-Cola in Cambodia, I think most cultural travellers still feel guilty, it seems like just about the least Cambodian drink you could drink in Phnom Penh, but there again no one wants to find themselves ill in the little squat hole of their home stay either. For now the cultural traveller and Coca-Cola remain allies.
Coca-Cola & Travelling Brands 