Editing Cocacolonization (section)

== Significance ==

=== Health factors ===
Medical experts use the term cocacolonization in their medical journals representing the spread of unhealthy American foods overseas.<ref name=":8" />

A significant shift in nutrition has occurred. Developed nations export processed foods that are high in [[trans fats]] and refined [[sugar]] to developing nations, causing a change from previous methods of survival such as hunting and gathering.<ref name=":8"/>

Cocacolonization has been linked to the spike in [[Type 2 diabetes]], obesity, and increased risk for cardiovascular diseases because of the connection between economic situation and low costs of high fat, high sugar foods.<ref name=":8" />

Due to an increase in tourism in their area, the Mayan tribe in the [[Yucatán Peninsula]] experienced a decline in health because they were introduced to unhealthy American foods. They became increasingly dependent on the foods.<ref name=":6" /> Similarly, the Tz'utujill tribe in Guatemala was also introduced to the same food and encountered the same decline in health.<ref name=":7" /> Worldwide, type 2 diabetes spread and steadily increased over the next 20 years. The explanation for their decline in health was cocacolonization.<ref name=":8" />

=== Widespread ===
As of 2015, Coca-Cola has been distributed to over 200 countries worldwide.<ref name=":9">{{Cite news|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlzn0JOqGDU|title = Globalization of Coca Cola|last1 = Wallace|first1 = Kristin|date = 2012|work = Video|last2 = Koch|first2 = Jillian}}</ref> A few of the many countries consist of [[China]], [[Guatemala]], [[Papua New Guinea]], [[Mexico]], [[Russia]], [[Canada]], [[United Kingdom]], [[Algeria]], and [[Libya]].<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/10791/The-Cola-Conquest--Part-III--Coca-Colonization|title = The Cola Conquest, Part III: Coca-Colonization|last = Angelico|first = Irene|date = 1998|work = Documentary}}</ref> According to the company, "Coca-Cola is the second-most understood term in the world behind "okay."<ref name=":9" />

Coca-Cola as a product has stretched across international borders to create a brand. “In much political, academic and conversational rhetoric the term Coca-Cola comes to stand, not just for a particular soft drink, but also for the problematic nature of commodities in general. It is a meta-commodity. … It may stand for commodities or capitalism, but equally Imperialism or Americanization.”<ref name=":10">Miller, D. (1998). Coca-Cola: a black sweet drink from Trinidad. ''Material cultures: Why some things matter'', 169-187.</ref> Cocacolonization as referring to the spread of American culture and/or brands; Coca-Cola is an example of the widespread infrastructure of westernized capitalism and consumerism. There have been several notable pushbacks against Cocacolonization. In 2012, Bolivia's Foreign Minister [[David Choquehuanca]] (alongside President [[Evo Morales]]) unsuccessfully tried to place a ban on Coca-Cola in a move against Western imperialism and capitalism.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Blackstone |first1=Samuel |title=Bolivia Reportedly Planning To Ban Coca-Cola On Last Day Of Mayan Calendar |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/bolivia-to-ban-coca-cola-starting-december-21st-2012-8 |website=Business Insider |publisher=Insider Inc.}}</ref>

Coca-Cola operates via franchises;<ref name=":10" /> therefore, for areas to benefit from its production, local bottling plants are required. Trinidad obtained the franchise in 1939, so in Trinidad Coke was bottled by the firm of Cannings - which, like other older colonial firms, was taken over, in Cannings' case in 1975.<ref name=":10" />

In Trinidad, sweet drinks are not viewed as luxury items, but instead as everyday items of the common man.<ref name=":10" /> In relation to Coca-Cola, “the centrality of the black sweet drink to Trinidadian drinking is above all summed up in the notion of a “rum and Coke” as the core alcoholic drink for most people of the island.”<ref name=":10" /> Having a common drink that requires the existence of an exact sweet drink emphasizes its hold on the local environment.