An analysis of Coca Cola's media communication across global boundaries - a project in global communication as part of a master's course in Digital Media and Organizations.

1. Global Presence: Coca-Cola
Andaç Baran Cezayirlioğlu, Andrea Andiloro, Haza Newman
An analysis of Coca-Cola’s media communication across global boundaries

2. Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
2. About Coca-Cola
3. Theory
4. Method
5. Findings/Results
6. Conclusion
7. Final Questions
Coca-Cola’s media communication

3. Introduction:
Our paper focused on several Coca-Cola made advertisements,
which have reached global exposure, in order to determine how
Coca-Cola may or may not transcend borders between many
parts of the world and shape consumers as global citizens by
bringing the local to the global via their mediatized efforts.

4. About Coca-Cola:
• Coca-Cola was originally created in 1886 by John S. Pemberton and served at Jacobs’
Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia.
• By 1895, Coca-Cola was sold in every state and territory in the USA.
• The first European bottling plants opened in 1919 in Paris and Bordeaux.
• In the 1920’s and 1930’s the Coca‐Cola Company began Christmas advertising and created
iconic Santa Clause.
• By 1958, international sales outside of the US, accounted for 33% of the Coca-Cola revenue.
• By 1959 Coca-Cola had bottling operations in more than 100 countries.
• Today Coca-Cola is officially sold everywhere except North Korea and Cuba.

5. About Coca-Cola:
• Coca-Cola has established itself across the world as a cultural icon.
• Many opponents from around the world argue that Coca-Cola only depicts imagery that resembles
westernization or an America perspective.
• While the Franchise does play into spreading American culture, it also creates messages, communication
and media that share worldview perspectives, culture and events.
• In Dec. 2015, Coca-Cola was forced to pull a Mexican advert that stirred up controversy.
• Consumers, media and advocacy groups in the country deemed the advertisement offensive to Mexico’s
indigenous people.
• Despite the controversy, Coca-Cola is a global company and states that it “[strives to] to understand,
embrace and operate in a multicultural world.”
• Coca-Cola’s regional and worldwide media teams are creating these advertisements at a local level, with
the intention of advertising them locally, but often these local events make their way around the globe to
infiltrate all societies.

6. Theory:
Organizations: organic systems, which have to adapt to the changes and developments in
its environment.
The modern approach to the organization:
•
multidisciplinary,
•
the dynamic nature of communication and importance of integration of individual
and organizational interests.
The medium: the place in which organizations and individuals meet, plays an essential
role for sustainable communication and integration.

7. Theory:
The media has become a structural condition for social and
cultural practices, both within particular cultural spheres and in
society as a whole. (Livingstone 2009).
Media is now, all at once, a part of the every particular social and
cultural sphere and a semi-independent body that provides a
connection between other cultural and social institutions.
(Hjarvard, 2008)
Mediatization Theory: to consider whether and how structural
changes between the media and various social institutions or
cultural phenomena come to influence human imaginations,
relationships, and interactions.

8. Theory:
Hjarvard:
“Mediatization involves the influence and changing role of the
media in a variety of social and cultural spheres”
Mediatization studies are concerned with the role of the media in
the transformation of social and cultural affairs.
Mediatization: process of modernization of society and culture.

9. Theory:
Globalization vs. Protecting cultural elements
Globalism: the norm not only for free trade, but also for human rights, historical
and cultural studies
Cultural and political hegemony via Americanization
The connected world:
•
A stage for people from different local cultures and backgrounds,
•
A stage for performing and sharing the local one.
We will try to illustrate how different cultural and social aspects of the world are
converted to a mediated form, i.e., the cultural norms that are performed through
interaction with a medium, or in this case within Coca-Cola advertisements.

10. Content Analysis Method:
• Content analysis can be described as the scientific study of content of
communication, with reference to its’ meaning, contexts and intentions.
• Material of content analysis can be letters, diaries, newspaper content,
folk songs, short stories, messages of Radio, Television, documents, texts
or any symbols.

11. "
Communication process can be imagined as a series of steps:
1.Source
2.Message
3.Channel
4.Receiver
Between the message and the channel there is the
“Transmission”. A content analyst focuses on the
“Message”
Content Analysis Method:

12. Content Analysis Method:
Pros: Goes beyond impressionistic observations/can be both qualitative and
quantitiativ/ unobtrusive/ easy to get back to the source/ can deal with large
volume of data/minimal capital investment.
Cons: inferences limited to content of message (point of view of the
researcher)/ cannot test casual relationships

13. Content Analysis Method:
Six steps of content analysis"
• Formulation of the research question or objectives"
• Selection of communication content and samples"
• Developing of content (subject) categories"
• Finalizing units of analysis"
• Preparing a coding schedule, pilot testing and checking inter- coder
reliabilities"
• Analysing the collected data

14. Content Analysis: Results
• In our analysis we decided to focus our attentions on local and global aspects within the
commercials Coca-Cola created. "
• For local aspects we found these reoccurring themes nationality, flags, language, food,
dress, customs holiday, main colour. "
• For global we found these reoccurring themes: happiness, joy, community, celebration,
Coca-Cola camaraderie and consuming Coca-Cola.

15. Conclusion:
• As a global company Coca-Cola embraces diversity through culture, tradition and many other
values.
• In the end Coca-Cola’s first and most common message is togetherness, joy, happiness, ending
prejudice and creating a more unified world.
• They give value to diversity and expose local cultures and traditions to a global network by
displaying these common themes, through the usage of imagery and perspectives from around the
world.

16. Conclusion:
• We believe that Coca-Cola does not necessarily transcend borders, although it may infiltrate them
through the selling of their product.
• However, their mediatized efforts bring the local to the global, by showing these images in conjunction
to the general positive vibe they wish to commonly invoke within their advertisements.
• Coca-Cola does not necessarily shape consumers as global citizens, but they are making us aware of
other cultures and diversity, which is becoming increasingly more popular in the modern age.