Canned Laughter

I HAD ANOTHER great giggle after reading Mark Thomas' excellent article in New Statesman this week. As soon as I turned to the contents page, it screamed out at me: "Mark Thomas discovers Coca-Cola's Nazi links"
Sure enough, Mark's article was true to form. A real eye opener and so well written it made me want to give up. The crux of the matter is that while very visibly supporting the Good ol' US Army, the Cola company (In the form of Coca-Cola GmbH) was busy supporting the Nazi party by advertising in its magazines, sponsoring the 1936 Olympics and clinching deals to employ slave workers in German occupied territories.
Not only that, but, as Mark writes "When Coca-Cola GmbH could no longer get the syrup from America to make Coke, it invented a new drink specifically for the Nazi beverage market out of the ingredients available to it. That drink was Fanta. Yessiree," Mark says, "Fanta is the drink of Nazis!"
To celebrate this emerging bit of news, Mark had a look for any existing nazi-cola advertisements that could have been around at the time. Not surprisingly, the modern Coca-Cola company doesn't keep them in lobbies as handy postcards.
Which is why he decided to set up a little bit of an exhibition. The Coca-Cola Challenge was a free exhibition that waved two fingers at a corporate giant and promoted amateur artists at the same time. Naturally I just had to take a look!

The Nancy Victor Gallery is about as easy to find as WMD. Although I had the address written very clearly in my magazine, I couldn't help but wonder if the article hadn't been sexed up... But, on the fourth trip along Charlotte Street, I found it nestled down in a basement at the bottom of a set of narrow steps. I knew this was an independant activity, but I hadn't expected such a literal interpretation of an underground movement.
Anyway. it was a blast. Some of the entries were great food for thought, and some were simply hilarious. Pictures of Hitler standing with a bottle, emblazened with "Ein Coke, Ein Reich Ein Fuhrer" or "Ein Volk, Ein Drink, Nationalcolalitsen". There were pictures of Arian women feeding their babies Fanta in bottles and signs declaring Coca Cola "Proud Sponsors or the 1936 Berlin Olympics"
It was an hour well spent. And my one regret is that I hadn't heard about the exhibition in time to include an effort of my own.
Still, I signed the visitors book, ending with the words: "Now that I'm all fired up, I'm off for a nice cold glass of Sprite!"
The Independent has also covered the story, just in case you're still wondering what it's all about.
One last thought: Since the design for the VW Beetle was passed for use as a Staff Car for the Nazi Party, I look forward to seeing Mark giving Volkswagen the same treatment very soon.