Xela, Guatemala: On the Abundance of Soda
Action
Walking around the towns of Guatemala, we often encountered the sight below.
As part of our language school, we heard lectures about the history and politics of Guatemala, where we learned facts such as: less than 20% of Guatemalans have access to potable tap water.
Reflection
I would mumble to myself each time I passed a soda truck unloading in front of a shop, “Don’t worry, People of Guatemala! There’s enough Pepsi for everyone! Your tap water (assuming you have running water) may be filled with diarrhea-causing parasites. Your hospitals may be short of medicine. You may not be able to afford to send your children to school. You may be unemployed. There is, however, enough Pepsi to go round.”
In other words, what made me most irate was the sheer abundance of an unhealthy product in a land where basic needs aren’t being met. Then I would start to think about all the money that Pepsi was spending to supply Guatemalans with soft drinks. Does it cost more to produce soda, fill and deliver bottles, and advertise the product than to purify drinking water? Why does Pepsi get to decide what Guatemalans drink?
Question
What did you think when you saw the picture? Did the statistic about access to drinking water change what you thought?
Walking around the towns of Guatemala, we often encountered the sight below.
As part of our language school, we heard lectures about the history and politics of Guatemala, where we learned facts such as: less than 20% of Guatemalans have access to potable tap water.
Reflection
I would mumble to myself each time I passed a soda truck unloading in front of a shop, “Don’t worry, People of Guatemala! There’s enough Pepsi for everyone! Your tap water (assuming you have running water) may be filled with diarrhea-causing parasites. Your hospitals may be short of medicine. You may not be able to afford to send your children to school. You may be unemployed. There is, however, enough Pepsi to go round.”
In other words, what made me most irate was the sheer abundance of an unhealthy product in a land where basic needs aren’t being met. Then I would start to think about all the money that Pepsi was spending to supply Guatemalans with soft drinks. Does it cost more to produce soda, fill and deliver bottles, and advertise the product than to purify drinking water? Why does Pepsi get to decide what Guatemalans drink?
Question
What did you think when you saw the picture? Did the statistic about access to drinking water change what you thought?
3 Comments:
At 3:33 PM, Jen said…
You know, it's true. It's crazy that they don't have running water and medicine and jobs, etc. And it's probably cheaper to purify water than to make Pepsi and ship it down there.
But there's one thing . .. Pepsico isn't in the business of purifying water or making medicines. They make soda. That's what they do. And - while all of these things are true that you mentioned - I still think, well, the crazy thing is that people there must be buying it if Pepsi is willing to ship it there and sell it.
People complain about television shows being horrible .. the reality show thing, etc. But it's really really simple with that too (I work at a tv station and I've witnessed how money talks for ads). If people stopped watching it, advertisers wouldn't buy advertising time during the shows, and then the show would be dropped because the station wasn't making any money. But somehow the shows are still on. And why is that? Because as much as people like to complain, they STILL KEEP WATCHING IT.
Now, I don't think it's right that there isn't clean water in Guatemala. And it would be great if someone would do something about it. It would be great publicity for Pepsi (or anyone else) if they came and helped with the water problem in Guatemala. And yeah, you have to question, "what made Pepsi sell in Guatemala to begin with?"
But now that there appears to be a market for Pepsi in Guatamala (who knew?), you can't exactly blame Pepsi for selling the stuff and not fixing other problems. If the people of Guatemala stopped buying it, Pepsi would leave. Or, they would do a great 'clean the water' or 'provide medicine' campaign to get everyone to love them and buy their product again.
Yeah, it's sick. But responsibility is on both sides - the business and the consumer.
At 7:51 PM, Renate said…
I know Pepsi is in the business of selling soda, but seeing the shiny abundance of Pepsi in a country that lacks abundance was a concrete example of a lot of academic ideas about economics that I had read about. Having such a concrete example led me to the following questions for producers and consumers.
- Why couldn't the gov't of Guatemala say to Pepsi, "We're sorry, you can only sell your product here if you pay import duties high enough to help us subsize a water program and we're going to add a sales tax on soda to pay for all the dental damage caused by your sugary product."?
- Why couldn't Pepsi just sit back and decide that it makes enough money in the US and Europe and it doesn't really need to sell in Guatemala?
- Why did that first shop owner in the small town agree to buy soda from the Pepsi distributor? Why didn't she laugh at him and say, "My customers already have plenty of fresh and tasty beverages available to them." (so true. I love the fresh juices here)
- Why does someone decide for the first time to go past the fresh squeezed OJ stand and buy a Pepsi instead?
I know that these questions are naive, but I still don't know the asnwers.
At 6:44 PM, Jen said…
See, but your questions show that both sides are to blame - not just Pepsi.
If the consumer and the government really didn't want Pepsi there, they could easily keep it out - but not buying it and doing things like import fees like you mentioned.
And I don't really know why Pepsi would want to try to sell in Guatemala to begin with - you'd think someone would have stopped that from the beginning. Hmm, poor country without running watr - they won't have money for Pepsi.
As much as I'm not a fan of Pepsi, I just had to say that the blame can be spread around ...
I've gotten annoyed by this too, here. So many unnecessary things being marketed to people who still need the necessities. But then, if only "necessities" can be sold, that's not quite right. It's not an easy answer - definitely. Every time I think - it's x's fault, then I think of something else and go, it's y's fault. It's way more complex.
But then, I don't understand why people who live in a shack buy $50,000 vehicles and brand name clothes. Or why people who barely have enough food to eat can somehow find the money to fund a pack-a-day smoking habit. And equally, I don't know how someone can run a tobacco company, knowing they are selling a product that kills people.
Basically - It's frustrating, and it seems like there should be such an easy solution, but there's really not. I feel your frustration and disgust.
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