The World of Coca Cola

Dad visited last weekend, and we took in one of Atlanta's greatest tourist traps, the World of Coca Cola. It's not so much a museum as a capitalist manifesto. Of course, anything less would be disorienting.
The first chamber is full of international Coke advertisements, and is undeniably delightful.

Then, we were herded into the first of several cinemas to watch The Happiness Factory - A Documentary, where fanciful animated creatures talk about their experiences producing Happiness in the Coke Factory. I realize that I have degrees in film and psychoanalytic thought so I am predisposed to a certain type of interpretation, but this was one of the most perverse films I've ever seen. First, there's the "woman" who is essentially describes herself as the company prostitute, whose mission is to make sure everyone is happy and satisfied, and who keeps crossing her legs and commenting about how you can see up her skirt. Uh-huh. Then, there's these little disembodied mouths that jump around and ambush characters with their caresses. Right. Then there's the gay blue-alien workers with handlebar mustaches and hardhats. Ok. Don't miss the flying blimp creature with the pierced nipples. I'm not kidding. Happiness Factory indeed!

The next areas were devoted to the history of Coca Cola and its thousands of supplementary beverages. I particularly enjoyed this unofficial Coca Cola sandwich press. Yum.

There was extensive discussion of the Coke corporate philosophy, that a Coke product should always be "within arm's reach of desire." In keeping with that, here is the Coke dispenser for the Space Shuttle.

One of the attractions is a real-life Coke bottling facility, where the vat of mystery syrup is mixed with water, carbonated, and slurped into signature contour bottles. Much fun was had watching the giant yellow robot, which seems like a lot of machine to handle four bottles at a time. Not a human worker in sight. I thought about how much fun it would be to bring my friend the union organizer here, and watch his head explode.

The big event is the tasting room - a mad free-for-all where one can sample 60-something international Coke products. I am partial to kiwi-flavoured Bibo, which comes from South Africa. I was also amused by Barq's Birch Beer, which I hope they have in Lubbock.