Does coca cola have a special ingredient that somehow makes us feel good and climb harder?

Marc801 C wrote:

Y'all relize that *if* she appears in a commercial, it might not even be promoting the cola. She could be extolling the virtues of rehydrating with Dasani water, or Powerade,  or how great Minute Maid orange juice is with breakfast. Or Odwalla protein shakes and energy bars. Or Honest Tea. Or the Olympics, which they've sponsored since 1928, which will have climbing competitions in 2020.

Well aware, but OP has an out-sized concern that kids will all of a sudden clamber for coca-cola now that Ashima is sponsored, so that's why the response only addresses that single product. 

So is Ashima going to get fat now from drinking all that Coke? I don't understand how Michael Phelps was able to win the olympics after eating all the McDonalds he got due to sponsorship.

Jim Turner wrote:

Kids age 5-15 don't buy their own coke?  I guess things have changed.  I remember plugging a quarter into the coke machine at swimming pools as a kid.  Couldn't have been more than 10.  Also bought coke at movie theaters, shopping malls, etc well before 16.

No reason to single out coke as bad for your health.  The reason there's so much insecticide and herbicide in it is because it's mostly corn.  Can't throw a dart in a grocery without hitting something made from corn...

Geez...sure they can physically do it, if they say, "Hey Mom, give me some money to buy snacks and soda, while I'm at the swimming pool/movie theatre/etc.". And the occasional soda isn't going to hurt anybody, right?  No more, than the insecticides and pesticides.  I'm not trying to debate the minutia of that point, only that OP's assumption that Ashima being sponsored by Coca-Cola, is going to cause young climbers en masse to drink soda by the truckload is an assumption in absurdity.

 Well aware, but OP has an out-sized concern that kids will all of a sudden clamber for coca-cola now that Ashima is sponsored, so that's why the response only addresses that single product. 

 All their drinks are rubbish and an absolute rip off. That minute maid stuff is nothing like the 'pulpy orange 'it pretends to be. They are pushing it in India right now,  just full of way too much sugar and zero vitamins left in it. 3 times the price of a fresh coconut at 40 rupees for a tiny bottle. Woman working in a rice field for the day gets 150 Rs so her breakfast will not be that rubbish but something real to keep her going. If another drink becomes popular they just take it over and buy them out straight away (not coconuts hopefully). Take the name push the price up and add more sugar. 

Aaron Guillotte  - I'm not trying to debate the minutia of that point, only that OP's assumption that Ashima being sponsored by Coca-Cola, is going to cause young climbers en masse to drink soda by the truckload is an assumption in absurdity.

  Only one truck load?  So they sponsored her for millions to increase sales by just one truck load? How many new kid climber girl coca cola drinkers have become a reality since just one picture of her lovingly clutching that coke bottle? How many when she wins the Olympics? She won't be just famous for climbers but a role model for succesful young women/girls all over the world.  

  en masse no of course not but already a few I'd say. We shouldn't underestimate the power of the 'if they do it I will too' mentality even though they probably don't especially with kids  (Phelps eating macdonalds every day, you think so?)

  (Phelps eating macdonalds every day, you think so?)

Since he was sponsored by McDonald's during the Olympics, I think he had to eat only their food until the contract was up.  I bet he ate the Filet-o-
Fish all the time since he is a swimmer.

Coeus -  Since he was sponsored by McDonald's during the Olympics, I think he had to eat only their food until the contract was up.

That sounds really hardcore like he's only allowed Mcdonalds and NOTHING else. Poor guy and did they have armed guards to make sure he didn't get other food?  Will Coca cola make it the same for Ashima. Not allowed to drink water as of course getorade/poweraid/minutemade is better for you and rehydrates the body more efficiently than real water. Everybody should know that right? 

It's only a matter of time before that very company gets a hold of a climber maybe even before the olympics which is great as we can look forward to climbers with huge logos on their clothing telling us what to consume. Mcdonalds and Coca cola it will be. God bless America. 

Aaron Guillotte wrote:

Will many people outside of the climbing community even recognize Ashima if she were to appear in a Coca Cola commercial?  Unlikely, and to most of the target demographic, she's just another person in a commercial. Will anyone in the climbing community, who does recognize Ashima, who never drank coke habitually begin just because she's sponsored? Unlikely, and to most of the climbing demographic, she's just a talented young climber who's getting paid to do what she (and we) love.  

Thank you. I'm glad someone finally said this. Agree 100%.

Pil Jungli wrote:

It's only a matter of time before that very company gets a hold of a climber maybe even before the olympics which is great as we can look forward to climbers with huge logos on their clothing telling us what to consume. Mcdonalds and Coca cola it will be. God bless America. 

I for one am grateful for this, I was pretty sure that the science that goes into McDonald's and Coca-Cola made those foods better.  

Pil Jungli wrote:

 But kids do what they want I know I certainly did. Not just me but all my friends as well. We smoked weed, drunk booze, had sex and genarally had a great time. Did you do exactly what your parents told you to do until you were 16? 

holy shit, did you have Coke too? were there sponsored booze/ciggy/weed users that influenced you to do that or did it just happen?

http://www.theinertia.com/mountain/sponsorship-study-16-year-old-climber-gets-panned-for-signing-with-coco-cola/

Pil Jungli wrote:

Hey Simply, What's with you man? What's with the baseless personal attacks and childlike name calling? 

Maybe some people are adverse to preaching, even if thinly disguised as something else.

Pil Jungli wrote further::

"Only one truck load?  So they sponsored her for millions to increase sales by just one truck load? How many new kid climber girl coca cola drinkers have become a reality since just one picture of her lovingly clutching that coke bottle? How many when she wins the Olympics? She won't be just famous for climbers but a role model for succesful young women/girls all over the world."

And perhaps that 'something else' that people are adverse to is hyperbole, exaggeration, and/or fact-less presumptions tossed about whilst you criticize other's figures of speech for being the same?
So... how much was the sponsorship worth?
(Shakes head).

Pil Jungli wrote:

Aaron Guillotte  - I'm not trying to debate the minutia of that point, only that OP's assumption that Ashima being sponsored by Coca-Cola, is going to cause young climbers en masse to drink soda by the truckload is an assumption in absurdity.

  Only one truck load?  So they sponsored her for millions to increase sales by just one truck load?

This has been bugging me ever since I read it. Dude, if you're going to rant and depend on hyperbole, at least learn to read. Aaron was talking about young climbers en masse (meaning lots) drinking by the truckload (meaning lots best measured by truckload). How you ever got to millions for one truck load can only be a result of your self-righteous outrage.

Not many companies are causing protests and riots on such a scale.

Pil Jungli wrote:

 But kids do what they want I know I certainly did. Not just me but all my friends as well. We smoked weed, drunk booze, had sex and genarally had a great time. Did you do exactly what your parents told you to do until you were 16? 

^^  And this is the guy worried about a kid drinking a soda.
Sounds like the weed and booze paid off well.
I just hope the sex didn't work out the way nature intends.

Tony B - I just hope the sex didn't work out the way nature intends. 

 Loved that one, thanks.  

T. Roper -  holy shit, did you have Coke too?             

As kids we were worried about soda and would never have wasted our limited amount of money on that overpriced crap. But we often used go round the back of all the sports clubs in the dark and take empty coca cola bottles. Just a few from each place so nobody would notice and we could keep doing it. Then we'd have enough to get the bottle refund money back and buy ourselves a bottle of cider.

So they were our sponsors in a way. A big 'Thanks a lot' to Coca cola for that!

Pil Jungli wrote:

Tony B - I just hope the sex didn't work out the way nature intends. 

 Loved that one, thanks.  

Glad you took that snark like a man!
I for one didn't want kids in my 20's, let alone teens.  Don't figure you did/do either.

Of everything you listed (and I'm no prude) the sex is the most potentially damaging (to others_ because teen pregnancy and being born to a set of teens is a pretty rough road to set a kid on these/those days just the same.  Kids do dumb stuff on weed and booze too... like get pregnant.

But I am sure you could see it as ironic all the things you say you did that can have consequences as well... but you are worried about coca cola.

Shit, I was too scared of having kids to actually have one until I was 40+.  Now I have one and I tell you what, I still fret over doing that right.  Some day she'll call me from college and give me a list of all the shit I did wrong and how it messed her up in ways I did not foresee and I hope the list is short.  And I'll feel outright blessed if the worst thing I did was hand her a coca cola.

Tony B wrote:

And perhaps that 'something else' that people are adverse to is hyperbole, exaggeration, and/or fact-less presumptions tossed about whilst you criticize other's figures of speech for being the same?
So... how much was the sponsorship worth?
(Shakes head).

An educated guess is it wasn't for peanuts (to Ashima, not CC). As for how much increased coke consumption it'll lead to, well, an educated guess is the bean counters thought they'd profit quite a bit from the sponsorship in ways of increased sale, so probably not a couple of bottles.

Still, that doesn't mean we get to judge Ashima.

OT, in grad school, I inadvertently got a classmate addicted to energy drinks (really screwed him up at one point). I didn't even hand him one, I just frequently drank one to get through a long class. It wasn't my fault, and I didn't make any money from my action, but I sure didn't feel good about the whole thing either.

Tony b - Of everything you listed (and I'm no prude) the sex is the most potentially damaging (to others_ because teen pregnancy and being born to a set of teens is a pretty rough road to set a kid on these/those days just the same.  Kids do dumb stuff on weed and booze too... like get pregnant.  

 Totally agree. Kids above 11 or 12 are full of hormones so want to experiment, that's life. But somehow even though experimental. daft and promiscious as we were as teenage kids not many of our gang ever got 'up the stick' as we call it (getting pregnant in North England) because we all knew what a disaster that would be. For most of us death from an overdose would have been preferable so all of us (girls and boys) were all super careful stoned or not. You can't tell teenagers don't otherwise they will but you can tell them just be fucking carefully. Having said that the few that did have children young that I still know ended up with great kids. You can't generalize. 

But I am sure you could see it as ironic all the things you say you did that can have consequences as well... but you are worried about coca cola.

 As for the irony well yes obviously drugs and drinking are far worse than coca cola (even if much more fun). That's not the reason for my deep hatred of this company. It's much more than that. It's the way they have tried to take over the whole world with almost no ethical considerations at all. Only profit matters nothing else and in 3rd world countries it looks like much more than 'just a bottle of soda' when people see it like a majical drink with beneficial effects. Even the way people look at the bottle like it's something so special. I'm hurt when people say, "if that guy spends half his wages that's his own fault" as he hasn't been exposed to subliminal advertising yet so his brain can't reject it like we can. Okay in the west it's causing obesity and other problems but in the 3rd world it's doing much more damage than that. Psychologically, physically and environmentally. 

And I'll feel outright blessed if the worst thing I did was hand her a coca cola.

 Yes of course but it's getting the balance between good influence and being over controlling. Not easy, good luck with that!!  I remember a certain now famous English climber telling me his dad gave him a tab of LSD for his 16 th birthday and he took it and loved him for it. It's not a coca cola or a glass of wine but each to his own right? 

I'm not saying it's right but he became one of the best climbers (trad) and also a super nice guy. 

So... at this point you admit that this entire discussion had 0 to do with climbing, but rather with your deep hatred of cocacola, right?
I'm not in love with them myself, but I am aware that most coke is syrup and is bottled/canned locally by a bottler.  And likely that the stuff in India was not coke's fault directly other than negligence, but rather the bottler, who was probably using bad water.  I'd have to look into it further.
I used to say that the US economy was F'd as soon as the thai farmers realized that they didn't need or want a pepsi, burger, and britney spears CD... that an education would be better gained.  But the world has yet to come to that.
Imagine if every $ spent on coffee and designer handbags in this country were instead given to charity.
(For the record, I've never spent a cent on either... but I know I also have my vices.)