Have a Coke and a Spire

The worldwide leader in soft drink sales, Coca Cola, has a strong presence in beer frenzied Munich. Here you see one of its many coin-operated soda machines with an image of a spire from the Frauenkirche and the gold Angel of Peace. The creative use of local images is only part of a restructuring of Coca Cola operations throughout Germany to try and recoup much of the market share it lost between 2000 and 2005. European Coke operations have traditionally been hampered by Germany, where Coca Cola refused to change its bottling to support a new deposit/recycling law, which led to negative public impact. In addition, they were accused in 2003 of blocking efforts to unionize, which led to boycotts in Munich. But Coke has had a major marketing push and revamped its distribution to maintain about 55% of the market – down from its 65% share in the 90s.