WHAT IS THE ‘COCA COLA EFFECT’? Have noticed recently the mass...
ɖʀʊӄքǟ ӄʊռʟɛʏ 🇧🇹🇹🇩@kunley_drukpa
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Jan 11, 2026
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WHAT IS THE ‘COCA COLA EFFECT’?
Have noticed recently the mass appearance of AI in the memetic ecosystems of third world countries, as in quoted tweet below - AI songs, AI posters, AI social media posts etc. are increasingly ubiquitous. A possibly unique feature of this AI cascade in the third world is just how prevalent this AI is in third world public life, I would say anecdotally much more so than in western countries. You wonder, why does nobody seem to care that there is this (as many would consider it) AI ‘slop’ so-called everywhere? What is happening?
Think part of this AI prevalence functions in a similar way to how other aspects of “modernity” already have. It’s difficult to describe this downstream effect but let’s be reductive about it and call it the ‘Coca Cola Effect’. Many people in the third world drink a lot of Coca Cola. Why? Because Coca Cola is much better than anything they had before. Have talked about this before - remember walking into a supermarket into a certain African country and finding rows and rows of shelves stacked with Coca Cola. A really really disgusting amount of Coca Cola. Thought, who is drinking this much Coca Cola? Well, it turned out the locals were - because they like drinking Coca Cola. Coca Cola is fun, enjoyable and easy to drink, it ‘tastes nice’, it is ‘accessible’, why would you not drink Coca Cola instead of water? There isn’t much else available to drink, the choice is obvious
This isn’t a value judgement, it’s easy enough to see because people vote with their feet (and stomachs) - especially where there isn’t really any extant social pressure or framework to be particularly discerning about what you consume. They enthusiastically adopt western things because those things are often a genuine improvement on what was available before, if there even was a native alternative. AI is going to do the same thing for a lot of entertainment etc. most likely for exactly the same reason. Many people think of it as janky unreliable ‘slop’ but (even outside of those occasional times when it can be good - which are often largely because of the tastes and discernments of the individual people using it as a creative tool) in the case of eg music it’s far more interesting and stimulating sonically than most of their own music - or is at least an adequate replacement for it insofar as it meets consumer demands vis-á-vis ‘the kinds of things they already actually like’ ‘at their level’. You can see it already with AI art. They genuinely like it and think it’s good and compared to what was available it often is
If an American or European restaurant used AI to design signage and a menu and a visual identity unless it was ‘really really good’ it would be pretty suspect, maybe even ‘low status’ so-called. But if a third-world restaurant did it it would be a level of polish and professionalisation far beyond what they would normally be expected to do you might even be impressed. I remember in a certain Latin American country a few months ago I saw a motorbike rental company that had made posters advertising in a ‘Studio Ghibli CHATGPT’ aesthetic. ‘RENT A BIKE’ and then it was some anime Latinas driving motorbikes through a tropical Ghiblesque beachside town. Thought, that’s very cool. Even when this eg AI signage isn’t done professionally it still generally looks ‘fairly decent’ or at least ‘basically fine’ as compared to the other signage in its surroundings
To the ‘Coca Cola Effect’ again, Coca Cola as sugary, unhealthy sludge but it tastes nice so it is better than brackish, warm bottled water. The ‘Coca Cola Effect’ is the preference for products or attitudes that are in some important way ‘better’ than existing products or attitudes even if those products or attitudes are considered ‘lower status’ or ‘slop’ by more discerning people
Have noticed recently the mass appearance of AI in the memetic ecosystems of third world countries, as in quoted tweet below - AI songs, AI posters, AI social media posts etc. are increasingly ubiquitous. A possibly unique feature of this AI cascade in the third world is just how prevalent this AI is in third world public life, I would say anecdotally much more so than in western countries. You wonder, why does nobody seem to care that there is this (as many would consider it) AI ‘slop’ so-called everywhere? What is happening?
Think part of this AI prevalence functions in a similar way to how other aspects of “modernity” already have. It’s difficult to describe this downstream effect but let’s be reductive about it and call it the ‘Coca Cola Effect’. Many people in the third world drink a lot of Coca Cola. Why? Because Coca Cola is much better than anything they had before. Have talked about this before - remember walking into a supermarket into a certain African country and finding rows and rows of shelves stacked with Coca Cola. A really really disgusting amount of Coca Cola. Thought, who is drinking this much Coca Cola? Well, it turned out the locals were - because they like drinking Coca Cola. Coca Cola is fun, enjoyable and easy to drink, it ‘tastes nice’, it is ‘accessible’, why would you not drink Coca Cola instead of water? There isn’t much else available to drink, the choice is obvious
This isn’t a value judgement, it’s easy enough to see because people vote with their feet (and stomachs) - especially where there isn’t really any extant social pressure or framework to be particularly discerning about what you consume. They enthusiastically adopt western things because those things are often a genuine improvement on what was available before, if there even was a native alternative. AI is going to do the same thing for a lot of entertainment etc. most likely for exactly the same reason. Many people think of it as janky unreliable ‘slop’ but (even outside of those occasional times when it can be good - which are often largely because of the tastes and discernments of the individual people using it as a creative tool) in the case of eg music it’s far more interesting and stimulating sonically than most of their own music - or is at least an adequate replacement for it insofar as it meets consumer demands vis-á-vis ‘the kinds of things they already actually like’ ‘at their level’. You can see it already with AI art. They genuinely like it and think it’s good and compared to what was available it often is
If an American or European restaurant used AI to design signage and a menu and a visual identity unless it was ‘really really good’ it would be pretty suspect, maybe even ‘low status’ so-called. But if a third-world restaurant did it it would be a level of polish and professionalisation far beyond what they would normally be expected to do you might even be impressed. I remember in a certain Latin American country a few months ago I saw a motorbike rental company that had made posters advertising in a ‘Studio Ghibli CHATGPT’ aesthetic. ‘RENT A BIKE’ and then it was some anime Latinas driving motorbikes through a tropical Ghiblesque beachside town. Thought, that’s very cool. Even when this eg AI signage isn’t done professionally it still generally looks ‘fairly decent’ or at least ‘basically fine’ as compared to the other signage in its surroundings
To the ‘Coca Cola Effect’ again, Coca Cola as sugary, unhealthy sludge but it tastes nice so it is better than brackish, warm bottled water. The ‘Coca Cola Effect’ is the preference for products or attitudes that are in some important way ‘better’ than existing products or attitudes even if those products or attitudes are considered ‘lower status’ or ‘slop’ by more discerning people
ɖʀʊӄքǟ ӄʊռʟɛʏ 🇧🇹🇹🇩@kunley_drukpa
Keep hearing AI music being played in public spaces in Latin America. Thought I was imagining it at first but it kept happening again and again and again; clunky, nonsense lyrics with an AI cadence. Imagine you are in a shabby supermarket in some boderline-favela surroundings trying to buy a Coke Zero and then you hear this being played through speakers in English in a robotic autotune voice:
“Oh wow, mysterious lady on the dance floor,
Oooooh, oh my goodness, uh huh,
You’re moving so bold,
My internal monologue is awkward and cold.
I would like to engage in romantic events,
Consensual, mutual, adult intents.
From across the room, girl, this isn’t a parade
No, no,
Let me put my hands on your hips baby, we’ll end this seductive charade”
Think they must be YouTube searching something like ‘Pop Music 3 Hours Taylor Swift’ or ‘NUEVA MÚSICA AMERICANA 10 HORAS ÚLTIMOS ÉXITOS’ and then just pressing play. “Yeah that sounds about right, that sounds like what English language music normally sounds like.” Assume it isn’t a licensing issue because it’s not like anybody cares what some random Guatelombian tienda is playing
In a way too it really contributes to the ‘vibe’ of the environments you often find yourself in - there is dilapidated barrio and then there is dilapidated barrio con las vibraciones de MIX MUSICA DE MODA 2024 LAS MEJORES CANCIONES ACTUALES 2024. It’s such a shabby inauthenticity it somehow wraps back round again to being a kind of actually authentic cultural expression (for better or worse)
“Oh wow, mysterious lady on the dance floor,
Oooooh, oh my goodness, uh huh,
You’re moving so bold,
My internal monologue is awkward and cold.
I would like to engage in romantic events,
Consensual, mutual, adult intents.
From across the room, girl, this isn’t a parade
No, no,
Let me put my hands on your hips baby, we’ll end this seductive charade”
Think they must be YouTube searching something like ‘Pop Music 3 Hours Taylor Swift’ or ‘NUEVA MÚSICA AMERICANA 10 HORAS ÚLTIMOS ÉXITOS’ and then just pressing play. “Yeah that sounds about right, that sounds like what English language music normally sounds like.” Assume it isn’t a licensing issue because it’s not like anybody cares what some random Guatelombian tienda is playing
In a way too it really contributes to the ‘vibe’ of the environments you often find yourself in - there is dilapidated barrio and then there is dilapidated barrio con las vibraciones de MIX MUSICA DE MODA 2024 LAS MEJORES CANCIONES ACTUALES 2024. It’s such a shabby inauthenticity it somehow wraps back round again to being a kind of actually authentic cultural expression (for better or worse)
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If you want to reconcile with ‘modernity’ so-called you have to confront the ‘Coca Cola Effect’ and recognise that ‘modernity’ is in many important ways much better than what came before - principle that even applies to eg the issue of TFR
ɖʀʊӄքǟ ӄʊռʟɛʏ 🇧🇹🇹🇩@kunley_drukpa
I remember visiting a supermarket in a certain African country that had maybe four entire aisles filled entirely with Coca Cola. As in this picture but stretching on down the entire store. Just Coca Cola. Some people were chugging it like water or even in lieu of water
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RE TFR - what are you offering people that is tastier and easier to drink than Coca Cola? Maybe a lecture on the importance of family and how rewarding children are… but this takes a lot of effort, severely curtails your freedoms, is expensive… people might still prefer Coke
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Thanks to Lin and Guilherme
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True to a certain extent
