Coke Goes Commie?

This could be another sign of the apocalypse, evidence of how poorly educated Coca-Cola's ad execs are, or just more evidence that capitalism can coopt anything, even communism. Coke, a major sponsor of the Beijing Olympics, is using the ad slogan "red around the world."

Of course it's only coincidental that Coke's can is the same color as "red" China, but in this context it sure seems as though the Coke people are either ignorant of, or simply ignoring, the political symbolism of the color. The Foreign Policy bloggers aren't too amused, and when we remember that the "People's" Republic has killed over 70,000,000 of its own people.

Of course capitalism does have a great ability to coopt nearly anything, but in doing so it tames what was radical (e.g., Lou Reed's "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" being used to advertise the yellow pages). But what happens if we "tame" communism? Will capitalism undermine its innate hostility to human rights, or will we just come to think of communism as something cute and quaint that they do over in China, and downplay its abuses?

I suspect I'm overreacting, but this does bother me. And what really bothers me is the suspicion that nobody at Coke is having trouble sleeping at night, even while China imprisons anyone who would dare to question the idea of being red around the world.