Cocacolonization

Cocacolonization (alternatively coca-colonization) refers to the globalization of American culture (also referred to as Americanization) pushed through popular American products such as the soft-drink brand Coca-Cola. The term is a portmanteau of the name of the multinational soft-drink maker and "colonization".

The term was first documented in 1949 in Australia

and in France, where the French Communist Party strongly opposed the further expansion of Coca-Cola. In 1948, the French finance ministry stood against "Coke" on the grounds that its operation would bring no capital to help with French recovery, and was likely to drain profits back to the parent company in the United States. The French Communist Party also warned that the Coke distribution-system would double as an espionage network.

In World War II (1939-1945) and the Cold War (1947-1991), many outside of the United States associated Coca-Cola with American culture. Seeing ties to the culture of the United States, some Europeans rejected perceived attempts to cocacolonize

their countries, objecting to what they saw as an invasion of their nationalistic identities. Europeans saw Coca-Cola not just as a carbonated refreshment, but as bottled America. By the end of the Cold War, American ideals were spread across the world by Coke and in certain cases, used to combat Communism.

Cocacolonization as a historical concept gained visibility in the Americanization debate in Europe with the 1994 publication of Reinhold Wagnleitner's book Coca-Colonization and the Cold War: The Cultural Mission of the United States in Austria After the Second World War.