A popular culture

What is culture? We can find hundreds of definitions from books. According to  the anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor, culture is “In anthropology, the integrated system of socially acquired values, beliefs, and rules of conduct which delimit the range of accepted behaviors in any given society.” So culture is a system of beliefs, value and rules of behavior. The Korean people share about the same values, beliefs and rules of conduct no matter where they are. So what those Korean people observe is the Korean culture.

 

What is popular culture? Popular culture is a phase of culture but it is popular in that it is in fashion in a limited geographical, national and time limit. Culture is like a color palette  and popular culture is like one swatch in it.

 

When I think of popular culture I  must talk about the American  coca cola culture. Coca cola is a most famous drink in the world and it has hundred of years of history. People like it since it has many air bubbles so that after you drink it you will get a burp and that may make you feel comfortable. People like coco cola and drink it. In fact, drinking coco cola has become a popular culture.

 

Why do I say drinking coco cola has become a pop culture? There are a number of reasons.

 

First of all, as a commodity, coco cola has a lot of buyers. It is sold in almost all countries in the world. Because it is sold all over the world, it must have a lot of buyers. In this sense, drinking coco cola must be “popular”.

 

Coco cola is sold and consumed all over the world and at the same time, it has been having a profound influence in people’s life.

 

One way to observe its influence is to look at the advertisements it carries at big national and international mass activities such as sports meets. Coco cola ads appear so often in those sports activities that when people see coco cola and/or the coco cola brand they will think of sports. As a result, coco cola has been linked with the concept of health, vigour and youth.

 

That could probably explain why especially young people like to drink coco cola. While it is true that young people like to drink coco cola because coco cola is sweet and has some stimulating tastes, young people like to drink coco cola also because they want to appear healthy and vigorous by dinking coco cola.

 

Coco cola is sold in easy to open containers such as cans and plastic bottles. You don’t have to prepare it in any way as you would when you drink tea or coffee. You just pop open the container and drink it. Because it is easy to carry and drink, it is consumed especially by people who are on the move, for example, when traveling in vehicles, camping and touring. This feature of coco cola has made it widely accepted by people who are mostly on the go. In here, don’t forget people who are on the move are mostly businessmen and young people. Businessmen are generally people who have an establishment in the society and most probably have money and young people are generally people who are vigorous and have a bright future. So, drinking coco cola will give the drinker an appearance of being among the businessmen and young people. No wonder especially young people like to drink coco cola.

 

Coco cola originated from US. The procedure by which it has conquered the world should make people think of how US is a super businessman in the world. Anyone, as a person or as a business, will want to be successful in whatever he does. When they look at coca cola, they may feel they see a good example of striving and success. So, to them, coco cola is not only a drink but it is also a symbol of successful enterprise.

The US is a big and powerful country. It is true that many people in the world do not think of good of US because it interfere with many countries’ affairs but at the same time many people do have to admit that being powerful is a good thing anyway in itself. So they project their envy of US onto this drink of coco cola.

 

A good country or a bad country, US plays a central role on the international stage. Nowadays, though there are not as many US products sold internationally as Japanese products and Chinese products, US still stays an important figure in people heart. Coco cola is one of the few products still being sold all over the world and it still keeps a big and firm share in the international drink market. So coco cola is even more a symbol of American success in the business realm. It holds an important place in the heart of those who takes US as a financial giant.

 

Coco cola is, then, widely taken as a sign of success, health, wealth and vigour. All these are good things to have in life. Why, then, do people not like it?

 

Coco cola is appraised not only as a good product of drink but it is admired and enjoyed by its lovers. To drink it is one thing, to be “in” for it is another and to be “in” for it is an even more significant purpose of drinking it.

 

Culture, as is said above, is a system of norms. Coco cola, as well as drinking coco cola, carries with it a norm. Because it is a symbol of being healthy, wealthy, vigorous, etc, it carries a system of value and norm of conducts. In this sense, coco cola and drinking coco cola is a culture in itself and it is a popular culture.

 

Popular culture is supposed to be short in life as opposed to “culture”. Will drinking coco cola be short in life? Till now, there is no sign of it. Judging by its life of success and by how it is still widely accepted, admired and participated in, it is safe to imagine that drinking coco cola will be there for a long, long time.  Nowadays, people of any social status will drink coco cola. Just as a famous postmodernism artist once said, pointing to a can of coco cola, to Elizabeth Taylor: “See, though you are a famous movie star, you are drinking the simple drink which anyone drinks.” Maybe one day, drinking coco cola is “refined” and will be among people of “high” social status only. Then, drinking coco cola may become a “high culture”. For a pop culture to develop into a high culture seems to be a good thing in that development is good anyway. But on my part, I do hope that coco cola remains “popular” as it is today.