boing

the search for an alernative to Coca-Cola has now been completed. Coca-Cola is everywhere in Mexico, and I mean everywhere. In remote villages where they on't even have water, the coke truck will inevitably come. but, there is a cooperative company called Pascual Boing, which makes juice and pop. its actually pretty famous in Mexico and a lot of people drink it. plus it tastes realy good, and they have mango and guayaba juice too.. mm.

Not only are they not Coke, and they are a cooperative company, but they are a drink company that actually does good things in the community. Boing helps out a lot of different social struggles with matericas for signs, funding, and all that. They were involved in the Casino de la Selva protests that I wrote about earlier. They also have their own fight against Coke, because in Coke's effort to control the whole world, Boing is a sharp thorn in their side. so, what has Coke done? they buy the right to sell exclusivey at popular events. A few years ago, they excluded Boing from selling at Cuernavaca's annual fair. Boing set up outside the gates and told eveyone what had happened and asked the fair-goers to block Coca-Cola. I think they actually had a pretty good response, espcially since they are actually a Mexican company, and people really don't like the invasion of US corporations.



needless to say, I am pretty obsessed with this company now. Luckily, I'm doing my internship at La Comision Independiente de Derechos Humanos, which owns a cafe where they hold events and press conferences, and guess what they sell.. Boing! I got a free key-chain out of the deal, and if I fee like it I think I could have a poster. although their posters are kind of cheesey with pictures of tough-looking fruit, so I think that may not go up on my wall. I need to find out if they sell Boing in the United States...