The executives of Coca-Cola in Latin America should be taking a hint from social media and reconsidering their decision to change the formula of Mexican Coca-Cola, also known as "Mexicoke." Foodies, cola aficionados and Mexicoke fans have long claimed that Mexican Coca-Cola tastes better than American Coca-Cola due to the simple fact that Mexican Coca-Cola uses cane sugar and American Coca-Cola uses controversial sweetener high-fructose corn syrup. But the executive of Coca-Cola Latin America have made the decision to "move to more fructose" in order to maintain profits and keep prices the same for Mexican consumers after the government of Mexico passed a soda tax.
RELATED: Mexican Coke Switching To Corn Syrup From Cane Sugar; 4 Reasons Why This Shift Is Terrible
The soda tax was passed with relatively noble intentions: Mexico is suffering from an obesity epidemic -- statistics suggest that more than 70 percent of Mexico's population is overweight and a study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) found that Mexico is the fattest nation in the world -- and the government believes that a tax will dissuade Mexican consumers from drinking soda. The consumption of soda in Mexico is significant, as Mexicans drink more Coca-Cola products per capita than consumers from any other region of the world. Quantitative statistics have found that the average Mexican consumes 728 8-ounce soda beverages a year, which is a stark contrast to the 403 8-ounce soda beverages the average American consumes.
Shocked? There's more. Mexicans spend $14.3 billion on soft drinks annually and in some parts of the country, Mexicans have more access to soda than clean water. Given these facts, it's no surprise that the government wants to intervene with the soda consumption of Mexicans. The exact tax the government slapped on is that is one peso (or $0.08, at 13 pesos to the dollar) per liter of soda sales. Simply put, the soda tax has been controversial as consumers are outraged at the notion of an extra tax. But the decision to change the recipe of Mexican Coca-Cola has also been met with outrage by consumers, and Latin Times readers. Many readers have taken to Twitter to share their thoughts and we've compiled a few of their tweets:
Gertie Murray: “@atxhipsters: Mexican Coke Switching To Corn Syrup From Cane Sugar; 4 Reasons Why This Shift Is Terrible http://t.co/KkkItQ9B1e” NOOOO!"
Michael I Goran, PhD: "Negative impact of Mexican soda tax - Coke already says will switch to HFCS because it is cheaper than sugar http://t.co/3UawGPlBmc"
John Wenzel: "The last good thing in the world is dead. I may be overreacting here, but still: http://t.co/uE2Ugf11Dx #RIPMexicanCoke"
Jason Connell: "booo hisss @CocaCola http://t.co/5u3mcGBhUh"
Cathuselah Cai: "http://t.co/YAAsnDuCKm Wait what. THERE'S NO REASON FOR ME TO BUY MEXICAN COKE ANYMORE"
Eric Shultz: "Noo!, one less sugary beverage to tempt me though: Mexican Coke Switching To Corn Syrup From Cane Sugar;http://t.co/wxUU2ndbdy"
Eric Elkins: "F**K. RT @johnwenzel: The last good thing in the world is dead. May be overreacting here, but still: http://t.co/KxfxHg3FiM #RIPMexicanCoke"
Lukas Hodge: "You bastards. "Mexican Coke Switching To Corn Syrup From Cane Sugar" http://t.co/3LYtP6yQGn"
Erin Fan @LadyGameLyric: "This better be a 5th of November prank / joke. latintimes.com/articles/9881/… via @thelatintimes @gundamman #RIPMexicanCoke"
Devin Pike @justdevin: "This is not groovy. At all. http://m.latintimes.com/articles/9881/20131104/mexican-coke-coca-cola-sugar-cane-fructose.htm … #RIPMexicanCoke"
Georgie @BoysAXE: "Man, eating Taco Truck will never be the same again... http://t.co/I6bkyAOrTs"
Anthony Smith: "In all honesty, this could be the saddest thing to happen to me this year: http://t.co/GPgwxBdf5U #RIPMexicanCoke"
Roman Flute: "This is unacceptable! ---> RT @justdevin: This is not groovy. At all. http://t.co/HHClyZleNz #RIPMexicanCoke"
Joe Garcia: "What fresh hell is this MT @LadyGameLyric: This better be a 5th of November prank/joke. http://t.co/6FDTePpdQ4 #RIPMexicanCoke"
The Kavalier: "I'm filing this under "fuck this bullshit" http://t.co/zzzTpetF9E #RIPMexicanCoke"
Ed Espinoza: "And this sounds like a *really* bad idea: Mexican Coke Switching To Corn Syrup From Cane Sugar http://t.co/useFEOq4Ig"
Conor Kilpatrick: "I rarely drink soda anymore and when I do it’s usually Mexican Coke... so this sucks. http://t.co/Yda3bV3vak #RIPMexicanCoke"
Wonder: "Mexican Coke to start using High Fructose Corn Syrup. First the Heady Topper news, now this. http://t.co/QraoMpbHvu"
Wayne Cordova: "Mexican Coke Switching To Corn Syrup From Cane Sugar! @PaulCastelli Talk me down off the ledge! http://t.co/CGWRZYSA1o"
Greg Fanslau: "It's official: Nothing is sacred! #RIPMexicanCoke http://t.co/gF9p0a8jPL"
Ra's al Ghul: “@nosleeprecords: Well this SUCKS http://t.co/NgMjPIluZ5” dammit. I was just talking about how Mexican Coke was the best too a few days ago."
Kimberly Sinclair: "I no longer drink soda except on infrequent occasions, but this is a stupid and tragic decision on the part of... http://t.co/90ayhMJCgT"
Suz; "Nooooooooo! #downwithHFCS #RIPmexicancoke http://t.co/VmyS21b0et"
Lisa Kelsey: "I don't even drink coke but this is sad news http://t.co/mv59eX1R5u"
Pol Santos: "Blasphemy! Im probably never going to drink coke again. I feel like Latin Coca Cola is ganna hit a massive sales... http://t.co/5v8UDrZz9h"
Rachel Delgado: "What will I drink with my tacos now?! U0001f62d http://t.co/yeccSL2hdb"
And probably the best tweet of all:
Tina ✝
"Es Por Ti," by Colombian super star Juanes
With a mourning cross, Tina dedicates Juanes song "Es Por Ti" to the death of Mexican Coca-Cola. The chorus would roughly translate as "It's for you (Coke), that my heart aches."
Listen to the song below:
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