Japan Makes a Game Out of Buying a Coke

[Kenjitsuka]

"This tactic will encourage Japanese consumers not only to spend more time hanging out at Coke machines, but also to seek new ones out on a regular basis."

I've been in Japan, and Coca Cola machines are EVERYWHERE. Even in microscopically tiny villages in the wilderness there's MANY. It's insane really. In Tokyo they bunched them up, 3-5 of the same ones next to another on a street corner. And guess what the NEXT corner has lined up for you?! Great way to stay hydrated during the murderously hot summer tho!

 

[Marshall Honorof]

I stopped reading as soon as you mentioned 'unhealthy'.


Sorry, but they're not. What's unhealthy is drinking six of the fuckers in one day. Consume them in moderation and they're no less healthy than water or milk.

I actually never said that Coke was unhealthy. If you follow the link, you'll see that it leads to a McDonald's advertisement. Your point stands that it's not harmful in moderation, but it's not especially good for you.

 

[keideki]

I just can't see this kind of thing catching on in America. American vending machines are so boring compared to their Japanese counter parts. I've seen Ramen vending machines, and cigarette vending machines, pizza vending machines and grilled cheese ones as well. The best you get in American is pre-packaged snack foods and if your lucky, a newer vending machine that accepts a card instead of cash only.

 

[Alar]

Because what we need is Japan to become as overweight and unhealthy as America!

...wait.

High Fructose Corn Syrup, though common in American soft drinks, is actually not used in many others. If you live in Western America, check the ingredients for coke in the soft drinks section, then go to the Mexican specialty section and look for those bottled Cokes. Rather than HFCS (which is very very bad for you and WILL make you fat), they use ordinary natural, totally safe sugar. It's safer, better, and less likely to "Americanize" the Japanese waistline as long as they too, use sugar.

Yeah, I used your post as a flimsy excuse to enlighten others, what of it?

Eh, I don't care. I wish we could get more sodas made with real sugar, though. Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback are good examples of American companies making them with sugar... however, an excess of sugar WILL still turn into fat, if you don't burn it off.

I hope that the use of corn syrup will not spread!

 

[dmase]

I think it's official gaming is the next big entertainment medium. 20 years from now there will be almost no one around 15 years old saying yeah I never really got into videogames. It will be like someone saying I really don't like movies or tv in general...

 

[F-I-D-O]

Dear Family:
If I suddenly disappear for a period of time, I'm not dead.
I'm in Japan.
And I'm finding everyone of those damn things.
I will make a soda machine with a top hat and a Hitler mustache. Because it would be adorable.

I just can't see this kind of thing catching on in America. American vending machines are so boring compared to their Japanese counter parts. I've seen Ramen vending machines, and cigarette vending machines, pizza vending machines and grilled cheese ones as well. The best you get in American is pre-packaged snack foods and if your lucky, a newer vending machine that accepts a card instead of cash only.

Well, new touch screen coke machines are spreading, and I've seen a few with hot, pre-packaged meals on the inside. It won't be as crazy as in Japan, but if the machine already has touch-screen tech built in, why not include a QR code?
NOTE: I did not mean that the coke machines had meals. Those are two separate machines. Though it would be awesome to buy a coke and a sandwich from the same machine.

 

[The Random One]

Man, part of me thinks this is step one towards Cyberpunk Dystopia, but part of me thinks it's awesome. Like in a game where you have to find several of a common object for some quest or another, only it's in the real world. I wouldn't even go after new machines, just scan the ones I found whenever I deviated from my routine.

 

[Icehearted]

Because what we need is Japan to become as overweight and unhealthy as America!

...wait.

High Fructose Corn Syrup, though common in American soft drinks, is actually not used in many others. If you live in Western America, check the ingredients for coke in the soft drinks section, then go to the Mexican specialty section and look for those bottled Cokes. Rather than HFCS (which is very very bad for you and WILL make you fat), they use ordinary natural, totally safe sugar. It's safer, better, and less likely to "Americanize" the Japanese waistline as long as they too, use sugar.

Yeah, I used your post as a flimsy excuse to enlighten others, what of it?

Eh, I don't care. I wish we could get more sodas made with real sugar, though. Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback are good examples of American companies making them with sugar... however, an excess of sugar WILL still turn into fat, if you don't burn it off.

I hope that the use of corn syrup will not spread!

Actually you can't burn it off per se, but you can metabolize things better depending on one's level of activity. Unfortunately HFCS is already in a lot of our (American) food thanks to Nixon, even whole grain "healthy foods" like bread have it. It's cheap and easy.

I tried the Mexican vs American coke, there was definitely a difference in taste, and on the Mexican bottle I could pretty easily pronounce and understand all of the ingredients.

Yeah.... I continue to use your posts as a flimsy excuse to enlighten others. Hope that's still cool, though.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Ugh, I think it's really disgusting. Once you turn corporations and advertisers onto the idea of games as not just propaganda, but a part of their product, marketing can get even more invasive, subtle and manipulative. If anyone on these forums has EVER thought the subtext to a Call of Duty game, or Gears of War title was at all troubling (what it makes people think of or NOT think of, how it affects the way we view our world), imagine how much worse it can get when you've got groups like Coke, McDonald's and Taco Bell trying to reach you, (and worse, your kids) with "games" that revolve around physical purchases (because even though that's not a component here, it's implied. You can bet somebody will do it eventually, if they haven't.) and continued interaction with the store.

When you reward people for continually returning to your establishment and seeking out new locations (also owned by you) in order to buy more of your crap, it seems to me to be a clear case of conditioning consumers. Considering the myriad ways we are already influenced to buy crap in America, do we really need another advertising "innovation" like this? And yes, I consider this quite different from a "Cool Spot" video game or some ads in Bionic Commando. That stuff isn't so clearly tied to the real world.

 

[Zhadramekel]

This sounds like a plot for some dystopian future movie. Really gives me the feeling that I'm living in "the future."

I thought we lived in the present.

 

[Bluecho]

I have no problem with companies wanting to advertise their stuff, so long as it's non-invasive. And I like Coke, as horrible for you as it is. It's too bad I don't have a coke right now...

Stupid Diet A&W Root Beer! You're just not the same! T_T

Who here thinks the Coke machine will be the next hip place to hang out in Japan?