TWO new Coca Cola museums, to be set up on the mainland in October, are not a marketing ploy but ''an image programme'' says the giant soft drinks corporation's chief archivist Phil Mooney.
''It is more to explain how an economic system works and how a Coke factory is a local system in operation,'' Mr Mooney said during a visit to Hong Kong last week to discuss plans.
Tourists will be able to see how the product is made as well as look at old photographs, advertising pieces and collector's paraphernalia, so they can trace Coca Cola's image back to when the drink was first brought to China in 1927.
But will this canned history go down well in China? Mr Mooney believes it can match up to China's Terracotta Warriors by explaining the product and being entertaining: ''It's a product that should naturally be associated with the good times.'' The company hopes the new museums in Beijing and Tianjin will echo the success of one of the first and greatest, The World of Coca Cola, set up in Atlanta in 1990, with visitor figures there topping a billion a year.
And back home in the territory, the company's Sha Tin museum is booked up with school tours for the next three months.
