the colour is unmistakably red. The screaming television advertisements sell a lifestyle that makes red the desirable colour, the lifestyle "we've all been waiting for' and renders drinking Coke from cans a status symbol. The marketing wizards of the multinational company ( mnc ) are scoring big; it has now become a habit among middle-class school-going children to implore their parents to buy them Coke in cans. And despite the fact that the canned drink is double the price of its bottled variety, the can has conned away 30 per cent of the market share in six months flat.

But in the blind pursuance of Western fads, we are totally ignoring a looming disaster