Corporate Tools

Following the food [Coke] lead our happy band down to Khorat province in central Thailand. At the crack of dawn – 5:30 AM to be precise – we loaded our tired bodies and pillows into the van for the four-hour drive. Stopping at a rest stop down the highway several hours later, I had a delicious latte. This is noteworthy, I swear. Seeing as Nescafe has sunken its overly sweet talons into Thailand’s coffee culture, every drink I seem to get is sugary.

The Thai Naam Thip factory is located in an industrial park, guarded by more security than I usually see. I suppose that’s only natural, given our previous experience with Coke’s Khon Kaen distribution plant. We arrived at the office and were cordially greeted. Our presentation was held in a conference room, a small, grey, corporate room, the ubiquitous PowerPoint blazing on the plain white wall. Of course there was the Coke “swag”: Thai Naam Thip water, Coke trucker hats, sweet snacks, and obviously a cold bottle of Coke, condensation dripping down the sides of the glass, forming water rings on the table.

Our liaison for the day, a Mr. [something], gave us a presentation about the processes covered under Thai Naam Thip’s Khorat factory and what humanitarian efforts Global Coke (“Mama Coke”) is producing. Thai Naam Thip, (which means “Thai Supernatural Water”) is the company which bottles, develops, and distributes Coca-cola products around Thailand. The factory we were at produces plastic bottles for Sprite, Coke, Fanta, and bottled water; in addition they have a glass bottle reuse program.

The recycling program seems really cool in theory. From what I understand, it works similarly to the German concept of Pfand, in which one buys a product in a glass bottle at an artificially inflated price, but if you return the bottle, you get some money back. Thai Naam Thip will sell cases of beverage to distributors. If the distributors want to continue buying products, they need to return a case of empty bottles for every full one they purchase. These bottles return to the factory where they are rinsed and checked to see if they still look presentable, then filled and sold again. We had heard about this program earlier from the manager of a scrap dealership in Khon Kaen the previous day. If this idea works, I think it’s a great start to a recycling program. But still, it’s not perfect. How well does it succeed in the day-to-day? We still had questions.

A brief tour of the factory followed. They said not many pictures (I guess they don't want us, in an act of corporate sabotage, steal their information), but I'm a rebel photog, and took some anyway. Arty ones!The world’s largest advertiser, and top corporation was actually very pleasant to us. I guess that’s understandable; they didn’t get to their position by being assholes openly to people of certain statuses. Still, while I was skeptical throughout the exchange, it’s really hard to keep up this when the other party is being so personable.

They fed us a lot of Coke too. That might have had something to do with it. I don’t even like Coke that much, but I do like free stuff.

After a cordial farewell, my fleeting delusions of corporal fuzziness were shot down. Our next stop was three hours north at the Mitr Phol sugar factory. This factory acts as a sugar cane refinery, bagasse board producer, ethanol plant, and biofuel manufacturing center. The same type of presentation room was offered. The same Power Point presentation. The same whitewashed walls.

What was different was in the way the conversation went after that. After having spent about two weeks where all we were reading and experiencing pointed toward organic and small-scale as the solutions to many of today’s farming issues, I’ve just come to see organic as a vital system. Mitr Phol and I break in our thinking at this point. The company is blatant in its support of large-scale, chemical farms that practice monocropping. They provide funding for loans to farmers interested in procuring chemical fertilizers. They even lead demonstration of these techniques. At one point, someone asked what the company thought about the harmful effects on the health of those applying the fertilizer. Their response: “What problems? I don’t think they exist, because everyone uses it.”

What a smack-down back to reality.
Later, at the company-owned and run sugar cane farm, we spoke with the manager. When asked about the debt the company might be inflicting on smaller farmers – the fact that these farmers might not be able to pay it back – he brushed it off as unimportant. Seeing as we had just spent the prior week with indebted farmers, this is really – for lack of a better word – fucked up.
The exchange was really stilted. I just couldn’t ask the important, probing, possibly inciting questions that needed to be asked. Eventually Elly and Alyssa stepped up and asked about some of these contradictions milling about in my mind. My reporter’s ability is lacking, I suppose. Before I can become a better journalist, I need to build up the courage to ask “rude” questions.

Mitr Phol was no less polite than Coke was, they were simply… painting a less rosy picture. Not that this was something they meant to do. They clearly believe what they are doing is right. It just conflicts so fundamentally with my current world-view, that I can’t get over it.
We drove back to Khon Kaen, tired from travel and with a little more confusion, a little more understanding of the corporate world we live in.