Coca-Cola vs. Tea-from Morocco to India and beyond?

I have to comment on the interview from Jon Stewart's Daily Show of March 21st. He talked with author Benjamin Barber about his new book Consumed. No doubt, the subject is timely because it does seem that ever-expanding capitalism is eating our world alive.
But what got me was the remark that in India drinking Coca-Cola was replacing tea and therefore threatening to destroy the culture. First of all, I don't believe Coke can replace tea, in India or China or Morocco. Second, I don't believe Coke can destroy a culture that spans centuries and has influenced billions of people. Not unless they are still using cocaine as a principle ingredient!

In Morocco, coffee is a preferred drink. Tea is an integral part of social ceremonies as well as a favored beverage. Coca-cola is expensive. Sure it is known worldwide as a hallmark of American culture and somebody recently claimed it is known in every country on the planet, but I find it hard to believe all those billions of people are casting off their own tastes and preferences to adopt Coke.

And even if they do drink it, like that Turkish family on the Ramadan commercial we always see on 2M? Are they any less Turkish or Moroccan or Indian? I am American and Coca-Cola is not my preferred beverage. In fact, my mom always says it rots your teeth. It takes rust off metal so she is probably right about the teeth.

A whole host of ideals and values and customs comprise a culture. People hold those values and ideals in their hearts and follow the customs that perpetuate them from generation to generation. Whether they drink Coke or tea, they are who they are and if they reject that cultural self it has to do with a much deeper conflict than their choice of a beverage.