The fanta-sy of global products: fizzy-drinks, differentiated ubiquity and the placing of globalization

Abstract

The fantasy of global products: fizzy-drinks, differentiated ubiquity and the placing of globalization If globalization is conceived as an outcome of negotiations between places and relational processes, how do researchers capture such amorphous complexity? Drawing upon the framework of assemblage theory this paper unpicks the plethora of processes and practices encompassed within the problematic term 'globalization'. Focusing on the 'banal' object of a can of Fanta, we demonstrate how this exists in an assemblage which maintains coherence across space (i.e. is universally recognizable) yet is spatially differentiated in its components. Shedding light on how these processes coalesce in place we argue for the acknowledgement of the 'ubiquitous' in making place and the importance of difference in underpinning the 'global'.

Food Perception and Aesthetics - Linking Sensory Science to Culinary Practice

“…Companies make use of the availability of multiple flavors to target specific consumer markets. Therefore, processed foods and drinks such as McDonald's burgers (Sameer, 2012) or Fanta beverages (Heley, Welsh, & Saville, 2020) may vary in taste between geographic regions.…”

Assemblage, place and globalisation

“…Some changes, in contrast, have a greater catalytic effect as they impact on critical elements, or “assemblage converters,” that are central to the territorialisation or stability of the place‐assemblage (Deleuze & Guattari, 1988, p. 325; also Bennett, 2010). The closure of a factory has more impact than a store selling a transnational soft drink brand, even if both can be read as expressions of “globalisation” (Heley et al, 2020). Even substantial changes may be anticipated and managed through adjustments to internal coding, or through engineered processes of reterritorialisation to incorporate and assimilate new components and connections.…”