Africa Is a Country

Coke and cynicism

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Coke and cynicism

By
Sean Jacobs

I won’t bother to unpack this commercial, but this is exhibit A for the case against uncritical boosterism and identity politics. Coca Cola Kenya hijacks “the Africa is booming” discourse to sell more soft drinks. Here’s their cynical sales pitch:

There are close to 1 billion people in Africa each with a reason to believe. Because Coca-Cola knows, understands, lives and breathes AFRICA, ONLY COCA-COLA can influence positive attitudes amongst AFRICANS by claiming its role AS the ICON OF HAPPINESS and the BEACON OF OPTIMISM.

Further Reading

From Cape To Cairo

When two Africans—one from the south, the other from the north—set out to cross the continent, they raised the question: how easy is it for an African to move in their own land?

The road to Rafah

The ‘Sumud’ convoy from Tunis to Gaza is reviving the radical promise of pan-African solidarity and reclaiming an anticolonial tactic lost to history.

Sinners and ancestors

Ryan Coogler’s latest film is more than a vampire fable—it’s a bridge between Black American history and African audiences hungry for connection, investment, and storytelling rooted in shared struggle.