When I was a kid, I could only drink one coke a day, so I planned out when I would drink it, or else I would wait for a particularly busy day and sneak two. Once my metabolism slowed down, I learned to drink Diet Coke. It took a while to acquire the taste, but the thought of drinking all of the Coke I wanted was worth it. Pretty soon I became a Diet Coke fiend. Then Coca-Cola came out with Coke Zero--Real Coke taste without the calories. Now I ask waiters if they have Coke Zero. If they don't, I ask for water and glare hoping that they will report to the management the disappointment of another Coke Zero loving customer.
Just recently Coke Zero came out with a genius ad campaign playing off the the conjunction “and” which holds their tagline together. Why settle? You can have real Coke taste AND zero calories. What a deal!? The lead of the commercial loves the power of ‘and.’ He thinks about the times that he refused to settle. It starts at an early age when he upgrades his ice cream with sprinkles by saying “and.” He accepts a job with a great salary and negotiates stock options by simply saying “and.” He goes to bed with the store clerk who helps at the store by just saying “and” when she asks if she can assist him.
The message is that you can get more out of life by just using the little conjunction. This idea of not settling but grabbing all that you can, really all that you can get resonates with our culture. The consumer mentality that we can never get enough, that we'll never be satisfied, that we ought to get what we deserve, resonates with the Coke Zero ‘and.’ Don’t become a victim of the tyranny of the ‘or.’
Coca-Cola has come a long way from a bunch of hippies on a hill singing about needing to teach the world a song. Before all we needed was a Coke and a smile. The message cuts against the grain of New Testament so much that its hard to think of a single text that addresses this mentality--many come to mind. James states that we don’t have what we ask for because we ask with wrong motives (James 4:1-3). Paul states that whatever he has gained, he counts as loss for the sake of gaining what’s truly important, being found in Christ (Phil 3:7-11). Jesus states that true gain comes from God (Matt 6:25-34). The New Testament provides a unified voice that we should focus on following Christ and seeking his kingdom. All else is futile.
So what if the and gets a little more. The little more will only take us further from where we need to be in Christ.
