I was reminded of this because I recently had a conversation with a colleague of mine in Canada who mentioned that she would never, even under the pain of death, deign to drink Pepsi.  She was a Coke (specifically Diet Coke) fan for life.

This reminded me of my most recent journey – to Finland and Denmark  – and the stark differences between the two in terms of their soda consumption.

Normally, most countries are like the US; there might be a general preference for either one or the other, or, like in the case of Malta, a third option altogether (in their case, Kinnie, whose appeal I never understood).  You might have a somewhat hard time finding one or the other, but it’s possible and even easy in a lot of places, like the US and Australia.

Not in Finland or Denmark, though.  In Finland, although I generally prefer Diet Coke, I was forced to basically drink “Pepsi Max” (otherwise known as diet Pepsi) whenever I wanted a soda.  First, they don’t, like more European countries, offer any non-caffeinated versions of soda, at least that I have ever really found.  But beyond that, there was no such thing as Coca-Cola anywhere outside of a small display in one of the local grocers.  And even that wasn’t stocked every day, so there were a few times in which I went there, only to find that there weren’t any Cokes in sight.  I couldn’t believe it.  Never before in my life have I ever been in a place so thoroughly sold to Pepsi and their other products.  I mean, Coca-Cola is the largest, most widespread brand in the world, and yet, here is a country entirely committed to Pepsi.  Amazing!

Then, I went to Denmark for a couple of days as a side trip.  It was the exact opposite.  It was as though someone from Coca-Cola came and said the the entire country “Hey, you want to be cool like the rest of the world and not backward, like Finland?  Come over here, and let me show you something really great.”  And at that point, the salesman opens his jacket and displays all of the varied (except for the aforementioned non-caffeinated) versions of Coke products.  Every vending machine, from the ones in my hotel to the ones in the train station, offered only Coke products.  It was as if Pepsi never existed.  Simply amazing.  And not a bad thing, if you ask me, since I generally like it more than Pepsi (Pepsi is usually to sweet and not bubbly enough for me).  But still, coming from a country so single-mindedly devoted to Pepsi, it struck me right away.

Nothing else seemed to be like that.  They both carried chocolate products from all over, from Mars and Cadbury to their own local varieties.  They both carried other consumer products from a wide range of companies.  But when it came to their soda preferences, it was just unique and utterly fascinating to see two countries, so close to one another, so at odds over a simple thing like soda.

Interesting.  Very interesting <insert character from Laugh-In here>