On one of my recent trips to the (New) World of Coke, I chatted briefly with a Coke "ambassador" (oh yes!). I know this is an ethical violation of the codes that accompanied our complimentary tickets, but I figured I was asking a quick, normal tourist question.
I discovered that the museum doesn't have curators. Strange, huh? They had a design team, and they plan to leave the content as is for six or seven years, but there aren't any curators. On a different visit, however, I supposedly met an archivist, Dr. Something or the Other, who is responsible for the memorabilia in the lobby of the Happiness Factory Theater (TM). I asked the "archivist" if I could have her card and contact her later, and she gave me a card with the 1-800-Get-Coke hotline on it, saying that they would be happy to answer my questions. That's the consumer hotline. Slightly suspect, no?
Has anyone who isn't in my group been to the New World of Coke? If so, did you have any chance encounters with individuals pretending to be archivists or "ambassadors" claiming there aren't any curators?
1 comment:
This doesn't surprise me at all--I wouldn't think that the producers of the museum created it for the the purposes of preservation, interpretation or memorialization. It's all about securing the current and future consumers--the goal of museum is to have the visitor walk out and think "wow, Coke is a really cool product, I'm going to buy more of it now!" Branding requires a design and ad team, not curators. I would think that any historical significance is carefully crafted in the service of the ultimate goal of branding.
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