An astute grocery shopper at an Ingles Market happened upon some wild disparities between Coca-Cola products that led him to believe consumers are being, as he put it, “screwed.”
The short video clip from a store in the Asheville, North Carolina-based grocery chain comes from creator Dylan E. Willingham (@patinaandpolitics), who has drawn more than 32,700 views in a single day.
In the video, he shows a 12-pack of Fanta (part of the Coca-Cola suite of soft drink brands) selling for $9.48. He declares, based on this, “Coke products are now $9.50 for a case, but yet they’re on sale for $3.98 apiece. That is how you know we are being screwed.”
Why are 12-packs of soda priced so high?
A November Vox article on rising soda prices argued that, simply, it’s because companies like Coca-Cola can raise prices to seemingly absurd levels—and consumers will still buy them.
The article quotes Garrett Nelson, vice president and senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, a financial intelligence firm, saying, “They’ve been pretty relentless in raising prices over the last few years, really ever since the pandemic. It’s not just Coca-Cola, but it’s PepsiCo and Keurig Dr. Pepper, too. They’ve just continued to raise prices with very little negative impact on their sales volume.”
The article goes on to note, “Why such an uptick? In part, because companies like Coca-Cola have customers right where they want them after years of cementing their loyalty. They have a high degree of ‘demand inelasticity,’ meaning demand stays where it is even when prices change. Consumers don’t often have — or necessarily want — a lot of alternatives. If you like Diet Coke, you want Diet Coke, and you may not be eager to switch over to Diet Pepsi or a generic brand, assuming you can find one, as there’s not a lot of competition in the soft drink industry. ‘[It’s] similar to cigarettes, tobacco is a good example. People are addicted, so tobacco companies can raise prices very easily,’ Nelson said. ‘It’s kind of similar with soft drinks.’”
@patinaandpolitics #coke#cocacola#fanta#rootbeer#soda#drinks#bidenomics#ingles#inglesmarkets#usa#bamboozled#fyp#foryoupage#drink#cokecan#sale#grocerystore ♬ original sound – Dylan E. Willingham
Currently, the Walmart site lists a 12-pack of Diet Coke at $7.64, while at Target, it’s $7.99, and at Safeway, it’s $10.99 for the default Bay Area ZIP code the site puts in.
One commenter on Willingham’s video helpfully explained, “The point guys is that they still make a profit at 3.98. so the remainder is all super profit.”
Willingham responded, “Thank you. Someone that gets it.”
Another shared, “I don’t buy them anymore. I’m personally sick & tired of corporate greed.”
Someone else cracked, “I’ve resorted to my 70’s childhood and simply drinking water.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok direct message and to Ingles Market and Coca-Cola via email.
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