There is good news in the world

By Stuart Harrold

In this day and age it is very hard to find sometimes some really good news in the world and that everybody is encouraged by and agrees with. In some parts of the world it is hard to find good news about America and American corporations and the way they have done business in foreign countries in the past. We are not a perfect country, but people are finding that there are lots of countries that also are not perfect. But this story is an astonishing story about how much ingenuity, and creativity, and good will especially, that two American corporations can have toward the world. It is definitely "American" but yet other countries can do this someday, let's hope so. Let's hope they set precedence. They never could have done this during the cold war.

     Coke a Cola Corporation and Microsoft Corporation, and this is just the beginning, put a huge coke machine in a mall in South Korea. It has a four foot high, six foot long T.V screen in the front. There is a dance troop, Korean kids, that does a dance for passersby. It you stop and stand in front of the machine a camera watches you. The machine challenges you. If you copy the dance moves, and succeed, you win a free coke! As time goes on though, the dance moves get progressively harder. You win even more cokes! A crowd forms. This is clever. It is so beautiful. It soars far beyond marketing and into ingenuity and good will. You can go to Google. Type in Coke Cola and dancing machine. It will give you the video on YouTube. Try the fourth one down that says Korea. In the video, two young school girls try first, one with a knack sack on. You have to bounce you fists on top of each other, in quick succession, like rocks, scissors, and paper, and copy the dance moves. They succeed and win a coke. The machine screams "success" on the T.V. screen. The camera judges everything. Two teen age boys try next and win. Then two little Korean kids try, a little girl, maybe 5, with a dress on and a black ribbon and a boy her age and they eventually succeed while a crowd forms. Then, two quite nice looking Korean women in high heels and dresses try and they win. To top it off, this guy does an incredible break dance in front of the machine just to see what happens. Coca Cola and Microsoft have everybody dancing in South Korea. I wonder what they must think about America, because it does make you think.

     It gets better. Coca Cola put another machine in Singapore. Singapore in predominately Muslim, ok, the most Muslim country in the world per capita. The coke machine says "Hug Me." That's it. If you hug the machine you get a free coke. They put it in a University. So what does it make people think? What does it make people think about America, Coke a Cola and Microsoft? They have put "Hug" machines in a few places, not just Singapore. Go to Google. Type in "Coke Cola hug machine." There is a video, of people affectionately hugging a coke machine, a getting a free coke. It soars into good will, but it is also probably the best example of American ingenuity in the world today. It is not a weapon, thank god. I told my sister, that they didn't have to do this. They just did it. She said, "Both those corporations have already made their money Stuart." This is true. She agrees it is good will.

     It gets better. Coke a Cola invented a Karaoke machine. If you sing a song the machine plays, you win a coke. It is in Sweden I think. Imagine way into the future, what it will hold, when they have this already, and others see this example. In the Middle East, one of the most popular T.V. shows is a show that is hosted in different countries. It just shows people, and their inventions, and wants to show, that people of that origin can still be the great inventors of the world. They have to contend now, with a Coke machine in Singapore, and other places that says, "Hug me," as a current invention, with more to come in the years ahead. They have to go head to head with Coke a Cola and Microsoft, in mechanics and electronics. So we are most likely on the forefront at the moment. I'm thinking that we should let Coke a Cola Corporation run the State Department, bring the marines home, close the embassies and put hug machines around the world. It will help our image in foreign places. It would be nice if they could put one in Egypt and other places to help our stature in the world and show that you can sometimes get by with a hug. This is definitely something that eventually the world will have to contend with. Coke a Cola and Microsoft aren't going anywhere. It is getting fun to be an American again, if you look around, there is some good news.

     During the cold war, which has been over for 20 years, there was a lot of fear and paranoia, and people sat on some good ideas and walked softly because it wasn't a good time. Now, these ideas are coming to the surface. If Coke a Cola and Microsoft can do this, just for fun and good will, what else is going to come around the corner in the future, from other corners of the world? They got a machine that gets everybody dancing, a machine you can hug, and a machine you can sing to for a cold coke. If you read the comments, under the video, everybody says nice things. "Come put one in our school!" "Come put one in our country." Look at what they can do with technology if they want to.

Stuart Harrold