Thoughts and Ruminations on Chapter 1, The Tipping Point, and Six Glasses

Question: what are the driving forces behind the diffusion of products (such as Coca-Cola or the AK-47 assault rifle) on a global scale?

     Over the past century, our planet has become interconnected to the point that certain brands and products can be recognized wherever humans can be found. McDonald's, the most ubiquitous restaurant in the world, can be found in 119 countries worldwide (http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/08/08/countries-without-mcdonald/). Coca-Cola has a  commercial presence in over 200 (http://www.coca-colacompany.com/careers/who-we-are-infographic). The necessary factors to establish this omnipresence are and permeate most cultural barriers numerous, but there a few key forces that tend to foster this cultural diffusion. One such force, as in the case of the revival of Hush Puppies in the 1990s, is the emergence of a global popular culture. When a handful of artists decided that the old-fashioned shoe was the hip thing to be wearing, it sparked resulted in production of the shoe to skyrocket from 3,000 pairs annually to more than 400,000. This was partly the case with Coca-Cola as well, as the soft drink is considered to be a symbol of Western culture. But Coke also had a number of other driving forces behind its global adoption that were not present in the case of Hush Puppies. First of all, Coke is desirable to a much wider consumer base. A sweet beverage has appeal for potentially anyone, whereas Hush Puppies would only appeal to those concerned with U.S. fashion trends. Furthermore, Coke is far cheaper than a pair of stylish shoes, making it affordable to vast number of people and creating demand within a larger sphere. These traits, in addition to the drink's publicity and proliferation during WWII, resulted in Coke's expansion diffusion from the U.S. to nearly every country on Earth. 

Militaries, rebel groups, and other allies of the Soviet Union wanted weapons, so the USSR supplied them with huge quantities of the cheap and easy to manufacture assault rifle. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/how-did-the-ak-47-become-the-most-abundant-weapon-on-earth-2124407.html

https://www.oxfam.de/system/files/20060623_theak47_200kb.pdf

   Map of AK-47 use and manufacture in Africa and the Middle East