Why is Coke more popular than water in Mexico?

November 30, 2025 •

3 min read

According to a 2019 study, residents of Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state, drink an average of over two liters of Coke per day, a striking illustration of why Coke is more popular than water in Mexico. This paradox is driven by a confluence of factors, including inadequate water infrastructure, relentless marketing campaigns, and socioeconomic conditions that have entrenched the beverage within Mexican culture.

Quick Summary

Limited access to potable water, targeted marketing, and cultural integration make Coca-Cola a preferred choice over water in parts of Mexico, despite growing health concerns.

Key Points

Poor Infrastructure: In many areas, unreliable and unsafe tap water forces reliance on bottled beverages for hydration.
Aggressive Marketing: Coca-Cola's deep market penetration, aided by robust distribution and support for local vendors, ensures its presence even in the most remote communities.
Cultural Integration: Coke has become so deeply embedded in Mexican culture that it is used in celebrations, rituals, and even seen as a status symbol.
Economic Accessibility: In some regions, Coke is perceived as a cheaper and more reliable source of calories and hydration than bottled water, particularly for low-income populations.
Health Crisis: This high consumption contributes to a severe public health crisis, with Mexico facing high rates of obesity and diabetes.
Water Exploitation: Large bottling plants deplete local water resources for production, exacerbating water scarcity issues for residents.

A Perfect Storm: How Unsafe Water Fueled Coke's Rise

In many areas of Mexico, particularly rural and low-income regions like Chiapas, access to safe, potable tap water is extremely limited or nonexistent. The scarcity and unreliability of the public water supply have created a dependence on bottled beverages for basic hydration. This systemic failure of infrastructure laid the groundwork for Coca-Cola's dominance. With tap water often undrinkable and bottled water sometimes more expensive or less accessible, Coke and other sugary drinks became a practical, and appealing, alternative.

Compounding this issue, bottling companies, like the Coca-Cola bottler FEMSA, have historically secured favorable contracts to extract vast quantities of water for production, further depleting local water tables. This creates a vicious cycle: as clean water becomes scarcer, reliance on bottled, sugary alternatives grows, and the cycle continues.

Aggressive Marketing and Deep Cultural Integration

Coca-Cola's success in Mexico cannot be explained without acknowledging its pervasive and aggressive marketing strategies. For decades, the company has invested heavily in advertising, sponsorship of community events, and establishing deep ties with retailers.

In many small communities, Coca-Cola provides refrigerators, tables, and chairs to local shopkeepers, ensuring their products are prominently displayed and chilled. This creates a dual dependency: the community depends on the shop for goods, and the shop depends on Coca-Cola for its sales and infrastructure. This deep integration has elevated Coke from a simple beverage to a symbol of community, celebration, and even status. In some indigenous communities, particularly in Chiapas, Coke has even been integrated into religious rituals, where shamans use it in healing ceremonies.

The Economic and Historical Factors

Economic policies also played a significant role. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Mexico joined in 1994, made Coca-Cola cheaper and more widely available across the country. Former Coca-Cola executive and Mexican President Vicente Fox, who served from 2000-2006, further facilitated the company's influence. For many low-income families, Coke is perceived as a cheap source of calories, providing a sugary boost that is more satisfying than plain water. Its consistent, reliable availability, even in the most remote areas, makes it a predictable purchase in an unpredictable economic environment.

The Health Crisis Fallout

The high consumption of sugary drinks has led to a severe public health crisis in Mexico. The country has one of the world's highest rates of obesity and diabetes, with the latter being the second-leading cause of death in Chiapas. In response, the Mexican government implemented a tax on sugary drinks in 2014, with subsequent increases. However, industry lobbying and deeply ingrained consumption habits have limited the tax's effectiveness in some areas.

Comparative Analysis: Coke vs. Water in Mexico


Feature	Coca-Cola	Potable Tap Water
Availability	Extremely high due to robust distribution network; found everywhere.	Highly unreliable, especially in rural and low-income areas.
Safety	Consistently safe and regulated due to bottling process.	Often contaminated, heavily bleached, or available only intermittently.
Perceived Value	Embedded in culture, used for celebrations and rituals; seen as a treat.	Lacks cultural significance; often seen as a commodity that is hard to access safely.
Flavor	Enjoyed for its sweet, distinct flavor; Mexican version uses cane sugar.	Lacks appeal; often has an unpleasant taste due to treatment chemicals or contamination.
Distribution	Company-provided infrastructure ensures wide reach.	Dependent on underdeveloped and underfunded municipal infrastructure.
Health Impact	Negative: linked to high rates of obesity and diabetes.	Positive: Essential for health and hydration.

Conclusion

The phenomenon of Coca-Cola's dominance over water in Mexico is not the result of a single factor but a complex interplay of systemic issues. Decades of poor water infrastructure investment, paired with aggressive and culturally targeted marketing, have created a perfect storm. While the health consequences are increasingly recognized and government policies are evolving, the deeply ingrained cultural and economic reliance on Coke in many communities will require a sustained, multi-pronged approach to address. Ultimately, providing consistent access to safe, affordable drinking water is the most critical step towards mitigating this public health crisis and rebalancing Mexico's beverage consumption habits.

Frequently Asked Questions

In many parts of Mexico, particularly the state of Chiapas, high consumption rates of Coca-Cola make it a more readily available and frequently consumed beverage than water due to poor infrastructure and water safety issues.

Tap water in many Mexican communities is often unreliable, intermittent, or contaminated with bacteria and other pollutants, making it unsafe for consumption without extensive purification.

Coca-Cola built a highly efficient distribution network and provided infrastructure, such as refrigerators, to small shops in remote areas. This made their products consistently available and prominent where other supplies were not.

Vicente Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive, became president of Mexico in 2000. His time at the company and subsequent political influence facilitated conditions, like those under NAFTA, that helped entrench Coke's market dominance.

Yes, Mexico implemented a sugary drink tax in 2014, with further increases in 2025, to address the public health crisis. However, the effectiveness of the tax has been limited by a strong corporate lobby and deeply ingrained habits.

Through decades of aggressive marketing and community integration, Coke is now used in family celebrations, festivals, and even religious rituals in some indigenous communities, positioning it as more than just a soft drink.

In some areas, such as San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas, Coca-Cola's bottling plants have been accused of extracting millions of gallons of water daily, exacerbating local water scarcity and depleting water tables.