A reflection on Boudrillard and Coca-Cola

I like Boudrillard a lot. This is partly because of his take on exchange-value versus use-value. It is clear in many cases that we value something because of who makes it more than we value the quality of the product. An example of this would be prefaded or frayed jeans. Taken out of context it makes no sense to want to spend more money on semidestroyed jeans than less money on fully constructed jeans, but these are the times we live in and frayed and prefaded jeans are what people like...I think. I'm not always on the up and up about fashion. Boudriallard's issues with marxism intruiged me as well. He noticed a heavy focus on consumption that Marx interperated as a focus on production. According to Boudrillard's ideas on exchange-value and sign-value we should be more concerned with consumption as it is really what drives economy more than production.
When Ken discusses Boudrillards ideas on simulation things start to get interesting. The example he uses of money is one that strikes a powerful chord with all of us. The paper money we use today represents an exchange value, that used to directly represent the value of a good we had that we wanted to exchange for other goods or services. Money has been so far removed from its origin that it no longer bears resemblance to what it once was. The way we experience money has completely changed especially with the advent of credit. This simulacrum is the most familiar to people but there are simulacra all around us. When I was getting a sub at Hidyan cafe earlier today I was trying to apply simulation and simulacra to my experience at the cafe. I thought about what the cafe was trying to be or represent. I completely disregarded any fears of looking too deep into the subject matter in an attempt to find the simulation. I found a few examples but one that really stuck out for me was the simulation of Coca-Cola, or more specificlly Coca-Cola:Classic. I thought about all of the forms Coke has taken over the years and how far its come. It was subject to change due to its lengthy existence and I feel that it is a simulation of what Coke used to be. Coke:Classic suggests that it is recapturing the "classic" taste of the "original" coke. Having never tasted "original" coke I can only assume it tastes like Coke:Classic. The way I experience Coke:classic is determined by my understanding of what it is suppossed to be. I believe that Coke:Classic bears some relevence to what it represents but I can never really be sure. I have yet to fully grasp this concept and I plan on giving it more thought this weekend when I watch the Matrix again and think about 9/11 and the gulf war. This guest lecture was a good read and I really want to read Boudrillard's book, Simulacra and Simulation. Have a good weekend.