Consumer Behavior Review, 8(1) e-256604 1 Akingbade, O. (2024). ‘Like an older family member’: Young Africans’ perceptions of Coca-Cola’s sugar- sweetened beverage brand in South Africa and Nigeria. Consumer Behavior Review, 8(1), e-256604. DOI: https://doi.org/10.51359/2526-7884.2024.256604 ISSN: 2526-7884 Editor: Prof. Dr. Marconi Freitas da Costa E-mail: cbr@ufpe.br Evaluation: Double-blind review Received: November 6, 2022 Approved: December 30, 2023 ‘LIKE AN OLDER FAMILY MEMBER’: YOUNG AFRICANS’ PERCEPTIONS OF COCA-COLA’S SUGAR-SWEETENED BEVERAGE BRAND IN SOUTH AFRICA AND NIGERIA Olutobi Akingbade ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8536-9293 E-mail: olutobiakingbade@gmail.com Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa Abstract This paper, through an examination of the perceptions of a purposefully enlisted set of young Africans from Nigeria and South Africa, brings to the fore how Coca-Cola is embedded culturally and symbolically in the lives of these consumers, who liken the sugar-sweetened, multinational beverage to ‘an older family member’ and regard it as a ‘local’ drink and brand. The paper highlights how this has the propensity to enhance the enthusiastic and habitual consumption of Coca-Cola by these young Africans and their contemporaries with similar perceptions. Located within a qualitative research design, the study, amongst other reasons, was conducted against the backdrop of the surge in the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in Africa and other low- and middle-income countries and the increasing targeting of these regions by multinational food and beverage companies for their growth and profit, as consumers in the global north become more health aware. Keywords: sugar-sweetened beverages, coca-cola, young africans, big food, obesity. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ INTRODUCTION Global consumption of sugar has increased rapidly since the 1960s and the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (hereafter referred to as SSBs) has been confirmed to play a considerable role in an upsurge in most countries (Montgomery and Chester, 2009; Monteiro et al., 2010; World