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The hearings in 1908 and 1969 were at the front edge of long bear markets. Back in December 1999, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was one month from its January 2000 high, various types of food scares broke out. In Belgium, a massive recall of Coca-Cola was triggered by a series of illnesses in which school kids reported feeling bad after drinking Coke from a vending machine. In the U.S. and elsewhere worries about genetically engineered food rose to a fever pitch, and Congressional hearings were called to discuss food safety. As we noted at the time, shared fears about food tend to flare up right before the start of big bear markets. In our entry of June 29, we covered the first signs of another “sociogenic” pathogen. The energy drink scare is certainly persisting. A San Antonio news station reported on October 5 that energy drinks “may stimulate you too much."  “In addition, all that energy could cause people to exercise too hard, potentially injuring themselves.” The social wariness about food is also branching out – to spinach and now a brand of lettuce “does not appear to have caused any illnesses.” The spread is another sign of big peak in social mood. 

September 2004, EWFF
In February of this year, within weeks of the peak in most the major averages, The Real Thing, a book about Coke’s troubles over the course of the topping process came out. In a nod to wave 3’s gathering momentum, the author says she is now in discussion with a major movie studio to turn the book into a movie.

The image trouble goes way beyond Coca-Cola. In December 1999, EWFF further noted, “As in 1906 and 1968 [when major bear markets started], much of Coca-Cola’s turmoil is rooted in emotional fears about food.” At the time, we were referring to a narrow campaign against genetically altered products, but the movement has since broadened into a full-scale attack against the entire food industry. The “War on Fat” has become an industry unto itself. “Hordes of lawyers [are] looking at the industry’s marketing practices in a way that’s never happened before,” says a story in Sunday’s New York Times. The December 1999 EWFF identified one of the first salvos of the war, a mob action against a McDonalds during an “unexpectedly explosive” World Trade Organization conference in Seattle. As The Elliott Wave Theorist revealed in 1998, McDonalds is one of the quintessential creations of the old bull market. It took off in 1954, as Ray Kroc introduced speed, efficiency and mass marketing to the restaurant industry and stocks entered the most powerful acceleration phase of last century’s bull market, a “third of the third wave” of Cycle and Primary degree. Now, as the bear market’s first third-wave decline of Primary degree unfolds, McDonalds is facing a broadening assault on its public image. In January, as the NASDAQ peaked, a documentary film, Super Size Me, targeting the chain for exploiting a slothful American public, was honored at the Sundance Film Festival. In May, after the rest of the averages completed their countertrend rallies, Super Size Me became a box office hit, a rare feat for a documentary film.

December 1999, EWFF
The true nature of Coke’s problems is revealed by another recent snafu, an outbreak in which several Belgian school students reported feeling bad after buying Coca-Cola from a vending machine. Some were hospitalized, but no medical problems were ever diagnosed. Even though the company analysis showed “consumers were generally limited to subjective symptoms,” massive recalls followed in Belgium and then France. “The pattern of this epidemic is consistent with a clinical entity which has been described as ‘mass sociogenic illness.’” In socionomic terminology, this translates to “We’re in a bear market.”

Food Fights and The Seattle Mob
As in 1906 and 1968, much of Coca-Cola’s turmoil is rooted in emotional fears about food. The campaign against genetically engineered “frankenfoods,” which people have been consuming for years with no evidence of harmful side effects, started in Europe and spread to the U.S. in recent weeks. As in 1908 and 1969, government hearings have been called to discuss the health risk in food. “The second of three FDA hearings on the safety and regulation of biotech foods is expected to be as contentious as the first meeting [on] November 18.” “Growing resistance to new technology” has prompted the public forums. At the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle, protestors attacked a McDonalds, smashing its windows and unfurling a banner protesting the genetic engineering of food. Nobody seems to know what triggered the wave of irrational fears but many are taking action. “Once Quick Converts, Farmers Begin To Lose Faith In Biotech Crops.” Even when the “customer is wrong, the customer is right,” says a farmer who has decided not to plant genetically modified seed next year.