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Coke for Governor?

On April 14, 2005, Duval Patrick , former Coke General Counsel, announced that he is running for governor of Massachusetts. MGA immediately contacted allies, issued a press release and delivered it directly to his campaign headquarters.

read on...

Health for Sale?

Read this report from Allen Kanner and Josh Golin of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. It covers Coke's relationship with the American Academy of Pediatric Dentists. See also the latter's press release announcing their collaboration with the corporation.

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Taking on Coca-Cola

What wrong with Coke?

The intent

“All of us in the Coca-Cola family wake up each morning knowing that every single one of the world’s 5.6 billion people will get thirsty that day. If we make it impossible for these 5.6 billion people to escape Coca-Cola, then we assure our future success for many years to come." – Coke's Annual Report (1993) Quoted in the Polaris Institute's Coca-Cola profile

So the rest is pretty straightforward...

In India, Coca-Cola

  • Causes severe water shortages in communities across the country
  • Pollutes groundwater and soil around its bottling facilities
  • Distributes its toxic waste as ‘fertilizer’ to farmers
  • Sells drinks with high levels of pesticides, including DDT—sometimes 30 times higher than European standards

In Colombia

  • Union leaders at Coke’s bottling plants have be murdered
  • Hundreds of union workers have been tortured, kidnapped and illegally detained
  • Family members of trade unionists have been targeted
  • All while Coke leaders launch a $250 million advertising blitz keyed to the theme, "Coca-Cola…Real.”

While at home, in the United States

What we are doing

MGA is helping build a New England-wide network of organizations targeting Coca-Cola. We see this as part of our effort to challenge corporate globalization and hold corporations accountable to communities. Our efforts on Coke are conducted as part of the "Our Communities, Our Water" campaign. We have organized workshops on Coke and public educational events. We are also supporting efforts by students and their allies to get Coke off campus.

What about Pepsi?

Anytime activists target a particular corporation, the inevitable question is, "What about the other guys?" This is a legitimate question given that corporations are not treated as real public trusts that are truly accountable to the states that charter them. In the case of Coke-related  campaigns, the practices of Pepsico, Inc. naturally come to light. There are campaigns that target both corporations or these together with others. The International Plastics Task Force, for example, has addressed both corporations' failure to use recycled materials. Indian campaigns on water and pesticides have often addressed both corporations. MGA's focus in this particular campaign is to hold Coke accountable in response to calls from sustained efforts around the world. If MGA members and allied organizations want to broaden the focus of the campaign, MGA will give their input due consideration.

Updates

7/11/05 MGA joined with several other activists to protest TIAA-CREF's inclusion of Coca-Cola in its portfolio of "ethical" corporations. More on the protest coming soon.

7/5/05: The India Resource Center condemns a decision by several university administrators to collaborate with Coca-Cola in a "commission" to investigate allegations concerning Coca-Cola. Community representatives from India and Colombia were neither invited to nor informed about the plans.

Coming Soon

A new video on Coca-Cola by MGA. See the preview on IndyMedia's website.

Resources

Quick Facts

Revenue: $21,962,000,000 (in 2004)
$4,847,000,000 in profits

Major shareholders: Berkshire Hathaway Inc.; Sun Trust Banks Inc.; Barclays Bank Plc.

Brand recognition: Most valuable brand in the world, valued at $67.39 billion; recognized by 95% of people in the world.

Who?: E. Neville Isdell, Chairman and CEO, elected June 1, 2004

Gary Fayard, Chief Financial Officer, elected February 2003

Coke's Board of Directors includes billionaire Warren Buffet, Cold-War Hawk and fmr. US Senator Sam Nunn and other corporate leaders.
For a full list see...

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A detailed fact sheet is available in PDF format from the Polaris Institute.

StopKillerCoke.org?

So you wanted the facts about Coca-Cola and you visited www.StopKillerCoker.org. But you ended up at www.CokeFacts.org? Yes, it's true the corporation seems to have anticipated domain names that may refer to its practices and bought them up! So if you need the real thing, visit KillerCoke.org as a starting place.

And now for something different...

Satire: The Unauthorized History of Coca-Cola (external link)

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