Talking Back to Coke!

Posted July 18, 2008 in [Corporations]

Dear water activists,

In a recent interview with the BBC, Coca-Cola Chairman Neville Isdell defended the role the corporation is playing in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as a sponsor, even though there have been extensive protests over China’s role in Tibet and Darfur, as well as domestic human rights abuses and suppression of press freedom: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7494149.stm

Polaris Institute along with our friends and allies converged this past April 16th in Wilmington, Delaware, to challenge the greenwashing campaign, and human and labour rights track record of one of the largest corporations in the world.

At the 2008 Coca-Cola Annual Shareholder’s Meeting, Chair and outgoing CEO Neville Isdell and incoming CEO Muhtar Kent, attempted to tout Coke as a ‘sustainable’ and ‘socially responsible’ company, while forecasting Coke’s promising growth based on a series of trends that are all but sustainable and socially responsible (see May newsbytes, “Cokes Annual Meeting of Contradictions”: http://www.polarisinstitute.org/files/May08newsbyte.pdf

Meanwhile, neither Coke executives, nor anyone else inside and outside Hotel DuPont’s ballroom, could easily ignore the voices of numerous activists who came to give the corporation a piece of their mind. The impacts of the Olympic torch relay going through Tibet, the murder of trade unionists in Colombia, water depletion and contamination in India, climate change, water privatization and the scam of bottled water – these were among the issues that brought people to the Coca-Cola AGM.

Polaris Institute was able to capture some of the activity and actions taking place outside the Meeting. When we asked people what they wanted to say to Coke, we received many passionate and pointed replies.

A short video was compiled and has been uploaded to youtube, which can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

Talking Back to Coke!
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcW2XmP-diY
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV53VHTv6VY

Thank you to all who contributed and made their voices loud and clear! If you have any feedback, we would love to hear from you.

Message to Coke: It’s time to listen up!

In solidarity,

Richard Girard and Zoe Maggio,
Polaris Institute