Time to abandon Killer Coke

I have read a lot about Coca-Cola’s involvement with anti people practices and in the past I have dismissed them as a media campaign to discredit a successful company that has served the world with a drink for generations. However, my latest discovery is the final blow to that inner part of me that has so much clung on to coke even with stories of unethical practices. You see I love coke so much that even when the doctor advised that I should take less sugar and specifically pointed out that I should not take more 300ml of coke every week, I still drank Diet Coke after convincing myself that it contained less sugar. The truth is that I could not fathom the idea of being separated from my favourite drink of years. We have all read about Coke’s alleged unethical practices in the past. Their continued stay in South Africa during its apartheid era (even when its competitors left out of morality) made Coca Cola effectively an accomplice to human rights abuses and I know of friends who have boycotted the drink since then. Despite their claims of being a good corporate citizen, the Coca-Cola company has chosen to continue its operations, knowingly contributing to the misery of thousands of people by depleting groundwater and causing undue hardships to the community even after it has been told to stop by a study funded by the company itself (http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/kaladeraunethical.html). However the most recent revelation by Mark Thomas that Coca Cola is a willing participant in the elimination of trade unionists in Colombia sent a chill down my spine and has hit the last cord in my undying love for Coke. For once I am inclined to believe that what is being said about coke is true, because when I visited their site (http://www.gettherealfacts.co.uk)
– that is meant to counter Mark’s claims; there was nothing substantial to convince me that they have not been involved. I have there fore made a decision to stop buying/taking coca cola products and I am going to convince members of my household to do like wise. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to entirely boycott a brand in Africa because, there are times when you don’t have a choice. I remember when I and my friends resolved not to buy Shell products because of their involvement in the Nigerian fiasco that eventually led to the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa (http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/ken/murder.html). However much I would want to hold out, I would find myself involuntarily buying Shell products like petrol and cooking gas because I could not find alternatives. It is very difficult to fight a brand that managed to convince the whole world the Santas have always been dressed in red where as the truth is otherwise. I do not want to claim to take on a brand that has a logo that is probably as recognizable as the crucifix (apparently 94% of the world’s population recognise the Coca Cola trademark) but I will do my best in my in own small way.

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