Welcome to the Beginning
Coca-Cola, the beverage company giant with over 3,300 products (including Coke, Fanta, Sprite and Minute Maid) sold in more than 200 countries. Here in the United States, the company is a part of the culture. People decorate their houses with Coca-Cola memorabilia and old advertisements are recognizable even to those who weren't alive at the time. Coca-Cola offers scholarships, sponsors sporting events, and has a website where people can share stories about their Coke-related memories. One would be shocked to find a person in the U.S. who had never heard of Coca-Cola. In fact, it's debatable whether such a person could exist.
So, what of it? Why are we here? Or rather, why am I here, setting up this website that clearly has another motive than educating us about the cultural relevance of Coca-Cola? I'll tell you why. Because I'm an American teenager who believes in you.
What?
Yeah, that's right. I am. What does that have to do with anything? I'm an American teenager, and while viewing the documentary "FLOW: For the Love Of Water" during my social studies class, it came to my attention that when it came to the Coca-Cola company in India, something was up. That stuck with me for weeks after viewing the documentary. Sit-ins at their facilities every day for two years? C'mon, either that's significant or people in India lack responsibilities and, quite frankly, a hobby. At the time, I rarely drank soda. When I did, however, I knew that much of what I consumed belonged to the good old Coca-Cola Company. Mostly out of curiosity, I utilized an internet search engine and looked up what I could.
As it turns out, Coca-Cola has had allegations out against them about ethical issues since the 1940s. Those were concerning Nazi Germany, and in the 1980s, Coca-Cola invested in the South African government despite, well, apartheid. In Colombia, paramilitaries killed eight union leaders between 1990 and 2002, some deaths occurring at the plants themselves. In countries such as India and Mexico, Coca-Cola has been responsible for extreme pollution and water depletion, both of which directly affect the resources of already impoverished communities. Now, I don't know about you, but I began questioning the philanthropic image being put forth by the company. These accusations are enough to make anybody uneasy.
I commenced checking out a wide range of websites, finding that a number of organizations had made considerable progress in a boycott against Coca-Cola, fixing to hold the drink-industry behemoth accountable for very recent, and ongoing, violations of rights. However, these organizations weren't how I had heard of it. In fact, if I hadn't taken the initiative that many others can't find time for, I would remain unaware. Weeks of research and discussion created a new resolve. Time to set up a Coca-Cola boycott of my own, one that would reach the every-day consumers who are inadvertently endorsing the violations of similar corporation against people who go unspoken of by slipping money into their pockets.
So, what of it? Why are we here? Or rather, why am I here, setting up this website that clearly has another motive than educating us about the cultural relevance of Coca-Cola? I'll tell you why. Because I'm an American teenager who believes in you.
What?
Yeah, that's right. I am. What does that have to do with anything? I'm an American teenager, and while viewing the documentary "FLOW: For the Love Of Water" during my social studies class, it came to my attention that when it came to the Coca-Cola company in India, something was up. That stuck with me for weeks after viewing the documentary. Sit-ins at their facilities every day for two years? C'mon, either that's significant or people in India lack responsibilities and, quite frankly, a hobby. At the time, I rarely drank soda. When I did, however, I knew that much of what I consumed belonged to the good old Coca-Cola Company. Mostly out of curiosity, I utilized an internet search engine and looked up what I could.
As it turns out, Coca-Cola has had allegations out against them about ethical issues since the 1940s. Those were concerning Nazi Germany, and in the 1980s, Coca-Cola invested in the South African government despite, well, apartheid. In Colombia, paramilitaries killed eight union leaders between 1990 and 2002, some deaths occurring at the plants themselves. In countries such as India and Mexico, Coca-Cola has been responsible for extreme pollution and water depletion, both of which directly affect the resources of already impoverished communities. Now, I don't know about you, but I began questioning the philanthropic image being put forth by the company. These accusations are enough to make anybody uneasy.
I commenced checking out a wide range of websites, finding that a number of organizations had made considerable progress in a boycott against Coca-Cola, fixing to hold the drink-industry behemoth accountable for very recent, and ongoing, violations of rights. However, these organizations weren't how I had heard of it. In fact, if I hadn't taken the initiative that many others can't find time for, I would remain unaware. Weeks of research and discussion created a new resolve. Time to set up a Coca-Cola boycott of my own, one that would reach the every-day consumers who are inadvertently endorsing the violations of similar corporation against people who go unspoken of by slipping money into their pockets.