Our+Stance

= Where does your group stand regarding this issue? What position are you going to be advocating? What would you like to have your target audience do about it? =

Coca-Cola is a multinational corporation and it is a globally recognized brand. “The Coca-Cola Company operates in over 200 countries and sells over 400 different brands that produce over 3000 different products, including the world-famous Coca-Cola and Sprite lines of soft drinks (wikinvest).” They have become one of the biggest companies in the world. Most of us however fail to recognize the effects that this company has on our environment. Through mass production they have lead to the depletion of water supplies in certain countries and polluted our environment through dangerous chemicals and pesticides. Not to mention the countless deaths worldwide due to the dangerous conditions in their manufacturing plants.

There have been numerous campaigns against the Coca-Cola company such as the online advocacy group ‘Killer Coke’ who through petitions and rallies spread the word of the many problems that surround the business. The main issue they focus on is the control over union leaders and below acceptable labour practices. Coca-Cola has been linked to anti-union activity which the site talks about numerous murders of union representatives who disagree with the Coca-Cola’s practices and general lack of safety in their manufacturing plants.

Reference: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~soja/current.html

Together as a group we now recognize what Coca-Cola has been doing and our stance is for them to become more environmentally friendly and take steps to reduce their ecological footprint on the world. Also the outsourcing of labour has led to poor conditions for the workers and this must be stopped. People in these countries must be heard, and Coke’s attempts to quiet them are morally unacceptable. Through our communications strategies we want to make people aware of what has been going on and to send the Coca-Cola company a message that what they have been doing is wrong. It is not about bringing down the corporation; it is about telling Coke that we want to see change and better business practices. In the end it is all about getting people to discuss the issues surrounding Coke.

People today have become more socially aware through the many types of media and it is up to us to get the message out there. As a group we would want to start a campaign in which we organize a kiosk where we would inform the general public of the issues and use a petition to send to the government examining the horrible practices employed by Coca-Cola and to force change. The ‘Killer Coke’ campaign uses a petition which gets sent to the board of directors supporting change and we could join their campaign and help strengthen the overall protest. Also we would like to promote more environmentally friendly alternatives such as plain water because of the wastefulness of Coke’s manufacturing. Coca-Cola’s motto is ‘Live Positively’ and so far this is not true. Our natural resources are being depleted quickly by these types of corporations. Our view can be generalized to a wide range of companies as well, but it is the sheer volume of Coca-Cola that makes them so important in taking the right steps in changing the world.