Consumers' Research launches 'Woka-Cola' campaign targeting the company for hypocrisy
The ads highlight Coca-Cola's impact on the United States' obesity epidemic
'Consumers' Research' targets 'woke' corporations in new ad campaign
Consumers' Research executive director Will Hild explains how the organization is calling out 'woke' companies in a new initiative.
Consumers' Research, an educational nonprofit dedicated to consumer information, on Thursday launched a number of new advertising efforts targeting Coca-Cola over its "woke" political narratives.
The new efforts – which include an ad that will air in Atlanta, a new website called AlwaysWokaCola.com and mobile billboards attached to trucks that will drive around Coca-Cola's headquarters, its museum and the Georgia State Capitol over the next 28 days – are part of the nonprofit's ongoing, seven-figure ad campaign targetting "woke" companies.
"Today, we are launching AlwaysWokaCola.com and the accompanying ads as a satirical reminder to Coke to focus on their consumers, not woke politicians," Will Hild, executive director of Consumers' Research, told FOX Business in a statement Thursday.
The ads highlight Coca-Cola's impact on the United States' obesity epidemic; reports that Coca-Cola and other big-name U.S. brands lobbied against a bill aiming to bar companies from using labor in China's Xinjiang Province, where Muslim minority populations are subject to forced labor and other human rights violations (though Coca-Cola has denied it uses any forced labor); and other health concerns related to Coke beverages.
"The company has taken its eye off the well-being of the customer," Wild said. "Their products continue to contribute significantly to childhood obesity, they have sourced sugar from companies in China reportedly using forced labor, and they have such poor quality control that racist directives, like' 'be less white' are included in staff trainings."
WHAT IS CONSUMERS' RESEARCH, THE GROUP CALLING OUT ‘WOKE’ BRANDING?
Hild's statement references the soft drink company's attempts to promote an online training seminar available on LinkedIn that urged employees to "try to be less white" in order to combat racial discrimination.
Coca-Cola shared a letter with FOX Business at the time saying the slides attributed to the company's training program "are not part of the company’s learning curriculum," and its "Better Together global training is part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace."
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Consumers' Research called out Coca-Cola in May, along with American Airlines and Nike, saying the three companies have put politicians before their customers, as part of the first phase of its campaign. The nonprofit also targeted Major League Baseball and Ticketmaster earlier this month.
The May Consumers' Research ad focused on Coca-Cola's concern with new GOP voting legislation in Georgia.
"We respect everyone’s right to raise their concerns and express their views, but we also believe the best way to make progress now is for us all to come together to listen, respectfully share concerns and collaborate on a path forward," Coca-Cola told FOX Business in a statement at the time. "We remain open to productive conversations with groups who may have differing views."
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The company also noted Consumers' Research's specific criticism on sugary drinks leading to obesity, saying the company has "taken steps to help people reduce the amount of sugar they consume" in the U.S. and around the world.
Hild said he hopes the new ad campaign "will serve to amplify the voice of consumers fed up with how the company is failing them and as a warning to Coke and other companies."
"Any corporation who decides to distract from their misdeeds by taking radical positions on political and social issues that are unrelated to their business to garner positive praise from woke politicians and press is on notice, it’s not going to work," he said.