More than 130 colleges and universities (mostly in the U.S.) have anti-Coke programs in place. At least 20 either have banned Coke products or axed exclusive contracts, per Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, New York.
The country’s largest private school, New York University, banned Coke products last week. More are preparing to follow suit, including the University of Michigan on Dec. 31. Student activists want Coke to agree to an independent third-party probe of labor violations at its Colombian bottling plants.
Apparently, this movement is unrelated to recent efforts to curb Coke’s presence in elementary and high schools. Although if you were to put the two together, it’s very possible that nearly everyone under 21 in America can easily form a negative impression about one of the world’s iconic brands.
You can find out more about the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke at their extensive website. Coca-Cola has responded to these allegations at its Coke Facts website.
Meanwhile, some early criticism is suggesting Coke’s new advertising & marketing efforts isn’t exactly, um, killer work.
hey, the tagline should be:
Welcome to the Coke side of death.®
I’m not so sure how much tag lines even matter anymore. (Frankly, “The Real Thing” never struck me as exactly brilliant anyway, at least as a line on its own). As Lance Jensen once said, tag lines are like tofu; they take on the flavor of everything aound them.” The advertising and marketing is what really matters.