This is what George Will likes to call “condign justice.”
Coca-Cola was one of thousands of corporations large and small to leap onto the George Floyd Freakout bandwagon and endorse Black Lives Matter even though it should have been obvious that the group was 1) racist 2) Marxist 3) violent and 4) a scam. Now is reaping the consequences it so richly deserves, as BLM has, naturally, come out in support of Hamas’s terror attack on Israel.
Many who were disgusted (like me) at the transparently cynical and opportunistic toadying by the corporate sector when it realized bashing police and demonizing whites was cool have been quick to point out Coke’s transgression. Here’s an example:
Coca-Cola’s reaction, cowards and ethics-free louses that they are, has been to quietly remove all references to BLM from the company’s website, where it once boasted of its financial support (now doubtless being used to fund one or more of the BLM leaders’ extravagances). Here’s the page: no mention of Black Lives Matter in sight.
Senator Ted Cruz tweeted screen shots of the pre-and post-Hamas Coke website and wrote,
All of the despicable companies that cheered on the rioter and racists because they thought it would boost profits should apologize, or maybe not. It would be an Apology Scale #11, The Impossible Apology, wouldn’t it? How could Coke phrase it? “We are sorry that we are soulless, ruthless capitalists lacking principles or integrity, and behaved like almost all large corporations behave, with no regard for the best interests of society and only caring about what will line our pockets”? What the company really deserves is a Bud Light-style boycott, hitting these ethics villains in their bank accounts—but you can’t boycott everybody, and I hate Pepsi.
Perhaps the best we can do is send the message that we don’t trust such companies, and that they will be better served by staying out of politics and social issues entirely, since they never mean what they say anyway.
Ethics Alarms 
I used to ask for Dr. Pepper whenever hearing the phrase “Is Pepsi ok?” But I’ve not ordered or purchased a Coke since their endorsement. Asking for a drink that’s always available is so much simpler.
It’s less expensive at retail too. That Atlanta corporation is going to need to do a LOT more then just scrubbing their website to get me to consider coming back.
I totally get it.
I was strictly a Coca-Cola drinker for more than forty years and I quit a couple years ago when their General Counsel announced their racist practice of hiring law firms based on percentages of skin color. I haven’t purchased a single product since then…not even on my birthday…not even on Christmas.
If Coca-Cola were to release a statement that they were hiring the best people for any position irrespective of skin color, I’d pop the top on one again.
Well…now they also have to publicly state they’re done with BLM and will no longer publish stances on political and/or social issues but instead focus on delivering the best soft drinks they can make.
I think I’m going to be drinking 7up, root beer, and cream soda for a while yet…
I’m on a natural “boycott”. It’s not a total boycott, but I can’t afford even what the grocery store charges for canned or bottled soda. I’m down to roughly a 2-liter every 2 weeks, and I will split my purchases between my 4 options: Pepsi/Coke/7up-DrPepper/Generic.
The expensive ones are close to $1 per can now, even buying in bulk (at least where I live). That’s crazy.
On the bright side, this might be the end of Black Lives Matter as a de facto political party. And to think that three years ago we thought they were going to be the redeemers of this nation. They should have just kept it quiet for this and not sided with someone that amounted to grabbing the third rail. They should never have been a political force. It’s still probably going to take this nation at least 4 years to come back from this bender, just like it took most of the ’70s to come back from the great bender that was the ’60s. Now what we need is a Ronald Reagan 2.0. Summer of Freedom? Ha! Summer of Stupid is more like it.
This wasn’t about capitalism or money. I doubt the shareholders would have wanted BLM donations any more than Anheuser-Bush stockholders would have wanted Dylan Mulvaney for advertising Bud Light. This is about corporate executives who get to use their company’s money to support their own personal beliefs.
Boy, I don’t think so Michael. The BLM sucking up was like all the pandemic posturing, and the cliamte change boot-licking. The marketing department decided that these fake stances would please consumers. John Kenneth Galbraith had persuasively noted the development in the Sixties: big corporations needed to take poses that made them seem like good citizens so people would feel proud to work for them and consumers would stay loyal. In truth, these postures are seldom sincere.
Okay. Rant alert.
This post and yesterday’s post about the medical examiner in Minneapolis not being able to find any evidence of St. George of Floyd having died of anything physical has pushed me over the edge. So, the whole thing was about a guy over-dosing on drugs while he was resisting arrest? And because of this, (and this is my own personal, overly obsessive and peculiar hobby horse) every single person in a television commercial for anything on earth has to be a black person? According to television advertisers, all black people are happily married (often to a white person!) and living in fabulous houses. Black fathers are working from home and taking care of their children. Why do these people need reparations or to get into an Ivy league school? They’re already on a gravy train with biscuit wheels? Obviously, black lives don’t only matter, they’re spectacular! The other people in commercials that aren’t black are invariably Hispanic or Asian. I thought black people hated Asians. And whites! Black people are marrying white people? How can that be? Isn’t that appropriation, or colonization, or something? I know the world of commercials is aspirational and not the real world, but, come on guys. Thirteen percent of the population in actuality is now ninety percent of the population in television commercials? Who do you think you’re kidding? You advertisers are pathetically transparent. I certainly hope your imaginary black populous is buying the goods and services you’re advertising. I think you’re near to risking driving the majority of consumers away. Brilliant. Rant over.
OB,
How true. I wonder what black women think when they see black men all lovey dovey with white women. Nieglected? Ignored? Rejected?
Or when they apparently ALL have to wear their hair all grown out and flopping down from a part in the middle that makes them look as if they’ve been attacked by someone with an ax. Evidently, that is the only authentic, approved, acceptable way in which black women are allowed to wear their hair. Suffocating. And preposterous.
I am sure black women are doing fine. I just saw an Ozempic ad with a white man and a black woman going out to a movie.
It could happen….
The really weird one was a commercial where a white, well to do guy picks up his of color seven-year-old daughter (apparently) at school and takes her to get some ice cream. I wonder if that commercial was banned by social justice warriors. You don’t see it anymore. Appropriation.
So when Coca-Cola and Delta made their ignorant, biased stands in 2021 against the “Jim Crow 2.0” laws being passed in Georgia, and MLB pulled the All Star game from Atlanta, I had to rethink my buying habits.
All my life, I’ve drunk Coca-Cola and then Diet Coke, as has my sister (she still does, but she’s a diehard Democrat). I had tried Pepsi Zero and didn’t really like it, but I reevaluated Diet Pepsi. I really don’t see much difference between Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi these days.
So I switched my drinking habits — now I simply look for the best sale and stock up. If they are about the same, I’ll get the Diet Pepsi. But no more exclusive Diet Coke. I’ve told a number of people who asked me why I switched that Coke made it clear they really didn’t want my business — so I’m doing my best to accommodate them.
I have to admit it really aggravates me to have to pay $5 per 12 pack for either one, but that’s about where we are. I’ve had to resign myself to paying 35-40 cents a can.
I’ve not watched an All Star game or any of the festivities associated with them since, and I thought it was poetic justice that Manfred had to give the trophy to the Braves that year. MLB hasn’t recanted either, but dang it I have been a baseball fan for over 60 years and it’s a bit late to switch to watching paint….err, soccer.