White Coke Cans Fund Polar Bear Myths
Guest post by by Paul Chesser
For years Coca-Cola has given millions of dollars to eco-extreme group World Wildlife Fund, whose alarmism and perpetration of falsehoods are unmatched among its cohorts in climate activism. Now Coke has initiated a new campaign with WWF that features its iconic advertising species in an effort to drive more funding to the international nonprofit group to “protect the polar bears’ Arctic home.”
The promotion will include new packaging for Coke over the holiday season, changing its familiar red cans to white, and featuring an image of a mother polar bear and her cubs on the side. Coke says it will donate $2 million over five years to WWF for “polar bear conservation efforts,” and will also match donations made at iCoke.ca. Last year Coke gave WWF $1.64 million for its various activities globally.
“The planet is changing very quickly, and nowhere more quickly than in the Arctic,” says Gerald Butts, president of WWF-Canada.
“It’s really important that we all understand that they need our help,” he added. “Climate change is changing livelihoods, it’s changing migration patterns for species, and we want to plan ahead. We want a future for the Arctic where the communities of people who live there are vibrant and sustainable, and the iconic species – in particular the polar bear – has a long-term future on the planet.”
Butts speaks so little truth.
Read the rest here:
Pure marketing, they don’t give a shit about bears. 2 million over 5 years, I suppose that globally they spend more on toilet paper.
Allan M says:
October 31, 2011 at 11:32 am
I don’t drink the stuff (the fizz doesn’t do the hiatus hernia much good)
I penny just dropped. At last I’ve found something harmful from CO2.
Well, this is a real shame since I prefer Coke over Pepsi. I guess I’ll have to switch to store brand, or maybe Jones Soda if I can find it…
>>Lawrence says: October 31, 2011 at 10:32 am
“Smart move by Coke, it’ll boost their sales no end amongst the brain-dead young.”
Fixed that for you.
Well, drinking soda is NOT good for you. Even diet soda tricks the body into wanting more food; resulting in weight gain.
So we have an interesting match, a company that produces a product that’s not good for you, supporting a cause that’s also not good for you!
Boycott Coke
Coke Contains CO2, Which is listed on the EPA’s hazardous chemical list.
Maybe they just wanted to do their part to change the albedo of the earth. This is why they are putting more white on their cans.
Pepsi is good… I like Pepsi 😉
What Brandon says.
Can’t get upset at Coca-Cola for making PR decisions that sell their product. It is the responsibility of the customer to make informed choices. In this case I think most customers will buy Coke for the same reason they always have – they like how it tastes. I doubt even the most rabid WWF supporter is going to switch from Pepsi to Coke because of a can redesign.
I also think Paul Hooks is on to something. Perhaps he should convince Coca-Cola to pursure a carbon capture campaign – which would encourage every Coke buyer to buy one additional can of their product for every can they consume. The additional can would remain un-opened. Customers could have the option of taking the extra can home and burying it, or just paying for the can and having Coke store it. Throw in a tax credit for each un-opened can and you have a real world policy.
Make sure you pay attention to Ellie’s comment. It provide’s a great spin point – Coke needs to do this before someone points out how naturally distructive of the environment their product is.
PS – Paul, if you (or anyone else) follows through on this, can you let me know in advance? I want to make sure I buy Coca-Cola stock first.
This past weekend I read in the Sacramento Bee where the Inuit Indians have just increased the quantity of hunting permits they will issue for Polar Bears. They must not know what dire straights the bears are in.
I don’t drink the stuff anyway. I prefer Pepsi.
I was until today a heavy coke drinker. Won’t buy another 24 pack ever. Done! Finally. Some way to rail against the madness.
To be consistent, boycotting Coca Cola would also mean boycotting:
Cristal, Dasani, Dr Pepper, Fanta, Fresca, Hi-C, Minute Maid, mr Pibb, Nestea, Odwalla, Powerade, Schweppes, Sprite, Squirt and many, many more products in extra-US markets.
Plus Coca Cola’s foods division products and all the fast-food chains that have exclusive arrangements with Coca Cola, plus . . . . etc
Coke does have many brands, but they do not have a food division, you’re thinking of Pepsi which owns KFC, A&W, and FritoLay, among others.
It’s too bad that Coke has bought into the globull warming religion, but they are still a far better company than Pepsi.
Both my husband and my youngest son work for Coke now that they’ve purchased their largest distributor, Colca-Cola Enterprises. They are a good, non-union company to work for with good pay and benefits. The Coke headquarters (Atlanta) does have some stupid policies, like not letting the semi drivers idle for more than 5 minutes (doesn’t work so well with diesel trucks when it’s 9 below in Denver in the winter), but we’re pretty happy with them over all.
Another funny tidbit… so-called ‘healthy’ stores like Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage order Coke products like Vitamin Water all the time but Coke has to deliver in the middle of the night so customers can’t see the Coke truck making the delivery. My son is a relief merchandiser and is currently stocking the shelves of stores in the People’s Republic of Boulder. Boy does he have interesting stories!
Pepsi generation, comin’ atcha’, goin’ strong.
Called Coke today and spoke to a totally clueless nice young woman who insisted Coke is merely teaming with the WWF to help preserve the polar bears’ habitat. She had no idea that WWF was promoting the AGW bs that the bears’ habitat was shrinking due to AGW. Informed her that the AGW hoax was siphoning off hundreds of billions of dollars of disposable income through higher energy costs from the people who buy Coke’s products. Went over her head. Also informed her I was no longer buying Coke’s products, and would tell everyone I know to boycott Coke also. Least I could do.
Jay Davis says:
October 31, 2011 at 3:22 pm
excellent !
Funny, has no one at Coke realized the complete foot in mouth event by making COKE cans white – like the street drug of the same name??
I watched David Attenborough’s Frozen Planet the other day and he corrected observed the reason there are penguins in the SH is there are no Polar Bears.
Otherwise, WWF’s concern for native peoples in the north of Canada rings particularly hollow, as it was environmentalists who led the campaign against wearing fur and devastated
northern native communities whose economies were largely based on fur trapping and hunting.
Gives new meaning to the term “Coke Zero.” as in the IQ of Coke executives and the amount of Coke I will purchase ’till this charade ends.
Quite apart from anything else, Pepsi tastes better!
I can’t make up my mind about how to conserve polar bears. Pickled? Dry-freeze? More good choices than caffeinated beverages to pick from!
So exactly how much CO2 is released daily by beverages being opened by consumers and how come no one has started whinging about this.
In light of that, doesn’t anyone else see the hypocrisy of a manufacturer (whose very product releases CO2 every time it is consumed) donating funds to a project that is supposedly helping something caused by excessive amounts of CO2?