The Last Can of Coca Cola

It’s a hot summer day. Heat is rising from the asphalt in vapor clouds. You’ve sweat enough to soak through your clothes. You reach into the ice chest at your side, feeling chilled water and a few remaining ice cubes as they bump into your hand. At the bottom of the chest you touch metal, and triumphantly you raise the last remaining can of Coca Cola. The top pops and hisses, and you enjoy gulp after gulp cooling ambrosia.

Would it surprise you to learn that the company behind this delicious beverage, a symbol of relaxation and refreshment worldwide has recently been accused of the kidnapping, torture, and murder of union leaders at their Colombian bottling plants? If you follow the link posted at the bottom of this page you will find Killer Coke, a website dedicated to investigating and exposing these acts to the general public. In conjunction with SINALTRAINAL (the National Union of Food Industry Workers) they hope to establish humane working conditions within the bottling plants and force Coca Cola to accept responsibility and face the consequences of their actions.

For a company that made four billion dollars last year with an advertising campaign based on commercials associating Coke with summer days, sports events, and symbols of American values, this information is shocking. It is hardly the first claim of harsh conditions in overseas plants that produce American goods; the Nike brand has been synonymous with sweatshop labor, and has contracted with companies in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Mexico, moving their company whenever workers organize and demand improved conditions that threaten profit and cheap production prices. Despite this however, there have been no claims leveled against Nike that compare to those brought against Coke. The chief similarity between the two companies seems to be that neither has seen more than a passing dip in their profits since these accusations have been made.

When I talk to people about their thoughts on what Coke is doing, it becomes easier to imagine how these companies have managed to maintain their profits in the face of a humanitarian crisis. A concerning number of responses have been that Coke is a delicious drink, why should we care how it arrives in our glasses? How can this sort of mentality be acceptable in the world today? A simplified answer would be that the workers are too far out of our sight. These are hardly the first people to die off of American soil due to poverty conditions and oppression, so why are they special? A simplistic answer is rarely the one that works, so I will not concern myself with one. My goal is only to aid in the exposure of this problem and to encourage dialogue around it.

The purpose of this blog is to continue the investigation and analysis begun by Killer Coke, to introduce the topic in another forum, to examine the conditions that have allowed lower class workers to be put in these situations, and to offer my own opinion and analysis of the information presented for and against Coke as it is made apparent. Expect more to follow in the coming weeks.

http:/www.killercoke.org/