Word: coked
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Coca-Cola has never been short on marketing campaigns. From Santa Claus commercials to the giant Coke bottle looming above Times Square, the corporation has done everything imaginable to convince consumers that Coke is a wholesome, friendly, downright American institution, the “good guys” of beverages. CEO Douglas Daft and his marketing team hoped to perpetuate this image in June 2001 when they began their campaign to become the poster-child corporation of UNAIDS by promising HIV/AIDS treatment to its employees in Africa. Coke declared, “Coca-Cola is completely committed to the future...
...members of the Harvard AIDS Coalition (HAC) joined hundreds of others from throughout the United States to protest Coke in New York City as part of the Global Day of Protest Against Coke. Similar protests throughout the world including the United States, South Africa, Thailand, Morocco and France. HAC also joined with the PSLM and HarvardWatch for a show of solidarity in front of Mass. Hall to urge University President Lawrence H. Summers to pressure Coke about its policies...
Coke’s policies are woefully inadequate for a corporation that claims to offer comprehensive treatment for its workers. Initially Coke only provided treatment for 1,200 of its 100,000 employees—less than two percent of its workforce. Only after intense pressure from activist groups did Coke announce on Sept. 29 that it would extend coverage to the eight largest of Coke’s forty bottlers in Africa. However, even this move forward came with small print undermining its significance. Hidden underneath all the positive publicity Coke hoped to gain from this announcement...
Don’t doubt for a second whether Coke has the resources to provide such coverage. Coke makes a remarkable 41 percent profit margin in Africa, more than double the 20 percent profit margin it reaps in North America. Of the $261 million Coke made in Africa in 2001 alone, $4 to 5 million (the estimated costs of full coverage for the entire workforce assuming negotiated prices of generic drugs) could easily be allocated for the treatment program, especially considering the $70 million Coke paid for Christina Aguilera’s endorsement...
Harvard, too, should do all it can to address the problem of HIV/AIDS, but it can do more if it does not divest from Coke. The University’s status as a large shareholder and contractor lets it hold Coca-Cola to a higher standard than the market alone necessarily requires. Harvard should vote its shares and pressure Coke publicly to provide full health coverage. As a premier research institution devoted to the public good and as an investor wealthy enough to be influential, Harvard is in an ideal position to lead the way on this issue...