Word: coked
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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...
...correct that Coke should change its policies. For a company like Coca-Cola to refuse to provide health coverage to its subsidiaries’ workers is unacceptable—the cost to the company would be bearable, while the lack of coverage costs many workers their lives. Coke already provides HIV treatment to its direct employees here and in Africa, but workers for subsidiaries—mostly bottling factories—do not have access to confidential HIV testing or treatment. Coca-Cola should change its policies to meet these demands, pushing employment standards in Africa up towards levels...
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...