[GreenYes] Other Coke boycotts

[Ann Schneider <schneiderann@juno.com>]

Hi:

This is from a Voting Problem listserve in response to 
boycotting companies that funded certain campaigns.  
My purpose for posting this is to point out that GRRN's 
Coke Campaign might want to link up with other groups 
to spread the word.  See paragraph 4 and perhaps the 
site in paragraph 2.

Ann

FOR THOSE UNSURE ABOUT BOYCOTTS.. For Coca-Cola, things don't go better 
with the Internet

From: Joan Storey <godessss@mindspring.com

 http://www.prospect.org/archives/V12-01/devil2.html

 Taking It to the Web
 Susan E. Reed

 For Coca-Cola, things don't go better with the Internet.

 Behind the story of the company's recent settlement of a $192.5-
 million lawsuit brought by black employees is a tale of how a few
 determined activists used the Internet to create a public relations
 nightmare for the soft-drink giant.

 When Larry Jones, a former Coke manager, founded the Committee for
 Corporate Justice, he did more than call for a boycott and organize
 rallies. He also set up a Web site: CorporateJustice.org.

 Jones posted, for all the world to see, the civil complaint
 containing the detailed allegations of discrimination at the firm.
 The site includes a list of the microscopic number of senior
 management positions held by blacks as well as something no company
 would want revealed: information on employees' salaries over a three-
 year period, grouped by skin color. For details like these, the
 average citizen used to have to go to the courthouse where the suit
 was filed and pay to have reams of paper photocopied.

 A site called boycottCOKE.com also has plagued the company. It
 features articles about the suit and other alleged transgressions by
 Coca-Cola worldwide. Here one finds news about everything from Mexico
 launching a probe of the company's "alleged monopolistic practices"
 to a report from Jordan about Coke cans being contaminated by
 petroleum products. The Web site claims 20,000 visitors daily.

 These Internet sites frustrate corporate public relations efforts by
 keeping bad news readily available--and news of the discrimination
 lawsuit has dogged Coca-Cola officials the world over. One official
 was pestered by reporters in China asking questions about the
 corporation's racial problems.

 The stated goal of the anti-Coke Web sites, to promote a boycott,
 didn't have any real effect on the company's $20 billion in sales
 last year. But worry over continuing negative publicity and a
 tarnished image helped bring directors to the negotiating table. The
 international consulting firm Interbrand estimated that Coke's brand
 fell in value by 13 percent from 1999 to 2000 owing to concern about
 the lawsuit, a change of chief executives, and a recall of soft
 drinks in Europe last year.

 Plaintiffs against Coca-Cola emulated the protests of the 1960s with
 bus rides and boycotts, but their use of the Internet kept pressure
 on the company. Web activism doesn't fade away with the next news
 cycle. Bad news just stays there, for anyone, anywhere, day or night,
 to read.