Democracy Talk 

The University of Michigan joined a nationwide movement when it banned Coca-Cola from its campus January 1st over suspicious labor practices.

The move by the school follows a similar ban in December by New York University. The two were among Coke's largest university accounts. According to a New York Times article (12/31/05), in the fiscal year 2005, the University of Michigan had 13 contracts for selling Coca-Cola products, totaling $1.4 million.

The University of Michigan chose to suspend its contracts with Coke after the corporation said it would be unable to meet a Dec. 31 deadline for choosing an independent auditor to evaluate charges against it of labor and environmental violations.

A group of labor activists accuse Coca-Cola and its bottling partners of hiring right-wing death squads to intimidate union activists at Colombian bottling plants. They have also said that Coca-Cola, through its Latin American bottlers, has been complicit in the deaths of eight union leaders. New York City Councilmember Hiram Monserrate led a delegation to Colombia that concluded "It seems indisputable that Coke workers have been systematically persecuted for their union activity."

On the third day of final exams, University of Michigan students packed in the standing-room-only hearing deciding whether or not to ban Coke. According to the student newspaper The Daily Michigan, students held up signs showing three corpses of murdered Colombian workers floating face-down in a glass of Coke. Lindsey Rogers, a Michigan student involved in the yearlong anti-Coke campaign, said 20 student groups representing 5,000 students were involved.

One of the leaders of the Michigan student effort was United Students Against Sweatshops, who launched an "Unthinkable Undrinkable" campaign, mentioned in Chapter Five of Democracy's Edge. The campaign organizes students across the country to hold Coca-Cola responsible for its labor practices.

Mr Pirko, quoted in the London Financial Times by Andrew Ward, says Coke is particularly vulnerable to attack over its ethical standards because its success has been built on positive perceptions surrounding its famous brand.

"One of the things at the heart of the Coke brand is that it embodies goodness, fun and play," he says. "If consumers start to associate the brand with more negative messages, that is a very big problem for Coke. It is impossible to over-estimate the damage caused when a brand goes from being seen as something good to something bad."

Ray Rogers, of the KillerCoke campaign focuses on damaging Coke’s reputation. "This campaign is costing this company tens of millions of dollars in (lost revenue)," Rogers said. "In terms of its brand or its image, I can't tell you how much they've suffered."

As the University of Michigan story illustrates, students are also finding that they have powerful leverage over Coca-Cola through their universities. In the past years, Coca-Cola has increased its efforts to negotiate major contracts with universities. These contracts go beyond simply installing vending machines on campuses to include sponsorship of sports teams and unique marketing relationships.

Rutgers University had a ten year contract with Coca-Cola that, among other things, let the company create specially designed Rutgers-themed vending machines and marketing materials. The university had received a million dollars a year in return from Coca-Cola. In May 2005 after a two year campaign around Coke’s human rights abuses, Rutgers did not renew the contract and removed all Coke products from its campus.

Coca-Cola views young people as its highest priority demographic.Young people are potential "customers for life" – if Coca-Cola can win loyalty before competitors do. A student-led public attack is therefore particularly dangerous to their customer base.

Anti-Coke campaigns have spread across more than 100 university campuses throughout the US, Canada and Europe, including the UK, where activists are pushing for a nationwide student boycott. Additional schools that have stopped selling Coke products (Sprite, Dasani water, Minute Maid juice and Powerade sports drinks), include Santa Clara University, Bard College, Oberlin College, Carleton College, and York University.

The Coca-Cola company will also face opposition at this year’s winter Olympic games in Turin. Italian activists are campaigning for a Coke boycott, and are planning to stage protests along the route of the Olympic torch, sponsored by the soft drinks maker.

For more information on how to get involved in the Campaign Against Coke, visit:

United Students Against Sweatshopes

Corporate Accountability

The Coca-Cola Fact Sheet

Breaking News on the Campaign is collected in the Killer Coke website and to learn how to stop Coke on your campus read the Students Against Sweatshops Organizing Manual.