tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7265545420127119433.post8897587247824931644..comments2010-11-22T11:10:40.671-08:00Comments on 16 Weeks to Save The World: coca-cola crimes: part 1Richiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04429984032365834452noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7265545420127119433.post-49209139705270572012010-11-22T11:10:40.671-08:002010-11-22T11:10:40.671-08:00I haven't gotten tot he Guatemala side yet (an...I haven't gotten tot he Guatemala side yet (and may not considering this blog project is almost over and I don't particularly see myself continuing with it). :) Read that article, though, and it sparked the rest of this. Thanks, Chris.mandymcgrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00455760063472215497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7265545420127119433.post-84707878603140828632010-11-21T09:08:00.253-08:002010-11-21T09:08:00.253-08:00Here's a good and very current article in Huff...Here's a good and very current article in HuffPost on this, with some info on both sides of the who-knew-what debate:<br /><br />http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-michael-johnson/coca-cola-co-denies-invol_b_494476.html<br /><br />(I give their journalism a good bit of credibility - my niece Amelia is a career journalist who writes for Huffington and it sounds like their journalistic standards are solid)Kolakowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10816392351246867482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7265545420127119433.post-30650605272035646382010-11-21T08:54:23.973-08:002010-11-21T08:54:23.973-08:00I spent yesterday walking around through the huge,...I spent yesterday walking around through the huge, palatial buildings of Coca-Cola's downtown Atlanta compound of offices. My wife works in their telcom department and was testing a new site-wide phone system, so she had to go to every building and try random phones, forwarding, conferencing, etc. I went along for the exercise. <br /><br />I've been harassing her about working for Coke for years, kiddingly, but I did dig into some of these things. It's one of those good-with-the-bad deals - Coke itself is a fairly negative product; it contributes little to nutrition but water and sugar, and little else but caffeine, unless you count all the wealth it generates. It is amazing how much the world pays for Coca-Cola in a year. <br /><br />The thing about Coke is that, like most giant corporations, it's very distributed and compartmentalized. The bottling companies are all franchises - even in Atlanta, Coca-Cola Inc. doesn't bottle Coke. In other countries, some of producers are almost entirely separate from the corporation, just paying licensing fees and a share of profits. It's impossible to say whether those are just firewalls against liability and the mother company really runs it all, or whether they are truly independent outfits. My guess is that it's a matter of degree, controlled by how much control Coke is allowed to have and how strong a country's market is. <br /><br />So - that raises the question - who is "Coke" in India or Guatemala? Does the U.S. corporation have any input, control, or even awareness of these issues, or can we say that if they don't they should? Coke Inc spends zillions on PR and "good will" efforts - recycling, enviro projects, and charities - and does it enough to impact serious issues. If they do have some control over water use and toxic chemical issues in India, it seems unlikely that they'd fail to at least keep things looking good. Also, the failing farms/suicides issue there is very much larger than that one spot's Coke issues - it involves huge regions and the national economy and trade. This is one of those "what did they know, when did they know it, and can they change it" questions. <br /><br />On the terrorism and killing of union organizers in Guatemala, the same questions apply. Is U.S. Coke involved at all with the politics at those facilities? I don't think they have any stake in them other than as customers. That doesn't mean that there isn't some collusion between Big Coke and the Guatemalan companies that drives an organized-crime pattern, but it also doesn't mean there is. These are hard situations to untangle. In any case, though, it's reasonable to expect U.S. Coke to be good stewards - they should at least be taking some action to correct these situations. I don't know if they are or not.Kolakowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10816392351246867482noreply@blogger.com