[KhanCEO]

http://www.killercoke.org/

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jason Miller', 'T')here are many examples of corporations that often abuse their power, put profits ahead of human welfare and the environment, and wield undue influence over public policy.

Shall we consider one such corporation?

“Have a Coke and a Smile and Shut the Fuck Up”

Coca Cola is as much a part of the American Way as baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie. What could be more wonderful than an American icon producing a refreshing soft drink recognized by 94% of the world’s population?

Remember some of Coke’s advertising slogans?

I’d like to buy the world a Coke

Coke adds life.

Coke is it.

(Yes, those are but a few of the taglines that Madison Avenue has seared into your cerebrum).

Despite some recent “hiccups”, the soft drink leviathan cruised across the 2005 finish line with annual revenues of $23.1 billion and a net income of nearly $5 billion. So major investors, corporate executives, supporters, and Coca Cola addicts can truly “Have a Coke and a smile.”

It’s not a party for everyone…

Unfortunately, there are many people around the world who are not smiling with them. A campaign to Stop Killer Coke has gathered so much momentum that Coke spent $2.4 billion in advertising last year. To counter the exposure of the hideous truths behind the hallowed “Coke lore”, Coca Cola has increased its advertising expenditures by 30% since 2004.

With animated polar bears and Kris Kringle giving them the thumbs up while merrily downing their noxious concoction, how can Coke lose?

Hopefully enough people will awaken to reality and stop drinking Coca Cola beverages until it begins producing and marketing healthier products in an ethical way.

And what are some of these ugly truths veiled by the powerful illusions that $2.4 billion per year can create?

Ray Rogers, head of Corporate Campaign, Inc. offered this analysis:

“They are right at the top of the worst companies in the world, and yet they’ve created an image like they are American pie. When people think of Coca-Cola, they should think about great hardship and despair for people and communities around the world.”

What are some of the hardships and despairs associated with Coca Cola?

India is the scene of some of Coke’s most serious crimes.

In the remote village of Plachimada, Coke’s $25 million bottling plant depleted the water wells of locals. Adding insult to injury, Coca Cola also distributed “free fertilizer” to indigenous farmers. The “fertilizer” was a by-product of its production process and was loaded with cadmium, a carcinogenic toxin. Locals staged an ongoing demonstration at the plant starting in 2002. In 2005 the Kerala State Pollution Control Board shut down the Coke facility.

A Coke plant in Mehdiganj has caused Indian citizens in twenty towns to face significant water scarcity with water tables dropping by 18 feet.

Pesticide levels in Coke produced in India average 25 times the maximum levels established by the Bureau of Indian Standards. As a result, the Indian state of Kerala has banned the sale of Coke.

It is instructive to note that the Bush administration, ever the corporate champion, dispatched U.S. Undersecretary for International Trade Franklin Lavin to issue this thinly veiled threat to India:

“In a time when India is working hard to attract and retain foreign investment, it would be unfortunate if the discussion were dominated by those who did not want to treat foreign companies fairly.”

Yes, Franklin. It is indeed unfair that people in India don’t want to drink pesticide to enhance Coke’s profits. And Coca Cola thanks you for providing a return on its investment of $380,000.00 to the Bush presidential campaign in 2004.

In his April 2006 ZNet article, Sucking Communities Dry , Joe Zacune of War on Want wrote:

The company admits that without water it would have no business at all. Coca-Cola’s operations rely on access to vast supplies of water, as it takes almost three litres of water to make one litre of Coca-Cola. In order to satisfy this need, Coca-Cola is increasingly taking over control of aquifers in communities around the world. These vast subterranean chambers hold water resources collected over many hundreds of years. As such they the represent the heritage of entire communities.

It is indeed ironic that the company that once used the tagline “Delicious, wholesome, thirst quenching” is depriving significant numbers of people around the globe of ready access to potable water.

And do the ends justify the means? To offset its theft and poisoning of water supplies, does Coca Cola create an elixir that benefits humanity in a substantial way? Hardly….

Here’s to your (deteriorating) health…

Coca Cola easily dissolves tooth enamel. Its high phosphorus contact causes the depletion of calcium in the body. Calcium depletion increases the risk of osteoporosis in adults and of bone fractures in adolescents. As calcium leaves the body, it is often collected in the kidneys to form kidney stones. Coke can also impede proper digestion and exacerbate acid reflux.

And let’s not forget the additional “health benefits” to Coke drinkers. The extremely high sugar content increases the chance of obesity 1.6 times each time a person downs a soda. And to complement the lovely prospect of becoming obese, the over-consumption of sugar associated with drinking Coke on a regular basis puts one at risk of contracting Type 2 diabetes.

In 2002, Dr. Francine Ratner Kaufman wrote of a disturbing trend involving our children, who happen to be frequent targets of Coke’s advertising:

As the new president of the American Diabetes Association and as a pediatric endocrinologist, I have had the opportunity to appreciate the recent change in the face of type 2 diabetes in the United States. Type 2 diabetes has changed from a disease of our grandparents and parents to a disease of our children….In 1992, it was rare for most pediatric centers to have patients with type 2 diabetes. By 1994, type 2 diabetes accounted for up to 16% of new cases of pediatric diabetes in urban areas, and by 1999, it accounted for 8–45% of new cases depending on geographic location.

“Relax with Coke”…But don’t try to work for them

[jupiters_release]

Hope you all know about Diet Coke and other sugar-free products.

Aspartame

[dukey]

didn't coke also used to have cocaine in it ?

[jupiters_release]

That stopped long time ago, think the 20's?

[rwwff]

Too bad I suppose...

Diet Cherry Coke is pretty darn good though. I think I'll go buy me a 12pack tonight in honor of this thread.

[jupiters_release]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', 'T')oo bad I suppose...

Diet Cherry Coke is pretty darn good though. I think I'll go buy me a 12pack tonight in honor of this thread.

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jupiters_release', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', 'D')iet Cherry Coke is pretty darn good though. I think I'll go buy me a 12pack tonight in honor of this thread.

[evilmonkeyspanker]

Have any of you ever put a nail in a cup of coke overnight?

Next morning, no nail.


So I hear, though it needs to be an iron nail



Check out this old coke add
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/poster.asp

[KhanCEO]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jupiters_release', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', 'T')oo bad I suppose...

Diet Cherry Coke is pretty darn good though. I think I'll go buy me a 12pack tonight in honor of this thread.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('evilmonkeyspanker', 'H')ave any of you ever put a nail in a cup of coke overnight?
Next morning, no nail.
So I hear, though it needs to be an iron nail

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('evilmonkeyspanker', 'H')ave any of you ever put a nail in a cup of coke overnight?

Next morning, no nail.

So I hear, though it needs to be an iron nail

[sciencegirl]

Actually aspartame was originally developed to be ant poison, go figure. Funny thing is, it will kill ants by the thousand. I don't want to be drinking that shite.

[gego]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('evilmonkeyspanker', 'H')ave any of you ever put a nail in a cup of coke overnight?

Next morning, no nail.

So I hear, though it needs to be an iron nail

[dukey]

[jupiters_release]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sciencegirl', 'A')ctually aspartame was originally developed to be ant poison, go figure. Funny thing is, it will kill ants by the thousand. I don't want to be drinking that shite.

[gego]

Speaking of soaking things overnight, many years ago a friend of my brothers tried a new recipe for steak that involved marinating it in wine. She decided that if a little was good, a lot was better, so she soaked it well beyond the time called for in the recipe.

When we sat down to eat, and the meat had the consistency of mushy baked liver instead of steak. We adults ate quitely, but my young niece blearted out, "This taste like fuzzy meat".

Maybe the old myth about disolving overnight involves meat and alcohol.

[TheTurtle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jupiters_release', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sciencegirl', 'A')ctually aspartame was originally developed to be ant poison, go figure. Funny thing is, it will kill ants by the thousand. I don't want to be drinking that shite.

[gego]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheTurtle', '
')
As for the topic of this thread, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Pepsi as an alternative to Coke.

[TheTurtle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gego', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheTurtle', '
')
As for the topic of this thread, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Pepsi as an alternative to Coke.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

That nail thinwould have to take a lot longer than one night, check out snopes, they have the tooth in a can of coke...

but I have recently found out that if you use something to liquify the aspartame in powder form and put it along an ant trail it will even kill off fire ants. No joke man, I have had a carpenter ant problem in my house since like last december (never seen them that active in the winter before) but I did that and now I have no problem.

Now I'm gonna try it on the shrews and see if that fixes my problem with them.