China Olympics, Tibet Torture, Coca-Cola Profits
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China Olympics, Tibet Torture, Coca-Cola Profits
by Amit Srivastava
India Resource Center
April 28, 2008
San Francisco: Responding to a question about Coca-Cola's sponsorship
of the Olympic Torch Relay at the Coca-Cola shareholders meeting last
week, Mr. Isdell, CEO of Coca-Cola, defended the sponsorship by
referring to the Olympic Torch as a symbol of hope and openness.
At about the same time, the Olympic Torch was being run in New Delhi,
India. On hand were over 15,000 armed security personnel, including
Indian paramilitary forces and Chinese security, and the public was
largely banned from attending. On hand to view the ceremonies were a
very select few, including a group of children outfitted with Coca-
Cola T-shirts.
Surely Mr. Isdell got it wrong? The Olympic Torch being paraded
through a hastily shortened route in New Delhi surrounded by some of
the tightest security the city has ever seen with the public largely
kept away is hardly symbolic of the hope and openness that the Olympic
Torch supposedly symbolizes.
Ongoing protests around the Olympics Torch Relay to highlight China's
occupation of Tibet is a refreshing reminder that no amount of "feel
good" advertising and "brand" associations can whitewash the reality -
that the Chinese government suppresses human rights in Tibet.
The Olympic Torch Relay, sponsored primarily by three corporations -
US based Coca-Cola, South Korea based Samsung and China based Lenovo -
are critical to the Chinese governments attempts to paint a picture of
China that is open and tolerant - regardless of the pending human
rights concerns.
And China is not the first government that has attempted to use the
Olympic Games to gain credibility from a global audience. In 1936, the
Olympic Games were held in Nazi Germany, and the Nazis had the same
goal - to extract credibility from the world community.
For Coca-Cola, however, the Olympic Games and the Torch Relay provide
a tremendous marketing opportunity, associating its brand with the
feel good games that has arguably the largest audience in the world.
Coca-Cola has reportedly invested more that US$100 million into the
Games. The promise of financial returns from the sponsorship are too
great for any human rights or environmental concerns to put a damper
on their plans.
While China hopes to benefit politically by hosting the Olympic Games,
Coca-Cola aspires to profit financially from the Olympic Games.
Coca-Cola, it seems, will sponsor just about anything, as long as it
sees potential profits.
The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games were used by the Nazis to paint a
picture of Germany as a peaceful and tolerant Germany, even though the
persecution of Jews, Romas and others deemed undesirable by the state
in Germany had already started. The first permanent Nazi concentration
camp had opened in Dachau in 1933 - three years prior to the Olympics
- and Jews were not allowed to participate in the Games.
Coca-Cola was a primary sponsor of the 1936 Games. And the first
modern day Olympic Torch Relay was initiated in Berlin in 1936, and
Coca-Cola was its sponsor at that time too.
While the magnitude of horror inflicted by Nazi Germany is unsurpassed
and we hesitate to make comparisons with China's oppression in Tibet,
one must raise serious concerns about corporate sponsorships that do
not take human rights concerns into account, as was and is the case
with the Coca-Cola company.
In fact, Coca-Cola's involvement in Nazi Germany went further. While
the Coca-Cola company was supplying Coke to Allied soldiers on the war
front, its German counterpart, Coca-Cola GmbH, was busy selling Coca-
Cola to Germans. When Coca-Cola GmbH could no longer receive the syrup
from the US after the US entered the war in 1941, it developed a drink
using ingredients available in Nazi Germany called Fanta.
It seems that Coca-Cola had hedged its bets. If the Allies won, Coca-
Cola would rule the world and if the Nazis won, Fanta would.
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Olympic Torch Run Arrives in Berlin, 1936
http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/images/TorchRelayBerlin.jpg
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To be fair, Coca-Cola was not the only company to hedge its bets
during World War II. But the extent to which companies will go to
ensure future markets and profits, however unethical, is disturbing.
And Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the Olympic Torch Run and the Beijing
Games is just that - unethical and devoid of morality.
It makes no difference whether Tibetans are murdered, tortured or
intimidated by the Chinese government. Its mandate is to increase its
sales in China, and it will do nothing to risk losing access to these
emerging markets, particularly at a time when its sales in the US are
declining as consumers become more health savvy.
The current protests around the Olympic Torch Relay are a perfect
moment to scrutinize the role that corporations play in this day and
age of globalization and send a clear message to the corporations that
human rights must come before profits.
On the one hand, there is increased talk of Corporate Social
Responsibility - which is corporation's response to globalization - in
which Coca-Cola figures prominently. Yet, when a pressing issue such
as Tibet comes to the fore, Coca-Cola chooses to remain silent and
endorse the Games for financial reasons, absurdly citing "openness"
and "hope" to defend their involvement.
On March 20, 2008, over 150 Tibet support groups from around the world
penned a letter to the Coca-Cola company labeling its sponsorship of
the Games "tasteless" and asking it to ensure that the Olympic Torch
does not go through Tibet.
We are not holding our breath to hear anything positively from the
Coca-Cola company in this regard.
Many in India are accustomed to Coca-Cola's doublespeak and spin to
divert attention from the real issues. Ironically, the Coca-Cola
company has chosen to promote "environmental stewardship" as part of
its sponsorship of the Olympic Torch Relay. No matter that thousands
of farmers in India have challenged the company for destroying the
environment, particularly water resources, that one of its largest
bottling plants in India has been shut down because of pollution, and
that its own assessment has confirmed what the communities in India
have been saying all along.
If we have learnt anything from the past, and the horror of the Nazi
Germany era, it is incumbent upon us to demand that the Coca-Cola
company act. At the very least, the company should state publicly that
the Olympic Torch should not go through Tibet - an unconscionable act,
according to Tibetan activists. And if Coca-Cola is serious about
being a good corporate citizen and even an average student of history,
it must end its sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics to send a strong
message that financial profits are secondary to human rights.
Until then, we would encourage all torchbearers to cease being
ambassadors for a company that is blind to everything except profits.
And encourage consumers to think before they drink Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola's sponsorship, frankly speaking, is simply not Olympic in
spirit.
Amit Srivastava is the Director of India Resource Center, an
international campaigning organization based in San Francisco, USA.