[In light of Coca-Cola's much-discussed attempt to place itself at the vanguard in the fight against obesity—see video above—it's worth taking look at its line of "enhanced waters," known as Glacéau vitaminwater. You could be forgiven for thinking the product is a life-giving nectar. The made-up word Glacéau evokes the purity of glaciers. Vitamins are essential nutrients. And water is an unimpeachable ingredient.
Coca-Cola's marketing encourages the healthy image. According vitaminwater's website [1], the Power -C [2]flavor of vitaminwater delivers "zinc and vitamin C to power your immune system"; while the XXX [3] offers "antioxidant vitamins to help fight free radicals and help support your body." And so on [1].
But not everyone's convinced that vitaminwater does a body good. Back in 2009, the Center for Science in the Public Interest sued [4] Coca-Cola for making "deceptive and unsubstantiated" health claims about the products. In 2010, a US federal district court judge rejected Coca-Cola's motion to dismiss the suit (document here [5]), noting that Coke's lawyers had made a remarkable argument: "At oral argument defendants suggested that no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitaminwater was a healthy beverage."
In other words, no one actually believes our flashy marketing—it's obviously nonsense. The vitaminwater suit still hasn't been resolved, a CSPI spokesperson informed me. And hilarity over Coca-Cola's cynical defense strategy is ongoing, too. Stephen Colbert spoofed it just this week:]
http://www.motherjones.com/print/213726
Showing posts with label Coca Cola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coca Cola. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Evils of Coca-Cola: Branding children, killing union organizers
[The pushing of soft drinks in schools was part of a deliberate strategy on the part of Coke and also Pepsi and other soft drink companies in the 1990s when they were facing an increasingly saturated market and schools became an attractive place for them to not only sell more soft drinks but to brand kids early. That's why Coca-Cola's former marketing director admitted to me that it was really part of their marketing strategy to get kids to choose one brand or the other early on in life and they did that through these exclusive pouring rights contracts where they would give the schools a bit of money up front and the schools would promise to serve Coke and only Coke or Pepsi and only Pepsi in the hallways and cafeterias.] emphasis added
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