Coca Cola – Warm & Fuzzies or Pins & Needles?

Think for a moment of a Coca Cola ad – I doubt there’s a reader out there that can’t do this; snuggling polar bears, soccer goals, popping red bottles, or people uniting are some themes that may come to mind. Some examples are on their YouTube channel. While the marketing team are coming up with inspiration creatives, what’s going on in the real world? The post challenges Coca-Cola’s marketing authenticity – does Coca-Cola really value and advocate for the betterment of society or are they masquerading while they pillage the modern world?

Just before visiting India in May of 2013 I saw this Coca Cola ad dubbed Small World Machines. My warm fuzzies were {literally} out of control. Shareen Pathak sums up it’s success in Ad Age, “Coke has hit on a good formula for creating heartwarming online clips celebrating, basically, the kindness of strangers” (Pathak, 2013). Take a look and experience this warming moment…

I showed this ad to various people I met in India – thinking I was bringing a message of peace and positivity. I was rather surprised to realize that of the 10 or so people I showed (including a friend, a couple tour guides, shuttle driver, hotel concierge…) two of them outwardly liked the message, others were amused and then 3 didn’t even finish the ad! It was the ambivalent and seemingly offended responses that got me thinking. I ended up asking my favorite tour guide, a fantastic scholar: why aren’t these guys jumping up and down like me!? He kindly reminded me that most Indians and Pakistanis have negative feelings towards one another, and that this ad might be so far as to say it’s offensive (keep in mind though, he liked the ad). Confirming his point, a 2013 BBC report indicates that 54% of Pakistani’s have negative feelings towards Indians and 45% of Indian’s hold negative feelings towards Pakistan (BBC, 2013). My tour guide said that the ad oversimplifies and belittles the deep rooted conflicts between the countries… and after I heard him say that, I began to realize, I think I agree. After all, how do you think the american population would react if we had Small World Machines connecting the U.S. with Iran?

In addition, my guide pointed out that there are several plants in India that cause water shortages in the local villages in which they are placed. Turns out there are 58 plants in India, with one likely to shut down in a few days in Varnasi (a sacred place along the Gangis River) because of it’s impact on the local water supply. (AAP, 2013)

As if this isn’t enough discouragement, Coca-Cola recently stated that they believe global warming is bad for business (Davenport, 2014)… I don’t know about you, but shouldn’t this be reversed??

This ad still gives me the chills, but I can’t decide if the feeling I got was warm & fuzzy or pins & needles. As the people lover and aspirational thinker, I still love it; writing this post, I still get goosebumps over it’s message. But as a marketer I thought about how it impacts other people. Who is the target audience for this ad? Is it for the Americans like me who want to believe peace really can be as simple as opening a Coca-Cola can? Or is it the people of India and Pakistan who have been in violent territorial and political disputes since 1947? Or the people of India who can’t drink water because it’s too expensive, so now have to buy Coke? Who?

This ad won 6 Lion Awards one month after it’s release (PR Newswire, 2013) and in 2013 Joe Tripodi accepted Coca-Cola’s first Cannes Creative Marketer of the year award, one of the highest esteemed awards in marketing. “The legacy we want to leave is of a brand and company that does good things for the world and speaks to optimism, positivity and happiness.” (Moye, 2013). While I believe this is the legacy they want, I wonder if the legacy will instead be nothing more than their revolutionary creative ideas that mask the the reality of their global destruction…

Resources

AAP. (25 January 2014). India threatens to demolish Coke plant. MSN NZ. Retrieved from http://money.msn.co.nz/businessnews/world/8789022/india-threatens-to-demolish-coke-plant

BBC World Service. (22 May 2013). Views of China and India slide while UK’s rating climg: Global poll. Retrieved from http://www.globescan.com/images/images/pressreleases/bbc2013_country_ratings/2013_country_rating_poll_bbc_globescan.pdf

Davenport, C. (23 January 2014). Industry awakens to threat of climate change. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/science/earth/threat-to-bottom-line-spurs-action-on-climate.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0

Moye, J. (25 June 2013). Work that matters: Coca-Cola named creative marketer of the year, wins 20 additional Cannes Lions. Coca-Cola Company. Retrieved from http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/work-that-matters-coca-cola-named-creative-marketer-of-the-year-wins-20-additional-cannes-lions

PR Newswire. (18 June 2013). Leo Burnett Worldwide wins 18 Cannes Lions in media and outdoor. Retrieved from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leo-burnett-worldwide-wins-18-cannes-lions-in-media-and-outdoor-212069521.html

Shareen, P. (10 June 2013). See our favorite work from Coke, Cannes 2013 creative marketer of the year. Advertising Age. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/special-report-cannes-2013/favorite-work-coke-cannes-2013-creative-marketer-year/242013/