The spark of death. Boycott Coca Cola. Cartoon of 17/08/2024 in CTXT
According to the dictionary definition, a boycott is an"action directed against a person or entity to hinder the development or operation of a particular social or commercial activity".
Although the exact date when the word came into use is unknown, it was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1888. What we do know in detail is the origin of the term. It comes from the surname of a wretch called Carles Cunningham Boycott (1832-1897), an English military man who, because of his tyrannical practices, ensured that nobody wanted to work for him, buy from him or sell to him.
The boycott is one more tool of protest, as legitimate and healthy as any other, however much the neoliberals keep trying to criminalise it.
Coca Cola, burying its shit with chequebook
This is a common practice of this company. Faced with any move that it considers affects its brand image, the firm pulls out the face-lifting machinery and buys space in all the media to place its message of peace and friendship. This is what it did the day after the SC ruling that overturned the ERE of 2015.
Translation of the cartoon: "Let's make it look like nothing has happened here. Who needs honesty when you have a budget for advertising?
Now, Coca-Cola was trying to divert attention away from the effects of the boycott because of its link to Israel and spent a huge amount of money on an advertising campaign in South Asia that backfired.
Coca-Cola launched an expensive advertising campaign in Bangladesh, just as its sales were falling in the Middle East and Asia due to an international boycott against companies that support Israel. In the ad, Sharif Ahmed Jibon, an actor famous for his roles in soap operas, played a shop owner who assured customers that Coca-Cola is not an Israeli product, highlighting its ties to Islamic communities.
The ad even mentioned that there is a Coca-Cola factory in Palestine and even showed a group of young people happily and contentedly enjoying the drink. However, it turned out that this "Palestinian factory" is actually an Israeli bottling plant located in a settlement in Jerusalem, which is illegal under international law.
Instead of achieving the desired effect, the big audio-visual lie generated an escalation of negative reactions and increased anger towards Coca-Cola, which was already suffering a 23% drop in sales before the ad was aired.
After pulling the advertising from all media and social networks, Coca-Cola had no choice but to admit that the campaign was a dirty trick, although they called it a"mistake" . This episode highlights the concern of major US companies to try to get off the radar for Washington's military and political support for Israel, which continues to go full throttle with genocide in Palestine.
Other brands such as McDonald's, Starbucks and KFC are seeing their sales drop due to the boycott of Israel.
McDonald's reported at the end of July that its global sales declined for the first time since 2020, and its net profit fell 12% compared to the same period last year. Starbucks also announced that sales in its North American shops fell 2%, and sales in the rest of the world slumped 7%. It also reported that its total international profits fell 23%.(Source).
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