For Peter Bazyluk, a junior computer science major at Binghamton University, reaching for a bottle of Coca-Cola — or any other Coke product, for that matter — is no longer a refreshing choice.
Instead, allegations of human rights abuses at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia have marred the soft drink’s image for Bazyluk, who said that the accusations were not surprising, considering how many products that are bought every day are made using “shady” practices.
And Bazyluk isn’t alone in his skepticism of the corporation’s methods.
Killer Coke, an organization that has been protesting Coca-Cola’s alleged practices in Colombia and India, among other countries, has been encouraging college campuses around the world to boycott Coke products by suspending their contracts with the company. The group has succeeded in getting two dozen colleges, including Rutgers and New York University, to stop selling Coca-Cola products on their campuses.
Their campaign drew media attention when the University of Michigan decided to suspend their contract with the Coca-Cola company, but then allowed Coke back on campus when the company promised in the summer of 2005 to conduct an investigation of the charges.
According to the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, The Coca-Cola Company is cooperating with the Colombian government and paramilitary groups in that country to suppress labor-union leaders. A lawsuit has been brought against the company in the Alien Claims Court on behalf of SINALTRAINAL, a Columbian food-industry trade union, claiming Coca-Cola is responsible for human rights abuses in the country.
“The lawsuit charges that Coca-Cola contracted with, or otherwise directed, paramilitary forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced union trade leaders,” said Ray Rogers, the director of the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke.
Other allegations include environmental contamination in India, where Coca-Cola is being investigated for dumping toxic wastes like cadmium and lead. In Turkey, Coca-Cola is being investigated for human rights and labor abuses.
Rogers noted that one of the main goals of Killer Coke, other than to tarnish the brand-name image that Coca-Cola has worked to establish, is to remove their target consumer base: high school and college students. College campuses, he said, are “communities that have high standards of morals and ethics,” and so have more of a responsibility to hold vendors to similar standards.
Their campaign has gained ground in the United Kingdom, but Killer Coke could soon focus on the State University of New York system.
“We would really like to get more activity in SUNY because it’s so widespread across the state,” Rogers said.
Killer Coke was brought up at the Town Hall meeting held two weeks ago when a student asked a panel of administrators, including Vice President for Administration James VanVoorst, if they were aware of the controversy.
According to VanVoorst, the University’s exclusive contract with the Coca-Cola company expires in 2012, but the administration has been keeping an eye on the situation since the end of last summer, when the University of Michigan reinstated its contract with the company. He said that BU is “very happy with their services,” but that the allegations were “very concerning.”
After investigating the allegations themselves, and monitoring the situation in Michigan, administrators made a decision to leave the contract as it is, but VanVoorst said that the University will continue to monitor the situation.
David Belsky, the Student Association’s executive vice president, said that the SA would continue to ensure that the administration was abreast of the controversy with Coca-Cola.
“If Coca-Cola does not sufficiently prove that they’ve changed their situation, or that it never existed, I see no reason as to why the Student Association would not push the administration to cancel the contract and look elsewhere for soft drinks,” he said.
Rogers, who is concerned that the brand name of Coca-Cola “steals the identity of the campus,” said that the decision to reinstate the company’s contract with the University of Michigan was based on Coca-Cola’s faulty promises, and that there is no legitimacy to their claim.
“We feel that campuses can break the contract if there are ethical concerns,” he said. “But that’s a moral, ethical and legal decision that they have to make.”
Coke, for its part, strenuously denies all the allegations.
“The Coca-Cola system is one of the most highly unionized multinational corporations in the world, with more than 30 percent of employees belonging to unions,” read a statement on the company’s Web site, while Coke says, nationwide, only 4 percent of workers belong to unions.