Good Sports?

Here at Ethica, we're dedicated to providing accurate information about the brands that affect our lives, and nothing shows the links between life and brand like sports - especially the Olympics. This year, that presents a bit of a PR problem for Coca-Cola. Because this year's games are being held in China, the soda giant is being accused of endorsing human rights violations.

While allowing American athletes to compete, the U.S. is staging a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Games, due to “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang" (York, 2022). Many athletes also chose to miss the opening ceremony in protest.

This is because, according to Human Rights Watch, millions of Uighurs are suffering human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region of China. Members of this ethnic minority have been subjected to “detention, torture and forced labour” (York, 2022).

Coca Cola has been a major sponsor of the Olympics for almost a century, and usually makes sure they get what they are paying for in terms of visibility and prestige, by putting all of their "global marketing muscle" behind their sponsorship (Yamanouchi, 2022). But this year, they are taking a scaled-back approach, perhaps hoping to avoid being pressured to speak out against the abuses.

Coke claims that human rights are a "fundamental company value," but this does not mean as much when China is home to 1.4 billion cola drinkers. Keep these priorities in mind when you see Coca-Cola products for sale.