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COLA LIFE CAMPAIGN: Coke’s Distribution Chain to Save Lives.
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About the campaign:
In 1988, Simon Berry, Chief Executive of ruralnet|uk was working as a development worker in remote north east of Zambia, conscious that while he could buy a bottle of Coke anywhere, 1 in every 5 children under the age of five die in these areas through simple causes such as dehydration through diarrhea. Twenty years later, through the power of social media technology, Berry has launched a simple campaign asking Coca Cola to use a small part of its incredible distribution capacity to get medicines, such as rehydration salts, to dying children.
Coincidently, in June 2008 Annie Lennox also made the Coca-Cola/child mortality link; “We can distribute Coca Cola all around the World but we can’t seem to get medication to save a child from something as simple as diarrhea and I think that that is wrong.”
Since the launch of the campaign and due to the power of the Facebook group, Simon was invited by Salvatore Gabola, Coca-Cola’s Global Head of Stakeholder Relations, to a meeting to discuss the idea further at Coca-Cola’s European HQ in Brussels. The campaign’s Facebook group has reached over 3,400 members since its inception on 18 May 2008. It was nominated for the NewStatesman’s New Media Award in June and showcased at London’s 2gether08 festival on 3 July.
Most recently, the campaign was featured on BBC Radio 4’s iPM programme in May and July, and on the BBC World Service on 13 July. Simon explains; “Before the Facebook group I was getting nowhere at all. The group has changed everything and is the reason we’ve made such rapid progress …Continuing support for the idea is vital if we are to turn this idea into a reality and actually save some lives.”
Research and development of the campaign continues to evolve. The next objective is to get an international NGO to engage with the campaign. Meanwhile research is underway in East African into Coca-Cola’s distribution system and the feasibility of the idea is being investigated and reported in Simon’s blog.
To find out more information and to follow the story, visit www.SimonBerry.net. To support the campaign, please join the Facebook group! To get more involved and discuss ideas, you can sign up to the campaign’s Google Group “ColaLife”.
+ Campaign Facebook Group
Posted at 5:31PM, 2 August 2008 PDT
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You recently asked me to add a my image 'Yoga, Coca-cola' to your group.
I'd like to tell you why I refused.
The photograph was taken in India, a country which is very dear to my heart, and one that has suffered considerable hardship since the Coca-cola company began operations there.
Heres some info from www.indiaresource.org/campaign/coke.index.html
* Communities across India living around Coca-Cola bottling plants are experiencing SEVERE WATER SHORTAGES DIRECTLY AS A RESULT OF COCA-COLA'S MASSIVE EXTRACTION FROM THE COMMON GROUND WATER SOURCE
* WELLS do not work any more and GROUND PUMPS HAVE RUN DRY.
* The company have been indiscriminately discharging waste water into the surrounding fields and rivers POLLUTING BOTH THE SOIL AND THE WATER
*In two nearby communities Coca-Cola sold their industrial waste as FERTILIZER to local farmers.Tests conducted by the BBC found the waste contained CADMIUM and LEAD.
* Tests conducted by a variety of agencies including the goverment of India confirmed that that Coca-Cola products contained HIGH LEVELS OF PESTICIDES That would never be allowed by the E.U.
In short, the Coca-Cola company are STEALING INDIA'S DRINKING WATER and POISONING THE SOIL.
The company is destroying lives, livelihoods and communities.
I'd Like to urge all Flickr users to check out the above link and see for themselves what Coca-Cola are up to in India.
Im in no way knocking Simon Berry BTW - He is obviously comming from a place of altruism - I just feel he has chosen the wrong associate in a multi national corporation. With Coca-Cola's track record in India its hard to look upon their part it as anything other than a cynical PR exercise.
Originally posted 46 months ago.
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goddessofxanadu edited this topic 46 months ago.
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@goddessofxanadu
While I agree that Coca-Cola, and other multi-nationals, have caused a great deal of environmental and social harm to India, I don't think the solution is to launch an attack of negativity towards the companies. I spent three months this spring photographing the cultural, social, and religious constraints to clean water access around India, visiting such places as Kanpur, Varanasi, the Western Ghats, Mumbai, and Rajasthan, so I have a pretty decent understanding of the trouble India faces in the near term. In all of the scenarios, however, the water issue is a people problem, not one of physical availability. Shortages and pollution are the result of people not working together.
If we can get Coca-Cola to designate part of their supply chain to delivering medical supplies this time, and hold them to it, we can always keep our eyes forward to the future and push more.
Posted 46 months ago.
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