Our moral superiors at the Coca-Cola Company have handed down their latest guidance: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is on the same level as China’s genocide of the Uyghurs, meaning they are both far more acceptable than the state of Georgia changing its state voting laws.
Unlike companies such as Apple and Google, Coca-Cola apparently sees no problem with Russia’s attempt to conquer Ukraine.
“All operational, production, and logistics facilities of Coca-Cola in Russia are working,” a spokesman for the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company said. “We are fully responsible to partners, society, and thousands of our employees in Russia.”
Coca-Cola has offered no condemnation. Normally, that would be excusable. After all, who cares what a beverage company thinks about politics or war?
But Coca-Cola brought this on itself. When Georgia changed its voting laws, expanding opportunities for voters in the state and bulking up ballot integrity, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said he wanted to be “crystal clear and unequivocal” that the change was “unacceptable” and a “step backward.”
“Crystal clear and unequivocal” is a standard of condemnation reserved for conservatives in Georgia who wanted to make sure elections in the state were both secure and accessible after the mess of “emergency” rules put in place during the pandemic. But Coca-Cola sponsored the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, more appropriately referred to as the Genocide Games, with little to say but a vague statement of belief in “our respect for human rights globally.”
Coca-Cola had no condemnation for the genocidal Chinese Communist Party and has none for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin either. The company jumped on a partisan talking point to score easy points among liberals but has nothing to say about real human rights abuses in countries it relies on for its business. Coca-Cola boasts it is “dedicated to using our voice and position to support equality, justice and universal values across various diverse groups.” Apparently, that applies only when Republicans pass a bill Democrats don’t like.
Quincey chose this for himself and his company. Every day that passes without Coca-Cola condemning Putin or the CCP further signals that Coke is fine with genocide and expansionist wars. Coca-Cola decided it needed to weigh in on politics and human rights, so the company’s silence now is an indictment of the values it claims to support.
