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BY ROSARIO PAZ

In print | Published January 25, 2007

Students returned to campus this week to find all Coca-Cola Company products replaced with Pepsi beverages, in fulfillment of the administration’s pledge to eliminate Coke’s presence on campus by the end of winter break. Sharples now joins Essie Mae’s and the coffee bars in abolishing all beverages provided by the Coca-Cola Company. Fountain drink machines offering Pepsi beverages are now available at these locations.

“Swarthmore is the fourteenth school in the U.S. to cut their contract with Coke,” said Zoe Bridges-Curry ‘09, a student organizer. "This is more effective than asking people to do personal boycotts. It’s a much stronger statement than just one person deciding that they’re not going to purchase Coke anymore," she said.

The campaign is part of a world-wide effort by students at hundreds of schools to shed light on several unethical practices of the Coca-Cola Company.

SINALTRAINAL, a labor union whose workers are employed in Coke’s bottling factories in Colombia, has charged the corporation with kidnappings, death threats and worse. “In the past 15 years there have been eight murders of union leaders,” Ruth Schultz ’09, an organizer of the Kick Coke campaign, said.

In other areas of the world, Coke has been responsible for hurting farming communities due to the manner in which they conduct production. “In India they have been draining the water tables and polluting the remaining water,” Schultz continued. “We really want Coke to undergo independent investigations in both of these areas.”

More recently, Coke has been accused of manipulating certain legal loopholes and capitalizing on the lack of regulations in an area where people are suffering from genocide. “Despite the ongoing violence in Darfur, Coke is paying a fine for violating U.S. sanctions rather than ceasing its operations in Sudan,” Bridges-Curry said.

Currently, the Kick Coke campaign’s endeavors have led them to be successful in replacing the various familiar Coke beverages on campus (Coke, Sprite, Minute Maid, Nestea Cool, Powerade and Barq’s Root Beer) with equally well-known Pepsi beverages (Pepsi, Sierra Mist, Brisk, Tropicana, Fruit Punch Gatorade and Mug Root Beer, among others).

“The point is to try to drink more ethically,” Schultz said. “Last year, they did sell Coca-Cola products in Essie Mae’s and the coffee bars. As a preliminary step, we were able to switch Coca-Cola products out. We are going after Coke’s image because that is what they value most,” she said.

“Their image does really count and that’s where our power is,” Bridges-Curry said. “We’re hoping that Swarthmore, as part of the larger coalition of colleges and universities, will be able to generate more publicity about this so that Coke and other corporations will know that they will be held accountable for their actions by consumers,” she said.

Although most people seem to feel that Pepsi is not much better in its ethical practices, organizers of the Kick Coke campaign reason that it is presently much more important to go after the market leader and strive to maintain an influence and leverage strong enough to convince Coke to change health standards and labor policies. Schultz’s hope is that this “concrete victory” will pressure Coke to turn these incidents into positive opportunities for publicity, “thereby encouraging the other companies to fall in line,” Schultz said.

Various students applaud the long-awaited implementation of the campaign’s efforts and feel it is a step in the right direction. Sarah Noble ‘10 said that she found the college’s decision to cut its contract with Coca-Cola to be positive, but at the same time stressed that the issues behind the campaign should be made more accessible to the students. “I think cutting Coke is great,” Noble said. “But I also think that cutting financial ties is not the only goal in this campaign. Another really important aspect is raising awareness of the problem,” she said.

There is also a sense of indifference, particularly with regard to the change in Sharples. “When I see people at the machines, they are just getting their pop and going about their way,” Schultz said.

Nevertheless, there is still skepticism among some students as to how effective the campaign may be against the Coca-Cola powerhouse and whether the school truly made an effort to look into smaller, more generic brands of similar beverages.

“First of all, I’m mildly upset because Coke is tastier,” Ariel Horowitz ‘10 said. "I respect what [Kick Coke] is trying to do. I just don’t think they’re doing it well. If you’re going to impose morals on one corporation, impose morals on all corporations. I see no evidence that Pepsi is better and this has been pointed out to the Kick Coke people," Horowitz said.

Those interested in discussing more about the Kick Coke campaign will have the opportunity to participate in a forthcoming fireside chat.

“For people who have seen the machines but maybe haven’t heard that much about the Kick Coke campaign, we are hoping to get a fireside chat so people can come and hear the rationale for the change,” Schultz said. “We are hoping to host one with the administration in the next week or so.”

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