Coca Cola: Unethical

In 2006, Coca-Cola made headlines in the United Kingdom for being “banned from students’ union over unethical practices.” The students at Sussex University have decided that they can make a difference in exposing Coca-Cola for their unethical practices, unhealthy product, and the depletion of much needed ground water in rural Indian towns. They are not alone in believing that Coca-Cola contributes to the obesity of children; universities in the United States have also banned Coca-Cola, and a “quarter of states in India have outlawed products following concerns that they contain 27 times the permitted levels of pesticides.” However, the harmful side effects of Coca-Cola were not the main objection of the product on the university campuses; the allegations of the anti-union practices in Columbia and the environmental damage they have caused in India were central oppositions. Dan Glass, the president of Sussex University’s students’ union explained, “Our ultimate goal is to make Coca-Cola accountable for the crimes it has committed, but by banning all its products from the campus, we can hit them where it hurts most – in the wallet.” As Glass is leading the charge, other universities, including Middlesex, Leeds, Portsmouth and the University of East Anglia, are planning to remove Coca-Cola products from their campuses. Although this is a small fraction of the profit that Coca-Cola makes, it is still effective in raising awareness of Coca-Cola’s true nature. Coca-Cola operates fifty-two water-intensive bottling plants in India, which contribute to the already persistent drought problem in the region. This is a concern as in the majority of the towns that Coca-Cola operates, the primary industry is farming. Obviously, in farming, water is necessary to the vitality of the crops and in having a successful harvest. After several large protests, the local government revoked Coca-Cola’s license to operate last year and ordered the company to shut down its $25