Coca-Cola decided to fight back and responded with just four simple words when two black pastors decided to sue the company because they said the company’s marketing campaigns were racist.
After they noticed a “racist” trend in their advertising, the senior pastor at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, William Lamar, and pastor at Mt. Ennon Baptist Church, in Clinton, Maryland, Delman Coates, became furious with the Coca-Cola company.
In a CBS News report, the two pastors were so adamant that both organizations were doing the black community wrong that they filed a lawsuit against them, Coates and Lamar claimed that both Coca-Cola and the American Beverage Association are dangerously and purposely deceiving the public about sugar-sweetened beverages and their impact on health, putting minorities at risk.
Delman Coates said,
“There’s an epidemic of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and a range of other degenerative diseases in the black and Latino communities, and really throughout America, I see the toll it takes on families and children when they lose their parents much too soon.”
Lamar added saying, “It is a matter of life and death in our communities.”
Drinking soda from a young age was found to be “a particularly strong predictor” of a future higher body mass index (BMI) for young black children as research has shown, half of all African-Americans and 42 percent of Latinos are obese. Black and Hispanic Americans consume the most regular soda and fruit drinks on a daily basis, and studies have connected sugary beverage consumption to diabetes, heart disease, and a higher mortality rate. Although, they are not completely wrong but is Coco-Cola only to blame for that?
According to Delman Coates, “I’m losing more people to the sweets than to the streets.” However, the facts at hand do not back up the pastors’ allegations. In fact, most surveys reveal that people choose to consume sugar despite believing it to be unhealthy, from another story on The Blaze.
The pastors assert that this is the case since Coke advertising frequently depict young, thin individuals gulping down the carbonated beverage while grinning and having a good time.
However, this hasn’t stopped the clergy from criticizing the business, William Lamar said,
“Marketing for Coca-Cola is focused around health and fun and showing very sexy bodies in their advertising. You never see an obese person. If the people are consuming Coca-Cola at this rate, there is no way those bodies would look like that,
“It’s almost as if they are selling joy. They are equating this product with the things that people are hoping for – joy, smiles, family. But, this product will not deliver that. It delivers the exact opposite. Silence around this issue is violence.”
They claimed that it also “sought deceptively to switch the focus from sugar-sweetened beverages to inactivity as the key driver of obesity and related epidemics, including through their expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars on research and programs that almost exclusively highlight exercise,” in addition that the soda maker and beverage trade association used deceptive marketing as the lawsuit claims.
Adding that trying to encourage minority communities to live a healthier lifestyle is an uphill battle, Delman Coates said,
“I’m deeply saddened by the way African-American slaves were used for the production of sugar and now African-Americans are dying because of sugar, we are challenged by the messages they’re receiving from the beverage industry and companies like Coca-Cola.”
William Lamar said, “Our hope is that Coca-Cola will discontinue marketing these drinks as something that is healthful and health.”
Stating that they were “legally and factually meritless,” and that they would “vigorously defend against them,” Coca-Cola, however, rejected the pastors’ claims.
The American Beverage Association defended the actions of the industry in a statement that said,
“America’s beverage companies know we have an important role to play in addressing our nation’s health challenges. That’s why we’re engaging with health groups and community organizations to drive a reduction in the sugar and calories Americans get from beverages, unfounded accusations like these won’t do anything to address health concerns, but the actions we’re taking, particularly in areas where obesity rates are among the highest, can make a difference.”
Watch the video reports below for more details:
Sources: Taphaps, Cbsnews, Theblaze
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