[Seattle-editorial] Feature proposal: Coke

[jonathan lawson]

subtitle: ADVERTISING IN SCHOOLS
title: School Board Can't Say No to Coke

Ignoring a deluge of emails and phone calls, the Seattle School Board <a 
href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=30255">voted to 
renew</a> a controversial five-year contract placing Coca-Cola products in 
public schools. Opposition to the contract has been organized by the <a 
href="www.scn.org/cccs">Citizens' Campaign for Commercial-Free Schools</a>, 
who presented testimony from doctors and nutritionists arguing that the 
sugary, caffeinated drinks peddled from vending machines pose health risks 
to growing kids.

<p>In 2000 alone, the Coca-Cola Corporation sold $20,458,000,000 in its 
extensive line of beverages, which includes Odwalla, Fresh Samantha and 
Minute Maid juices, Dasani water, PowerAde, Hi-C, Five Alive, Fruitopia and 
Thumbs-Up, among many others. While many school systems like Seattle's 
still grant Coke monopoly access to their <a 
href="http://archive.salon.com/comics/tomo/1998/04/20tomo.html/">captive 
audiences</a> of students, a growing number of districts have restricted or 
banned sodas from schools.

<p><b>July 22</b> has been declared an <a 
href="http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2003/07/7411.php">International 
Boycott Coke Day</a> in protest of human rights abuses by Coke bottling 
companies in Colombia, where the president of bottlers' union Sinaltrainal 
called Coca-Cola "one of the most <a 
href="http://www.marxist.com/Latinam/colombia_interview.html">reactionary 
and repressive companies</a> in Colombia." Over the past two decades, many 
trade unionists have been intimidated or assassinated by right-wing 
paramilitaries. <a href="http://www.kpft.org/news/041603story5.html">A 
lawsuit</a> against the bottlers is currently in the US courts.

[image: 
http://seattle.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/metafiles/coketoss.gif ]