boycott Coke

[cattygurl]

http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2003/nowaterdrinkcoke.html

It'll be good for your health, too.

[Taliesin Stormheller]

Disgusting! I've always been partial to Ramune so I will partake of that. Everybody switch to either Spring Water or multicultural drinks right now!

[ellencho]

I don't really drink soda anyway, because I find them to be overly sweet. At the moment, I'm addicted to Lassis, an Indian drink made with yogurt and ice. And when I'm ready to get my snack-on, I reach for rapsnacks. http://www.rapsnacks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv Ok, fine, I really don't, but I always think it's funny when I find Rap Snacks wrappers laying around. Hehe, Dirt McGirt Sour Cream and Onion.

Anyway, on a more serious note, i know there are lots of issues in India with well water and getting quality, uncontaminated water to their people, and Coke certainly isn't helping.

[xian]

Disgusting! I've always been partial to Ramune so I will partake of that. Everybody switch to either Spring Water or multicultural drinks right now!

Don't forget that Dasani is also a Coke product. (Otherwise know as Dasaku)

As is mentioned on the page, Coke is also famous for hiring paramilitaries to torture and murder union organizers in Columbia. In one particular instance, the death squads, funded in part by Coke, took a union leader off of the bus to work and tortured him and killed him on the side of the road to the horror of his co-workers.

[rainshowerz]

I'm an H2O kind of girl...

And Washington State has decent tap water that most people just fill their Brita pitchers from the kitchen sink and refrigerate it.

[cattygurl]

Yup, Shell Oil is also of the same vein (and as such, I have not bought gas from them for eons).

I'm not a fan of soda anyway... but I'll be sure to prevent my friends from buying Coke, and I've also sent out a letter to them, too.

[xian]

Yup, Shell Oil is also of the same vein (and as such, I have not bought gas from them for eons).

I'm not a fan of soda anyway... but I'll be sure to prevent my friends from buying Coke, and I've also sent out a letter to them, too.

Yeah, I was upset cause my Aunt got us a Shell gas card for Christmas. I haven't touched shell for a long ass time either. But once they have the money, it's actually to your benefit if you don't use the card. So we've been keeping track of the balance and are trying to hit "zero" right on the penny.

[Taliesin Stormheller]

I don't. Dasani is actually filtered, bottled NYC tap water. And I don't drink tap water without boiling it (Chinese Style).

[cattygurl]

TRUE, BUT DASANI'S BOTTLED BY COKE, AND THE PROFITS GO BACK TO COKE.

Get a water filter, guys. I like my PUR water filter (pick one up at Costco or Target- don't shop from Wal-Mart either).

[cattygurl]

Okay, a list of companies I DO support for their good practices:

Luna and Cliff Bars
Trader Joe's
Target (over Wal-Mart- DO NOT SHOP AT WAL-MART OR SAM'S CLUB)
Whole Foods
Jimbo's (health food store chain)
COSTCO (For treating their employees very well)
Nordstroms (Ditto)
Container Store (Ditto)
Birkenstocks
Haflinger
Dansko
Ecco

[lopan]

I used to work for Pepsi in Sales, so i'm very familiar with the entire Coke product line. So while you're at it, you might as well boycott everything they've got!!

Coke managaed Products:
CocaCola (and all variations)
Sprite
Mellow Yellow
Canada Dry Gingerale (although this may be bottled by Pepsi depending on where you live)
A&W Rootbeer
Barq's Rootbeer
Cplus
Minute Maid
Dasani
Evian
Fruitopia
Nestea
Powerade

[cattygurl]

Thanks for the list, Lopan!

Yes, boycott!

[cattygurl]

Oh, add (unfortunately) Starbuck's to the list of good companies.

Starbucks and Trader Joe's offer full health/dental/401k etc benefits to part-time employees as well as full-time employees (25 hours or more, for TJ's).

[OctaVentiConPanna]

Disgusting! I've always been partial to Ramune so I will partake of that. Everybody switch to either Spring Water or multicultural drinks right now!

Don't forget that Dasani is also a Coke product. (Otherwise know as Dasaku)

As is mentioned on the page, Coke is also famous for hiring paramilitaries to torture and murder union organizers in Columbia. In one particular instance, the death squads, funded in part by Coke, took a union leader off of the bus to work and tortured him and killed him on the side of the road to the horror of his co-workers.

That's fucked up. I fuckin hate union busters. I got 2 jobs and one of 'em is union. They sell Coke as well as Dasani in our cafeteria which sells to the union guys. WTF? The company also has these TVs all over the cafeteria tuned into FOX news spreading their pro-corporate/conservative propaganda among their union workers. Anyways, no more Diet Coke for me or Dasani & I'll let the fools know at work too. I'll just bring my own filtered water which is probably just as good if not better.

[lopan]

Ah hell, Pepsi is a horrible company as well. So why not go the gamut and boycott them too?

Pepsi's Product Portfolio:
Pepsi (and all variations)
7Up
Mountain Dew
Schweppes Gingerale
Mug Rootbeer
Dr Pepper
Crush
Lipton Brisk Tea
Dole Juices
Sobe
Tropicana Twisters
Aquafina

[xian]

So people might be wondering...
I like the digusting liquid that is soda, but the major distrubutors are terrible.

What should I drink?

I'm not positive since I can't drink anything carbonated, but I'd guess that Sky Cola's pretty good. Anyone know who bottles those mexican sodas?

[lopan]

I'll just bring my own filtered water which is probably just as good if not better.

Pretty much. Dasani is just filtered tap water. The best water out there right now is Aquafina, which is processed through reverse-osmosis (remember back in highschool science class, kids?) and is the purest water on the market. Nothing beats it. Everything else (i.e. spring water, ionized-water, etc.) comes from the ground, where water isn't pure, and also isn't taxed (and hence is cheaper to the user).

Fortunately enough, i know in Canada new legislation will soon be released that will be treating our water sources similar to our oil and other natural resources; anything removed from the ground will be taxed appropriately -- thus killing the markets for discount water bottlers/ resource rapists, like Aberfoyle or Montclair (and hell, even Dasani).

[cattygurl]

http://traderjoes.com/locations/search/ILLINOIS.asp

Xian, shop Trader Joe's!

I love their Italian Sodas (organic and 1.99 for a 32oz bottle, no high fructose corn syrups). They have a range of all-natural sodas that taste better, and better for you. You'll also be supporting a very good company that takes care of its employees.

[cattygurl]

Oh, and their prices KICK ASS on most things, like cereal. Their produce can be expensive, but everything else is usually less than buying things at supermarkets, AND they're usually organic! Their fresh herb prices often beat the supermarket. Their vegetarian corn dogs are the best guilty pleasure food, ever!

You GOTTA go there- and tell me what you think (I've never been to the East Coast stores).

[lopan]

(Coke bottles Fanta, too :wink: )

Really, you can't get a drink nowadays that hasn't been processed by a major bottler. These companies simply have limitless resources for monstrous distribution. So if you're a small player and you have a terrific product, it only makes good sense to sell the distribution rights to Coke or Pepsi if you want your product to be successful.

[cattygurl]

^^Very true.

TJ's soda comes from small, family operated soda companies (like Virgil's- they still BREW their root beer the old-timey way, rather than just use carbonated water and flavored syrup).

[xian]

Actually one of my friends was just pointing me towards Trader Joe's the other day.

I'm pretty broke so I've been shopping sales only at Jewel (one of the only union groceries in Chicago), but I'll check it out.

Sorry, I messed up the name--here's Blue Sky cola's webpage, anyone know about them?

http://www.blueskysoda.com

[cattygurl]

Well, I'm pretty broke, too. I've found their prices to be really good (esp. for milk, eggs), though.

I know of blue sky soda! I don't think they're owned by Coke or Pepsi. They're a small independent company.

Admittedly, TJ's not union, but they offer employees more benefits than being union, and they also only promote from within. I even considered working there for the health benefits part-time, but I can't work in a public environment ( my immune system would NOT like that...)

[Taliesin Stormheller]

Blue Sky is great! I love their orange cream soda :D
And they're only 49cents a can!

[kimtae]

Oh, add (unfortunately) Starbuck's to the list of good companies.

Starbucks and Trader Joe's offer full health/dental/401k etc benefits to part-time employees as well as full-time employees (25 hours or more, for TJ's).Starbucks is evil.
From the ihatestarbucks.com forumi worked for starbucks for 4 and a half years. 4 years of which was at "starbucks international." when i moved to corporate starbucks, i took a DRASTIC paycut (about 5 dollars if you include "TIP"--which by the way is taxed the hell out of), a demotion, and a lot of crap. i got promoted over by people who worked for sbux for one year...when i already had 2 and a half years of shift supervisor experience? starbucks is a load of crap. when i asked for a raise, and explained the situation to my store manager, i told her that i felt like i wasted 4 years of MY LIFE working for starbucks and that i could have had a college degree instead of crappy-people-experience. she had the audacity to tell me that experience means more than a college degree. if my STARBUCKS experience didn't mean CRAP to starbucks than where the hell else would it matter? i was still expected to train people...even though we were making the SAME wage. where is the sense in that? i lost all my benefits. i wasn't eligible for jack sh*t even though i had worked for starbucks for FOUR YEARS. to hell with starbucks. i've come to the conclusion that they offer benefits to TRAP employees into their company. i've worked with mothers who have four children and need the health insurance. if youre making a crappy wage, but it's still a little over minimum wage and youre getting benefits...you're inclined to think there isn't a better solution. starbucks can kiss my dead cats rotting @ss.They're method of squeezing out smaller coffee shops (the walmart of coffee), the entire corporate mentality, the crappy coffee, etc., etc.
Follow this link for more:
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/starbucks.html
Coffee farmers are becoming even more impoverished, going further into debt and losing their land due to extremely low world coffee prices. Meanwhile coffee companies such as Starbucks have not lowered consumer prices but are pocketing the difference, even taking into account the quality premiums in the specialty industry.They just raised prices in Korea by approximately 50 cents citing higher milk costs. Hmm, but when coffee costs go down, do they lower the price of whole beans? Hell no.
Finally, an evil corporate franchise anecdote. On the day the WTC towers collapsed, the Starbucks closest to the WTC refused to give any bottled water to the people trying to help the injured and instead demanded $900 for several cases. Even as other people are risking their lives (think of the over 200 firmen and policemen who died in rescue attempts) to help others, Starbucks has only their bottomline in mind.

[xian]

I read up on Blue Sky some more:

Killercoke.org (a good resource site) endorses Blue Sky:
4. Blue Sky Soda at www.blueskysoda.com
Another alternative to Coke, Pepsi and Cadbury/Schweppes is Blue Sky Soda which is sold in many parts of the United States, British Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam in health food stores and food coops. You can find out if it's sold in your area. Blue Sky soda runs a fundraising program in support of humane societies and their pet adoption efforts across America. From now until Feb 28, 2005, Blue Sky Soda will donate ten cents per Blue Sky Soda blue can tab collected and sent in.

If you know of any other alternative to the three major beverage companies, please notify us so that we can publicize it.

[cattygurl]

I agree that Starbucks is not ideal.

I was one of the activists that campaigned for Fair Trade Coffee for Starbucks. Fortunately, my local Starbucks carries it, and I will request Fair Trade Coffee when I do buy coffee there.

I also support my local coffee shops that carry Fair Trade coffee also.

It's a hard question for a conscious shopper- do you support companies that give their employees benefits, or do you support small businesses? I try to support small, family-owned busineeses that carry Fair Trade Coffee and Tea.

I don't doubt that people are going to have negative experiences with any company. However, for a friend of mine, working part-time at Starbucks have made a huge difference for her because THEY OFFER BENEFITS TO PART-TIMERS. For people that NEED insurance, this can be a lifesaver.

[BeTheReds]

I used to work for Pepsi in Sales, so i'm very familiar with the entire Coke product line. So while you're at it, you might as well boycott everything they've got!!

Coke managaed Products:
CocaCola (and all variations)
Sprite
Mellow Yellow
Canada Dry Gingerale (although this may be bottled by Pepsi depending on where you live)
A&W Rootbeer
Barq's Rootbeer
Cplus
Minute Maid
Dasani
Evian
Fruitopia
Nestea
Powerade

Don't forget Pocari Sweat!

[Dialectic]

They own Pocari Sweat?

[BeTheReds]

Not to be an asswipe or anything, if I drink soda it's gonna be coke. I don't like the taste of anything else.

Good thing I don't drink soda so often.

[kimtae]

You guys should try McCol, it's a soda made of roasted barley. Quite an interesting flavor. You'll find it at Korean grocery stores. And let's not forget Milkis, half lemon/lime soda, half milk. Oh, and see if they have Chukbae 축배, made from Korean pears.

[ellencho]

McCol is weird, but it's SO good. But I get the feeling that borri cha soda might be an acquired taste. Plain Milkis is really good, but eesh, I bought strawberry milkis by accident once - gaggadelic.

[awong]

I pefer my high in sugar Cuban beverages. hehe. Too bad its in a glass bottle and its not that much. I should buy a 2 liter of inca cola one of these days...

But really, I limit my soda to once a week. I don't think I can stop my mom from buying it, since she pefers the taste over pepsi...

[angi]

Man Inca cola with rot your teeth out with one sip. That stuff is pure bubble gum sweetness.

[kalbi]

They own Pocari Sweat?


I have no idea why anyone would want to drink any drink with the word "sweat" on it. :shock:

[OctaVentiConPanna]

With all those Pepsi and Coke drinks, it just about covers them all. What about Shasta eh?

Trader Joes is awesome. I buy my microbrewed beers there for $5-6 a 6 pack. I also like the wild rice.

And Starbucks is a mixed bag. They force small coffeeshops out of business all the time. First, they'll try to buy the place. If not, they might buy the whole complex and raise the rents on the coffeeshop. Sometimes, they'll just open a Starbucks nearby.

When I worked at Starbucks, my manager was originally a coffeestore owner. So Starbucks came around and offered her a job as the manager of a Starbucks. She accepted the offer like a chump and sold her coffeeshop. Later, the coffeeshop was bought by Starbucks and turned into another Starbucks where my manager is now the manager of.

But working there over 20 hrs a week, I got heath insurance , 401k, stockoptions which I still have now..... not bad for a part-time job. And I had a blast working there as we were THE #1 store. We were not a regular Starbucks. People would get their drinks by the time they got to the cash register. We always remembered our customers drinks and engaged them in friendly banter. I miss working there!! :-)

Now that I think about it, they never told us what "Fair Trade" was all about. All they told me was to hand out a "fair trade flyer" if someone asked about it. They really outta train the "partners" better.

[cattygurl]

You can buy shade-grown, fair trade coffee at TJ's to brew at home, too!

[cattygurl]

online source of fair trade, shade grown coffee:

http://www.groundsforchange.com/

Yes, BTW if you like beer, I like Anderson Valley's Hop Ottin' IPA at TJ's (if you don't mind the bitter brew).

[xian]

Non-important fact:
1. If you can get naturally flavored Ichigo Milk, it's great! I made the same mistake as ellen once and got the artifical stuff and had a similar reaction.

The important stuff:
If you are looking for another walk-in place to get fair trade coffee (and everything else), check out 10,000 villages.

It's the best gift place in the world! All of the stuff is made by craftspeople from poorer countries and it's a non-profit which makes sure the money goes to the craftspeople.

Learn more at the website:
http://www.tenthousandvillages.org/

Here are the shops in the Chicago area:
Evanston Ten Thousand Villages 719 Main Street
phone: 847-733-8258
villages-evanston@juno.com
Glen Ellyn Ten Thousand Villages 499C Pennsylvania Avenue
phone: (630) 790-1166

Here's Cali:
Healdsburg Baksheesh 106B Matheson Street
phone: (707) 473-0880
baksheesh@sonic.net
Reedley World Handcrafts 1012 G Street
phone: (559) 638-3560
worldhandcrafts@mobynet.com
Santa Rosa Kindred Handcrafts 605 4th Street
phone: (707) 579-1459
info@kindredhandcrafts.com
Sonoma Baksheesh 423 First Street West
phone: (707) 939-2847
baksheesh@vom.com

And NY
Albany Ten Thousand Villages Stuyvesant Plaza, Suite 41
1475 Western Avenue phone: (518) 435-9307
albany@tenthousandvillages.com
Ithaca Ten Thousand Villages 171 The Commons
phone: (607) 256-0616
villagesithaca@verizon.net
Rochester One World Goods Pittsford Plaza
3349 Monroe Avenue phone: (585) 387-0070
owg@frontiernet.net
Watertown Agape Shoppe 136 Court Street
phone: (315) 788-7470
ashoppe@nnymail.com
Williamsville Ten Thousand Villages 5475 Sheridan Drive
phone: (716) 839-9274