Earlier this year, Coca-Cola became the poster child for how a corporation could shove leftist ideologies onto its consumers. The company suspended advertising on Facebook in a push to censor former President Donald Trump, published a manifesto about racial equity, and demanded all legal teams working for Coke meet certain diversity quotas.
But now, after Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and many other conservative voices called for a boycott of the company’s products, Coca-Cola appears to be shifting directions.
The Washington Examiner reported that the company issued a conciliatory statement after conspicuously failing to appear on a published list of hundreds of corporations and individuals that signed a statement denouncing the Georgia voting bill.
“We believe the best way to make progress now is for everyone to come together and listen respectfully, share concerns, and collaborate on a path forward. We remained open and productive conversations with advocacy groups and lawmakers who may have differing views,” the company said. “It’s time to find common ground. In the end, we all want the same thing – free and fair elections, the cornerstone of our democracy.”
Then last week, Coca-Cola Co.’s new general counsel, Monica Howard Douglas, told members of the company’s global legal team that the diversity initiative announced by her predecessor, Bradley Gayton, is “taking a pause for now.” Gayton resigned unexpectedly from the position on April 21, after only eight months on the job, to serve as a strategic consultant to Chairman and CEO James Quincey.
“Why is Coca-Cola ‘taking a pause’ on all of these? Because you have been standing up,” Glenn Beck said on the radio program Monday. “You and others have been standing up. Your voice, it’s the power of one. Your voice makes a difference.”
*story by The Blaze