This ad made by Coca-Cola is selling a low-sugar and low-calorie version of their drink. The photo ad was printed across billboards, flashed upon tv screens as while as being shown on social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
The advertisement shows a green labeled coca cola bottle surrounded by grass with the words “New Coca Cola Life” along the bottom are also the words “Sweetness from natural sources, lower calorie”. The ad has an outdoorsy vibe to it and promotes a healthy environment and lifestyle. The extremely specific setting (Outdoors) and wording (Words such as “Life” and “Natural”) invoke a sense of environmental friendliness. As a while as the green labeling on the words and the bottle promote the idea of being environmentally friendly due to green being a large part of the environmental movement.
Green symbolizes a sign that something is good to everyone whether we consciously know it or not. According to Oceana.org “Coca Cola creates over 3.43 million metric tons of plastic every single year”. The symbolizing of being a green company is simply just false and a marketing tactic used by many companies not just in Canada but around the world. The use of any type of product, being a drink in this case, shows the viewer that not only does the company and product draw on the environment but also shows that the company is strongly supporting nature, animals and plants. It’s a tactic called Greenwashing, which has taken off in the last 20 years as the world becomes more aware of the devastating effects of pollutants on the environment.
The ad does not mention the countless plastic bottles thrown into the ocean, landfills and into the habitats of animals around the world. The process that Coca-Cola claims reduce the amount of waste is the Recyling plans. Currently Coca Cola claims it recycles 25% of its bottles while intendant studies claim the number is less. According to Plastic Soup Foundation “Coca cola recycles less than 10%”. PLS also cites Coca Cola as “The biggest polluter on earth for 4 years in a row” which is undeniable proof that Coca Cola is indeed greenwashing with its products, ads and campaigns.
Bosch, Fleur. “Coca-Cola Broken Promises on Plastic Bottles.” Plastic Soup Foundation, February 23, 2022. https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/2022/02/is-coca-colas-latest-promise-really-a-step-forward/.
“Oceana Calls on Coca-Cola’s Largest Bottler to Commit to Reuse and Plastic Reduction.” Oceana, May 21, 2024. https://oceana.org/press-releases/oceana-calls-on-coca-colas-largest-bottler-to-commit-to-reuse-and-plastic-reduction/.
Bri
The impact Coca-Cola has on the environment is very clear and is mentioned with the statistics. I do wonder if customers of Coca-Cola are as much to blame for the pollution of bottles and cans as the company is. I also wonder how Coca-Cola is related to the return it places and how much they actually support those places. The description of the ad was very clear and easy to picture while also going into what the usage of certain elements mean.
I do love the usage of percentages and quotations from citations as well as your description of greenwashing, it makes the point of the essay very clear. The use of paragraphs is very well put together, each paragraph flows well into the next and keeps different parts of the essay group. There are some minor grammar issues that make it hard to read. One of your sentences being “As a while as the green labeling…” starts with a conjunction instead of starting as an independent sentence, that or there is an issue with the spelling or wording. Overall the essay could use another source and a proof read in some places but was well laid out. I do appreciate the usage of brackets making it a very simple way to explain in more detail without losing focus, having said that it might help with the word count to expand in those places.
Trev
Thank you Bri 🙂