Coca-Cola Apologizes for Offensive Bottle Cap

[aggiesal]

Source: Yahoo News

Pardon their French? Coca-Cola recently issued an apology to a family after one member purchased a Vitaminwater with a bottle cap bearing an offensive message.


Good Morning America - Coca-Cola Apologizes for Offensive Bottle Cap (ABC News)

Blake Loates of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada told Metro Calgary she was shocked when she opened her beverage and read the words "YOU RETARD," written inside of the cap. The language was particularly painful to her and her family as one of Loates' younger sisters, Fiona, 11, has cerebral palsy and autism.

The cap inspired Loates' father, who lives in Tacoma, Wash., to issue a lengthy letter of complaint to Vitaminwater's parent company Coca-Cola.

"What would you do if you opened up your bottle of Vitamin Water and on the bottom of the lid it read, "YOU RETARD"?" Doug Loates wrote in his letter swearing off the beverage company for life. "Think about it. I bet you'd be pissed off if you had a Fiona in your life… Can you imagine if SHE had opened this bottle?"

Read more: http://gma.yahoo.com/coca-cola-apologizes-offensive-bottle-cap-191206765--abc-news-lifestyle.html

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Coca Cola thought this was a good idea?
And someone in management signed off on this?

Completely inept.

[GeorgeGist]

1. YOU STUPID ...

would be more appropriate. Sugar water with few vitamins ~$2 for 20 oz.

[WilliamPitt]

2. I am 100% sure no exec or manager signed off on this.

Someone in a processing plant somewhere is having themselves some fun.

[Blue_Tires]

3. I wonder what else got printed, and how many...

[liberal N proud]

4. Since these companies put codes in their caps for incentive programs...

a whole hose of phrases could have been generated and sold.

Many would never even notice the printing on the inside of the cap.

[grantcart]

11. see reply # 10 for the explanation.

[Skittles]

12. I agree

[SpankMe]

5. Coke's explanation is satisfactory.

It would have been hard to catch this ahead of time given the algorithms involved in computer generated random word pairings especially where you're drawing words from two different languages. (See the article for the explanation of what went wrong.)

This was a straightforward error; one in a million chance. Let's contain the rage and move on. It is in no way obvious that this specific problem was easy to foresee and prevent. No incompetence is evident here.

It's too bad that this had to be discovered by a family with physically and mentally challenged members. But, we all need to thicken that skin up just a little.

[FredStembottom]

8. I don't get the "competition" angle.

Help me out. What kind of competition is a computer generating one english and one french word?
And if it is all random, wasn't a problem of this type inevitable?
Also, what were the random words supposed to mean to consumers?
I have some experience with advertising..... And I couldn't be more befuddled.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. 'Competition' may not be the right word

A promotion in Canada involving words printed under glacéau vitaminwater caps has unintentionally caused offense to our consumers. We have expressed our profound apologies to those affected and would like to extend our sincere apologies to all of our consumers.

The mistake has been corrected and the words removed from all future production.

The mistake occurred in anticipation of a potential consumer promotion for glacéau vitaminwater. We started printing random combinations of English and French words under the caps of Canadian glacéau vitaminwater. The top word English and the bottom, a different word in French. Regretfully, the French words were not reviewed from an English standpoint. In this case a French word, despite an innocuous meaning in French but an offensive meaning in English, made the production list of words.

http://vitaminwatercanada.tumblr.com/post/61759720793/a-promotion-in-canada-involving-words-printed

Maybe they were thinking of getting people to collect the tops and used them to make up sentences (and they could give prizes for 'the best'). Being Canada, they'd have to be bilingual; and they thought putting 2 random words rather than one was a good idea. 'You' was probably the worst thing that could have been paired with 'retard', but they ought to have thought of words with double meanings anyway.

[Ash_F]

15. Retard means 'late' in French?

http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/a/en-retard.htm
Seems like a honest mistake.

Your link is broken by the way.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Yes, it's 'honest', but careless

They've moved the apology to their main tumblr page: http://vitaminwatercanada.tumblr.com/

If they decide to print random words on the tops (without, as far as I can see, telling anyone what it's about), every word needs to be completely neutral and inoffensive, when seen on its own, when no-one has an idea why it's been put there.

[Drahthaardogs]

19. Also in italian, with an "i" vs. an "e"

Sono in ritardo...I am late.


tarde in spanish.

[jmowreader]

22. It means the same thing in English

People advance and retard the ignition timing on cars all the time.

[AAO]

26. It's even worse because "you" is slang for "fuck you" in Quebec.

[FredStembottom]

32. Thanks, muriel

I see. Some sort of fridge magnet poetry idea gone wrong.

It just seemed unfathomable.

[aggiesal]

9. So you're saying . . .

that it would have been OK if a family that doesn't have
physically and mentally challenged members, would have
found the bottle cap?

You would think that a company like Coca-Cola would have
reviewed the dictionary of words that they're using to remove
such offensive words like [font color=RED]RETARD[/font], . . . from the dictionary

I still stand by my original comment, that this was inept.

[Posteritatis]

20. They were using two dictionaries.

Retard is no more an offensive word in French than phoque is.

[Niceguy1]

29. and retard as

A verb is not offensive and used every day......

[Indi Guy]

6. Coke needs to apologize for far greater bad deeds, such as...

"Soon after a Coca-Cola Company plant was licensed to manufacture their beverages in the village of Plachimada, they started unlawfully pumping an additional 1.5 million liters of water a day from local reserves. This caused the water table to fall—leaving farmers without enough water to irrigate their crops, and draining the community’s drinking water supply. While Coca-Cola stole the people’s water, the company’s plant produced waste that contaminated agricultural fields, underground wells and free-flowing canals, forcing residents to walk for miles just to get clean drinking water. In response, Plachimadans started a movement to shut the bottling plant down that gained international attention. Their rallying cry: “When you drink Coke, you drink the blood of the people!” The protesters successfully drove Coca-Cola out in 2004, when the plant was officially closed, inspiring dozens of other campaigns throughout the country against soda production plants that exploit local water supplies. Yet private corporations continue to take over India’s municipal water resources with similarly disastrous effects."

http://www.foodispower.org/water-usage-privatization

Coke has been doing this kind of thing throughout the developing world.

[CreekDog]

7. that idea was re-

reprehensible.

[alp227]

13. 12 year olds running the company.

And this is Yahoo, so expect 1000 "politically correct pansies lighten up" comments.

[nomorenomore08]

25. People's reactions to purported "political correctness" are always way over the top.

Rather telling, I would say...

[oberliner]

14. Non-story

On a side note, vitamin water? This is something people buy?

[eggplant]

17. think "non-carbinated soft drink"

like iced tea or lemonade. they market it as magically healthy, but it is just innocuous fluids in a bottle.

[nomorenomore08]

18. Most of the flavors are actually pretty tasty. I think so anyway.

And it's at least healthier than a soda...

[penultimate]

21. It might be an acquired taste

I have never been a fan of the stuff.

[nomorenomore08]

24. Totally. Energy drinks as well. Some people find the taste too medicinal, I don't mind it personally

[Scootaloo]

27. I'm still surprised that people buy water

There is nowhere in the United States where water needs to be purchased... unless I suppose you're going camping or something like that. Even then you could fill up jugs from your faucet.

Yet for some reason, people are convinced that bottled water "tastes better" - I figure that's self-justification for buying low-quality unregulated water delivered to you in a three-dollar chunk of litter.

[oberliner]

30. Really?

I see it as a convenience thing. Like if you are out and about and can't really bring your own personal water bottle around with you for one reason or another. Maybe at a train station or grabbing a lunch to go. There are situations where one might need a lunch that is entirely disposable. Better to buy a bottle of water than a soda or other less healthy drink.

[CanSocDem]

31. I travelled extensively in the USA...

...and there was NO state that I felt comfortable drinking tapwater.


.

[Scootaloo]

33. Well, congratulations on your addition to the landfills of those states, then

Don't worry, according to Friedman economic theory, pollution counts as economic growth!

[jmowreader]

23. I'm waiting for the EAT MERDE bottle cap

[defacto7]

28. It's the new advertising gimmick.

Say or do something utterly inappropriate... then apologize for it in public. It gets a lot of views and news spots.

It works for politicians too.