Jumat, 14 Juni 2024 – 19:20 WIB
Bangladesh – An advertisement for Coca-Cola aimed at distancing the company from its relationship with Israel has received widespread condemnation in Bangladesh.
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The 60-second ad, which aired on TV and social media on June 9, aimed to counter the boycott of its drinks for months by millions of people in Bangladesh.
Coca-Cola.
- VIVAnews / Muhamad Solihin
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The ad, which made its debut at the highly anticipated Pakistan-India T20 World Cup cricket match, opened with a scene in a market in hot weather.
A youth named Sohail approaches a middle-aged shopkeeper he calls Bablu brother. The shopkeeper offers Sohail a bottle of Coke-Cola, but he refuses, saying, “No Bablu brother, I will not drink this drink again.”
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When the shopkeeper asked the reason, Sohail answered: “This stuff is from ‘there’.” He did not specifically mention the place, but it appears that he means Israel.
Bablu then tries to convince Sohail and his friends that Coca-Cola is not an Israeli product, by highlighting its global presence in 190 countries for 138 years, including Turkey, Spain, Dubai, and Palestine.
“Even Palestine has a Coke factory,” the ad claims.
However, the statement in the ad has received harsh reactions, where social media users condemn the company for misleading consumers.
Proponents of the Palestinian struggle boycotting Coca-Cola said the company operates a plant in Atarot, an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, considered illegal under international law.
“So to hide their support for Israeli genocide and stabilize their plummeting sales, they made this ad to draw the attention of Bangladeshi society and the world that Coca-Cola has a plant in the occupied West Bank and directly benefits from the Israeli occupation,” wrote a social media user at X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Coca-Cola benefits Israel,” said another.
“If not, why didn’t they directly mention in the ad that Coca-Cola is not from Israel?”
With the hashtag #BoycottCocaCola, social media users in the country commented that they would double their boycott of the product and stated that the ad worsened the company’s image.
In South Asia, Coca-Cola sales have also reportedly dropped by almost 25 percent since the start of the Israeli attacks in Gaza in October.
Other users show the irony of the campaign by stating: “As a result, the people in Bangladesh also boycott stores that sell Coca-Cola.”
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“Even Palestine has a Coke factory,” the ad claims.
