[HN Gopher] The Coca-Cola Company Suspends Its Business in Russia
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The Coca-Cola Company Suspends Its Business in Russia
Author : mudro_zboris
Score : 55 points
Date : 2022-03-08 20:53 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.coca-colacompany.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.coca-colacompany.com)
| robotburrito wrote:
| Doesn't their product harm people? Wouldn't it be more patriotic
| to keep selling Soda there?
| 015UUZn8aEvW wrote:
| Russia will be greatly hurt overall by all of these sanctions and
| corporate decisions. Still, it's striking how many of the
| American companies pulling their products from Russia sell things
| that weaken and enervate the people who consume them. I
| personally would probably be better off if I lost access to all
| Coca-Cola products. Likewise for Netflix, Instagram, etc. It
| doesn't say anything good for America that so many of its big
| companies fall into that category.
| LegitShady wrote:
| Chinese companies will fill all of these gaps as soon as they
| can and that will be that.
| ajsnigrutin wrote:
| CocaCola will be replaced by local drinks, netflix etc. by
| piracy, facebook etc. with VK.com, and china will replace the
| hardware (eg xiaomi/huawei instead of iphones). The disruption
| will probably be lower than in it was during the peak of supply
| chain issues during the first covid waves, just with enough
| toilet paper and yeast, and less of the stuff that isn't really
| that mandatory for normal day-to-day life.
|
| On the other hand, europe will freeze without russian gas, and
| oil prices will make everything even more expensive worldwide.
|
| The winner of all of this? China, with cheap russian gas (that
| russia will be forced to sell them, because they have noone
| else to sell it to) and more products/gardgets/stuff sold, with
| eu/usa imports stopped.
|
| And the loser? Average joe, again.
| andrewinardeer wrote:
| I'd say the Ukrainians are losing far more than the 'average
| joe'.
| myth_drannon wrote:
| Not to mention potential famine in Africa/SE Asia.
| Russia/Ukraine combined wheat exports are 25% of total.
| tablespoon wrote:
| > The winner of all of this? China, with cheap russian gas
| (that russia will be forced to sell them, because they have
| noone else to sell it to) and more products/gardgets/stuff
| sold, with eu/usa imports stopped.
|
| This is true, and it's why sanctions are dumb. Another
| example is Belarus. My understanding is for years they played
| the West against Russia, and their authoritarian government
| retained some independence as a result. Then the West slapped
| sanctions on them, which pushed them into the suffocating
| arms of Putin, and it became a staging area and accomplice to
| Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
|
| The West probably needs some more realpolitik. Not the fuck
| your friends and bow down to your enemies kind that seems to
| be a bit in vogue, but the kind where you admit distasteful
| allies into your alliances against your stronger adversaries.
|
| > And the loser? Average joe, again.
|
| The real losers are the Ukrainians who are getting their
| country conquered by invaders.
| pmoriarty wrote:
| _" Another example is Belarus. My understanding is for
| years the played Europe against Russia, but their
| autocratic government retained some independence as a
| result. Then the West slapped sanctions on them, which
| pushed them into the suffocating arms of Putin, and it
| became a staging area and accomplice to Putin's invasion of
| Ukraine."_
|
| Contrast that with Finland and Sweden seriously considering
| joining NATO, NATO putting more weapons and soldiers in to
| the Baltic and Eastern European states, Germany and other
| NATO states increasing military spending, and moving much
| faster towards energy independence.
|
| These consequences are evidence of a major miscalculation
| on Putin's part, who certainly would never want to see any
| of that happen.
|
| Not to mention the world edging ever closer to WW3, in
| which everyone would be the loser.
| sithadmin wrote:
| >many of the American companies pulling their products from
| Russia sell things that weaken and enervate the people who
| consume them
|
| As for food products - let's not pretend that off the shelf
| native alternatives like kvass (or beer) are much better -
| they're still chock-full of simple carbs that lend themselves
| to obesity and insulin resistance.
| ajsnigrutin wrote:
| Well yeah, but buying kvas instead of cocacola is better for
| russian industry, and worse for american industry. USA/EU
| stopping imports of kvas would probably hurt them more, but
| they probably don't import any significant quantities of
| those.
| 0x737368 wrote:
| How dare you speak in such disrespectful manner to kvass, you
| philistine!
|
| On a serious note, most of store bought kvass might as well
| be Coca Cola but the real thing is good for you - it's a
| Russian kombucha. The sugar gets all used up in the process
| of fermentation and the bacteria are good for you.
| pmoriarty wrote:
| I'd like to see some credible evidence that it's any better
| than beer, which is also made through fermentation.
| aaaaaaaaata wrote:
| Beer can be good for you in proper volume.
| long_time_gone wrote:
| > It doesn't say anything good for America that so many of its
| big companies fall into that category.
|
| The big companies of America fall into every category, not just
| the ones you cherry-picked. You could have easily mentioned GE,
| Intel, MSFT, Apple, Target, Lowe's, Home Depot, Ford, GM,
| Kroger, Walgreens, Deere, Oracle, Caterpillar, and a bunch of
| other as-big companies. Those companies each have higher
| revenues than Coca-Cola, Instagram, or Netflix.
| [deleted]
| BigComrade wrote:
| Ansil849 wrote:
| Isn't the aim of sanctions to hurt Russians? Stopping the sale of
| poisonous American foods and drink would seemingly only benefit
| them. If the idea was to actually to adversely impact Russians,
| Coca-Cola would give out free sodas, McdDonald's would give out
| free burgers to them, etc...
| gtirloni wrote:
| This is not Reddit.
| mcphage wrote:
| > Isn't the aim of sanctions to hurt Russians?
|
| I think the aim of sanctions is to make Russians unhappy, more
| than to hurt them. If they're hurt by the sanctions but not
| bothered by them, it accomplishes nothing.
| giantg2 wrote:
| They would probably have to give out burgers for free the way
| the ruble has collapsed.
| aeyes wrote:
| I might eat my own words in a month but currently the Ruble
| doesn't look very "collapsed" to me. FX rate rose from 75 to
| 130 which is still less than what happened after the 2014
| sanctions when it went from 35 to 70 and Russia didn't
| collapse due to this.
| chrisco255 wrote:
| Headline 5 years from now: "Diabetes and obesity in young Russian
| children has plummeted in recent years"
| Symbiote wrote:
| The bottling company will almost certainly just make something
| else, according to available materials.
| relativeadv wrote:
| long-term fasting does indeed effect both of those things.
| ReptileMan wrote:
| Poor Russians. Less obesity and better teeth. To be fair less
| soft drinks and McDonald's is better for a nation. They are too
| addictive.
| tkluck wrote:
| It seems that the press interprets suspending business in Russia
| as a show of solidarity with Ukraine. But isn't it also just a
| normal business response to the Ruble's freefall? The cynic in me
| takes the solidarity angle with a grain of salt.
| zhengiszen wrote:
| How ironic that sanctions and boycotting seems to be used in the
| case of Russia and we were always told to be not helpful in the
| case of Israeli oppression and war crimes against
| Palestinians.... Hypocrisy ? Racism because we empathize with
| Ukrainian more than with Arabs ?
| ars wrote:
| breitling wrote:
| LoL...
|
| Your bias is glaringly obvious here. You mention Palestinian
| munitions, but completely leave out Israeli phosphorous bombs
| [0], organ harvesting [1], illegally occupying land, etc,
| etc,
|
| 0. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-22310544
|
| 1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/21/israeli-
| pathol...
| google234123 wrote:
| 1. Is questionable morally (though, organ donation the
| default in california now if you die) but also happened
| quite a long time ago. 0. Doesn't seem to be considered
| illegal and has also appeared to stopped.
|
| This still side steps the main issue that a large majority
| people in Palestine won't acknowledge that israel has a
| right to exist and support a continued war against it. You
| could see how it's hard to end a war
| willcipriano wrote:
| myth_drannon wrote:
| Well, look how well sanctions on Israel worked for Ben&Jerry,
| losses in billions.
| ceejayoz wrote:
| The big loser, of course, being the First Amendment.
|
| Government punishment of free speech and expression is
| supposed to be forbidden.
| sidibe wrote:
| I don't agree but a lot of people think Israel's justifications
| are valid.
|
| There are no decent arguments for Putin's war. It's even less
| justified than when Saddam invaded Kuwait but Saddam didn't
| have nukes and couldn't veto the UNSC
| AlecSchueler wrote:
| It's not a question of the validity of either military
| action. It's just that for many years people have called for
| product boycotts in the case it Israel and the common
| response was based on boycotts having no impact for various
| reasons.
| sidibe wrote:
| Boycotting Israel hasn't put much pressure because many
| agree with their actions and therefore won't participate.
| No one agrees with Russia's actions.
| ipaddr wrote:
| Europe cares about Ukrainian because it directly attacks a
| country in Europe and puts other countries like Germany in a
| weaker position. Germany has decided to grow an army in
| response.
|
| Claiming racism ignores the real reasons.
|
| Not to mention this is an emotional segway out of the daily
| covid grind the news has been beating. This support wasn't
| there in 2014 when they first invaded.
| Ansil849 wrote:
| Does this mean the world can eventually look forward to a new
| soft drink?
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanta#Origins
|
| > During the Second World War, the US established a trade embargo
| against Nazi Germany, making the export of Coca-Cola syrup
| difficult. To circumvent this, Max Keith, the head of Coca-Cola
| Deutschland (Coca-Cola GmbH), decided to create a new product for
| the German market, using only ingredients available in Germany at
| the time, including beet sugar, whey, and apple pomace--the
| "leftovers of leftovers", as Keith later recalled. The name was
| the result of a brainstorming session, which started with Keith's
| exhorting his team to "use their imagination" (Fantasie in
| German), to which one of his salesmen, Joe Knipp, retorted
| "Fanta!".
| vinni2 wrote:
| So Fanta was invented by Nazis?
| eps wrote:
| Not the modern version. Just the name.
| yesbabyyes wrote:
| I guess this is as good a time as any to remind readers of the
| time Pepsi managed to make its cola the most popular soda in
| the Soviet Union, trading it for Stolichnaya vodka and later
| their own military fleet:
|
| https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/soviet-union-pepsi-shi...
| sschueller wrote:
| I always prefer Fanta or Sinalco over a coke and I wasn't aware
| of this fact. Very interesting.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| Fanta, the brand name was invented during WWII.
|
| Fanta, the original recipe, is not the modern orange soda,
| but was rather a soda cobbled together from fruit scraps and
| whatever else was available in a severely rationed Germany.
| The original recipe was discontinued in 1945 and the orange
| soda launched in 1955. I don't think anyone could find
| original-recipe Fanta.
| Ansil849 wrote:
| The John Pilger documentary Burp! Pepsi vs. Coke: The Ice
| Cold War [1] was really eye opening for me.
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3PjKrWdZ-E
| tediousdemise wrote:
| mcphage wrote:
| > Cancel culture is pretty interesting.
|
| What does "Cancel Culture" mean to you?
| tediousdemise wrote:
| To me, cancel culture is a behavior where individuals,
| countries or corporations decide to cut ties or refuse to do
| business with other individuals, countries, or corporations,
| usually informed by some popular opinion. It's a form of
| collective action.
|
| The popular opinion doesn't even need to be correct, it just
| needs strong emotional appeal that motivates people to
| cancel.
| mikestew wrote:
| You might be looking for the word "boycott", like old
| people used to call it.
| DickingAround wrote:
| You're probably right that the country "USA" doesn't get
| "sanctioned" much since they're the super power. Instead
| they use their power to punish other 'bad' performers. That
| said, Russia's government is totally worth 'cancelling'
| right now. Maybe the USA should have gotten some more push
| back for their failed wars, but Russia sure deserves it for
| this war; it's even more egregious than Iraq/Afghanistan.
| Spivak wrote:
| I find it hilarious that you consider, "companies stopping
| their Russian operations due to economic sanctions since they
| started a literal war" and "haha Russia is canceled" are even
| remotely the same thing.
|
| Like you think in our capitalist hellscape that _Coca-Cola_
| virtue signaling "we don't like Russia, amiright?" is worth
| the billions in revenue they're gonna miss from this?
| tediousdemise wrote:
| It doesn't mention anywhere in the press release that Coca
| Cola was forced to pull out of Russia due to sanctions. This
| makes it seem like a voluntary action.
| ComradePhil wrote:
| It IS virtue signalling. KFC and Pizza Hut have decided to
| continue their operations in Russia. If it was "because of
| sanctions", they would have pulled out too.
| aaaaaaaaata wrote:
| > KFC and Pizza Hut
|
| Yum! Foods, aka Pepsi
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| Good Bye Lenin!
| xianwen wrote:
| I wonder whether Russia will be as isolated as North Korea.
| alkonaut wrote:
| That type of repression isn't possible in Russia. It requires a
| cult _and_ people who haven't heard of the free world for a
| generation.
|
| It can be as isolated as Iran however, which is pretty
| remarkable considering how close the now prosperous St
| Petersburg is to Helsinki and Tallinn. The contrast from today
| to a year from now will be extreme.
| andrewinardeer wrote:
| Between this and McDonalds pulling out the Russians will soon be
| the healthiest people on the planet.
| tpoacher wrote:
| Not to mention, they will have to do _something_ with all that
| surplus product. I predict aggressive local marketing and an
| increase in diabetes rates.
| jollybean wrote:
| Yay! And so has Pepsi and Starbucks and Ima bet that this was
| coordinated among them.
|
| For the first time in my life I got off my butt and _wrote a
| whole email_ to their customer service address indicating my
| disgust and threw in the 'boycott' keywords.
|
| I honestly think that they will 'measure the anger' and that
| 'every lazy email' counts kind of things.
|
| McDonald's, Disney and Spotify should shut down next.
|
| None of this is important for the Russian economy (a bit but not
| much) - this is a little signal to the population - you don't get
| your 'Iron Man' and 'Big Mac' while you invade countries. The
| nominal idea of isolation is something that will impact a huge
| portion of the population and they may 'feel' it more than for
| example inflation, which can be explained away.
|
| There was an interview about a teen girl pissed off because 'she
| can't upgrade her iPhone' - it seems pedantic in a time of war,
| but most people are concerned about those things. 'Pissing off
| teenagers' is a good way to remind them of what's up, even if it
| might have some negative effects, for the most part, it's
| constraining.
|
| FYI Google should stay active, they're a possible source of
| information.
| tpoacher wrote:
| She wasn't pissed off because "her president started a war and
| now she can't upgrade her iPhone"
|
| She was pissed off because "evil Americans started a war and
| now she can't upgrade her iPhone"
|
| There's a big difference.
| supergirl wrote:
| "suspend". so they are waiting until it's politically correct to
| sell diabetes again?
| veganhouseDJ wrote:
| I am pretty sure these companies wouldn't get paid with the ban
| on SWIFT or the money would be stuck in Russia so it is
| basically free PR.
|
| "Coke can't get paid so suspending business in Russia"
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