The disease of being perpetually offended has spread its ugly tentacles south of the border. According to Market Watch, the latest target is Coca-Cola and a television ad aired in Mexico:
An advertisement featuring young, light-skinned volunteers passing out bottles of Coke KO, +1.95% to an indigenous group in Oaxaca, Mexico, is being panned by an alliance of health organizations and consumer-rights advocates as insensitive and offensive. They are calling for the company’s “Open Your Heart” holiday campaign to be halted.
The ad shows young, fashionable volunteers hauling in coolers of Coke and a Christmas tree with red Coca-Cola lights as part of a community service offering.
So what's the problem with sharing a Coke and a smile? According to a spokesperson for Consumer Power, the advertisement is
“discriminatory and detrimental to the health of indigenous people,” a population that has seen obesity and malnutrition rates skyrocket over the past decade.Coke evidently has bowed to the temple of political correctness, pulled the ad, and issued an apology:
The company said its ad, set in the Mixe town of Totontepec in the state of Oaxaca, was meant to “convey a message of unity and joy”. Instead, it “reproduced and reinforced stereotypes of indigenous people as culturally and racially subordinate”, according to activists, who want the company sanctioned by the government’s anti-discrimination commission.Who knew a soft drink could be racist? The whole world would be better off if we all took a moment to have a Coke and a smile.
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