Posted on 04/11/2008 2:20:41 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Chinese bloggers claim Coca-Cola backs Tibetans
Tania Branigan in Beijing
The Guardian, Wednesday April 9 2008
Article history
About this articleClose This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday April 09 2008 on p17 of the International section. It was last updated at 00:05 on April 09 2008.
First Tibetan exile groups attacked Coca-Cola for sponsoring the Olympic torch relay. Now the soft drink company is under fire from the other side of the political divide - with Chinese nationalists boycotting the brand after a blogger claimed one of its adverts supported Tibetan independence.
The poster - spotted in a German railway station - shows Buddhist monks on a rollercoaster with the slogan: "Make it real". It stirred the ire of an expatriate Chinese blogger, who posted a photograph on the popular Tianya website. "Germany has started to really show adverts for Tibetan independence. Coca-Cola! Okay, I will remember. From now on I will not touch this shitty product," he wrote, "The three monks represent Tibetan lamas. They are riding a rollercoaster, which represents freedom. 'Make it real' means 'make this [ie freedom] real'," he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
http://www.beverageworld.com/content/view/34633/
Coke's Torch Ties Stir Up pro-Tibet Groups
| Sunday, 06 April 2008 | |
| Coca-Cola Co.'s sponsorship of the Beijing Summer Games could draw criticism in the company's home market as the Olympic torch makes its way next week to the United States. The International Campaign for Tibet, a Washington-based group chaired by activist and actor Richard Gere, said it plans to hold a rally along with a dozen other organizations Tuesday in San Francisco on the eve of the torch run through that city. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, one of three corporate sponsors of the torch run, likely will be cited at the rally during official speeches, John Ackerly, president of the International Campaign for Tibet, said Wednesday. Officials of the group, which has about 100,000 members worldwide, hope to have a conversation soon with Coca-Cola about its ties to the torch run and the Olympic Games, Ackerly said. The group's initial concern is that the torch run's route through Tibet when it returns to China will lead to further unrest, he said. "We want to see them [Coca-Cola] be a force for good and to work, whether it's behind the scenes or overtly, to try to ensure people's lives aren't adversely affected by the torch going through their towns," Ackerly said. Coca-Cola, an Olympic supporter since 1928, declined to comment on specific protests or requests by pro-Tibet groups concerning the Olympic Games. "The Coca-Cola Co. joins others in expressing deep concern for the situation on the ground in Tibet," the company said in a statement. "We know that all parties involved hope for a peaceful resolution. While it would be an inappropriate role for sponsors to comment on the political situation of individual nations, as the longest-standing sponsor of the Olympic movement, we firmly believe that the Olympics are a force for good." The buildup to the Beijing Olympics follows confrontations between Chinese authorities and protesters in Tibet, an area in central Asia controlled by China. A protester disrupted the ceremony starting the torch run two weeks ago in Greece. Coca-Cola, Samsung Electronics and computer maker Lenovo are the three corporate sponsors for the Olympic torch run. A consortium of pro-Tibet groups, led by the London-based Free Tibet Campaign, sent a letter last month to Coca-Cola's chairman and chief executive, Neville Isdell, calling for the company to renounce its sponsorship of the torch relay and publicly ask for China to release all Tibetan political prisoners. The International Campaign for Tibet signed the letter, but Ackerly said he does not necessarily expect Coca-Cola to pull its sponsorship. His group would like Olympic officials and the sponsors to reconsider the route through Tibet. Ackerly said his members have been in touch with Tibet residents who report Chinese officials are moving through Tibet to weed out possible protesters. "Unless there's some significant changes to the route, we think it may be more appropriate for Coke to remove themselves from that portion of the torch relay," Ackerly said. |
Ping!
Uber Nationalistic China Bloggers Go NUTS (again)
At first I thought the headline read “... Coca-Cola Backs Thetans.”
Believe me, Chinese blogger, you do not want to go there.
Ploper spelling is “Chinese Brogger”
“To the inviso-boat Barnicle Boy, There’s EEEEVVVVIILLLLLLLL corprations to slay”
In Chinese, “Co-Ca-Co-La” means “bite the wax tadpole”
“Come Alive! You’re in the Pepsi Generation” comes out as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead”.
Ironic, it was Coke in the PRC and Pepsi in the (still dead!) USSR.
Anyway, here’s to Tibet!
Tell China to bite the wax tadpole
Doh you beat me :(
btt
Actually, it’s an old story (the internet is such a wonderful information source). Seems that `bite the wax tadpole’ was the result of local Chinese merchants’ attempts to transliterate the Coca-Cola logo. The company itself actually engaged in careful and scholarly research to come up with a suitable equivalent in Chinese.
And all this took place in 1928! Ancient history.
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