NYU: Adios, Odwalla!

2005_11_odwalla1.jpgNYU's ban on Killer Coke is fast approaching: if the company doesn't agree to an independent investigation of its Latin American labor practices, the university is set to get rid of all Coca-Cola products on December 9th. The Washington Square News notes that the ban will include a whole variety of Coke Corp products-- not just the eponymous beverage:

About 12 different products will be banned from campus, including Powerade, Nestea and Minute Maid, in addition to Coke and Sprite soft drinks. Hi-C, Odwalla, Fanta, Barq’s Root Beer, Seagrams Ginger Ale, and Dasani water.

We've never had Barq's Root Beer, but during our time at NYU we must have drunk a thousand liters of Odwalla! If we had known that each delicious drop of fruit juice was lining the pockets of a union-busting global conglomerate, we'd probably have stuck to water. That'll teach us not to read labels!

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Odwalla, created by two undergraduates at the University of California, Santa Cruz, was bought out by Coca-Cola in 2001. What a sad sad day that was: The Kresge Co-op (UCSC's on-campus student-run food co-op and the first store to stock Odwalla!) dropped it immediately; the creators came back to their alma mater to try an convince the co-op to keep it stocked. To no avail. Anyway.

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well, who cares about NYU's policy. Frankly, this left-wing policy is ridiculous and this only punishes the students who can't get cola anymore.

maybe NYU should ban all products (after all, companies are EVIL).

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i don't think all companies are evil-- but coke has been accused of working with local bottling corps in colombia who murder and kidnap union leaders-- that's not the sort of company that most universities are going to want to support. and they aren't asking for coke to even change company policies-- just to agree to an independent investigation of labor practices. seems like a fairly reasonable demand.

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"this only punishes the students who can't get cola anymore."

LMFAO!!!

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Get over it. Coca-Cola is widely available and often cheaper outside of dining halls. If NYU students experience trouble buying Coca-Cola products, they should try leaving their dorm for once.

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I am fascinated at how ethics get in the way. Anti-globalization is the new alternative religion. I used to think the same way until I took a year long saunter to Beijing. Personal pragmatism was the name of the game.

Give me my joice and my coke!

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It's coke people, not the Catholic church!

Such stone throwing. :D

It's not easy to learn you're a cog in the big mean wheel, but that's just how the world operates.

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Odwalla is garbage juice anyways! There is very little juice in those "natural" drinks in the first place. (I believe the last time I checked, the common % for most of their drinks was only 17% juice!) The rest is sugar and other crap. To hell with them.

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Props to NYU for showing its glimmer of a social conscience. Now stop union busting on your own effin' campus, you bastards!

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barq's root beer's song was "barq's root beer has bite! now it's available in your areeeaaa"

guess that area didn't include nyu

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yeah, I'm sure Coca-Cola bosses ordered and approved the killings and kidnappins. In fact, I just heard that George W. Bush was part of this conspiracy! Bush and Coca-Cola execs are personally part of the Coca-Cola death squads targeting local union bosses! Micheal Moore has confirmed this!!

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Dear Deng,

Your sarcasm only highlights your ignorance. Better luck next time.

Love, Planet Earth

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deng, yeah actually the amount of military aid that the US government sends to Colombia is second only to the Middle-East (Israel, Egypt).

Check out these related declassified documents:
Paramilitaries as Proxies
War in Colombia

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