Women’s Group Reacts as Coca-Cola Suspends All Political Giving
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, January 11, 2021
CONTACT: Anya Silverman-Stoloff | anya@unbendablemedia.com
Women’s Group Reacts as Coca-Cola Suspends All Political Giving
UltraViolet Previously Urged Coca-Cola to Cut Donations to Extremist GOP Candidates
Moments ago, Coca-Cola announced that it was suspending all political giving in the wake of the call for companies to drop contributions to members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of the electoral college votes declaring President-elect Biden the winner of the 2020 Presidential election.
In reaction to the announcement, Sonja Spoo, Director of Reproductive Rights Campaigns at UltraViolet, issued the following statement:
“We applaud Coca-Cola for taking this step, but Coca-Cola needs to do more than just stop all donations altogether – but make sure that its future contributions are in line with its values – including pledging to never give to these members of Congress again, withholding further funds from the Republican party until seditious members are expelled from Congress or resign, and rescinding donations to the members who they have already given to who took part in the insurrection.
“Coca-Cola had ample warning of the extremist leanings of the candidates they support. UltraViolet warned Coca-Cola this fall through letters and public actions that their political contributions were funding racist, anti-women, anti-justice candidates. We are now seeing the horrific end result of that extremism ”
In September, UV launched the #ReproReceipts campaign which highlighted the ways in which corporate support of anti-choice candidates for office furthered a larger extremist political ideology that was anti-women, anti-justice and dangerous for the country. As part of that campaign, UltraViolet warned Coca-Cola about its political giving to Republican extremists:
For the 2020 cycle alone, $1,260,338 (59 percent) of Coca-Cola’s total political giving was to anti-choice, anti-equality candidates or their associated PACs, including Perdue and Loeffler. Many of these candidates and politicians, including Loeffller and Perdue, are complicit in President Trump’s attempts to undermine the will of voters in states like Georgia.
In just the last two years, Coca Cola has donated more than $1,028,838, more than 59 percent of their total political giving, to anti-choice candidates or their associated PACs including to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Coca Cola donated $100,000 to the RAGA (Republican Attorney General Association), one of the most important funders of anti-choice legal challenges
Donated more than $30,000 directly to GOP senators who are hellbent on ensuring the courts will remain conservative for decades to come– an outcome that could suppress reproductive justice for women and strip away healthcare for millions of Americans.
In December, UltraViolet launched a billboard action in Atlanta around the World of Coke tourist attraction calling out Coca-Cola’s political giving to extremist candidates
In addition, UltraViolet launched a petition calling on Coca-Cola to end all political contributions to Republicans candidates, PACs, committees, and entities until the party expelled the seditious members from its ranks in Congress.
Learn more about UltraViolet’s “ReproReceipts” campaign here: https://weareultraviolet.org/6-companies-giving-to-anti-choice-candidates/
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UltraViolet is a community of more than one million people that drives feminist cultural and political change. Through people power and strategic advocacy, we work to improve the lives of women and girls of all identities and backgrounds, and all people impacted by sexism, by dismantling discrimination and creating a cost for sexism.