The Scoop: Coca-Cola retracts ad in Bangladesh over misleading statements about Palestine

The war between Israel and Hamas continues to rage in Palestine, leaving more than 41,000 people dead and a deep humanitarian crisis.

While business implications for this crisis are far less pressing, they are nonetheless still a consideration for all manner of organizations, especially those with ties to either the United States or Israel.

Many U.S.-based companies, including McDonald’s and Starbucks, are facing boycotts in the Middle East over America’s role in funding and supplying arms to Israel, resulting in hits to earnings. But arguably the company facing the most pushback at the moment is Coca-Cola.

The Washington Post reports that the soda company was already reeling from boycotts, including a 23% decrease in sales in Bangladesh. In an attempt to regain the trust of customers, Coca-Cola put out a video that featured Sharaf Ahmed Jibon, a well-known South Asian actor, as a shopkeeper who reassures skeptical young patrons that Coca-Cola is not an Israeli company and the company supports Muslims. “Even Palestine has a Coke factory,” he points out.

While it’s true that there is a Coke factory in Palestine, it’s owned by an Israeli company and is located on land considered illegally annexed under international law.

The backlash was swift and severe as consumers took to social media to share how and why the claim was misleading. The actors involved received death threats. Coca-Cola pulled the advertisement from the air.

“As a global brand, we partner with local franchises to serve local communities. We acknowledge that the recent video missed the mark, and we apologize,” Scott Leith, vice president for global strategic communication at Coca-Cola, told the Washington Post.

Why it matters: Coca-Cola’s attempts at shoring up support in Muslim nations that support Palestine wound up doing additional damage to their brand that will take years to repair.

There was little Coca-Cola could do about the fact that it’s a company with ties to both America and Israel. But by attempting to oversell its connections in the Middle East, it only brought to light just how deeply enmeshed the company is with the system that so many are protesting against.

Audiences today are savvy. No matter where you are in the world, most people have access to smartphones and can fact check your messaging in the blink of an eye. While what Coca-Cola’s advertisement said was technically true, hiding the pertinent details of that plant’s location and ownership only proved the worst fears of those the ad was intended to reassure.

The crisis in Palestine is not going away any time soon. All organizations with any kind of presence in the Middle East must be on their toes and prepared to deal with the thorny situation with as much honesty and transparency as possible. Even those without strong ties to the region are left dealing with the strong feelings raised around the conflict, such as universities, which are already bracing for another year of protests.

As much as organizations might like to stay apolitical, that’s often simply not an option. When forced into speaking for business reasons, stick to the truth. It’ll always serve you better.

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Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.