Coke's Water Deal Omits India

When Coca-Cola announced it would fund a joint water conservation initiative with WWF, it identified seven major water reserves around the world where it would fund projects. But none of the projects will be in India, where the company has been embroiled in controversy. A Coca-Cola plant at Plachimada, in the Indian state of Kerala, was shut down in 2004 following community protests over the depletion of ground water resources. Qu Yongxiang, an analyst at China Pingan Securities, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that "there's no big cost to them [Coca-Cola], since they can save money by reducing water use and they can improve their image." To help boost coverage of their "good deeds," Coca-Cola issued a b-roll video, produced by Multi-Vu, which features both Coke and WWF executives. (B-roll is file video footage and interview soundbites, without the scripted narration used in a video news release.)