Coca-Cola Hungary is not taking any ridicule from anti-gay politicians and residents.
Recently, the soft drink company released posters for its latest campaign. The posters show gay and lesbian couples haring the drink with slogans next to them saying, “zero sugar, zero prejudice.” The company then shared a press release saying that the campaign is linked to the “Love Revolution” initiative of the Sziget Festival, “with which Coca-Cola is delighted to associate, since equality and diversity is our fundamental shared value.”
“We are accompanying this campaign with posters placed across the city,” the press release continues. “The three different posters feature both hetero- and homosexual couples drinking Coca-Cola. With this we really want to convey a message: our belief that everyone has the right to affection and love; that the feeling of love is the same (#loveislove).”
“Many advertisements – not just Coca-Colaʼs – divide peopleʼs opinions: some like them, some do not. Of course we respect the opinions of others that differ from our own,” stresses the company. “We believe that we are all equal, irrespective of our nationality, religion, gender, age, ethnic background, spoken language, hobbies and opinions. We believe that both hetero- and homosexuals have the right to love the person who is best for them.”
But are these limited-edition 0.5 liter bottles of Coca-Cola Zero about true support of LGBTQ issues or about monetizing Pride? The company, of course, says it’s for support. And, it doubled down on this after receiving pushback from Hungarian citizens and politicians.
According to Reuters, the nationalist Fidesz party speaker Istvan Boldog has called for a boycott of Coca-Cola for the “provocative” campaign. Many of his political allies expressed similar thoughts.
“The homosexual lobby is laying siege to Budapest, leaving no space to avoid this,” complained Pesti Sracok.
To LGBTQ rights advocate Tamas Dombos, all of this seems like a clear attempt at creating a new political/social enemy (like with what’s happening in Poland).
“We have a feeling they are testing people in this subject,” he told Reuters. “The entire government propaganda is built on conflict, and they need enemies. After the EU, migrants, NGOs and even the homeless, now it may be LGBTQ people.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to dissect whether it’s a political strategy or just an inherent real homophobe getting mad at something like Coke’s campaign.”
But as the Budapest Business Journal writes, Coca-Cola has released a statement defending the campaign and LGBTQ rights.
“We believe both hetero- and homosexuals have the right to love the person they want the way they want,” it said in a statement.
The full statement goes as follows:
“The three different posters feature both hetero- and homosexual couples drinking Coca-Cola. With this we really want to convey a message: our belief that everyone has the right to affection and love; that the feeling of love is the same (#loveislove). Many advertisements – not just Coca-Colaʼs – divide peopleʼs opinions: some like them, some do not. Of course we respect the opinions of others that differ from our own. We believe that we are all equal, irrespective of our nationality, religion, gender, age, ethnic background, spoken language, hobbies and opinions. We believe that both hetero- and homosexuals have the right to love the person who is best for them.”
I have a question, is “laying siege to Budapest” as fun as it sounds?