Free Tibet campaign shifts pressure to Coke's London office

by Ed Kemp, Marketing 11-Jun-08, 13:19

LONDON - The Free Tibet Campaign has made a final attempt to persuade Olympic sponsor Coca-Cola to put pressure on the International Olympic Committee to reroute the Torch Relay away from the region.

The pressure group has written to Coca-Cola GB president Sanjay Guha in a bid to convince Coca-Cola that its sponsorship of the Olympic Torch relay will tarnish the brand's image if the Torch is taken into Tibet this month.

The letter to Guha reads: 'Coca-Cola may claim Tibet does not normally fall within its sphere of influence, but that claim will ring hollow if Coca-Cola's brand is clearly associated with any Tibetan blood spilt during the Torch Relay's tortuous progress through Tibetan areas.'

Free Tibet Campaign and other members of the International Tibet Support Network (ITSN) have made several attempts to engage with officials at Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta and now turning its focus on the UK.

According to protesters, Coca-Cola chairman Neville Isdell Isdell has told them the company had no role in selecting the route and quotes him as saying, 'dropping out of the Torch Relay or using the event to put political pressure on China would erode the ability of the Olympic Games to make a contribution to lasting change in China'.

The protesters have also created an image to highlight their concerns, with the tagline 'shooting boxing torture. It's the real thing in Tibet'.