Has Coke gone woke? Iconic American company in hot water over can personalization that won’t allow conservative phrases
Coca-Cola has faced criticism after the company reportedly temporarily banned the words “Jesus” and “Trump 2024” from its personalized cans.
The beverage giant appeared to support Kamala Harris for a time, also allowing “Satan” and “Allah,” but the company appears to have fixed the glitch after it went viral among conservatives online.
The updated version still bans any names that are “trademarked, political in nature, names of countries, celebrities, religious figures, or anything that could be considered offensive for other reasons,” the personalization tool said.
After the alleged outage circulated online, some called for a “boycott” of the company. Others noted, “Funny how these kinds of things always seem to go one way.”
Coca-Cola did not immediately respond to a request for clarification about the system glitch or why it was apparently fixed after the online outrage.
Coca-Cola faced criticism after fans claimed it allowed customers to personalize cans with ‘Harris Walz 2024’ but ‘Trump 2024’ appeared to be banned
The personalizer website bans any monikers that are “trademarked, political in nature, contain names of countries, celebrities, religious figures, and anything that could be considered offensive for other reasons.”
The glitch, first shared by Facebook user Antwoine Hill, spread widely after conservative TikTok X account Libs pushed for it. The account shared images of a “Harris Walz 2024” can that was allowed, but “Trump 2024” was not.
Others shared videos of their attempts to put religious names on the cans, with ‘Satan’ and ‘Allah’ apparently allowed.
Attempts to put “Jesus loves you” on the can were met with a warning that the company could not personalize the can with the word “Jesus.”
Some have pointed out that leaving out the name “Jesus” would limit the common name for men in America. However, Coca-Cola’s website states that “a name may be accepted if you add a last name to the submission.”
The personalizer specifically blocks views of political figures like Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and Barack Obama, but allows other celebrities, like Elon Musk.
Footage shared online shows a Coca-Cola can personalizer allowing ‘Satan’ and ‘Allah’ but banning ‘Jesus’
The personalizer specifically blocks cans featuring political figures like Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and Barack Obama, but allows other celebrities, like Elon Musk
After the posts went viral, Hill said he was surprised that his comment about the outage had attracted so much attention, but he stood by the anger he had stirred.
“I want to emphasize that the only name that receives so much criticism and hatred is the name of Jesus,” he told the Daily Dot.
While some conservatives called for a boycott of the brand, he said he would support the measure “if it sends the message that we stand for the name of Jesus.”
“I also feel very conflicted about the whole thing, because I’m on the streets every day and I see the much bigger problems: drugs, violence, homelessness,” he said.
“So for me this isn’t as big of an issue as this, but still, I won’t support any company that doesn’t support Jesus.”