Coke-Spiracy
“Kassandra… Hailey… Emily… Victoria,” my RA’s nonchalantly called our names at the conclusion of their spiel. The first of many group floor meetings was gathered for everyone to introduce themselves, mull over a long and much to detailed list of all the things we were not allowed to in our residence hall, and pass out the new “My Cups”. From what I had heard these cups were water bottle sized travel cups and were an initiative taken on by the university to contribute to the pollution solution. Giving every freshman student an opportunity to reduce landfill waste with a handy dandy water bottle personalized with their name was sure to be a success. Most of my fellow first years failed to realize that using these magical, earth-saving cups would positively identify themselves to the entire collegiate population as freshman, which is currently regarded as the worst label one can have. Being more aware of my surroundings and coming to college prepared, I failed to use the My Cup and carried on drinking from my favorite water bottle.
Even though I did not include the plastic cup in my daily routine, I understood the importance of the issue Ohio State was trying to solve. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation’s research “On a daily basis… 85 million PET (polyethylene terephthalate) water bottles (thrown away) every day”; this does not include the only 21% of PET water bottles that are recycled (1). Our institution has enforced numerous other endeavors in attempt to help this issue by including the “Zero Waste Initiative” which begins the process of sorting recyclables from waste and also administering “Green Buckeye Certifications” for labs and offices on campus (2). In addition, in order to directly address the number of water bottles thrown away, there have been Elkay water dispensers added above traditional water fountains around campus. There is a running meter displayed on the dispenser tallying the water bottles saved from landfills by counting the number of ounces administered by the machine. I believe this to be a brilliant strategy to reduce plastic waste by placing a visual in front of every student and bringing awareness to the issue.
While countless freshman began their first semester of college happily sipping away from their My Cups, I took notice to a couple of things. First, upon being blessed with our waste-reducing vessels we had been told we had ten free refills from a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, a new dispensary holding hundreds of combinations of Coke products including Sprite, Vitamin Water, and Minute Maid (3). I found, however, that this rule was not enforced what so ever; at the dining hall students would finish their drink with their meal and then head over to the Coke Freestyle to fill up on their favorite beverage to go. The university was voluntarily allowing students to drink as much of Coca-Cola’s products as we could. Secondly, I was seeing less and less My Cups filled with water. They were colored bubbly orange, brown, and red. If the purpose was to reduce waste by providing us with a water bottle, shouldn’t they only be used for water? Lastly, taking a step back, the only one seemingly benefiting from in the new endeavor was Coke. Students were consuming, sharing, and seeing it in increasingly more often. I began to imagine the contract the sugary drink company had signed with Ohio State must have been a hefty sum considering how much they seemed to be profiting from the My Cups.
Then it hit me, first by a deer-in-headlights look of confusion very quickly proceeded with a crinkled face of anger. We had been duped. We had been lied to. This was a Coke-Spiracy.
This entire operation was masterminded by the executives of a soda company and implemented by their cozy companions here at The Ohio State University. My place of higher learning, my home, my family had set into motion an idea simply to fatten their wallets. This was not to help the environment and this decision was not made with the betterment of our students in mind. They took advantage of the most emotionally vulnerable age group in America, college freshman. When we showed up the day before classes and were given instructions, most of our still high school brains had no choice but to follow them. Coke even used their “Share a Coke” campaign appeal, which “invites fans to find their names — and the names of family members, friends, coworkers and people they’d like to know better — on bottles of Coke…” (4), by inscribing My Cups with the first names of the students. The Coca-Cola Freestyle machines have also associated other Coke products with the name “Coke”. I had never known brands such as Dasani and Powerade were owned by Coca-Cola, but now college students have been going to the big red soda fountain to get these beverages. This just manipulates us to associate these products with their umbrella brand; I now make those connections, but I refuse to connect this company with my school.
Men’s Fitness Magazine rated The Ohio State University as the fittest college in America (5). I would never question that we have outstanding facilities and programs available to keep us Buckeye’s active, but I know that we are not doing everything possible to ensure that the options provided for our students are clean, healthy, and affordable. Coca-Cola is a company who manufactures liquid sugar and has been known to unethically sponsor scientific research to support claims that diet does not contribute to weight gain and health problems. The New York Times was reporting on such a matter in 2015, “The message is that obesity is not about the foods or beverages you’re consuming, it’s that you’re not balancing those foods with exercise,” Dr. Freedhoff of the University of Ottawa said” (8). This is not a company I want associated with my university and especially not one I want having such a large influence over administrators. I was always suspicious however, especially with the recent Coke-Spiracy, that our university was offering unhealthy options disguised as good ones.
Upon a little bit of snooping, I happened across The Ohio State University’s STARS report which is “The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System™ (STARS®) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their performance” (6). They rank college on various number scales in categories such as operations, engagement, and academics. In 2016, under Ohio State’s “Food and Beverage Purchasing” category we were stated as currently “Not Pursuing” sustainability and received a 0.00/4.00 ranking. Also per the report, we received a 1.55/5.00 on “Waste Minimization” and 0.91/3.00 for “Waste Diversion” (7). According to these numbers and my personal experiences, I would say our preached values of student health and wellness along with the importance of sustainability have been falsely proclaimed. We are an elite institution, a leader in medicine, engineering, art, business, and many more facets. I believe our administrators well as parents and families need to take closer look at how we manage our food services and waste management. We need to start truly putting our core values as Buckeye’s ahead of big corporate sponsors and their false support of our university.