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- Coca-Cola dropped from a shortlist at the Out in the City and G3 awards
- The Brand of the Year award is given for promoting equality and diversity
- Coke were listed alongside the likes of YouTube and Google but have been dropped over their sponsorship of the Sochi Winter Olympics
- Earlier today it was revealed that users on a Coca-Cola site were banned from putting the word Gay on a virtual can to share with friends
- Instead they are given the message ‘Let’s pretend you didn’t write that’
- Last year Russia passed a law criminalising ‘gay propaganda’
PUBLISHED: 10:17 GMT, 27 January 2014 | UPDATED: 13:43 GMT, 27 January 2014
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Coca-Cola has been dropped from the Brand of the Year shortlist at a gay magazine’s award ceremony because of its sponsorship of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
The company had been listed alongside the likes of YouTube, Google and British Airways for the Out in the City and G3 award, which is given for promoting diversity and equality.
However its involvement in the Winter Olympics, which are being held in Russia which passed a law banning homosexual ‘propaganda’ last year, has lead to it being dropped.
+8Coca Cola has been embarrassed by a web glitch which means users of one of its websites are banned from writing Gay or Gays on the side of a virtual can
+8The message is usually displayed when visitors attempt to type a swear word. The names ‘Straight’ and ‘Hetero’ are both accepted
Sarah Garrett, managing director of the company which produce the awards, said: ‘It is bitterly disappointing that Coca-Cola has not listened to the collective voice of the global gay community who are horrified by the Putin government’s anti-gay and repressive policies.
‘Brands like Coke should be making a stand against the demonisation of gay people by withdrawing sponsorship for the Winter Olympics. Refusing to do so is a slap in the face to the international gay community.’
Earlier today the company was embarrassed after it emerged visitors to one of its website have been banned from writing ‘Gay’ or ‘Gays’ on a virtual can.
Users of the page are instead given the message ‘Oops. Let’s pretend you didn’t just type that. Please try another name’ which is usually displayed when a swear word is entered.
The company has also been accused of downplaying its sponsorship of the Sochi Winter Olympics in the West, to avoid upsetting gay rights activists.
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While there has been little or no advertising from Coca Cola in the US, Russia has been covered with the company’s distinctive white and red logo, which features on flags, lampposts and even security officers’ uniforms.
Images have also been circulating online of an Olympic security guard tackling a gay rights protester while wearing a uniform which features the Coca Cola logo.
+8Here the Coca Cola logo is clearly visible in the centre of the two hexagons on this officer’s trousers
+8Pavel Lebedev, a gay rights protester, was arrested during the Olympic torch relay by an officer wearing a uniform with the same logo on his right leg
+8The security guards have patrolled alongside the Olympic torch as it has travelled across Russia
The ‘Share a Coke with…’ promotion has been running since the summer and features people’s names written on cans where the company logo would usually go.
If you cannot find a can with the name you want on it, Coke encourage you to visit their website and create your own virtual can.
The ‘Oops’ message is usually only displayed if the user tries to type a swear word, but also applies to the words ‘Gay’ and ‘Gays’ on the South African page.
The names ‘Straight’ and ‘Hetero’ are both deemed to be acceptable.
Gay rights protestors, including Queer Nation New York, have slated Coca Cola for backing the games, saying that gay Russians face ‘brutal violence, complete oppression of the basic human right to speech, assembly and expression’ adding that ‘Coke cares only about their Sochi profits.’
In September, International Olympic Commission marketing chairman Gerhard Heiberg admitted that sponsors feared a backlash against sponsoring the games.
Speaking to CNN, he said: ‘I have heard a lot from the sponsors, especially the American sponsors, of what they are afraid of might happen. I think this could ruin a lot for all of us.’
The criticism of Coca Cola and other brands, such as McDonald’s and Visa, for sponsoring the event comes after Russia passed a law banning gay ‘propaganda’ last year, leading to calls for a boycott.
+8While Coca Cola has not advertised the fact it is sponsoring the Olympics in Western countries, Russians have been photographed holding branded flags which again feature the distinctive hexagon design
+8Here residents of Rostov-on-Don wave branded flags, standing between Coca Cola signs and a truck
+8Vladimir Putin has said the law poses no threat to foreign visitors during the games, and has defended himself against allegation that he is prejudiced by saying he has gay friends and admires Elton John
Today Sochi’s mayor Anatoly Pakhomov, who is a member of president Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, said there were no gays in his town, and that homosexuality was ‘not accepted here in the Caucasus’.
The comments follow on from a bizarre interview in which president Vladimir Putin claimed he was ‘not prejudiced in any way’, despite saying that the anti-gay legislation was necessary to ‘clean up’ Russia and drive up the country’s birth rate, which he believes has been hampered by the gay population.
Speaking to the Andrew Marr show, Mr Putin said that visitors to Russia had nothing to fear from the anti-gay law, adding that he had gay friends himself and was a huge admirer of Elton John’s ‘professional achievements’, despite his sexuality.
At the time of publishing Coca Cola US was unavailable for comment, thought a spokesman for Coca Cola UK confirmed there was no campaign featuring the Olympics planned for Britain.
The spokesman was also unable to comment on the website at the time.