The latest advertising campaign of Coca-Cola in Bangladesh has ignited a storm of criticism over the company’s attempt to distance itself from Israel amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The 60-second advertisement, launched on Sunday, has faced backlash for its perceived insensitivity and misleading claims.
Since Israel began its assault on the Gaza Strip on October 7, Coca-Cola, along with several other companies, has seen a significant decline in sales in Muslim-majority countries. Consumers have called for boycotts of firms believed to have ties with the Israeli government and military. In Bangladesh, local media reports indicate that Coca-Cola sales have dropped by about 23% since the conflict began. In response, the company has intensified its advertising efforts, including full-page newspaper ads and prominent placements on news websites.
To counter the declining sales, Coca-Cola released a new advertisement on television and social media. The ad aims to dispel the “misinformation” that Coca-Cola is an Israeli product, emphasizing that the beverage has been enjoyed by people in 190 countries for 138 years.
The Bengali advertisement opens with a scene in a market on a hot day. A young man approaches a middle-aged shopkeeper, who is watching a song from Coke Studio, a popular music series promoted by the company in several South Asian countries, on his mobile phone. When offered a Coke, the young man declines, hinting that he believes the drink is linked to Israel. The shopkeeper reassures him that Coca-Cola is not from Israel and has been consumed globally, including in Turkey, Spain, Dubai, and even Palestine.
The commercial, first aired during the India-Pakistan cricket match in the Twenty20 World Cup, quickly sparked outrage both online and offline. Many Bangladeshis condemned the advertisement for its insensitivity and inaccuracies.
“If cringe-fest has a literal face, it would be this ad,” said Jumanah Parisa, a student at Brac University in Dhaka. Hasan Habib, a businessman from Dhaka’s Mirpur area, echoed the sentiment, stating he had boycotted Coke since the Gaza conflict began. “This ludicrous attempt to portray that Coke has nothing to do with Israel only consolidates my stance on keep boycotting it,” he said.
A particularly criticized element of the advertisement is its claim that “even Palestine has a Coke factory.” In reality, the Coca-Cola factory is located in the Israeli settlement of Atarot in the occupied West Bank, which is considered illegal under international law. Nadia Tabassum Khan, a market researcher in Dhaka, called the statement “utterly insensitive and false,” adding that it insulted millions of Palestinians affected by Israel’s occupation.
In protest, an online shoe shop in Bangladesh released an ad showing a bottle of Coke being kicked by a man wearing its shoes. Abdul Al Nayan, marketing manager of ZIS, said the ad expressed solidarity with the Boycott Coke movement.
Omar Nasif Abdullah, a marketing lecturer at Bangladesh’s North-South University, criticized Coca-Cola’s new PR campaign for its “wrong message and wrong approach,” calling it an “unforgivable mistake” in the competitive world of marketing. As the backlash grew, Coca-Cola removed the advertisement from its YouTube and Facebook pages for about five hours before quietly reinstating it with comments disabled.
The controversy is part of a broader backlash against Coca-Cola globally over the Gaza conflict. Zahed Ur Rahman, a political analyst in Dhaka, noted that Coke, seen as a quintessential American brand, is being targeted to apply economic pressure on Washington to intervene in the Palestine issue. There is a widespread belief in Bangladesh that Coca-Cola directly funds some Israeli entities.
In February, Coca-Cola sold its Bangladeshi bottling operations to a Turkish associate, Coca-Cola Icecek, a move the company denied was related to declining sales. However, Rahman suggested that involving a company from another Muslim nation might be an attempt to regain market position in Bangladesh. Meanwhile, the sales of Mojo, a local cola brand, have surged as an alternative to Coca-Cola.
Saraf Ahmed Jibon, the actor who plays the shopkeeper in the advertisement, defended his participation, stating on Facebook that he was hired to direct and act based on information provided by Coca-Cola’s agency. However, many Bangladeshis were not convinced. Prominent author Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb criticized the actor’s justification, arguing that actors should verify the accuracy of scripts before participating in ads.
