image via – youtube.com
Labels are for cans and jars, not people. That is the message in a nutshell that Coca-Cola is trying to convey with a new ad campaign seen in this link. It was uploaded to the YouTube channel Coca-Cola Middle East on July 4th and it’s already being welcomed as a creative, eye opening way to expand people’s minds and get them thinking about prejudice.
The video says that it takes just seven seconds to judge a person and form a prejudice towards them based off how they look and their appearance. We are all guilty of doing this and if your thinking ‘not me’ then think again. The popular beverage company invited six complete strangers to an Iftar in the dark during this month of Ramadan.
An iftar is the meal eaten by Muslims after sunset during Ramadan. The six men sat at a round table and each took a turn to briefly describe themselves. They all spoke of their interests, hobbies, and passions in life. After each person said their part the others would make remarks about what they thought of the speaker, who he probably was, and what he looked like.
Then the lights were turned on and their faces were revealed to one another. Every single man expressed shock and disbelief at who they were looking at versus who they assumed they were sitting among. The stereotypes and labels they had blindly placed on one another turned out to be completely unfounded and false.
It goes to show that human prejudice stems from blind ignorance and all the assumptions, stereotypes, and labels we use on others is often unfair and judgmental. At the very end the men were asked to reach under their chairs and take out a box. When they opened it two cans of Coke lay nestled inside. The cans appeared free of any logos and no “Coca-Cola” was scrawled across the side.
However, when turned over the message “Labels are for cans not for people” was written in white font on the red can. The simple message makes a clear impact and hopefully it will make a positive difference in the world.
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