It's the Real Thing

The corporate sponsors of the Sochi Olympics haven't been, shall we say, overly concerned with the Soviet -- oops, with Russia's anti-gay campaign. Coca-Cola is really making a name for itself right now -- and it doesn't look like it's a good name. They, along with other corporate sponsors of the Sochi Olympics, are basically taking the IOC's stance of "Don't rock the boat. There's too much money involved for human rights to be a factor." They've been only too happy to buy into Putin's "assurances" as long as it gives them an out, even to the point of defending the arrest of protestors. If you saw the recent interview he gave on ABC, it's obvious he's lying through his teeth.

So far it's been more a matter of what they haven't done than anything they have -- until now. From AmericaBlog:

It seems that Coke’s social media campaign, “Share a Coke,” is only designed for heterosexuals.

The site, which permits Coke fans to enter their name (or a message) on a virtual can of Coke, bans the word “gay.” It does not, however, ban the word straight.

When you type in the word “gay,” here’s the message that Coke gives you:

“Oops. Let’s pretend you didn’t just type that.”

Yes, wouldn’t Coke like to pretend that the gay didn’t exist at all, considering the backlash Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and other Olympics sponsors have been facing over their refusal to speak out against increasing Russian human rights violations. McDonald’s, for example, just saw gay rights advocates, led by Queer Nation NY, steal and neutralize its new “Cheers to Sochi” Twitter hashtag.

(Ed.: That's the image that leads off this post.)

It's not only censoring the word "gay," it's the truly offensive "error" message -- "Let's pretend you didn't type that"? WTF?

It's Coke's ham-handed reactions that are giving it a place of honor in the rogues' gallery of corporate sponsors of the Homophobic Olympcis. Queer Nation, which has been in the forefront of the protests, made this video, which I think speaks for itself:

One wonders what Coke will come up with next.

(PS: Click through and read the comments, or at least skim them, at the AmericaBlog story. People are getting very creative with the virtual Coke cans.)