Internet is "a great tool, abused to smear Dasani"

THE INTERNET is good and wonderful, but bad people abuse it creating disinformation and smearing campaigns against us. That is in a nutshell the message in advert space bought by Coca Cola Co. on major newspapers down under this Sunday.

"Internet is a valuable communication medium with the unique capacity of reaching millions of people at the same time. Unfortunately, in this instance this tool has been abused to mislead consumers by distributing false information with the goal of discrediting one of its [our?] brand names". They are obviously referring to the firm's embattled Dasani brand.

Three quarters of a page of PRspeak

The paid message, reproduced on the major Buenos Aires newspapers this Sunday, arrives after Coca Cola's Argentinian subsidiary filed last Thursday a criminal complaint against local executives at the local branch of French food and beverages giant Danone, and also one at a firm dubbed Euro RSCG. On it, the company claims it was victim of a smear campaign -apparently a series of "chain letters" forwarded by e-mail- which claimed that the company's Dasani product originates from "filtered tap water" and put into question the product's safety-. Coke blames all this on a smear campaign orchestrated by execs at "Aguas Danone de Argentina" and one at the advert giant Euro RSCG.

Euro RSCG describes itself as "The world's fifth-largest global agency network", and is based in New York. The alleged smearer, Aguas Danone, is the country's top water-bottling operation, with a 50% market share and with Coke having a 35% share according to last year reports. One AP story claims that "major customers in Argentina have refused to sell Dasani because of the (Internet) rumours", so the firm is now seeking damages of up to $10,000.

According to Coca-Cola Co. the "rumours" spread over the Net "called into question the quality of Dasani, misleading consumers and hurting the reputation and sales of Dasani and parent Coca-Cola in Argentina and other Latin American countries" including Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and others.

Besides the lawsuit, Coca Cola has set up its own information web site (Spanish link) which brings details on the legal brief that they filed and the purity of their product. Interestingly, the company claims that the firms' ordeal with the Dasani brand in the UK was "an isolated incident" and that "Dasani water was produced in England with a unique combination of specific minerals and processes, which differ from other markets". But it fails to elaborate on the differences in the process.

This correspondent found also a bit ironic that all the soda corporations fail to say much about the widespread use of synthetic sweeteners in their products, like the still controversial Aspartame, evermore present in industrially produced foods and beverages.µ

Related L'INQS
Coca-Cola: 'Competitors smeared Dasani' on the Net
Don't drink the water
Band irked by Coca Cola TV advert
Coca Cola trade secrets "stolen"
Pepsi and Coke in India victory
India finds pesticides in colas
Aspartame controversy continues: is it safe?
Aspartame lawsuits
BBC - Bad Teeth Blamed on Fizzy Drinks
Fizzy Drinks Increase Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer
Bottled water isn't healthier than tap water, report reveals
Bottled water "is heavily taxing the world's ecosystem"
The Dasani Debacle
Drink tap water for a cleaner environment
Inside the Bottle - An Expose of the Bottled Water Industry
Coke developing natural alternative to Aspartame
Toxic Sludge is good for you! - Lies, damn lies and the PR industry