How a 1-person action at a workplace cafeteria scaled to thousands -- a Coke boycott

I’ve boycotted Coca-Cola & Pepsi products for over a decade. All the non-alcoholic drinks at my workplace cafeteria were Coke products. Even the orange juice (Minute Maid is Coke).

So I complained… saying directly¹ to the outsourced catering company that Coke is contrary to local values and that we should have at least one ethical option, while at the same time stressing that bringing in Pepsi products would not solve the problem. I said I’m currently limited to water, beer, and wine. And obviously when I choose tap water they make nothing on that then they have to wash my glass.

They replied to say they’ve decided to bring in more drink options. Couple weeks later they had Arizona iced tea and various coconut water kinds with aloe vera. And I noticed lots of people buying them. There’s still the problem of plastic waste from the containers but getting some people off Coke was a bigger stride to make IMO.

Coke’s wrong-doings are only fractionally environmental, but I wanted to mention it here because the story demonstrates how a simple 1-person action can sometimes scale beyond just one individual. AFAIK, I was the only one to complain about the Coke monopoly.

Note that only the few colleagues I mentioned this to know it was boycott-driven. People buying non-Coke drinks were simply taking what they wanted with no idea that an anti-Coke boycott action lead to more options. The ease of it is notable. I did not have to undertake the big effort of rallying a crowd.

1. indeed I took the liberty to contact the catering company directly, bypassing my employer who actually had the contract with the catering company. It caused no issue. I guess it was clear enough that I was just an employee and not acting on behalf of the employer.