BELCHING OUT THE DEVIL: GLOBAL ADVENTURES WITH COCA-COLA

by Mark Thomas

Coca-Cola and its logo are everywhere. In our homes, our workplaces, and even our schools. It is a company that sponsors the Olympics, backs US presidents and even re-brands Santa Claus. A truly universal product, it has even been served in space. From Istanbul to Mexico City, Mark travels the globe investigating the stories and people Coca-Cola's iconic advertising campaigns don't mention such child labourers in the sugar cane fields of El Salvador; Indian workers exposed to toxic chemicals; Colombian union leaders falsely accused of terrorism and jailed alongside the paramilitaries who want to kill them; and, many more. Provocative, funny and stirring, "Belching Out the Devil" investigates the truth behind one of the planet's biggest brands.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Food, Travel, Humor, Economics, History

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Mark Clifford Thomas (born 11 April 1963) is an English comedian, presenter, political activist and reporter from south London. He first became known as a guest comic on the BBC Radio 1 comedy show The Mary Whitehouse Experience in the late 1980s. He is best known for political stunts on his show, The Mark Thomas Comedy Product on Channel 4. Thomas describes himself as a "libertarian anarchist."

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

There seems to be a trend now for our favourite tooth-rotting products to be made by duplicitous irresponsible prickheads—the happy world of Haribo (child labour, quelle surprise), our old favourite Nestlé, and Coca-Cola, the sugariest sickliest dentist’s favourite. So, from this excellent book, ten reasons to boycott Coca-Cola. 1) They are lying hucksters who hide behind lawyers, every inch the cartoon criminal multinational. 2) They contract out to people who use child labour on their sugar plantations, then shirk all responsibility. 3) They drain the surrounding water from depleted reservoirs and leave local communities to die of drought. 4) They hate trade union movements and love exploiting workers, and shirk responsibility for violent resistance. 5) They bully shopkeepers into stocking their product then sabotage rival drinks. 6) Their marketing department are tasteless buffoons who peddle sickly bullshit sentiments to control the marketplace by tattooing their ugly logo on every square inch of the globe. 7) Their drink is a tooth-rotting, sickly, syrupy, stomach-churning gloop and I would rather imbibe donkey’s piss. 8) Coca-Cola are concerned solely with global domination and maximum profits, no more, no less, and everything else they say is meaningless rhetoric, to the effect: “Buy Coca-Cola now. None of your business how we make it.” 9) I hate Coca-Cola. 10) Don’t believe their lies. Mark Thomas is my hero.

[Heather Cawte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written with Mark Thomas' trademark sarcasm and crusading zeal, this is an account of his lengthy investigation into working practices at Coca-Cola worldwide, and it's not a pretty tale. Water stealing, suppression of trade unions, human rights abuses and even turning a blind eye to murders - if this doesn't shock you then i don't know what will.

[audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and fascinating travel narrative / corporate exposé, covering Coca-Cola's international environmental misdeeds and union-busting tactics. Also the worst copyediting I have ever seen.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Thomas likes Coca Cola, hates Pepsi.

It is too easy to see him as a knee jerk rejecter of all the products of multi-national corporations and think "Yadda, yadda, yadda" about his somewhat bizarre brand of 'comedy' but he won me over with those opening frank statements of his personal feelings. I am right with him on the choice between Coke and Pepsi. Faced with Pepsi as the only option I may well choose to go thirsty (and have), not so Coca Cola. I generally prefer water but that often costs more both upfront and being outside free refill offers, and if not, being out of my own tap, it is heavy because I have carried it around and quite probably not sufficiently chilled. I am painfully aware that my husband who does not drink hot beverages started university drinking tap water, then switched to blackcurrant squashes because the local water tasted bad, then baulked at the sugar content which then grew moulds when preservatives were removed... and began drinking Diet Coke. 20+ years down the line I see the lives of my young teenage children poisoned because their lives too seem to revolve around where their next expensive fizzy drink, preferably Diet Coke, is coming from (this leaves aside the harm it may or may not do to their physical health long term). I think there are many worse things parents let happen to their children but I am not proud of this. For some years now it has been implicitly accepted that I don't buy the Coke for the house, except on special occasions.

So... I didn't choose to read this book expecting to feel better about all this as a result. I've had it on my to-read list for a number of years probably, have not seen or heard the TV and radio versions, so when I was browsing for a eBook to borrow just so I could not forget how to go about it and saw this was available I snapped it up. The irony of reading this book on an Apple iPhone is not lost on me.

What did surprise me was the mild mannered understated even faintly blinkingly astonished tone. Belching out the devil is not a classic Mark Thomas polemic phrase but refers to a religious practice using Coke as the modern day alternative to fermenting grain for over a week. He looks at a variety of issues, which have certainly led him on a global adventure - murder of union members in Mexico, abuse of water rights in India, child labour in, oh I forget where. And it's not that funny - the humour is largely in that restrained tone although there were smiles and a few laughs. Some kind of jaw support should really be provided with the book for those sections where he quotes Coca Cola Company policy or statements directly.

He quotes a Coca Cola employee asking "Why are you picking on us?" Well, despite this tale probably being largely repeatable with a change of brand name and product, on this evidence, I see no reason why *not*.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

You think you're holding a simple can of Coca-Cola in your hand. To hear the workers of TCCC (The Coca-Cola Company)stories, though, is to enter the deceitful, unscrupoulous world of a multinational company focused solely on their profit margin or so it seems likely. Mark Thomas does a beautiful job of sharing his research about the company while deftly weaving satire and humor into a engaging and appalling story of human rights issues. Be forewarned there is some cursing used as emphasis every now and again. What I really appreciate, though, are the well-cited references that Mr. Thomas provides to back up and support all of his assertions and when, on ocassion, the references are lacking there is an asterisk to point out "This is an urban myth" or the like.

I think Mr. Thomnas sums up TTTC well in one sentence-- "The Company's ability to take credit for positive news is monumental. In fact it is inversely proportional ot their ability to distance themselves from the negative"(pg.223). For instance workers in Coloumbia have been killed for joining a union while working at Coca Cola plants. Coke says the bottlers are independent, so they're not responsible. Coke is just the concentrate and the brand name--that's all they claim to be socially and corporately responsible for.

If you like riddles, then this might be the book for you. You'll certainly find yourself perplexed and puzzled more than once while reading "Belching Out the Devil." Afterall I think it takes a puzzle master to figure out why "someone at Coke in India decided it would be a good idea to oppen a water-intensive industry [Coke's main ingredient is water--you might want to consider that the next time you're buying your bottle of Coke]in a drought prone area" (pg. 205). In fact, the area TCCC opened its plant, Kaladera, India is located in an area that "has been in drought for 50 of the past 106 years--47% of the time (Original source author interview with Profressor Rathore-secondary source, pg. 205)." If you figure that riddle out, let me know!

Overall it was an intriguing read. Thoughtful, funny (laugh out loud a few times, funny), and sad. If I was a Coke drinker I would no longer be. Guess that means no more Sprite either . . .

Thanks, Mark, for travelling the world to talk to those who encounter the real story of Coke. It's definitely not about warm-fuzzy Cola drinking polar bears.

[Kurtbg · Rating 4 out of 5]

As we all move towards globalism I thought it would behoove me to read about how companies are moving within this realm. Coke is a huge brand and when I saw this book it caught my eye.

The author explains the structure of Coke, how it works internally and with it's suppliers and distributors. The company has published corporate policies and the author set about to explore whether these were being held to throughout the chain. He travels to Central America, India, and exotic Delaware to view and discuss firsthand with those involved.

He witnesses child labor, intimidation of store owners, pollution, safety hazards, and the stealing of water in a drought ridden area of India reducing the water by 2/3 and causing much havoc.

Mr. Thomas provides his findings to Coke to receive a response and is given the runaround.

I initially felt the read was slow since the majority of it focused on India and Central America. In the end I felt it drove home the point of the problems of having companies be able to go into a weak and poor country and take without giving back.

I have no illusions. A company is created for one reason: to provide a vehicle for people to make money. A company has no other role, nor should it. What is definitely lacking is the regulation of what companies are allowed to do in order to generate revenue. Stealing resources, polluting, and mafia tactics should not be allowed. Especially from a company that only has a brand name and distributes sugary syrup, or as Coke likes to call their product "sparkling beverage."

A local restaurant owner in Boston was asked what their highest marked up menu item was. They replied "water." It takes Coke less than $4.00 ingredients and labor to create syrup for 50,000 drinks. When you essentially steal water from countries it seems apparent how a company can make 6.7 billion a year on sugar water.

[Algernon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mark Thomas is a British comedian who also does journalism, investigating abuses by corporations and the impacts of global capitalism on the world's poor and working classes. This book focuses on the Coca Cola Corporation, about which Thomas has spent years investigating and reporting.

There is good reporting and research here. We learn how Coca Cola benefits from child labor in its supply line while keeping itself at just enough of a legal distance. We learn of horrific union busting, up to and including the murder of unionists by Columbian paramilitaries. We visit drought-prone regions of India made even worse by water-intensive Coca Cola bottling facilities. We read Coca Cola documents and visit a board meeting, reading the corporate speak as it is used to shield Coca Cola from liability and avoid responsibility.

Indeed, the question of what the company's legitimate responsibilities are to its employees and neighbors, right on down through its supply lines all over the world, is an earnest question returned to throughout the book. It is a good throughline.

There is even some value as a travelogue but this, along with the reporting, is frequently upstaged when Mark Thomas plays the comedian and rolls through the jokes. The humorous asides are actually the weakest part of the book: the jokes aren't that good, and often intrude.

In addition, the book is marred by very sloppy copyediting. There are far too many typographical and errors of punctuation for this to be sold at the cover price.

[Edina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It isn't all that surprisingly that the inventor of Coca-Cola, which was a bit of an accident anyway, was as Thomas calls him a chunkie junkie, a cubby guy with a morphine addiction.

The Coca-Cola museum has a civil-rights museum attached to itself... Yet, it was M. L. King J., who implored people not to support companies that practiced unfair hiring (whites over blacks) and one of three companies he explicitly asked people to boycott was Coca-Cola. In his own words, "We are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not buy Coca-Cola in Memphis."

Thankfully, the brand value of Coca-Cola has lost some profit in recent years. That means, less support ($) going to human rights violations and less obesity.

Solving child labor involves a lot of changes which the Salvadorian government and Coca-Cola don't seem enthusiastic about doing so they'd rather just hide the fact that there are child laborers--literally, the kids run at the site of a jeep. I'm not going to go into detail about how harvesting sugar can is one of the worst kinds of child labor. (Buy domestic sugar--you don't need to shell out for the fair-trade kind since 80% of sugar is made domestic so go out there and buy local.)

I was also aware of how cheap Coca-Cola was to produce but it is still mind-boggling! Consider that for less than the cost of a Big Mac one could create a unit (= 50,000 drinks) of concentrate.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I was reading this book I took a few moments to try and remember the last time I drank a cola of any kind, much less Coca-Cola itself. I really couldn't remember when it was, so I'm guessing that it was probably in excess of 5 years ago.

So in some ways this book wasn't aimed at someone like me. Its target audience is more the current coke drinkers. And if I had read it when I'd been a coke drinker (I was only ever an occassional customer) then this would have seen me stopping in much the same was as I don't buy Nestle or eat meat!

In many ways its very similar to the expose that Mark Thomas did of the arms industry ("As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandella"), but as this is really targetted to just one company it is at least as shocking.

One other reviewer mentioned that there was a few problems with the editing, and I have to agree, it could have really benefitted from a good proofread, but as a book which was both entertaining and thought provoking, I thought it was excellent.

I might be biased though, I've seen Mark Thomas about 3 times live, and I think he's fantastic!

[Readersaurus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interestingly, though billed as comedy and written by a comedian, this book is not at all funny. The writing is kind of awful and the punctuation follows no rules I can discern. Still, it is painful and informative and angering and worth reading. But definitely not funny.

If you drink Coke (or any of their products) you may want to know that the U.S. company has been responsible for union-busting all over the world, throwing otherwise fine employees into poverty and fear for their lives. Individuals have even been murdered because they dared to join the union, and U.S. Coke executives have looked the other way. Coke has built bottling plants in drought-stricken areas and used all the water, paying for none of it and leaving the locals with none to drink.

When we give multinational companies our consumer dollars, we fund these practices. Oh, and by the way, (like so many other things), Fanta was created in Germany during WW2 as a Coca Cola Company substitute for Coke b/c the Coke ingredients weren't available. So important that the Nazis get their sparkly beverages. Ugh. So, I definitely DON'T want to buy the world a Coke.

[Terry Clague · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been putting off reading this book since it was released. I've long admitted that it's Coca-Cola's branding which makes us want to drink it - the taste is certainly nothing to write home about. What they do so spectacularly well is to get a hook into people's emotions: buying a coke often is all about half-forgotten memories of childhood rather than anything else.

Reading this book has confirmed my worries about them as an operation. Anyone who spends so many dollars on branding sugary flavoured sparkling water is not to be trusted. Mark Thomas manages to raise a decent number of laughs, but also an appropriate level of anger by reminding the reader what they probably already either knew, half knew or suspected: Coca Cola are involved with people and organizations who murder trade unionists, employ young children for hard labour, uses operations in India which remove water from local people, and force competitors into the ground by any means to maintain ludicrous profitability.

So, stop drinking Coca Cola. Read this book. Fight the power. Twaw ever thus.

[MargeryK · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a gem to find this in Whitehaven library. I read Thomas' other book a few years ago whilst on holiday in Poland and remember laughing out loud on a train and garnering sharp looks from the other commuters.

I saw Mark's 'Killer Coke' gig which was mainly about the Columbian killings of Trade Unionists and was afraid there would not be a huge amount of new material in the book. I was wrong,

This is a broad investigation into Coke's power as a multinational. The humour works for me too. It was a shame that I spotted so many typos / grammatical errors, but I guess Mark was in a hurry to publish.

It is shocking how TCCC has such little disregard towards the communities in which it operates. And it is shocking to think how the brand makes you want to drink sugary crap.

The book covers topics as diverse as obesity, environmentalism, trade unionism and religion. Yes, Coke has become part of a religious sacrament in parts of Mexico.

Definitely worth a read, and I will be thinking again before I drink ANY fizzy drink.

[Cullen Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review 55 (2025) - 4/5 - 'Belching Out the Devil: Global Adventures with Coca-Cola' Mark Thoams - Non-Fiction - Exposé

Does the world need The Coca-Cola Company? Or better yet— Is the world a better place because of it?

That’s the question Mark Thomas launches like a grenade—and by the end, it’s hard not to feel the shockwaves.

Now, full confession: I’d forgotten I even owned this book. It took a surprise sighting in an AirBNB library in Windsor to jog my memory. There it was, nestled next to some dog-eared thrillers. I took it as a sign from the universe. And wow—what a read.

Let me start with this—Being a teetotaler, on the rare occasion that Madame and I are out (parent-life), it’s either sparkling water or a good old Coca-Cola. That familiar fizz in the glass bottle? It’s been my go-to. Comforting. Iconic. The Real Thing. Well, except for the occasional Coke when I’m feeling nostalgic or need a sugar hit.

Or so I thought...

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth Thomas makes crystal clear: At its core, Coca-Cola is just sugar water. But what it’s built? That’s the genius. It’s not the formula—it’s the brand. A brand so powerful it’s practically woven into the fabric of global culture. It sponsors the Olympics, rebranded Santa Claus, and even made its way into space. The product is the brand—and behind that billion-dollar smile? There’s a lot to frown about.

From Istanbul to El Salvador, Mexico City to India, Thomas exposes the stories Coke’s ad campaigns don’t mention:

– Child labourers swinging machetes in sugar cane fields

– Indian factory workers exposed to toxic waste

– Colombian union leaders falsely accused and jailed—while paramilitaries target their peers

And through it all, Coca-Cola’s playbook stays the same: deny, deflect, distance. Why? Because Coke doesn’t manufacture or distribute its product—it licenses it. The bottlers are franchisees. So when something goes wrong? “Not our problem.”

Here’s where the backstory matters. Coca-Cola didn’t just spring into existence. It was originally concocted by Dr. John Pemberton, a morphine-addicted Civil War veteran looking for a medicinal tonic. But the true architect of its empire was Asa Candler—a marketing genius who bought the formula and turned it into a global phenomenon. It wasn’t chemistry. It was capitalism.

And that same structure Candler pioneered—outsourcing, franchising, selling the dream—still shields the company today. In Colombia, when bottling workers tried to unionise and began getting assassinated, Coca-Cola’s answer was simple: “They don’t work for us.”

That legal structure becomes a moral shield. To paraphrase one particularly galling quote from a shareholder meeting toward the end of the book:

“There may be neigh-sayers, but the point of Coca-Cola isn’t to make people happy. It’s to make shareholders money.”
That one still echoes in my head, and sadly, probably the catch cry of many a company.

Working in business, one understands understand the importance of profit. I know how vital it is to drive success. But there’s a line, and when your product is essentially sugar water, and your legacy is built on marketing, those practices need to hold up under real scrutiny.

Thomas delivers facts with flair. It’s not a dry exposé—it’s biting, brilliant, and often laugh-out-loud funny. Think Jon Stewart meets John Pilger. One moment you’re chuckling at a PR stunt gone wrong, the next you’re wincing at human rights abuses. The contrast hits hard.

I walked into this book craving Coke. I walked out questioning whether I’ll ever touch one again.

So again, the question: Does the world need Coca-Cola? Is the world a better place because of it?

After reading this? I’m not so sure anymore.

Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) Not so refreshing now.

Happy reading, all!

CPH

P.S. The book was written in 2008, so a lot can happen in the years since. Still, the shocking truths in this book remain as disturbing and thought-provoking as ever.

After reading Belching Out the Devil, I’m curious to know—what’s a brand you’ve always admired, but now you’re seeing in a whole new light?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Hit reply or message me on LinkedIn.

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#Books #BookReview #ReadRatedReviewed

[Ujval Nanavati · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative book on how Coca-Cola exploits labour, environment, and local communities across the world (well, the book covers India, LATAM, and Turkey). Read it whether or not you know about how reckless and almost evil this institution and product are.

Author tries too hard though - forced humour, needless sarcasm distract.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hardly the equal of Fast Food Nation, but with a better turn of phrase. (A worn down, potholed road has 'concrete acne'.) Not exactly news, though - corporations are tossers, Yanks don't like anything that punctures their illusions, Coke has a lot of sugar in it. Thanks for telling us...

[Greg Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent though alarming reading; Mark Thomas exposes many secrets behind the global success of Coca-Cola; a result of wide research and observation - very worrying; scathing report on a global company's disdain for the planet and the people

[Oborozukyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me wish I drank coke so that I could proceed to boycott it immediately

[Tadas Talaikis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final Christmas fairy tale destroyed :( :-D

[Kathryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Summary: Mark Thomas has a vendetta. A vendetta against Coca Cola. He travels the world finding out about their horrible labor practices and the uselessness of their product: though, he concedes their great marketing and their clear duping of the world public.

Review: I got, about, 3 chapters into this book until I decided that I couldn't take it anymore. I cannot speak dispassionately about how much I hated this book anymore than Mark Thomas can speak dispassionately about how much he hates coke. He spends a lot of time openly mocking those who like and drink coke, and makes it fairly clear that he thinks that those who do like coke, have been duped, and are clearly simpletons. Yes, Coke is a useless product, sugar-water. You're right Mark, but, about 95% of the products that we buy are in fact useless. Books, useless. Newspapers, useless. Frozen dinners, useless. So get over it, sir.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book but then I suspected I would...like a great many i have concerns over the hijacking of international cultures under the banner of globilisation so it was interesting to get a view point of what lies behind a brand.
In the case of Coca Cola Mark Thomas unearths Union breaking,intimidation,depleting resources,toxicity in places such as Mexico,India,Columbia ,el Salvador and Ireland.
To be fair many of the practices don't lie at Coca Cola's feet alone most multi nationals would be fodder to such exposes but it is Cokes ability to try and defer the answers to the questions raised in the books that make it's practices further suspect.
The willingness to scape goat the franchises who further their empire despite their own commercial interest in them is a case in point.
The book fit's under humour but it's humour tinged with righteous anger..a worthwhile read.

[Nic Margett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of wish i'd never read this book now, i don't think i'll ever be able to drink a Coca Cola product again without feeling guilty.
I've been a fan of Mark Thomas for a while now, i've watched him on TV for years and i've seen one of his live shows about extreme rambling in Israel (another of his books i would like to read), so when i saw this in a charity shop i had to buy it. Mark's tale is littered with horror stories of TCCC's treatment of some of the worlds poorest people, and their complete denial of any responsibility towards them, told with a razor sharp wit and sarcasm that belies the sensitivity he shows for their plight.

[AGirlAndHerLibrarian Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Girls YouTube Channel – Stacked with Reviews (not this book though!)

This is a very, very chilling book to read - to hear about the tactics of coca cola and the things they've done especially in South America is mind-blowing. I was not happy with coca cola! I switched to Pepsi.

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[Glorious · Rating 4 out of 5]

I became a fan of Mark Thomas when in the mid-nineties I watched the Comedy Product on Channel four. It's interesting to see that he has lost none of his motivation and thankfully, none of his humour either. After reading this book, I can say that I will never drink Coca-Cola again. I was shocked at their union-busting tactics and the lengths that they will go to in order to achieve total marketplace dominance. Just like Coke itself, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth and corrupts your err moral enamel.

[Fanny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not anti-capitalist and I try not to be prejudiced about big corporations but this book from Mark Thomas obviously weights in the balance... and not in favour of the giant Coca-Cola Company! A very good field research with a lot of hard facts. I don't drink Coke as a personal taste but after reading this book I would definitely quit if I did. The writing is very informal and easy to understand. I did not stop laughing for a minute; Thomas' humour and irony make it a pleasant journey into the fizzy pop's world.

[Beorn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd like to have read more of this but it is the book that finally broke the back of my ability to take Mark Thomas' distinctly leftfield approach. Yes it is relatively novel to read a politics book that has a sense of non-conformity to it but it has far too much self-awareness, even smugness, throughout this book that no matter how much you want to get to the bottom of something, it just ends up getting annoying having to sit through his "whacky" approach.

Kind of like the original Russell Brand. Intelligent yet attention seeking, knowledgeable yet self absorbed...

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humorously written but ultimately disturbing book about how big businesses - how benign and well-meaning they may seek to present themselves as - do actually on the ground they operate on create enormous problems and even havoc for the local populace, resources and environment. The ultimately question is one which goes far beyond what this particular country has done or will do is what Mr Thomas points out in the beginning - is a large number of consumers as people have increasing become a good thing for our world and its future...

[Mark Nunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and entertaining read. Although it's not as easy to get worked up about the evils of a corporation like Coca-Cola as it is about the arms trade there are some very disturbing and thought provoking facts here.

Some points are a little over laboured, and the book would definitely have benefited from a little more proof reading (think there are more typos than in any book I have ever read) but it is a worthwhile read.

[Daniel Pitcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been an admirer of Mister Thomas' work, since the days of his television show, The Mark Thomas Project, so was really looking forward to reading this.

I wasn't disappointed. Corporations are heartless and bad, we all know that, but Coca Cola are something else. I'm not going to say any more than that in this review as I haven't got as good a lawyer as Mark Thomas. But, if you're after a well researched & documented expose about the Coca Cola company, then this it.

[Kyrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warning: may contain heavy Brit sarcasm....otherwise an interesting read to the very end. Coca Cola antics reflect how accountability is a different ball game to responsibility. Since the organisation is worth just fizzy pop and a lot of branding, its attempts to muzzle and discredit gapingly obvious human rights and environmental violations from sub-suppliers under its wing shows the length at which a backward organisation will go to save a brand that is doomed to decline (in my opinion).....

[Rob Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite startling show of what Coca-Cola get up to. Another thing to add to the list of products I no longer want to buy because of how the company carry on. A very entertaining read as well as eye opening.
It would have had the fifth star but it was let down by astonishingly bad proofreading. I'm fairly sure you can't buy t-shirts in US Airports saying 'I ? Our Troops' and I doubt Coca-Cola sell merchandise saying 'I ? Coca-Cola' were among my favourites