Anti-Western sentiment in Russia sometimes extends to American products, from McDonald’s burgers to Apple computers.
Russian officials also have a propaganda campaign against Coca-Cola. But it doesn’t seem to be working that well. Russian soldiers apparently are deeply fond of Coke and are using it as an unofficial symbol to celebrate the end of their military service.
Thousands of people on the Russian social network Vkontakte are sharing photos of soldiers holding Coca-Cola cans with the word “demob,” short for “demobilization.” It’s unclear if the new “demob” labels are part of a marketing campaign by Coca-Cola targeting Russian soldiers, or if these photos are showing self-printed labels.
Many soldiers are also using their own personal profiles to post photos of themselves with these Coca-Cola cans, both before and after the Kremlin started an anti Coca-Cola campaign.
The Coca-Cola photos are circulating mostly in Vkontakte military groups such as “Army,” which has more than 400,000 members, many of which are young soldiers and reservists.
The American soda company was already under attack from Russian politicians, which accused Coca-Cola of waging an “unhealthy war” against Russian people. The American soda company was also accused of supporting Obama’s sanctions against Russia.
