Coca-Cola faces backlash after online training instructing employees to “be less white”
Coca-Cola is facing massive backlash after reports of an anti-white curriculum in its employee training classes were leaked on social media. As reported by Rebel News, employees were instructed to participate in an online training course by Robin DiAngelo, instructing employees to “be less white.”
On Friday, psychologist Karlyn Borysenko, a critic of critical race theory and prolific YouTuber, released whistleblower documents purporting to show required online training for Coca-Cola employees that included watching recorded videos by the White Fragility author.
🚨🚨🚨 BREAKING: Coca-Cola is forcing employees to complete online training telling them to "try to be less white."
— Karlyn supports banning critical race theory in NH (@DrKarlynB) February 19, 2021
These images are from an internal whistleblower: pic.twitter.com/gRi4N20esZ
For people asking to verify this, the course is publicly available on @LinkedIn: https://t.co/T2mmXTACeJ
— Karlyn supports banning critical race theory in NH (@DrKarlynB) February 19, 2021
You can see for yourself. The Coca-Cola icon is in the top right hand corner on some of the images because they're using LinkedIn content for their internal platform.
The leaked documents prompted massive outrage on social media, with many mocking the soft drink company for embracing “woke capitalism.” Woke capitalism is when a corporation or media entity panders to social justice for the sake of appearances.
Responses to the initial report provoked criticism from the likes of Nigel Farage, leader of the U.K.’s Brexit Party, who released a video condemning Coca-Cola.
“This week we learned that Coca-Cola, that venerated U.S. institution — I know Coca-Cola a little bit, their headquarters in Atlanta, and in 2017, I went to their HQ as a guest of theirs, I gave a presentation to some of their managers, really talking about global trends in politics and I was very struck what a nice working environment it seemed, and of course what a hugely successful company it’s been over all these decades,” Farage said.
“But Coca-Cola, of all people, have now clearly lost their marbles, because they’re now putting their staff through compulsory training: how to be less white,” he added. “You think I’m making this up? Have a look at this on the screen, saying, ‘So, to be less white means you’ll be less arrogant, less ignorant’—I mean, the list goes on: ‘try to be less white.’ And the inference here is clear, isn’t it? That white is bad; white means supremacist; white means you look down your noses at everybody else; white means you are guilty!”
Outkick commentator Clay Travis described Coca-Cola’s training sessions as “absolute racist insanity.”
Conservative journalist Paul Joseph Watson said, “this is what hate speech looks like.”
Following the backlash over the “be less white” instructions, Coca-Cola released a statement to the press claiming that the materials are “not a focus of our company's curriculum.” They added that the company would “continue to refine” its curriculum.
“The video circulating on social media is from a publicly available LinkedIn Learning Series and is not a focus of our company’s curriculum. Our Better Together global learning curriculum is part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace. It is comprised of a number of short vignettes, each a few minutes long. The training includes access to LinkedIn Learning on a variety of topics, including on diversity, equity and inclusion. We will continue to refine this curriculum.”
Coca-Cola contradicted its own statement less than a day later when it claimed that the training program was not a part of the company’s learning curriculum, stating:
“The video and images attributed to a Coca-Cola training program are not part of the company’s learning curriculum. Our Better Together global learning curriculum is part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace. It is comprised of a number of short vignettes, each a few minutes long. The training includes access to LinkedIn Learning on a variety of topics, including on diversity, equity and inclusion.”
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