Crush UMass Amherst’s Exclusive Coca-Cola Pouring Rights Contract
Crush UMass Amherst’s Exclusive Coca-Cola Pouring Rights Contract
The Issue
End Pouring Rights At UMass Amherst
We, as concerned and engaged students and community members, demand that UMass Amherst eliminate its exclusive Pouring Rights contract with Coca-Cola. We are calling on the university to uphold its commitment to a socially just and sustainable campus for its students by declining to renew this harmful contract. In doing so, UMass Amherst will demonstrate a refusal to platform profit-hungry corporations and instead have the opportunity to source beverages from community businesses and sustainable sources.
What are Pouring Rights at UMass?
Pouring rights are the exclusive rights of a beverage maker or distributor to sell its products at a particular venue, event, or institution. Coca Cola owns these rights at UMass Amherst. This means that 80% of our shelf space - the vending machines in dorms and academic buildings, soda fountains in dining halls, and on-campus grocery locations - are stocked almost exclusively with Coca-Cola owned brands. The few Permitted Exceptions include “Local Competitive Products,” as long as they don’t take up more than 20% of the total beverage shelf space in any outlet on Campus, and they must be matched with a corresponding product of Coca Cola’s.
Why do we care?
UMass Dining has been ranked #1 in the country, which is a great source of pride for the university. The first paragraph on their homepage discusses year-round local sourcing, sustainable menus and “the aim of supporting the New England Food System.” It goes on to say that “Our sustainable practices not only benefit our campus, but our global community as a whole.”
We support and respect these values, and we demand that the university follows them with action. The current Pouring Rights contract with Coca Cola gives control over beverage distribution at UMass Amherst to a corporation that is environmentally and socially destructive, and in direct violation of UMass’s professed values.
How do Pouring Rights contradict our values at UMass?
1. The Coca-Cola contract prioritizes profit for a multinational corporation over the local producers we claim to support, undermining the professed commitment to our local food system.
2. Coca-Cola is the #1 plastics polluter in the world. Waste from its single-use plastic packaging - which takes hundreds of years to biodegrade - is littered all over the world. Along with PepsiCo and other big beverage companies, Coke has contributed to half a million tons of plastic waste dumped in developing countries each year¹. UMass Amherst should not be funding this colossal environmental harm.
3. Coca Cola is detrimental to the global community through their unethical business practices. This is evidenced by their excess use of vital water to make soft drinks in Tamil Nadu, India - an agricultural area suffering from droughts. They exploit vulnerable populations in their marketing strategies: targeting children, despite pledging not to, and capitalizing on nations where there have been fewer public health campaigns on the impacts of sugar. Through the American Beverage Association, Coca Cola and other major beverage companies lobby to influence public policy and act to defeat public health measures. UMass Dining wants to educate students on “the importance of protecting the longevity of our environment” and “instill them with sustainable eating practices,” and Coca Cola and their competitors’ operations are inconsistent with these goals.
4. Pouring rights contracts are rigid and don't allow for change. If we terminate Pouring Rights, we can still purchase products from whichever vendors we choose, but we will not be bound to them.
What can we do?
UMass Amherst can demonstrate its commitment to sustainability, social justice and the local community! We, as students, can demand that our university do better by not renewing the Pouring Rights contract with Coca-Cola and instead bringing in small businesses and sustainable, ethical beverage options. With national attention on our award-winning Dining program, we set the standard for universities across all 50 states.
Sign the petition against Pouring Rights at UMass Amherst!
Sources:
https://cspinet.org/new/201605161.html
http://fortune.com/2016/02/19/soda-emerging-nations-sales/
The Issue
End Pouring Rights At UMass Amherst
We, as concerned and engaged students and community members, demand that UMass Amherst eliminate its exclusive Pouring Rights contract with Coca-Cola. We are calling on the university to uphold its commitment to a socially just and sustainable campus for its students by declining to renew this harmful contract. In doing so, UMass Amherst will demonstrate a refusal to platform profit-hungry corporations and instead have the opportunity to source beverages from community businesses and sustainable sources.
What are Pouring Rights at UMass?
Pouring rights are the exclusive rights of a beverage maker or distributor to sell its products at a particular venue, event, or institution. Coca Cola owns these rights at UMass Amherst. This means that 80% of our shelf space - the vending machines in dorms and academic buildings, soda fountains in dining halls, and on-campus grocery locations - are stocked almost exclusively with Coca-Cola owned brands. The few Permitted Exceptions include “Local Competitive Products,” as long as they don’t take up more than 20% of the total beverage shelf space in any outlet on Campus, and they must be matched with a corresponding product of Coca Cola’s.
Why do we care?
UMass Dining has been ranked #1 in the country, which is a great source of pride for the university. The first paragraph on their homepage discusses year-round local sourcing, sustainable menus and “the aim of supporting the New England Food System.” It goes on to say that “Our sustainable practices not only benefit our campus, but our global community as a whole.”
We support and respect these values, and we demand that the university follows them with action. The current Pouring Rights contract with Coca Cola gives control over beverage distribution at UMass Amherst to a corporation that is environmentally and socially destructive, and in direct violation of UMass’s professed values.
How do Pouring Rights contradict our values at UMass?
1. The Coca-Cola contract prioritizes profit for a multinational corporation over the local producers we claim to support, undermining the professed commitment to our local food system.
2. Coca-Cola is the #1 plastics polluter in the world. Waste from its single-use plastic packaging - which takes hundreds of years to biodegrade - is littered all over the world. Along with PepsiCo and other big beverage companies, Coke has contributed to half a million tons of plastic waste dumped in developing countries each year¹. UMass Amherst should not be funding this colossal environmental harm.
3. Coca Cola is detrimental to the global community through their unethical business practices. This is evidenced by their excess use of vital water to make soft drinks in Tamil Nadu, India - an agricultural area suffering from droughts. They exploit vulnerable populations in their marketing strategies: targeting children, despite pledging not to, and capitalizing on nations where there have been fewer public health campaigns on the impacts of sugar. Through the American Beverage Association, Coca Cola and other major beverage companies lobby to influence public policy and act to defeat public health measures. UMass Dining wants to educate students on “the importance of protecting the longevity of our environment” and “instill them with sustainable eating practices,” and Coca Cola and their competitors’ operations are inconsistent with these goals.
4. Pouring rights contracts are rigid and don't allow for change. If we terminate Pouring Rights, we can still purchase products from whichever vendors we choose, but we will not be bound to them.
What can we do?
UMass Amherst can demonstrate its commitment to sustainability, social justice and the local community! We, as students, can demand that our university do better by not renewing the Pouring Rights contract with Coca-Cola and instead bringing in small businesses and sustainable, ethical beverage options. With national attention on our award-winning Dining program, we set the standard for universities across all 50 states.
Sign the petition against Pouring Rights at UMass Amherst!
Sources:
https://cspinet.org/new/201605161.html
http://fortune.com/2016/02/19/soda-emerging-nations-sales/
Petition Closed
Share this petition
The Decision Makers
Petition created on February 23, 2022