Please join us in supporting Operation: DEFEAT SODATRON Kenya mission, a youth led, art inspired rebellion against BIG SODA's aggressive efforts to sell our communities a drink known to cause disease.
As Operation DEFEAT SODATRON has spread the truth about soda in the United States there has been a dramatic drop in U.S. soda sales. Youth are rebelling against BIG SODA's aggressive efforts to target their communities with a drink known to increase obesity, type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, and heart disease. Coke and Pepsi have responded to this drop in domestic sales by spending billions of dollars to market and disseminate soda in South America, India, China, Indonesia, Africa, and beyond.
Here is a quote from Joe Tripodi, Chief Marketing Officer at Coca Cola, March 2014...
"Vision 2020 is Coke's plan to double its business by 2020... This aggressive plan is focused on dramatically increasing consumption of sugary beverages by young people, mostly Latino and African-American communities in the United States and developing nations abroad... "
A prime example of this effort to increase global sales was on display during the World Cup soccer tournament. Every World Cup highlight video that we watched started with a Share A Coke advertisement. Pop star Jason Derulo's Coca Cola Anthem for the World Cup had over 41 million views as of July 10th. Our network of community health volunteers in Kenya tell us that Coca Cola soccer balls are being handed out in villages.
Coca Cola World Cup Advertisement, 2018.
The Coca Cola Corporation, otherwise known as SODATRON, is actively invading nations with its robotic tentacles of greed, pumping children full of addictive sugary poison, spraying billboards that sell soda as happiness, yanking kids off water fountains, and paying off government officials to play along.
We have seen this playbook before with the tobacco industry. As Americans learned the hidden truth about the devastating effects of cigarettes, BIG TOBACCO aggressively targeted developing nations with their highly toxic and addictive products. The global health fallout from this relentless dissemination rumbles on to this day.
British American Tobacco advertisement in Kenya
SODATRON, like BIG TOBACCO, is working overtime to use its money and power to derail regional and global efforts to educate children on the truth about its products. This strategy has been effectively employed in the United States with Coke money flowing to organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the National Institute of Health (NIH). This high level health policy corruption helps explain our inept response to the catastrophic rise in national obesity and diabetes rates. With over 2 billion people worldwide either overweight or obese, this national problem has become a global health crisis of unseen proportions.
We feel the best way to DEFEAT SODATRON is to rally the people. Our youth led, art inspired rebellion against BIG SODA empowers youth with the truth about soda so they can choose health over a path to chronic disease and premature death. In 2017, we piloted a DEFEAT SODATRON campaign in Kenya to coincide with International Quit Soda Day. Our friends at Global Health Disrupted utilized our DEFEAT SODATRON counterbranding materials to engage youth in an art infused rebellion against soda. Kenyan youth embraced the campaign. Empowered with new knowledge, they began creating rebel art of their own.
Empowered by knowledge, these Kenyan youth create art to express their dissent.
A parade of colorful DEFEAT SODATRON artwork from school children in Kenya. Youth art becomes a nidus for rebellion against BIG SODA greed and propaganda.
An impressive SODATRON created by Alex, a grade 3 student in Nairobi... he has been reflecting on the health dangers of sugary drinks and wants to avoid diabetes, heart disease, tooth decay, and obesity.
Who wants to quit soda for good? An auditorium full of Nairobian and International students make the pledge to DEFEAT SODATRON.
In 2018, with the help of our partners at Global Health Disrupted (GHD), we are expanding our efforts in Kenya. GHD has been training Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) in Kenya to deliver the truth about soda and sugary drinks to the surrounding communities. Our Design Director, Mike Rich, is creating a comic to inspire a youth rebellion against SODATRON's invasion of Africa.
SODATRON sets his sights on Africa with his robotic tentacles of greed ready to pump kids full of sugary poison. Draft comic cover by Mike Rich Design.
We will invite Kenyan youth to submit their own comics that tell the story of a youth led rebellion to defeat SODATRON. Our Hip Hop Director, Mike Be, has produced a new music track, titled POISON, protesting SODATRON's invasion of Africa and India with contributions from legendary hip hop artist General Steele of Smif-N-Wessun and Los Angeles based hip hop artist SETI X, aka Mandeep Sethi, with roots in India and hailed by GQ Magazine as “India’s booming hip hop scene’s new voice.” The chorus of this track is designed for Kenyan youth to learn, perform, and share through their digital media networks.
Please join us in supporting Operation: DEFEAT SODATRON Kenya mission, a youth led, art inspired rebellion against BIG SODA's aggressive efforts to sell our communities a drink known to cause disease. We empower youth with the truth about SODA so they have the knowledge to choose health over a path to chronic disease and premature death. Empowered by knowledge, with art as their weapon ... YOUTH will DEFEAT SODATRON !
