Coca-Cola’s can personalization feature is coming under fire after a test shows what kind of messages it won’t allow.
A Fox News Digital analysis revealed that the feature appears to be inconsistent with the custom messages the system rejects.
“Testing various words and phrases in the 18-character-or-less requirement, the Coke can customization blocks mainstream religious phrases like ‘Jesus is Lord’ and political slogans like ‘Make America Great,’ while permitting left-wing activism, right-wing group names and even terms associated with child exploitation,” Fox Business reported.
In investigating religious phrasing, the test concluded that faith-based expressions such as “Jesus is Lord” and “Allah is Lord” are blocked. When a user submits a message that is not allowed by the system’s 18-character-or-less requirement, they receive the following pop-up:
“The name or phrase you’ve submitted is not permitted. Names and phrases may not be permitted if they belong to a business, organization, celebrity, public figure, school, team or other trademark, are religious or political in nature, or could be considered inappropriate or unsuitable for other reasons.”
However, anti-religious phrasing such as “God is Dead” and “Atheist Pride” was not flagged by the system. “Shalom” and “Buddha Bless” were also allowed.
When it comes to political phrases, the results were similar.
“Patriotic or right-leaning slogans like ‘Make America Great,’ along with any specific political leader names and all racial or identity pride phrases (‘White Pride,’ ‘Black Pride,’ ‘Black Lives Matter’), are not permitted on personalized Coke cans. However, left-wing political slogans like ‘Defund the Police’ and controversial political groups like the far-right ‘Proud Boys’ are acceptable,” the report noted.
Further analysis indicated that the phrase “Free Palestine” is blocked, but “Stand with Israel” is allowed, which could anger leftist activists.
The report further revealed that while “benign religious and political terms” are not allowed, other more fringe, radical ideological phrases like “Pedophile Pride” and “MAP Pride” (Minor-Attracted Person) were not caught by the filter.
“Additionally, basic text loophole tactics — like adding spaces (“P e d o p h i l e”) or numbers (“Wh1t3 Pr1d3″) — bypassed the system’s security rules,” Fox Business noted.
While certain phrases may be allowed by the filter, all products are subject to moderation after submission and before being shipped.
“We created the Share A Coke personalization tool for Coca-Cola fans to celebrate with one another and make connections by creating bottles and cans with special names or phrases on them,” a spokesperson explained in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We are aware of a technical issue affecting the personalization preview tool and are working to address it.”
“While we review and take corrective action, we have disabled the preview feature and paused new personalized product orders after becoming aware that it has been used to generate content previews using restricted terms that do not align with our guidelines. All personalization orders are subject to moderation review after submission, and we have safeguards in place to prevent the approval and production of cans and bottles featuring religious, political, trademarked, inappropriate, or otherwise restricted terms and phrases. We will continue to enhance this tool based on consumer feedback.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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