Coca-Cola, a 2014 Winter Olympics sponsor, has apologized after LGBT activists criticized the company for promoting a social media tool which allowed users to create customized messages, but prevented users from writing anything associated with homosexuality.
According to the Huffington Post, AmericaBlog discovered that a South African website invited users to be a part of the "Share a Coke with..." campaign. The social media campaign allowed users to type in a message, watch it be virtually printed on a can of Coke and shared with friends and social media followers.
However, the can responded to pro-gay words with an awkward error message stating, "Oops. Let's pretend you didn't just type that. Please try another name."
Words such as "gay" and "homo" are banned from being used. The words "straight" and "hetero" are both accepted. Coca-Cola has been accused of discriminating against the gay community.
The beverage company published an apology on Tuesday and let their users know that incorrect formatting is responsible for the anti-gay glitch. The website has reportedly been taken down until further notice.
Vukani Magubane of Coca-Cola South Africa, posted an apology on the company's website.
"Our 'Share A Coke' promotion, which is running in several markets around the globe, is intended to allow people to take the Coca-Cola script and replace it with their name on the can. Unfortunately, in South Africa, the digital version of the "Share a Coke" promotion did not limit the customization to individuals' names. Specifically, the name and message auto-generator on our South Africa 'Share A Coke' website would not accept the word 'Gay,' but did accept the word 'Straight.' This isn't how the program was supposed to work, and we've pulled the site down until we can fix the problem."
The statement continues: "We apologize for this mistake. As one of the world's most inclusive brands, we value and celebrate diversity. We have long been a strong supporter of the LGBT community and have advocated for inclusion, equality and diversity through both our policies and practices."
The campaign scandal resulted in the beverage company being dropped Brand of the Year at the Out in the City and G3 awards, which promotes diversity and equality.
Last year, Russia's government revoked individuals rights to "gay propaganda." Sochi mayor Anatoly Pakhomov has reportedly claimed that there were no gay/lesbians living in his city.
