Jesus Coke

Today I wish to discuss the Jesus Coke I received yesterday morning (Jesus Cokes? I received two. What is the plural of Coke? Coke? Sheep/sheeps?). I was sitting in the hallway in the main entrance of Nipissing, selling candy/caramel apples with my fellow Peer Mentors (It was raising money for the North Bay food bank -- it's Nipissing's annual Poverty Awareness week if you didn't know! Wednesday in H106 is Nipissing Performs for Poverty from 7-9.30 and admission is simply a non-perishable food item! But wait! There's more! On Thursday there will be a Friendly Famine in F204 from 11.30 to 12.30. Come socialize and again, bring only a non-perishable food item for admittance!).

Anyway, "But I was going to say when Truth stepped in" ("Birches" by Robert Frost), that I was sitting in the main hallway in the morning and I couldn't help but notice that there was another group strategically positioned in this same hallway ever so early in the morning. What could they have been doing, you may ask? WELL! Handing out free pop! Coke, to be precise (Can I get paid every time I say that in my blog? Coke Coke Coke Coke). If you happened to miss this event and are wondering why on earth this beverage was being handed out for free, here's the low-down. NCCF was promoting itself with free giveaways, no purchase necessary! I wondered what the significance of pop was -- why not hand out bumper stickers? Jesus fish? Then I saw there was a label on my can. A label with a bible verse. My post is not meant to stir religious controversy, but to look at the strategy.


Now, some may say that this is wrong. Accosting. Imposing. Forcing. Last night I was Facebooking (yes, in stage 1 of the writing process: procrastination) when I came across a Facebook group that was created called "Coke for Christ". It was created by non-NCCF Nipissing students and presented opposition to the "Coke for Christ" campaign.

But I witnessed every single can of Coke being distributed. Not once did an NCCF member attempt to convert someone. God was never brought up by an NCCF member unless questioned by someone ("Would you like a free Coke?" "Is it a Jesus Coke?"). Yes, it is true that people took cans without knowing the underlying religious purpose of the seemingly innocent cans. Some may have been shocked to later find this label and have felt bombarded with religion. But you were also free to ignore this label.

I see both sides to the incident. It is clear that the "Coke for Christ" Facebook group is not necessarily hostile but humourous and meant to draw attention and awareness to the event and have people question. The whole point of this blog is this: Whether or not you believe the verses on the Coke cans or religion in general, you have to admit that it was a good marketing strategy -- it got people talking, and any publicity is good publicity.