The viral video showing a man’s attempt to personalize a can of Coca-Cola with the phrase “Jesus loves you” has led some Christians to call for a boycott of the beverage company.
A Texas man, Antwoine Hill, was visiting the Coca-Cola store over the weekend, using a machine that allows customers to customize their canned soda. He was able to write the words Allah, ‘Buddah’ (sic), and Satan, but received an error message when writing Jesus.
Hill filmed the incident and posted the video to his Facebook account, sparking outrage among many Christians, some calling for a boycott of Coca-Cola products.
In the recording, Hill types in phrases while filming the machine screen.”You can put Allah loves you. Or you could even put, let me see… Buddha loves you,” he says. “But you cannot even type in the word Jesus.”
An error message appears when he presses the final “s” in Jesus. “Sadly, we cannot automatically allow this text on the can!” it reads. The machine offers the option of asking a store representative for assistance, with a button for “store override.”
Hill presses the back button and types in “Satan loves you,” which is allowed. He attempts to write “Jesus” one more time and receives the same error message.
The video has amassed nearly 600K plays on Facebook and spread to other social media platforms, including X, where #BoycottCocaCola and #BoycottCoke are trending.
“Budlight Coca-Cola,” and “Go woke, Go broke,” are among the frequently posted phrases posted under the hashtag.
One tweet reads, “Apparently Coca Cola doesn’t support its Christian customers. You’re allowed to put any name on your customer can, except Jesus. This alone should be reason alone to boycott Coca-Cola.”
BREAKING: Apparently Coca Cola doesn’t support its Christian customers. You’re allowed to put any religious name on your custom can, except Jesus.
This alone should be reason alone to boycott Coca Cola. Why should we support a company that is anti Christian? pic.twitter.com/MbXfeWAO4H
— 🇺🇸Travis🇺🇸 (@Travis_4_Trump) September 24, 2024
Coca-Cola reportedly issued a statement about the controversy.
“The tool does not approve names or phrases that are religious in nature or are for political candidates, trademarks or celebrities,” the statement viewed by the Daily Mail stated.
“If a submission is not approved, such as for a specific name, a consumer at a store can show ID with their legal name for a store manager to approve for printing. If the submission is online, a consumer can also modify their request,” it continued. “We recognize technology is imperfect, which is why we have additional layers of approval.”
