428
submitted 2 weeks ago by Sunshine@lemmy.ca to c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk
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[-] Obi@sopuli.xyz 67 points 2 weeks ago

I also think most people have no idea how much shit is owned by coke, so maybe they're leaving coke on the shelves but buying some other brands owned by them instead? Also yeah Europeans sure love their coke zero and it's gonna be tough getting everyone to stop, there's probably correlation between liking coke and not giving a shit about politics.

[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 47 points 2 weeks ago

When these companies reach certain sizes they're almost boycott proof. Simply insane how large they're allowed to become.

[-] Taalnazi@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Coca Cola is owned by The Coca Cola Company, whose owner (or well, group with largest share) is Berkshire Hathaway Inc., owned by Warren Buffett (with his successor being Greg Abel). Ajit Jainil is a vice chairman, whose cousin was a co-CEO of the Deutsche Bank.

Coca Cola also sponsored Trump.

Duracell is one of the biggest part of Berkshire, but there's way more. Some holdings and subsidiaries have sub-holdings and subsidiaries!

It also has insurance companies which invest in policy premiums in some companies, up to many billions. Visa, Mastercard, Kraft Heinz, T-mobile, Mitsubishi, to name a few.

Companies are evil. Every single one that's big is one too many.

We should develop an app, downloadable from multiple app stores, to automatically scan a product and see if it's ultimately owned by a billionnaire and where some companies don't have workplace democracy. And the app should offer alternatives, from which you can order. Can someone on Lemmy here do it?

[-] 0x0@lemmy.zip 12 points 2 weeks ago

scan a product and see if it’s ultimately owned by a billionnaire

Unless you're in a thrift store or flea market, the answer is yes.

[-] Taalnazi@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I dunno, I feel like it is possible for a company to be worker-owned with workplace democracy, where the highest-earning worker earns only one and a half times as much as the lowest earning, instead of hundreds of times more.

And even then, I think wages shouldn't be a thing at all - but instead that economies should be need-focused, rather than profit-focused.

It would be great if for example woodcutters delivered wood directly to farmers, farmers food directly to woodcutters, and truck drivers received goods directly from both, and so on.

No wages, just cooperation without monetisation.

[-] 0x0@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago

Works at the small scale, but as you grow, so does human greed.

[-] Droechai@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 weeks ago

Would love a personalized warning list, to add companies (and automatically any owners/siblings) that flags products as I scan them.

[-] arakhis_@feddit.org 1 points 1 week ago

Isnt Warren Buffet the most positive example of a billionaire by a margin?

Afaik hes donating his entire wealth to charity once he ceases and already flipped his home town Omaha into a liveable paradise comparibly to northern european city life standards.

Like the highest donating philanthropist there is

maybe Im missing alot here, please add your context

[-] PostaL@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I am one of those who still gets cola zero :(

At this point I think it's an addiction, I didn't find something else from the EU to match it and was not successful thus far to quit it entirely.

But I'm still trying...

[-] 0x0@lemmy.zip 36 points 2 weeks ago

I do better by avoiding sodas altogether... it's sugar in a bottle, no thanks.

[-] slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 2 points 2 weeks ago

My sister doesn't give her kids cola because of the sugar. It just has slightly more than bought orange juice and aplle juice and all that shit.

[-] twinnie@feddit.uk 27 points 2 weeks ago

It’s hard to know what’s actually owned by Coca-Cola.

[-] Typotyper@sh.itjust.works 17 points 2 weeks ago
[-] detren@sh.itjust.works 20 points 2 weeks ago

There’s a lot more because Coca Cola owns brands that only operate within a single national market.

[-] 0x0@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 weeks ago
[-] Taalnazi@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

A RECOMMENDATION: TURN UPSIDE DOWN IF IT'S A BAD PRODUCT.

Regional
No Thanks (Apple store) - Android store for Palestine stuff. Collects no data at all. This is the app I would first recommend. Scan product, see result.

Buy Beaver - Canadian-focused initiative. Lets you pick countries to support. Collects mail address and device ID, but nothing more.

Detrumpez Vous - focused on finding whether a product is American or not.

Supranational (European)
Buy From EU - find European alternatives. Not necessarily scanning, but useful. Collects mail/sms, but that's it.

Buy European AI - lets you take a picture of the product, find European alternatives & that of allies. Anonymously collects rough location & photo (the latter makes sense though).

General
There's Boycat, also as app, which is user-friendly, but their privacy policy states your data may be stored outside of your legal jurisdiction.

[-] Typotyper@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago

Depends where you are from, but the App Store and buy Canadian turned up this. There were several of them

https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/maple-scan-buy-canadian/id6741467577

[-] IhaveCrabs111@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Coke probably is. Not sure what else

[-] RejZoR@lemmy.ml 22 points 2 weeks ago

I mostly drink some local store branded Cola that's made by company from my country. It's cheap as fuck and actually tastes better than any big brand cola.

[-] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago

Unfortunately, my local and popular soft drink company had been bought by Coca Cola years ago. They made the drink taste bad now, which is literal enshitiffication. Not much for any remaining local alternatives to buy.

[-] crumbguzzler5000@feddit.org 5 points 2 weeks ago

Having this issue also, how not buy soft drink stands which are either owned by coca cola or PepsiCo is not as simple as it sounds

[-] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago

And if you’re making your own, don’t get a SodaStream because the factories are in occupied/stolen land in Palestine. DrinkMate is a better machine anyways.

[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

They made the drink taste bad now, which is literal enshittification.

[-] McDropout@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago

I wonder why fizzy sugary drink is now a necessity to drink.

I don’t see the same conversation around chocolate milk or pineapple juice.

People in the comments need to take a step back.

[-] tatann@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

I don't drink cola outside of parties where I drink it with (cheap) whisky (I wouldn't ruin good whisky with cola), which I admit is still very bad for health, but at least not frequent

The only other time I'm glad to have some cola is when I have "stomache troubles" 🚽

[-] Krauerking@lemy.lol 1 points 2 weeks ago

The default drink used to be fizzy fermented grain or fruit.
It's honestly not anything new to not be drinking water just the people doing it are less drunk now.

[-] Tuuktuuk@sopuli.xyz 15 points 2 weeks ago

This could be largely because Pepsi has been expanding in the Russia and many are boycotting it for that. So, if the combined market share of those has risen, then we are not doing so badly :)

[-] dumnezero@piefed.social 14 points 2 weeks ago

Make Tap Water Great Again

[-] Harvey656@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

Do better Europeans. Coke snitched on their own workers to ICE.

[-] KumaSudosa@feddit.dk 13 points 2 weeks ago

I suppose it may be time to expand the 30% tariff retaliation to anything owned by US companies.

[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 11 points 2 weeks ago

I think I wrote this recently elsewhere, but I just never drink nor desire soda. It just doesn't even occur to me as a thing to want. When I was a kid, we mostly drank water. It's kind of alienating to realize how many other people are seemingly fundamentally different on such a basic part of life like "drinking"

[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

Same, my family weren't soda drinkers.

[-] eugenia@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 weeks ago

My husband I stopped buying Coca-Cola. We now buy Vikos Cola, which is a local brand in Epirus, Greece.

[-] OddMinus1@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 weeks ago

Haven't had a coca cola in about 10 years. I'm doing my part!

Coke free for a couple years. I'm doing my part

[-] alexcleac@szmer.info 9 points 2 weeks ago

The saddest thing for me is that it is 90% impossible to drink gin-tonic without paying to Coca-Cola in Poland. For other 10%, the price of tonic is almost same as the price for gin :/

[-] tatann@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

I've only bought Breizh Cola for years, and will continue to shame my friends who still buy "Nazi Cola"

[-] latenightnoir 6 points 2 weeks ago

For my Romanian and surrounding siblings who are also struggling with their Coke addiction, Auchan holds Adria Cola in large plastic bottles, and I found it to be similar enough in terms of content of uppers, and different enough to be an interesting change. Made by European Drinks, may even be found in smaller local shops (it's pretty common in Transylvania, at least).

[-] GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk 5 points 2 weeks ago

Unfortunately, they're the only commonly-available cola with just sugar (rather than artificial sweeteners).
I've done a two-pronged approach, of finding alternatives (Karma and Mate are nice), and getting ready to start making my own with a carbonate.
But commonly, you'll need to buy an entire 24 pack to even approach the pricing of Coca.

What I have found is making carbonated squash often hits the spot nicely.

[-] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

Do you bake and blend the squash? With or without oil?

[-] GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk 2 points 2 weeks ago

Possibly a language thing: I mean this stuff.

[-] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

This makes so much more sense than gourd soda.

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

They call it "advertising" because "propaganda" had unsavory associations. Coca-cola is a master of prop- er, Advertising.

[-] basxto@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 weeks ago

That’s one of the companies who adapt their products to regional markets and produce locally.

The other thing is they’ve always had cooperations with fast food chains, restaurants etc, which pushes their products when it’s the only cola you can get.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 3 points 2 weeks ago

You can blame me. Sprite Zero is about the only sugar free drink that doesn't taste like shit, and everything else took the sugar out and so Coke is the only one left for when I want a sugar hit. Yeah, it fucks your teeth up and makes you fat. My body my choice.

Honestly struggling to find decent alternatives in the UK that don't fall into the artisanal pricing category. Go past a quid a can and I might as well drink cider instead.

[-] ximtor@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago

I bet Norway consumes half of European demand in Coce Zero

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Ah, yeah, i had a very bad stomach flu last year.

[-] JorisMeys@mstdn.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

@Sunshine Lemmy... I first thought it was a reddit post but it is not! A fedi reddit alternative? Yes please!

https://join-lemmy.org/

[-] fum@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I wish there was an alternative available in the UK that doesn't contain artificial sweeteners, but there isn't. Coke is the only commonly available carbonated soft drink that doesn't also contain sweeteners. I hate the taste of artificial sweeteners, and they're carcinogen. I know sugary drinks aren't good for you anyway, but I will avoid sweeteners at least.

[-] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

That's the only way they can get their corn syrup, as Europeans have better standards. Trump is about to fuck that up for them. /s

this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2025
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