Coca Cola Company Efforts to Curb Underage Drinking - Essay Example

 COCA COLA COMPANY EFFORTS TO CURB underage drinking Coca cola company strategy to solve underage drinking Introduction Coca Cola Company is well known as the best and largest Company that produces soft drinks. The company has a sustainable cooperate social responsibility that entails helping to solve social problems in the society. For example, Coca Cola Company has a responsibility of fighting underage drinking since it is a social problem that has a lot of negative effects on the economic and political development of the society. In many countries that Coca Cola Company distributes soft drinks, they have a problem of underage drinking and as one of its cooperate social responsibility, Coca Cola Company has started a campaign to safe live of underage children who are below the age of 15. This paper will discuss how the Coca Cola Company tries to solve a social problem of underage drinking discussing underage drinking in its economic and political context. Fund Coca Cola Company aim is to make the world change in all perceptive like underage drinking. Despite its effort to advocate for soft drinks, underage drinking is one of key challenges that the Coca Cola Company is fighting for. For example, the Company is encouraging all the members who have joined World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community to return to their session meeting that is held in Davos. The aim of meeting is to come up with proof points of the work that the Coca Cola Company together with other members has done to help address the world problems like underage drinking. The project that has been started like kindness initiatives, underage drinking among others will be granted $50,000 to expand and reach as many people who are needy as possible. Each project which has been started and has an impact on the society is going to be funded with $10,000 to sustain the operation and expand their effort so that the social problem can be eliminated world wide. Coca Cola Company together with global shapers is engaging young people between aged between 20 to 30 years to try and deliver local and global change to the underage drinking since it has negatively affected the economic activity of many communities. The initiative should focus on societal problems like underage drinking, education, homelessness, health among others. Coca Cola Company additional aim is to have a bigger number of lives saved from underage drinking and the project to expand broadly so that it can be broad to many parts of countries sensitizing people the negative effect of underage drinking on the society. The aim of the initiative is to help the underage children have the future in the society. Lowering of economy Due to high level of underage drinking, the economy of many countries is deteriorating since the victims cannot effectively work in the companies and factories which they have either permanently employed or working as casuals. The young generation has left the burden of cultivating to the old parents who cannot work at high speed like the young and high productive persons. This results to lower economic growth. This lowers the gross domestic products of a country thus the living standard being high for both the young and the old generation (Holmes, 1995). Coca Cola Company aim is to be innovative since the young generation does not like to be employed as farm laborers. With more than half of world population being underage, then being under the influence of alcohol drinking it is clear that solving current and future challenges is dependent upon everyone in the society since the economy keeps on lowering now and then. Coca Cola Company do support the initiative to fight underage drinking and recognizes other stakeholders like global shapers to create new growth in the economy and solve societal problems which can come from anywhere and not just from the government or businesses. Legal drinking age Controversial age of drinking in many countries is a challenge since there are those who say that the drinking age should be 18 years and others to shift to 21 years so that people could drink responsibly. The main idea is that as ones grow old one brain matures and with maturity comes responsibility. Coca Cola Company is working with non governmental organizations to make sure that no underage will be drinking unless he or she has attained an age 21 years and above since many drink and they are not responsible and the trend might continue even when they are adults (Caissy, 1994) . This problem means that the country economy will be lowering year by year since the young generations do not take responsibility to cater for themselves and others in the society. The campaign is ongoing to safe the young generation from excessive drinking causing mental retardation and other health hazardous effect to their bodies. The campaign aim is to safe the young generation thus trying to come up with the strategies that they can engage the young generation in instead of drinking habits. Due to excessive drinking of underage and adult’s car accidents, deaths related to alcohol consumption and binge drinking have resulted to reduction in the production making the gross domestic product to be reduce. Government Coca Cola Company is encouraging the governments to make sure that advertisement of alcohol in the social media is stopped since currently the underage drinkers are in the social media and the government has to play a role and offline all the social networking that advertises alcoholic beverages. The government should also be part and parcel of campaign stressing that drinking is for adult since for underage it will damage young bodies and brains. This means that if governments can support the initiative like the Coca Cola Company to sensitize the underage on the effect of drinking, then the initiative can expand and achieve the goals. The parent again should start drinking conversation when the children are 9 or 10 years and effects for the same since without team work the underage will continue with the trend thus lowering the economy and responsibility of individual not being attained (Essau, 2008). If not properly addressed, then the habit continues when one is adult and this leads to one being fired in the place of work due to drinking, so the government must be part and parcel of the problem so that strict rules are set for the same. When the government puts restriction on underage drinking then problems like theft will be reduced and alcohol related deaths will be addressed since some underage alcohol takers have access to guns and they end up shooting others innocent citizens under the influence of alcohol. Entrepreneurship Young people are a tremendous source of innovation and they do play a vital role in the economic growth so that they can create sustainable change in the economy. This is the reason why Coca Cola Company is funding all the groups that have a goal that will change the future generations. The aim is to have more than 200 community world wide that will sensitize the underage on negative effect of drinking and for those who are addicted to drinking being taken to rehabilitation centers. Another aim is to start entrepreneurial activities that will embrace business to the public interest and commitment to find solutions to the world’s biggest problems (Davies, 2005). This can be achieved if people are industrious making sure that the underage will think about business engagement and not the drinking habit. The projects that impact underage is better like to engage in entrepreneurial activities that will help one in participating in a global conversation with other leaders so that the future of the underage can be reshaped . This can only be done when a company like Coca Cola Company is having entrepreneurial ideas that will help them and other stakeholders. The more active one is the lesser one is likely to be engaged in drinking, making them busy in the society will change the social problem completely in the society worldwide. Economic globalization Underage drinking should be regarded as economic globalization where underage should be interdependence of countries worldwide through increasing volume and variety across borders. Coca Cola Company is working towards this where it is influencing communities and countries to consider underage drinking as a social problem that will lower the economic activity of many countries. Coca Cola Company has started globalization towards underage drinking by financing countries so that they are able to curb underage drinking and shape the future of young generations. This is because with low production in agricultural produce, then the gross domestic product for those countries that relies on agriculture will be low. For the countries that rely on industries and heavily depend on young workers, they will experience slow economic growth since their work force cannot effectively work due to excessive drinking. As a result, the economy of such nations will not be stable making the living conditions of their citizens to be unstable (Tait, 2008). This is the reason why Coca Cola Company is working globally to make sure that underage drinking will not be a social problem in the near future since it will be a problem that will be solved globally by all the stakeholders. The campaign is to make underage drinking a global problem that will be sensitized worldwide and get along lasting solution. Conclusion Underage drinking is a social problem worldwide thus the aim of the Coca Cola Company is to come up with the solution to eliminate the vice in the society. Coca Cola Company as a role model to the governments has started funding non governmental organizations so as they can fight underage drinking and make it a public domain which should be eliminated in the society for the growth of global economy. Coca Cola Company has been pressurizing the governments to make sure that alcohol consumption is only for those who are over 21years so that the underage can be faced with strict regulations on drinking. Again for those companies that advertise alcohol consumption in the social media should be made offline since underage usually visit the social networking thus seeing the products being advertised and others are having photographs for those who are drunk. The governments should make sure that social media is under close monitoring so as to make the social problem a public awareness that is going to be curbed worldwide. References Caissy, G. 1994. Early Adolescence: Understanding the 10 to 15 Year Old. NY: Plenum Press. Davies, E. 2005. Secular Turkey is angered by spectre of alcohol-free zones. London: New York press. Essau, C. 2008. Adolescent Addiction: Epidemiology, Assessment, and Treatment. Burlington: Academic Press. Holmes, G. 1995. Helping Teenagers into Adulthood: A Guide for the Next Generation. Westport, CT: Praeger. Tait, R. 2008.  New alcohol law prompts fears for Turkish bar trade. New York: New York press. Read More