Georgia lawmakers are calling for Coca-Cola drinks to be eliminated in current boycott of the electoral regulation

Top line

A group of Georgia lawmakers are calling for Coca-Cola products to be removed from their office suite following the company’s CEO Georgia’s new voting law, the latest boycott Republicans have called for revenge on companies they own claim that they are contributing to an “out of control culture of abandonment” will be removed. “

Coca-Cola signage on the Olympia building in downtown Atlanta in 2019.

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Important facts

On Saturday, a group of Republican lawmakers sharing a suite of offices sent a letter to Kevin Perry, president of the Georgia Beverage Association, calling for all Coca-Cola products to be removed from their offices “immediately”.

“Given Coca-Cola’s decision to give in to pressures from an out of control abandon culture, we respectfully request that all Coca-Cola Co. products be removed from our office suite immediately,” they wrote, adding that they did would reconsider if Coke did “accept their role in spreading misunderstandings.”

State Representatives Victor Anderson, Matt Barton, Clint Crowe, Stan Gunter, Dewayne Hill, Lauren McDonald III, Jason Ridley, and Marcus Wiedower signed the letter.

Republican lawmakers also criticized Delta Airlines and Major League Baseball last week for speaking out against Georgia’s new electoral law.

Coca-Cola did not immediately respond to a Forbes request for comment.

Key background

Last week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a bill to tighten voting restrictions, which sparked an outcry from critics calling the legislation “Jim Crow 2.0”. James Quincey, the Atlanta-based executive director of Coca-Cola, told CNBC that the law was “unacceptable” and “a step backwards”. The new Georgian law, passed on March 25, increases identification requirements for postal votes, bans third groups from distributing snacks or water to waiting voters, and greatly reduces the number of ballot boxes allowed in Georgia. Georgia’s lawmakers responded to Delta’s criticism by announcing on Friday that Major League Baseball would move its all-star game, originally scheduled for Atlanta this year, to another state due to new voting restrictions embarrassed.

Main critic

Suffrage activist Stacey Abrams last week urged companies not to boycott Georgia over the new law, and wrote in a comment for USA Today that boycotts could hurt the same working-class people most disenfranchised by the new election restrictions. “[Leaving] behind us will not save us, ”wrote Abrams. “So I ask you to take your business to Georgia and while you’re here, stay and fight. Stay and choose. “

further reading

Twitter, Microsoft, MLB among the group denouncing voting restrictions (Forbes)

Georgia House Passes Bill Stripping Delta Multi-Million In Tax Break After Slamming State’s New Electoral Restrictions (Forbes)

Georgia GOP-Backed Election Restrictions Rejected by Business Lobby (Forbes)

Republicans vow to boycott, retaliate against MLB for Pulled All-Star game (Forbes)