Since its invention by John Stith Pemberton in 1886, criticisms of Coca-Cola as a product, and of the business practices of The Coca-Cola Company, have been significant. The Coca-Cola Company is the largest soft drink company in the world, distributing over 500 different products. Since the early 2000s, the criticism of the use of Coca-Cola products, as well as the company itself, escalated, with criticism leveled at the company over health effects, environmental issues, animal testing, economic business practices and employee issues. The Coca-Cola Company has been faced with multiple lawsuits concerning the various criticisms.

Coca-Cola's first trial

In 1909, the Pure Food and Drug Act passed, and the United States government seized 40 barrels and 20 kegs of Coca-Cola syrup because they considered the added caffeine to be a harmful ingredient. One of the first noted criticisms of Coca-Cola was that it produced serious mental and motor deficits. This resulted in Coca-Cola's first lawsuit and trial where the official charges were that Coca-Cola was adulterated and misbranded. The trial following the lawsuit, The United States Government v. Forty Barrels, Twenty Kegs Coca-Cola, started in March 1911 a year and a half after the government had seized the barrels and kegs. Harvey Washington Wiley, a chemist and head of the Bureau of Chemistry in the U.S. Department of Agriculture led the lawsuit. Wiley was anti Coca-Cola mainly because he was against the added caffeine. The trial included many studies as well as paid testimonies from both parties and in the end was dismissed by the judge. However, the United States government ended up winning the case when they took it to the Supreme Court in 1916. This resulted in the reduction of caffeine content in Coca-Cola.Benjamin, Ludy T. "Pop Psychology: The man who saved Coca-Cola" American Psychological Association, 2009. Web. 5 Nov. 2016.2. Pendergrast, Mark For God, Country, and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It, 3d ed. (New York: Basic Books, 2013)

Products

Caffeine

In 1916, there was a federal suit under which the US government unsuccessfully attempted to force The Coca-Cola Company to remove caffeine from its products.

Bottles

In 1944, a waitress named Gladys Escola was putting away glass bottles of Coca-Cola when one of the bottles spontaneously exploded in her hand. She successfully sued the company, claiming they were liable.

Health effects

Coca-Cola is rich in sugar, especially sucrose, which causes dental caries when consumed regularly. Besides this, the high caloric value contributes to obesity. Both are major health issues in the developed world. According to the Harvard School of Public Health in 2015, "...people who drink 1–2 cans of sugary beverages daily are 26% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, Medical News Today reported on a study claiming 184,000 global deaths each year are down to sugary drink consumption." Nutritionist Rosemary Stanton has criticised the company's reduced sugar options, as a can of Coca-Cola with Stevia still contains 37% of an adult's recommended daily intake of sugar.

Coca-Cola Co. partially funded the pro-industry advocacy group International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) for many years prior to ending their support for the organization in 2021. ILSI was founded by a former Coca-Cola Co. executive in 1978, and has employed a number of former high level Coca-Cola Co. employees. The organization promotes physical activity rather than dietary changes to address obesity, taking a position similar to Coca-Cola Co.-funded research and messaging.

Vitamin Water lawsuit In January 2009, the US consumer group the Center for Science in the Public Interest filed a class-action lawsuit against Coca-Cola. The lawsuit was in regard to claims made, along with the company's flavors, of Vitamin Water. Claims say that the 33 grams of sugar are more harmful than the vitamins and other additives are helpful. Coca-Cola insists the suit is "ridiculous."

Coca-Cola and Catalan language

In Catalonia, there has been controversy regarding Coca-Cola's refusal to print its labels in Catalan. On December 12, 1993, the Platform for the Catalan Language (Plataforma per la Llengua) managed to make a world record by bringing together more than 15,000 empty Coca-Cola cans in Barcelona's central square Plaça de Catalunya and using them to build a giant sign that read "Let's label in Catalan". At the time, the organisation adopted the motto: "The Coca-Cola label in 135 languages around the world, but not in Catalan?".

On May 31, 2014, Plataforma per la Llengua, recalling the act of the December 12, 1993, collected over 40,000 Coca-Cola cans for making a mosaic with the letters "Etiqueteu en Català!" (Label in Catalan!) in the heart of Barcelona, Catalonia, at Plaça de Catalunya to demand the company label in Catalan after more than 20 years of lawsuits.

Mislabelling

In 2014, POM Wonderful unsuccessfully argued that Coca-Cola's Minute Maid division had mislabeled a product as a pomegranate and blueberry juice, when it was made 99.4% from apple and grape juices. POM Wonderful said this labelling caused unfair loss of sales of its own pomegranate and blueberry juice.

Environmental issues

Water use

In March 2004, local officials in Kerala shut down a $16 million Coke bottling plant blamed for a drastic decline in both quantity and quality of water available to local farmers and villagers. In April 2005, the Kerala High CourtHindustan Coca-Cola Beverages v. Perumatty Grama Panchayat, W.A. No. 2125 of 2003 and W.A. No. 215 of 2004, 2005 (2) KLT 554. See also the case of Pepsico India Holdings v. State of Kerala, WP(C) Nos. 27334 of 2003 & 27736 of 2004, 2007 (2) KLT 835 concerning Kanjikode rejected water use claims, noting that wells there continued to dry up last summer, months after the local Coke plant stopped operating. Further, a scientific study requested by the court found that while the plant had "aggravated the water scarcity situation," the "most significant factor" was a lack of rainfall. The case has been appealed and a decision is pending.Civil Appeal Nos. 4033 & 4034 of 2009 In 2017, Coca-Cola declared that it had no plans to restart bottling operations in Plachimada, Kerala. In June 2021, the factory was converted into a Covid-19 First Line treatment center.

In the investor summit held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh in 2016, the state government allocated land for Coca-Cola plant at Babai in Hoshangabad. The government gave all the required permissions but did not publicize the Rs. 750 crore investment project due to the controversies of water exploitation by the company. It became a serious issue and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan distanced himself from the project.MP CM not to attend Coca Cola plant bhoomi pujan, Jan 10, 2017, The Times of India. The residents of Babai opposed the project as the plant, when built, would consume tens of thousands of litres of water daily, thereby depleting the water level of the nearby river Narmada. In order to stop the project, residents started a signature campaign to garner support for the cause and passed a resolution against the company. They also attacked state government that on one hand, it was talking about taking measures to save the river and on the other hand, gave permission to set up the plant.MP residents oppose Coca Cola factory, say water level would go down further, Newsbits. The government canceled the land allocation in 2022, as Coca-Cola did not break ground on the plant within a five-year period, as was agreed-upon in the contract. Coca-Cola stated that it decided against building the plant due to the company re-franchising.

In January 2017, Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaipu (TNVSP) called for its members to stop selling Coca-Cola and PepsiCo products to show solidarity with local farmers who had complained about groundwater depletion caused by these companies. In 2016–17 Tamil Nadu experienced a severe drought which fueled the animosity. TNVSP consists of over 6,000 local trade associations covering about 1.5 million (15 Lakh) traders across Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state. The boycott came into effect from March 1, and the majority of the small and medium-sized vendors were reported to have stopped stocking the products. The boycott gained momentum during the Jallikattu protests.

Packaging Packaging used in Coca-Cola's products has a significant environmental impact. The company is the single largest plastic polluter in the world, producing over 3 million tonnes of plastic packaging each year. The head of sustainability Bea Perez has said they will continue to use plastic, stating "customers like them because they reseal and are lightweight" and that they create a lower carbon footprint than aluminum and glass bottles.

The company has opposed attempts to introduce mechanisms such as container deposit legislation.See also the case of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages v. Sangli-Miraj & Kupwad Municipal Corporation, (2011-07-04) In 2013, the company was criticized in Australia for undertaking litigation that led to the invalidation of a bottle recycling deposit.

In 2017 Greenpeace published a report criticizing Coca-Cola's use of single-use plastic bottles. The report is especially critical of the company's failing to reach the goals it set to source 25% of its bottles from recycled or renewable sources, and the non-existence of targets to reduce its use of single-use bottles since then. Greenpeace also claimed that Coca-Cola has actively lobbied against recycling and deposit return schemes in several European countries, while at the same time maintaining a green marketing facade with vague promises and false-solutions such as sizable donations to schemes that put the emphasis of anti-littering on the consumer, instead of the producer of the litter itself. In 2022, Greenpeace stated that it welcomed Coca-Cola’s pledge to make 25% of its packaging reusable by 2030.

Air pollution In 2015, the company was accused of 27 Clean Air Act violations at a Minute Maid plant in Michigan. In May 2014, Coca-Cola reached a settlement with the EPA for these violations, in which it paid $165,900 in civil penalties.

Animal testing

In 2007, the Coca-Cola Company announced it would no longer conduct or directly fund laboratory experiments on animals unless required by law to do so. The company's announcement came after PETA criticized the company for funding invasive experiments on animals including one study in which experimenters cut into the face of chimpanzees to study the animals' nerve impulses used in the perception of sweet taste. Some experimenters have criticized PETA's campaign against Coca-Cola and other companies claiming that their work would be stalled if they lost corporate funding.

Economic business practices

Anti-competitive practices

In 2000, a United States federal judge dismissed an antitrust lawsuit filed by PepsiCo Inc. accusing Coca-Cola Co. of monopolizing the market for fountain-dispensed soft drinks in the United States.

In June 2005, Coca-Cola in Europe formally agreed to end deals with shops and bars to stock its drinks exclusively after a European Union investigation found its business methods stifled competition.

In November 2005, Coca-Cola's Mexican unit – Coca-Cola Export Corporation – and a number of its distributors and bottlers were fined $68 million for unfair commercial practices. Coca-Cola is appealing the case.

"Channel stuffing" settlement