Coca-Cola Taps Into Nationalistic Fervor With Patriotic Cans

(RTTNews) - For Coca-Cola, patriotism is the new way for marketing and minting profit. The beverage giant joined with United Service Organizations Inc. or USO to bring out limited-edition patriotic Coca-Cola cans at the Memorial Day weekend to honor U.S. Service Members. The Coca-Cola cans are available at convenience stores now through July 4th.

The strategy is in line with a recent decision by beverage maker Anheuser-Busch to adopt plans to replace its Budweiser logo with "America" on its 12-oz. cans and bottles this summer. The new packaged beer cans, which is said to be a tribute to the hard-working spirit of Americans as part of Budweiser's "America is in Your Hands" movement, will be on shelves nationwide from May 23 through the election in November.

In a tribute to the nation's Armed Forces members and the USO's 75th anniversary, the latest Coca-Cola cans features the classic "I'm Proud To Be An American" song lyric and come in red, white and blue color. It also includes a wavy U.S. flag, the USO and Coca-Cola logos, and the "Campaign to Connect" website, https://www.uso.org/Coke.

At the Coca-Cola 600 race last Sunday, the USO, a nonprofit organization to provides entertainment to United States soldiers and their families, launched the campaign, "Campaign to Connect", to show Americans' support to service members.

This year's Share a Coke and a Song campaign also was activated at the race, which had more than 6,000 service members in attendance.

According to the company, the campaign aims at sending one million messages to service members and their families in a show of support in response to a recent survey, which indicated that 90 percent of service members feel neglected by the American public. The messages will scroll across large TV screens at the USO's 180 locations worldwide.

Erika von Heiland Strader, director, Community Marketing, Coca-Cola North America, said, "The patriotic graphics on special 16 oz. cans and multiple club packs are a small way of saying thanks to the USO for all they do."