Most of us are really big Coke drinkers..or I should say Coca-Cola drinkers, though we've had our fair share of each brand under the company's umbrella (be it lemon-lime Sprite, fruit-flavored Fanta, citrus-flavored Fresca and Mello Yello, first diet cola Tab, Seagram's ginger ale, Barq's root beer, spicy cherry Pibb, etc.)
In 2006, to show how much it appreciates its consumers, Coca-Cola launched My Coke Rewards, a rewards program similar to those frequent-flyer mile airline programs we are familiar with. Here, users can enter codes from caps and box tops of fridge packs (12, 20, and 24) for points which they can redeem for prizes. Here is a list of those brands as well as the points you get.
Now, here's where this entry's title comes in. Not long after the program launched, weight-loss instructor Julia Greggs Havey sued the company, claiming the program was causing people, especially children, to drink lots of the company's products to accumulate points for prizes, thus causing them to be obese (or so she claims). Not long after, she decided to drop the lawsuit. If you go to the first link in this paragraph, you'll find a few comments from Mrs. Havey herself. (And believe me, her defense is pretty absurd, as the entry's title describes.)
Reasons were quite simple--First, the codes that users enter don't necessarily have to be from those who consume the products. I find a lot caps and box tops at work, and I take them home and enter the codes and get my points. Second, and I might explain this to those who may not know it already...THE COCA-COLA COMPANY MAKES MORE THAN JUST SODA! There's Dasani water, Minute Maid juice, and Powerade (a sports drink similar to Gatorade). Those have low-calorie counts, for those counting calories.
I've got a message for this lady: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A COKE CONSUMER IF YOU DON'T WANNA BE! You can drink lots of those to-go bottles of Minute Maid juice or gulp down on Powerade while you're out exercising, and you'll still get codes, which you can enter for points, which in turn you can redeem for something you like! And last I checked, juice has less sugar than soda, which explains why some people go straight to drinking it after just one can/bottle of pop. BUT DON'T RUIN IT FOR US COKE FANS WHO GIVE AND RECEIVE CODES AND POINTS FROM OTHER COKE FANS! THIS PROGRAM IS TO THANK THE LOYAL PEOPLE WHO BUY AND/OR CONSUME ITS PRODUCTS!
OK, rant over. I am stepping off the soapbox and opening it up to comments. Gameshowguy2000 (talk) 19:44, November 11, 2015 (UTC)