Coca-Cola raised some eyebrows for promoting an online training seminar that urged employees to “try to be less white” in order to combat racial discrimination.
Slides from the training seminar went viral after someone leaked them to the media that featured tips on how to tone down whiteness.
The company has also been facing an extreme amount of backlash from conservatives online about the promotion of an online training seminar that urged employees to “try to be less white” in order to combat racial discrimination. The seminar entitled ‘Facing Racism’, given by Robin DiAngelo, was presented through LinkedIn Education publicly, although not free of charge.
Some ways that Coke’s employees can be “less white” during their interactions with other employees would be to “be less arrogant, be less certain, be less defensive, be more humble, listen, believe, break with apathy,” and “break with white solidarity.”
From AWM:
Racism remains a major issue in America’s corporations. These companies are predominately made up of white people, especially white men, when it comes to leadership roles. Not only are men still paid more than women for the same job on average in America, people of color face additional problems in the workplace. That’s why companies like Georgia’s Coca-Cola are working fast and furiously to erase the fabric of racism from their ranks. Trainings like this leaked one are a clumsy step toward better inclusion.
“Confronting racism,” one slide of the presentation read. “Understanding what it means to be white, challenging what it means to be racist.”
Another slide in the diversity training reported, “In the US and other Western nations, white people are socialized to feel that they are inherently superior because they are white. Research shows that by age 3 to 4, children understand that it is better to be white.”
Coca-Cola employees shared a mixed reaction to the diversity training. Some white employees even felt attacked and threatened to stage a boycott of the leading soft drink brand.
“This seems like blatant racial discrimination to this employment lawyer,” one self-identified employment lawyer tweeted.
The company admitted that it was made to encourage its workers to take the course, but they clarified that it was not mandatory. Coca-Cola now faces a reputational and image crisis. While the firm viewed the seminar as part of a diversity strategy, the approach to the training was highly controversial. After an internal whistleblower leaked screenshots of diversity training materials that encouraged staff to “try to be less white” the international company decided to finally respond to allegations of anti-white rhetoric.
The company responded in a statement after the amount of backlash they had been getting from the public, according to AWM:
“The video and images attributed to a Coca-Cola training program are not part of the company’s learning curriculum. Our Better Together global training is part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace. It is comprised of a number of short vignettes, each a few minutes long,” Coke said in a statement.
“The training includes access to the LinkedIn Learning platform on a variety of topics, including on diversity, equity, and inclusion,” the statement continued. “The video in question was accessible on the LinkedIn Learning platform but was not part of the company’s curriculum. We will continue to listen to our employees and refine our learning programs as appropriate.”
Watch the video below for more details:
Source: AWM