And now, yet more evidence, as if more is needed, that “the limp language of choice” has outlived its usefulness as a rallying cry in the fight for reproductive rights.
The American Beverage Association, which represents the Coca-Cola Company and Pepsico among others, has launched a new multi-brand umbrella campaign built around the theme of Choice: DeliveringChoices.org.
I can’t be certain, but I’m pretty confident that this is not an attempt by these consumer brands to endorse abortion and other reproductive rights. I wonder though, did no one in involved in this project know that, out here in the land of unquenchable thirst, the word “choice” is a political term, in fact a political brand, synonymous with those very messy and controversial things? I suppose it’s possible.
More likely, the fact that the word CHOICE is long associated with abortion & repro rights just wasn’t considered significant enough to dissuade them from their marketing plans. And why should it? Choice is what the American Beverage Association is all about. Delivering Choices.
If the world’s largest consumer brands are comfortable adopting Choice as an umbrella brand, then the word is no longer sufficient for branding — and for selling — reproductive rights. Was it ever?
……
Some hand picked related posts:
Reproductive Rights & the Macroeconomics of Pussy, or, Why Is Feminism’s Image So Unpretty?
Waking up the Pro-Choice Public
Choice & the Neon Elephant
Limply fungible ‘choice’
The problem with ‘choice’
Is feminism afraid of something?
Since when are Coke & Pepsi pro-choice?
Paul Ryan on Reproductive Rights: “You’re not going to have a truce.”
[...] with abortion, while the “Abortion Issue” was branded a matter of “Choice,” an intentionally watered-down consumerist term easily dispersed and broadly applied in a marketplace where feminism is, almost as if by training [...]
[...] with abortion, whilethe “Abortion Issue” was branded a matter of “Choice,” an intentionally watered-down consumerist term easily dispersed and broadly applied in a marketplace where feminism is, almost as if by training [...]
[...] for the cause of reproductive rights but lead it to disaster. But please don’t get me started on that [...]