Coca Cola joins PepsiCo in ending ALEC support over voter suppression

Coca Cola joins PepsiCo in ending ALEC support over voter suppression:

Have a Coke and a vote!

Yesterday, ColorOfChange announced a new action, asking its members to call Coca Cola and ask them to end their membership in, and financial support of, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) over it's role in pushing voter suppression legislation across the country.
Five hours later, Coca Cola did just that, joining PepsiCo, which announced it was leaving the organization back in January.

"The clear and simple message was that you can't come for black folks' money by day and try to take away our vote by night," said Rashad Robinson, director of ColorOfChange.
PepsiCo, another soft drink giant, belonged to ALEC for 10 years. In January, a company vice president told ColorOfChange that it wouldn't renew for 2012. [...]
Progressive groups and shareholder activists want to drive a wedge between ALEC and its corporate members.

"There was no real downside because there was no public accountability. There was no transparency," said Doug Clopp, deputy director of programs with Common Cause. "Everything up until now had been done behind closed doors, and these memberships were not known to the American people."

Because of the hard work of many progressive organizations, ALEC can't push its right-wing agenda in secrecy anymore. Companies like Coca Cola and PepsiCo, who joined because of the corporate-friendly kind of legislation ALEC pushes, are finding it increasingly uncomfortable to be associated with the extremism of ALEC on the social issues side of things: voter suppression, stand your ground laws, anti-abortion efforts, racist anti-immigration laws and the like.
There's one food company, though, that's apparently just fine with being associated with those things: Kraft Foods. "A spokeswoman for Kraft said its only concerns at ALEC are business related and have nothing to do with stand your ground or voter ID laws." Keep that in mind next time you're purchasing boxed mac 'n cheese.
There's more discussion in notdarkyet's diary.