Coca Cola to Hydrate the Poor Children

Simon Berry has an interesting idea.

He suggests that Coca Cola use a small portion of their distribution muscle to help deliver medicine and nutrients to the poor children of the world. His epiphany was that you can by a Coca Cola virtually anywhere in the world, yet children are dying of dehydration in these same corners of the world.

Simon Berry is not confrontational and he is not picketing Coca Cola's offices with an angry mob.
(By the way...I still can't find an update on KillerCoke's efforts from earlier in the month!)

His idea has caught fire, as you can easily 'Google' other blogs talking about his efforts.
Here are a few that I caught right away:

On Kate Andrews, here.

On Groves Media, here.

Simon's own Blog, here.

Personally, I've never been one of these people who thinks that Big Business is/should be responsible for healing the ills of the world...yet this does not mean that I don't like his suggestion. In fact, I DO like the suggestion...I'm just not joining any coalitions or the like and I'm not going to protest Coca Cola (neither is Simon).

Just yesterday, over a '2-parts Dr. Pepper and 1-part Coke' I was discussing an interview I read with Jim Skinner, the CEO of McDonald's. His view was 'we provide choices for the world, and they are adult enough to make those choices.' You know...he offers French Fries and he offers Apples. It's up to you which you want to eat.

Obviously, this has nothing to do with Simon Berry and his idea to have Coca Cola help distribute medicine...I was just drawing the parallel that Big Business is often asked by the public to solve social issues, and each company/CEO has their own way(s) of reacting to the request.

(Simon's blog details the replies he has gotten when contacting Coca Cola with his idea. Here is an example.)

If my conversation about Jim Skinner is not a big enough example, how about the fact that a good friend of mine runs a company that works very hard to raise money for the poor children of Uganda? You can read about 1Shop's efforts here. They are not a Big Business...in fact they are a Small Business...but I think Simon would be pleased!

The bottom line is this: whether you think Big Business has a social responsibility or not, it's encouraging to know that we citizens are THINKING about these things. We're SHARING these ideas. We're TALKING about them and PUTTING THEM INTO MOTION. No one likes a whiner or a complainer. But people who can articulate good ideas and try to make hay out of them are local heroes.

Thanks you, Simon Berry, for thinking about helping the sick and the poor.