Exclusive — Vivek Ramaswamy: Coca-Cola Virtue Signals While Its Products Spread Obesity, Diabetes

Matt Perdie / Breitbart News
Robert Kraychik

Vivek Ramaswamy, author of Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam, contrasted Coca-Cola’s advocacy for left-wing racial politics with its sale of sugar-based soft drinks in the context of contemporary widespread diabetes and obesity, particularly among black Americans.

Ramaswamy said large corporations posture as virtuous through “woke” political messaging to deflect from the depravity of their business operations and harm caused by their products. He linked Coca-Cola’s sale of high-sugar beverages to the ubiquity of metabolic disease, as well as Nike’s use of inexpensive workers in Asian countries.
Multinational corporations align themselves with false narratives pushed by left-wing news media, Ramaswamy observed. He noted Coca-Cola’s and Nike’s advocacy for narratives associated with the Black Lives Matter campaign and operation.

“Corporate America loves that moment being presented to itself,” he stated. “If you’re Coca-Cola, you would rather issue statements about a new voting law in Georgia or teach employees how to be ‘less white’ than to deal with your own products’ impact on the nationwide epidemic of diabetes and obesity, including in the black community that it’s supposed to care so much about.”

Breitbart reported on Coca-Cola’s pushing of “antiracism” politics on its employees in February, directing them to “be less white.”

A 2018 assessment by the NIH addressed the higher rates of diabetes and obesity among black Americans relative to white Americans. “In the U.S., black adults are nearly twice as likely as white adults to develop type 2 diabetes. This racial disparity has been rising over the last 30 years,” the NIH declared. The agency added, “A study found that biological risk factors—including weight and fat around the abdomen—are primarily responsible for higher rates of diabetes for black Americans compared with white Americans.”

HHS shared similar data in 2018 contrasting national rates of diabetes and obesity between black and white Americans:

  • In 2018, non-Hispanic black Americans were twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to die from diabetes.
  • African American adults are 60 percent more likely than non-Hispanic white adults to be diagnosed with diabetes by a physician.
  • In 2017, non-Hispanic black Americans were 3.2 times more likely to be diagnosed with end stage renal disease as compared to non-Hispanic whites.
  • In 2017, non-Hispanic black Americans were 2.3 times more likely to be hospitalized for lower limb amputations as compared to non-Hispanic whites.

Ramaswamy remarked, “If you’re Nike, you would rather condemn slavery 250 years ago in the United States without reducing your reliance on slaves to make your shoes today in Asia to, by the way, sell $250 sneakers to black kids in the inner city who can’t afford to buy books for school.”

In May, Nike derided America as pathologized by “racism” via an Instagram video. Its video included the messages: “Don’t pretend there’s not a problem in America,” “Don’t turn your back on racism,” and “Don’t accept innocent lives being taken from us.

Ramaswamy concluded, “If you’re Nike, if you’re Coca-Cola, if you’re BlackRock, if you’re United Airlines, this is a good game to play.”

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