# The Catholic Church v. Coca-Cola **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 2, 1999, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842 "1999-07-02T22:58:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 1999, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842/21 "1999-07-05T12:32:00Z")
My memory is hazy on this, and I’m not at home to check, someone will surely correct me if I goof it up. Anyway, the reason Coke (I thought it was Pepsi, but never mind, whichever) was viewed as anti-semitic was that, for many years, the Arab states had a boycott of any product sold in Israel. Thus, a company wishing to sell its product in Israel had to run the risk of losing the market in the (much more populous) Arab states. Coke (I guess? I thought it was Pepsi) caved in to this pressure and declined to sell its product in Israel. The other company didn’t cave in, and sold in Israel. It’s all pretty much moot now, and I think both products are available in Israel nowadays, and the Arab boycott is a thing of the distant and unlamented past. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 1999, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842/22 "1999-07-05T12:40:00Z")
My question is : As any Christian boycott of a product/theme park every actually worked on the big evil conglomerate to change their wicked ways? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 1999, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842/23 "1999-07-05T16:09:00Z")
> [@](#): > > If I may mix my urban legends here, I think I have an answer. Let me turn on my sarcasm transmitter here… > The Catholic church may be anti-Coke because Coke, as everyone knows, lowers your sperm count. The Catholic church considers it a contraceptive. Or what about using Coke as post-coital douche? Is this another urban legend about the many uses for Coca-Cola? Supposedly using Coke “afterwards” kills the sperm, which could be a reason that the church disdains the beloved beverage. Anyone else ever hear of this? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 1999, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842/24 "1999-07-06T05:07:00Z")
Kitty, as a matter of fact I do remember hearing about that, in Jr. High. I would put it down as teen wishful thinking along with orange juice kills the smell of vodka and cigs. so your parents can’t smell them. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 1999, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842/25 "1999-07-05T18:46:00Z")
There are many a UL regarding Coke. As for ULs that are related to the Catholic Church, I can’t find anything either. As for Coke being anti-semitic, Dex and Gr8 pointed out one story about Israel Another suppposed rationale could be that that Nazi Germany was a major market for Coca-Cola. See [http://www.urbanlegends.com/products/coca-cola/coke\_fanta\_nazis.html](http://www.urbanlegends.com/products/coca-cola/coke_fanta_nazis.html) : One more thing, Coke is spermicidal (when applied directly to the spermies) but makes a lousy douche. [http://www.urbanlegends.com/products/coca-cola/coca-cola\_douche.html](http://www.urbanlegends.com/products/coca-cola/coca-cola_douche.html) Alphagene ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 1999, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842/26 "1999-07-06T03:00:00Z")
I’ve been afraid to ask because she is rather touchy. So my husband asked yesterday. Specifically, he asked: What have you got against Coke? Her answer: (this is the short version, trust me you don’t want the long one) It makes me sick, but not as sick as Pepsi. Later, he tried again. Her answer: I don’t remember. I think they ran some ads with a nun or a priest that I thought were not in good taste. Maybe it was Pepsi. It was a long time ago. Later that evening she purchased a Coke. Whatever. Forget I ever brought it up. I’m going to try to before I have an aneurysm. (Have you ever heard Lewis Black’s routine about how hearing stupid things–“If it wasn’t for my horse, I never would have made it through college”–causes strokes in otherwise healthy people? If I quit posting, assume I’m dead and file charges against her. Thanks.) * * * “I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 1999, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842/27 "1999-07-07T05:42:00Z")
I vote that your mother-in-law heard some kind of urban legend. What I’m really worked up about is: who was it that said that Coke and Pepsi taste the same? Have you been swilling battery acid all your life? (There was that New Coke thing, but that’s ancient history.) * * * “I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 1999, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842/28 "1999-07-06T20:04:00Z")
It seems that Coke and Satan-worshipping Proctor&Gamble are in bed together. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 1999, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842/29 "1999-07-07T18:11:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Anyway, the reason Coke (I thought it was Pepsi, but never mind, whichever) was viewed as anti-semitic was that, for many years, the Arab states had a boycott of any product sold in Israel. Thus, a company wishing to sell its product in Israel had to run the risk of losing the market in the (much more populous) Arab states. Coke (I guess? I thought it was Pepsi) caved in to this pressure and declined to sell its product in Israel. The other company didn’t cave in, and sold in Israel. My understanding was that until 1967, both Coke and Pepsi complied with the Arab boycott. But when Israel conquered all of Jerusalem during the 6-Day War, Coke found that its bottling plant was now in Israeli hands, so rather than waste the plant, they began selling in Israel. Pepsi continued complying with the Arab boycott until very recently. Interestingly enough, now that Pepsi does sell in Israel, it is now the top selling brand amongst Haredim (sometimes called “Ultra-Orthodox Jews”), because they went out of their way to get Kosher certification from the preferred Haredi agency (called “Badatz”), whereas Coke’s certification, while perfectly fine, was not done through the Badatz, so is considered inferior…though not less kosher. * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@schicktech.com](mailto:ckeller@schicktech.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 1999, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842/30 "1999-07-07T19:25:00Z")
Kat,interesting that Coke would advertise (or supposedly advertise) something offensive to Catholics, especially in S.A. since S.A. is a very heavily Catholic collection of countries (hey, nice alliteration! sp?) If true, sounds like their PR people are brain-dead or culturally out-of-touch. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 1999, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842/31 "1999-07-07T20:31:00Z")
That’ what I thought, too, Bunnygirl. That was a big part of the reason I posted. Now it looks like it was just something that upset her personally. And now she can’t even remember what exactly it was that upset her so much. I should have thought about that before I posted. She’s a nut. * * * “I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-v-coca-cola/1842.md?page=1)