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Indian Photographer Faces Suit Over Coke Billboard
Reuters
July 17, 2005
BOMBAY - An Indian photographer has been threatened with legal action
by beverage giant Coca-Cola Co. for displaying one of his photographs
-- depicting water shortages against a backdrop of the company's ubiquitous
logo -- on a giant billboard.
The wholly-owned Indian subsidiary of the Atlanta based company has
asked well-known photographer Sharad Haksar to remove the billboard
and make an unconditional apology or face a legal suit and damages
claim of 2 million rupees ($46,000).
The billboard, which is 20 feet by 30 feet (seven metres by nine metres)
in size, shows a line of plastic pots under a dry hand pump, a common
scene in Indian villages and towns, where water is scarce.
In the background is the familiar Coke logo with tagline, 'Drink Coca-Cola.'
"It's an infringement of our trademark, but we respect Haksar's right
to creative expression and have been in discussions with him," said
a Coke spokesman.
"We hope to settle the issue amicably," he said.
Haksar, who rents a billboard on a busy arterial road in the southern
city of Madras to showcase his work by often highlighting a social
issue, said he would not remove the billboard and will go to court
if necessary.
"I am not going to apologise as I haven't done anything wrong. It's
my visual interpretation of the water shortage in Madras," said Haksar,
who has worked on advertisement campaigns for Coke and plans a book
on international brands in ironic Indian situations.
"They are my client, why would I do anything to hurt them?" he said.
Several local environmental groups and activists have jumped on the
spat as further evidence of the growing opposition to the manufacturing
and trade practices of the world's biggest soft drinks maker in India.
"Haksar's billboard highlights the severe water shortages being experienced
by communities that live around Coca-Cola's bottling plants across
India," said a release from India Resource Center.
"We appreciate Haksar's efforts and condemn Coca-Cola's attempts to
silence a public discourse on the issues."
Haksar said he did not know about the opposition to Coke's manufacturing
practices, which activists and environmental groups claim is causing
a severe depletion of the water table in the areas where the bottling
plants are located.
India accounts for less than 1 percent of Coke's global sales, but
is considered an important emerging market.
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. India Resource Center is making this article available in our efforts to advance the understanding of corporate accountability, human rights, labor rights, social and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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