Only in Canada: Coca-Cola apologizes for offensive bottle cap message


Recommended Posts

Thanks to our country's bilingualism (on consumer products anyways), things like this can just happen:
 
 
 

Soft drink giant Coca-Cola is apologizing after an Edmonton woman found the words "You Retard" inscribed inside a cap on a bottle of Vitamin Water recently.
 
"Very, very unfortunate that this happened," said spokesperson Shannon Denny. "We apologize to our consumers for this."
 
The words are part of a promotion for Vitamin Water where random French and English words are printed on the caps, she said.
 
"Retard" is a French word meaning late.
 
"The chances were so slim through this random process," said Denny adding that not anticipating the potential word pairings was a mistake.
 
"The promotion has been cancelled," Denny said. "We are stopping production of all of the bottles using those caps with words. And any caps we have within our inventory are being destroyed."


Picture in source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/coca-cola-apologizes-for-offensive-bottle-cap-message-1.1861022

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What kind of social life does this woman have if she's offended by a bottle cap calling her a retard. :/

 

Apparently one of the complaints mentioned in tonight's newscast had a disabled daughter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Toyota pickup is offended since when manifold vacuum is reduced its ignition timing is retarded.

It is only happy and advanced when exactly the right amount of air enters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Retard" is a French word meaning late.

 

Means the same thing in English,

 

re?tard 

verb (used with object)
1.to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
2. to be delayed.
noun
3. a slowing down, diminution, or hindrance, as in a machine.
 
Because the English is derived from the French,
 
retard 
late 15c., from Fr. retarder (13c.), from L. retardare (see retardation). The noun is recorded from 1788 in the sense "retardation, delay;" from 1970 in offensive meaning "retarded person," originally Amer.Eng., with accent on first syllable
 

Journalists need to learn English.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Means the same thing in English,

 

re?tard 

verb (used with object)
1.to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
2. to be delayed.
noun
3. a slowing down, diminution, or hindrance, as in a machine.
 
Because the English is derived from the French,
 
retard 
late 15c., from Fr. retarder (13c.), from L. retardare (see retardation). The noun is recorded from 1788 in the sense "retardation, delay;" from 1970 in offensive meaning "retarded person," originally Amer.Eng., with accent on first syllable
 

Journalists need to learn English.

 

It's also a derogatory term for disabled people as you well know.  The woman was right to object because the message is offensive and Coca Cola should have been more careful when producing the messages.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's also a derogatory term for disabled people as you well know.  The woman was right to object because the message is offensive and Coca Cola should have been more careful when producing the messages.

 

I'm not saying she didn't have a right to complain. Just saying only the combination of the words "you" and "retard" is what makes it sound like it has the derogatory meaning. I've seen articles that have suggested the word, in any context, is derogatory, when its not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So according to the article, the promo just picks some random combination of French and English words.  If she finds this word combination offensive, I say she should be provided with the entire word list the system is choosing from, and then be made to manually review and mark every single combination of words she thinks qualifies as offensive, so the system can pick another combination.

 

After a few hours of this, I'd like to know whether she thinks this is still a worthwhile endeavor, or she should just move on with her life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My problem here is with the parents. They should be teaching their children to be strong and not to let silly words hurt them. Instead they're teaching thrm to become victims about things that werent directed at them and weren't even used in a hurtful offensive context.

well, learning to 'become a victim' has its perks: they feel entitled to sue for anything, and perhaps gain monetary benefits by doing so.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

they are right. you are a retard for buying vitamin water.

You are ''late'' for buying the water or are you being offensive to disabelled adults and children?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.