I live in Atlanta, and if you haven’t heard, we’re experiencing an extremely serious drought. The city, as well as most of the state, is simply running out of water, resulting in a total outdoor watering ban. It has been called a drought of “historic magnitude.” No watered lawns. No fountains at Centennial Olympic Park.
Coca-Cola, which participated in a $3-5 million investment to create Coca-Cola Snow Mountain in Stone Mountain Park, ultimately pulled the plug today, citing social responsibility. See the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article.
Kudos to Coca-Cola for making the right decision. It’s not often when corporate America puts social responsibility above fiscal responsibility.
So, how is that relevant to our drought? This new seasonal attraction planned to feature a 400-foot long snow mountain, made from man-made snow. That obviously requires a lot of water. Despite their financial involvement, including the purchase of snow-making equipment, the park and Coca-Cola decided it didn’t make sense to waste the millions of gallons of water needed to create the artificial snow mountain. They even explored the option of sourcing the water from outside Georgia, but apparently saw the hipocrisy of that move.
It was a smart PR move that probably not only saved Coke a lot of grief, but gave its community relations and social responsibility programs added credibility.
