In January 2020 on the eve of a national referendum to pass new laws affording LGBTQIA+ communities formal legal protection against homophobia, Martin Kathriner of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (Coca-Cola HBC), Reyn ffoulkes from The Coca-Cola Company and their teams were weighing up the pros and cons of taking some form of supporting action related to the ballot.

If Switzerland voted ‘yes’ in the referendum, thereby approving the bill, it would make anti-gay hate speech illegal, outlawing homophobia to the same extent as other forms of discrimination based on race, gender and religion.

Despite having broad support among the government, parliament and the general public, the referendum had polarised attitudes around the issues of diversity, equality and inclusion (DE&I) and restrictions on freedom of speech, and had attracted considerably more press and public attention than was typical for a referendum in Switzerland.

The US-headquartered multinational had a long track record of supporting diversity and inclusion in its advertising.

However, not all the company’s actions in the field of corporate political activism (CPA) had proved an unqualified success. For example, a poster advertising campaign in Hungary the previous year (August 2019) that showed same-sex couples enjoying a Coke together accompanied by the slogan “zero sugar, zero prejudice” had provoked a furious backlash from conservatives, leading to demands for a boycott of Coca-Cola products until the adverts were removed.

Martin knew that referendum was likely to succeed at the ballot box, but could Coca-Cola leverage the moment to further its values-based leadership in the market? If so, how?