Claim: Person who performs a kindness for a stranger is rewarded by the stranger's telling her to avoid drinking Coca-Cola or Pepsi after a certain day.
Examples: [Collected via e-mail, 2002]
An old student of mine came up to me yesterday and said that a good friend of his is a waiter at our local Red Lobster. This waiter had a customer of a Middle Eastern descent. The customer kept asking the waiter for a quarter. When he finally gave him the quarter, the customer said something along the lines of, "You want a tip?" To which the waiter said, "Sure." The customer then responded, "Don't drink Coke after Recently, I heard what I suspect to be a rumor regarding Coca-Cola. Supposedly, a stock person was putting some groceries in the trunk of a car when he cautioned the owner not to buy Coca-Cola after 6/1/02. Naturally, after 9/11 everyone is extremely cautious about any "terrorist threat." Now, you can take this with a grain of salt, but I thought it was worth passing Ok I don't usually fall into the rumour category. Although this time I did. Our good friend (God mother to Gabriella) has a friend (yadh yadah yadh) who was in our nationally known grocery store. This man was in front of her and was short $5.00. He was not budging on anything. Price, product She said, "it's ok, never mind, etc." He said, "Don't drink coke this summer." I am a bit superstitious. But I love you all and feel the need to pass on this info. Good thing we don't drink alot of soda pop. |
Origins: The helpful terrorists are back, but this time instead of warning kindly Americans which cities
to avoid, they're advising consumers to stay away from that most quintessential of American products: Coca-Cola.
The versions cited above are simply reworkings of the "grateful stranger rewarding a helpful citizen with a warning about impending attack" type of tales that were circulating within a month of the
Nonetheless, this rumor continues to circulate in newer and newer versions that push the target date farther into the future to keep it current:
The teacher that I work with got a phone call from her mother last night. Her name is Mindy Henson. Mindy's minister's wife was grocery shopping in Wabash, Indiana. There was a Muslum lady in front of her who was checking out and was $4.00 short of paying her bill. So, the minister's wife gave her the money. When they walked out of the grocery store, the Muslum lady told her how much she appreciated the nice favor she'd done for her. She said that she wanted to do her a favor in return. She then told her not to drink any Pepsi products after
[Collected on the Internet, August 2007]
The rumor's prediliction for resurfacing in slightly different form at various time and in various locations saddles authorities with the task of debunking the same wild tale over and over:
The police terrorism tip line and e-mail address have received numerous reports from concerned citizens lately, reporting roughly the same story, which follows: A person in a check-out line at a store is behind a person who appears to be from the Middle East. The Middle Eastern person is few cents short when paying for his or her purchase, and the next person offers to make up the difference. Later, the Middle Eastern person comments on the act of kindness and says he or she hasn't been treated well since the terrorist attacks on In appreciation, the person offers what seems to be insider The state police release states that "stories of terrorists giving safety tips in return for good deeds are very common during times of unrest. However, law enforcement authorities have no evidence that this scenario has occurred."
Pennsylvania State Police are trying to squelch an urban legend that features kindness to strangers, terrorism and poisoned cola.
Coca-Cola says of this rumor on its web site:
We always take reports of this nature seriously. You should know that investigations to date, conducted by Federal and local officials, as well as The Coca-Cola Company, have concluded that these rumors have no merit.
These rumors are absolutely false and are causing needless worry. The Coca-Cola Company has an uncompromising commitment to product safety, and our products are produced and distributed through secure facilities. We use a number of processes to assure the safety and quality of the water and ingredients used to make products of The Coca-Cola Company. To ensure the effectiveness of our safeguards, we do not discuss the details of these processes.
Later versions of the rumor targeted Pepsi, substituting it into the tale as the beverage the mysterious stranger warned against. Throughout the
summer of 2002, we watched as the date to stop drinking sodas by was pushed back time and
imminent.
Curiously, some of the elements of the rumor almost came true. In
It needs be stressed this was not a plot against bottling plants in the
 |
| snopes valiantly defies terrorists by continuing to quaff his favorite beverage at his secret mountain hideaway |
took place in Israel, and the plot amounted to doctoring some pitchers of a beverage at a restaurant, not poisoning the entire Coke supply of that country. As horrific as this incident is to us, it was but another chapter in the ongoing war between Palestinians and Israelis, a conflict that has seen incursions of suicide bombers and attacks in the street.
What's the point of poisoned soda rumors? They may reflect a genuine,
Last updated: 31 August 2007
Sources:
