Fact Check

Share a Coke with ISIS

Rumor: Photograph shows a bottle of Coca-Cola with the words 'Share A Coke with Isis' printed across the front.

Published May 26, 2015

Claim:

Claim:   Photograph shows a bottle of Coca-Cola with the words "Share a Coke with Isis" printed across the front.


OUTDATED


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, May 2015]


I saw a photo on Facebook of a Coke with "Share a Coke with Isis" on the label. Please verify.

 

Origins:   Shortly after Coca-Cola relaunched their summer 2014 "Share a Coke" campaign again in 2015, two photographs purportedly showing bottles of Coca-Cola Classic with the words "Share A Coke with Isis" printed on the product label began recirculating on the Internet:

Some viewers expressed offense at the photographs (due to the fact that the name Isis is similar to the acronym that identifies an Islamic extremist terrorist group) and took to Coca-Cola's Facebook page to complain:

Although the name "Isis" does not appear on Coca-Cola product labels shown on the United States' "Share a Coke" page, the above-displayed photographs are indeed real. A company spokesperson told Snopes in an email that the "Share A Coke With Isis" cans were available in the Netherlands during the 2014 campaign:


This is not one of the 1,000 Share a Coke names available in the U.S. It is a popular name in the Netherlands and was used in their 2014 campaign among 2,500 of the most common Dutch names. It is unfortunate that it took on another meaning while the campaign was in market. The name is no longer available in the Netherlands.

 


It should also be noted that the word "Isis" depicted on the bottle is written with an initial capital letter followed by lower-case letters, while the terrorist organization's name is an acronym (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and thus is rendered in all capital letters. Since the above-displayed photos render "Isis" with lower case letters, they reference a person named Isis (similar to the Egyptian goddess) and not a militant Islamic group.

Last updated:   26 May 2015

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

Article Tags