Glastonbury; one of the world’s most influential festivals, does not allow any cola other than Coca-Cola to be sold at the entire event, despite Coke being one of the world’s most ethically criticised companies.

After 15 years of communication attempts to address this dilemma, Coca-Cola still has dominion and exclusivity. 

KICK OUT COKE FROM GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL

You can  contact Glastonbury Festival to urge them to Call Out Coke and to drop them as the monopoly cola supplier to the Festival.

Send your message via Glastonbury Festival feedback page 

This space is reserved for their reply:

“.

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We would like to hear their reasons or your speculation as to why Coca Cola has an exclusive, secret, monopoly contract with Glastonbury Festival.

 Let’s just have a two way conversation.

You can find us just over the Old Railway Track, to welcome you to the Green Futures Field and to #CallOutCoke.

We’ll be there feeding the festival through til Monday afternoon.

Contact us.

 

 

Coca-Cola company profile at Ethical Consumer

A company ethiscore graphic shows a '1' in a circle with the text: "Score 1 out of 100. Further text from company ethical profile at Ethical Consumer reads: "Coca-Cola Company Coca-Cola owns an astonishing 200 brands and is sold in over 200 countries and territories. This is the definition of ‘global reach’, considering the UN only recognises 193 states. This single company has a higher annual income than half of the world’s countries."

There are many more ethical cola brands , but Glastonbury Festival specifically prohibit you from supporting them.

This is surely contrary to the Diversity Statement by Glastonbury Festival . This statement emphasizes the festival’s core values of celebrating music, culture, and togetherness, promoting respect for the environment and fostering an inclusive and accepting world.

Support the traders

Food stalls at Glastonbury Festival will have a range of soft drinks for you to enjoy. Whilst Coke is the only cola drink they are allowed to stock, you can make another choice from the drinks that they will offer.

For example you can look out for Whole Earth drinks or choose anything other than Coke.

Coca Cola own many other brands, but rather than leave traders out of pocket, by focusing on Coke itself we hope to send a strong message.

 

Even Oxfam’s brand of organic fair trade cola is barred from sale at Glastonbury Festival.

 

 

We call on Glastonbury Festival to do the same.

According to a report by thequietus.com:

Barcelona festival Sónar has removed McDonald’s and Coca-Cola as sponsors of the event following engagement with activists working on behalf of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Both brands are listed as targets of the campaign due to their activities in Israel, as well as on occupied Palestinian territory. A number of artists have, however, already cancelled their appearances at this year’s event owing to Sónar’s position as one of a number of festivals operated by owner Superstruct Entertainment.

 

Text:Is there anything we can do as a festival to help support you trade in a greener and fairer way? “Whilst we are willing & able to source vegan, ethical, fairtrade & organic products from Essential Trading, these are not standard though-out the supply chain, such that if they run out we have to revert to standard products from other on-site suppliers. We find it difficult to trade on a level playing field if other caterers sell (for example) coca-cola products, rather than organic soft drinks. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Coca-Cola [2015]. [Glastonbury Festival should] make organic / fairly traded soft drinks the default across the whole festival, rather than a niche option for ethical caterers. Whole Earth would welcome the support and Coca Cola products are not ethical or sustainable. [2017]”

Veggies made this statement to Green Trading Standards Award Survey, Glastonbury Festival 2017

These 10 companies are flooding the planet with throwaway plastic

 

Here we share our efforts to urge Glastonbury Festival to bin Coca Cola products and extend its fair trade commitment to all drinks – concerns we have been raising for at least fifteen years!

3rd September 2024 to Emily Eavis, Worthy Farm

Dear Emily

Thank you for dropping by Veggies Catering Campaign in Green Futures. We are delighted to hear that you liked the look of our new stall. As you may know Veggies has been at every Glastonbury Festival since 1985, or so we’ve been told by customers who remember us from that year!

Next year will be our 40th at Glastonbury. We are so grateful for the visibility that this has given to our campaigns, as well as for the fundraising opportunities. Since day-one we like to think that we have risen to the challenge of being an ethical heartbeat of the Green Fields:

  • We have used nothing but fair trade since 1984, 10 years before the ‘Fairtrade’ mark was even launched [1].
  • All our purchases have been guided by the research of the Ethical Consumer Magazine, since no.1 in 1990 [2].
  • Our volunteer-led work supports many other campaigns for positive social change.

We therefore love the fair trade and ethical ethos of Glastonbury Festival but are disheartened by one simple thing. Via Avalon Events Wholesale we are only allowed to sell Coca Cola cola. We can offer organic Whole Earth drinks, more in keeping with our principals of favouring organic products, but specifically NOT Whole Earth cola or better still, Ethical Consumer Best Buy, KARMA cola [3].

With WaterAid, Greenpeace and Oxfam as key charity partners, this choice troubles us.

We have been raising these concerns with Markets since 2015, but the issue has been brought to a head by recent fallout at Download Festival, where several acts withdrew their support due to sponsorship by Barclay’s and their involvement in Palestine [7].

Campaigners have made boycott calls for Coca Cola’s involvement in the illegally occupied territories in Palestine [8]. For this reason alone, if not for the many other reasons, we urge you to drop Coke as a supplier to Glastonbury Festival.

Nevertheless, we are so happy to have this opportunity to connect with you and we look forward to our next 40 Glastonburys!

Best regards

Veggies Catering Campaign 

—————

References

[1] https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/growing-our-movement-for-change/

[2] https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/about-us

[3] https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/soft-drinks

[4] https://www.thoughtco.com/coca-cola-groundwater-depletion-in-india-1204204

[5] https://www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/story/cop27-sponsor-the-coca-cola-company-named-worst-plastic-polluter-for-five-years-in-a-row-according-to-2022-brand-audit/

[6] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373764643_Analysis_of_Coca-Cola_Company_Violation_of_Employees’_Rights_Case

[7] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crgg13nn0kg

[8] https://www.foa.org.uk/campaign/boycottcocacola

We have received no reply to these inquiries.

 

Coca Cola has a 57 year history of supporting the apartheid state. In the context of the current genocide Coca Cola Israel (CBC), which has a plant in the illegal settlement of Atarot, has been donating supplies to the military. It’s social media states “We continue to donate and help as much as we can! Strong together!” with photos of the military receiving supplies. 

From InMinds.com

 

We have received no reply to the following  inquiry.

From: Glastonbury Markets
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2024
Subject: RE: Glastonbury Festival Application Question

We can see from your application that you propose to sell hot drinks. The Festival is committed to ensuring all coffee, tea and hot chocolate onsite is Fairtrade certified, please provide more information about the proposed brands/products to support your application.

With regards

Glastonbury Festival Markets Office

From: Veggies Nottingham
Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2024
To: Glastonbury Markets
Thanks so much for getting in touch. We’re really happy to provide clarification on the ethics of our products. Veggies has been subscribed to Ethical Consumer Magazine since Issue 1 in 1989, taking guidance on best products and companies. We have been committed to the principles of fairly traded products since before the Fairtrade Foundation existed. (The latter being established in 1992 and Veggies pre-dating it to 1984 – this year being our 40th birthday celebration!) Brands of tea and coffee that we will bring to Glastonbury will be fairtrade accredited and sourced from our local ethical wholesaler, including brands such as Clipper and Cafedirect.
We’re really heartened to receive this email and see that Glastonbury cares about fairly traded hot drinks and is thorough in its checking of traders. We’d warmly welcome a wider dialogue on other beverages at the festival. In particular, Coca Cola [is] the designated cola supplier to Glastonbury Festival. We sell organic Whole Earth soft drink cans but are not permitted to sell the cola version. We’d love to see more ethical cola options become the norm at Glastonbury Fest and replace Coca Cola. 
 
Warm wishes,
Veggies
On Wed, 4 Dec 2024, Veggies Nottingham  wrote:
As regards the cola issue, this amazing product has just been brought to our attention. We’d love to be able to sell it alongside our other ethical soft drinks options. Gaza Cola donates 100% of its profits to humanitarian aid, namely rebuilding hospitals in Gaza. This perfectly aligns with Glastonbury’s long history of supporting humanitarian causes and charities.
 
Details at:
 
Would be great to discuss.
Warm wishes,

 
On Thu, 12 Jun 2025, Veggies Nottingham wrote:
Following your reply to us in December we have been waiting to see what ethical Cola drinks would be available this year.
 
However we have not been able to find Gaza Cola, Gusto Cola, Karma Cola or any other ethical Cola brands on the suppliers list.
Have we missed something?
 
In 2022 Right Cola was offered as an ethical alternative, but that company folded soon after.
 
Please advise what alternative Cola drinks we can sell instead of Coca Cola which, as I am sure you know, is subject to a boycott call from the BDS movement, due to its presence and operations in Israel.

We have received no reply to these inquiries.

 

 

Is Coca-Cola ethical?

In the Ethical Consumer research report updated: Saturday 14th of June 2025 they say:

Environment

Coca-Cola is the single largest plastic polluter in the world. The company sells more than 100 billion single-use plastic bottles each year with many ending up in landfills and the ocean. It achieved its number one polluter status for the sixth year running, keeping its lead ever since the organisation Break Free From Plastic has carried out its audits. 

Greenpeace USA accused the company in 2021 of “playing a key role in driving the demand for plastic and therefore fossil fuels”. The Greenpeace report discussed the carbon intensity of PET plastic bottles and the failure of companies to reduce their use of PET or significantly increase the amount of recycled content used.

Coca-Cola’s environmental report has a detailed discussion about how it is reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. These plans, however weren’t considered credible when it came to its future emissions as it did not cover a significant proportion of the business’s activities in detail.

 

The Dark Side of a Soda Giant: 5 Coca-Cola Controversies Explained

Do you know the dark side of this soda behemoth?

Discover the controversies surrounding Coca-Cola, and learn the hidden environmental costs of its global dominance in this guide from utopia.org.

Including:

  • Plastic Pollution, Waste and Greenwashing
  • Water Depletion and Contamination in India
  • Manipulating Science
  • Coca-Cola’s Carbon Footprint: More than Just Fizzy Emissions
  • Anti-Union, Threats and Murder in Colombia: Lesser-Known Coca-Cola Controversies
  • Rethinking Consumerism During the Climate Crisis: How to Avoid Coca-Cola

Guidelines for the Conscious Consumer:

  • Shop Local: Support your community and reduce carbon footprints.
  • Shop Independent: Empower businesses that prioritize people and planet over profits.
  • Home-brewed Refreshments: Dabble in making your own drinks; it’s eco-friendly and personalized.
  • Embrace Reusables: Bid adieu to disposables and arm yourself with a trusty reusable water bottle.
  • Be Label-Savvy: Before adding to cart, ensure your beverage isn’t cloak under Coca-Cola’s vast umbrella.

Meanwhile the Boycott Bloody Insurance Campaign have published an Open Letter to Glastonbury Festival: Boycott Allianz

To the Organisers of Glastonbury Festival

Glastonbury Festival has a proud tradition of standing for justice, climate action, and international solidarity. As one of the world’s most celebrated cultural events, Glastonbury has long been a beacon for progressive values. Glastonbury raises the political consciousness of hundreds of thousands of people who attend the festival each year and engage with it online, highlighting the genocide in Gaza, exploitation of migrants, and calling for peace and justice. 

However, they raise serious concerns about the Festival’s connection to Allianz who provide insurance coverage for the event.

Allianz is the 6th largest insurer of fossil fuels globally, as well as a major backer of the weapons and border industries.

Will you please sign the Open Letter to Glastonbury Festival: Boycott Allianz

You can explore more of Veggies Campaigns. Link back to https://www.veggies.org.uk/campaigns/call-out-coke/

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