Coca-Cola cast the blame for its “be less white” diversity training materials on Linkedin.
Coca-Cola faced massive public backlash to its diversity training course that encourages Coca-Cola employees to “try to be less white.”
On Friday, an activist shared slideshow images in a YouTube video from the company’s online anti-racism training. The slides included tips to Caucasian employees on how to be “less white, less arrogant, less certain, less defensive, less ignorant and more humble.”
“[W]hite people are socialized to feel that they are inherently superior because they are white,” one of the slides read. “Research shows that by age 3 to 4, children understand that it is better to be white.”
A spokesperson for the soft drink company confirmed the course is “part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace,” according to MSNBC.
The spokesperson noted that “the video circulating on social media is from a publicly available LinkedIn Learning series and is not a focus of our company’s curriculum.”
Conservative activist Candace Owens was among the outraged Twitter users who lashed out at Coca-Cola.
“If a corporate company sent around a training kit instructing black people how to ‘be less black’, the world would implode and lawsuits would follow,” she tweeted. “I genuinely hope these employees sue @CocaCola for blatant racism and discrimination.”
Another Twitter user wrote: “Try to be less black. Try to be less Asian. Try to be less Indigenous. Can we say that? No? Then why can Coca Cola tell their staff to be less white?”
