In advance of this year’s World AIDS Day (December 1) and as a long-standing supporter of HIV/AIDS awareness and research, Coca-Cola is partnering with (RED) to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the groundbreaking film, Philadelphia, with a new documentary titled, The Last Mile.
Inspired by the progress made in HIV/AIDS since the 1993 release of Philadelphia, The Last Mile features cast members Tom Hanks, Mary Steenburgen and Denzel Washington along with writer, Ron Nyswaner, discussing director Jonathan Demme’s sensitive vision for the film.
The illustrious group also discusses how the film changed perceptions about HIV/AIDS from fear to compassion, from stigma to empathy.
“It’s hard for people now to realize how intense that moment in time was,’ Steenburgen says in the newly-released trailer. “There was a tremendous amount of fear and a lack of knowledge.”
“I remember the different scarred faces – people with scars on their faces. I remember the sadness,” says Washington.
“Going in and out of New York City, you ended up seeing it all over the place ― men were pushing other men around in wheelchairs,” adds Hanks, who would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his powerful performance of a Philadelphia lawyer diagnosed with AIDS.
Tom Hanks
The documentary short is produced by Coca-Cola as part of the beverage giant’s social initiative Project Last Mile, which works to improve availability of life-saving medications to more and more regions of Africa.
The film shares the work of dedicated healthcare workers in Africa who are changing the face of the AIDS epidemic.
“The strides, they’re extraordinary,” says Hanks of the work being done there. “But, there is still a massive amount of need for attention that something like the pandemic of AIDS is going to require.”
“We have come a long way,” adds Steenburgen. “I think it’s time to continue to be inspired.”
Health worker in Africa delivering HIV medications
In terms of progress, there are nearly 22 million people living with HIV who now have access to treatment. But in 2017, nearly 1 million people around the world died from AIDS – a disease that is both preventable and treatable.
The new documentary hopes to help empower those on the front lines of the epidemic by reinforcing continued awareness and support.
The Last Mile will be available on November 15 at red.org/cocacola.
The project was headed up by 14 LGBTQ advocacy organizations, led by the Human Rights Campaign and Out Leadership.
The coalition included: Athlete Ally, Freedom for All Americans, GLAAD, GLSEN, Lambda Legal, National Center for Transgender Equality, National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, National LGBTQ Task Force, Out & Equal, PFLAG National, The Trevor Project, Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF).
In the letter, the companies denounce the Trump administration’s treatment of trans people including the recently discovered plan to ‘redefine’ trans people out of existence.
We, the undersigned businesses, stand with the millions of people in America who identify as transgender, gender non-binary, or intersex, and call for all such people to be treated with the respect and dignity everyone deserves.
We oppose any administrative and legislative efforts to erase transgender protections through reinterpretation of existing laws and regulations. We also fundamentally oppose any policy or regulation that violates the privacy rights of those that identify as transgender, gender non-binary, or intersex.
In the last two decades, dozens of federal courts have affirmed the rights and identities of transgender people. Cognizant of growing medical and scientific consensus, courts have recognized that policies that force people into a binary gender definition determined by birth anatomy fail to reflect the complex realities of gender identity and human biology.
Recognizing that diversity and inclusion are good for business, and that discrimination imposes enormous productivity costs (and exerts undue burdens), hundreds of companies, including the undersigned, have continued to expand inclusion for transgender people across corporate America.
Currently more than 80 percent of the Fortune 500 have clear gender identity protections; two-thirds have transgender-inclusive healthcare coverage; hundreds have LGBTQ+ and Allies business resource groups and internal training efforts.
Transgender people are our beloved family members and friends, and our valued team members. What harms transgender people harms our companies.
We call for respect and transparency in policy-making, and for equality under the law for transgender people.
Accenture Adobe Systems Inc. Airbnb Altria Group Amalgamated Bank Amazon American Airlines Apple Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) Bank of America Merrill Lynch Ben & Jerry’s Homemade BNY Mellon Cargill Cisco Systems Inc. Citi Clifford Chance The Coca Cola Company Corning Incorporated Corteva Agriscience [™] , the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont The Dow Chemical Company Deutsche Bank E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company Facebook Fastly, Inc. Google Hogan Lovells International LLP HSBC IBM Corporation Intel Corporation Intuit Inc. Iron Mountain JPMorgan Chase & Co. Levi Strauss & Co. LinkedIn Lush Handmade Cosmetics Lyft Marriott International MassMutual MGM Resorts International Microsoft Corp. Nike, Inc. PepsiCo Replacements, Ltd. Ropes & Gray Royal Bank of Canada S&P Global Salesforce Sheppard Mullin Sodexo Inc. Splunk State Street Corporation TiVo Corporation Trillium Asset Management Twitter Inc. Uber Warby Parker
Swedish super-producer and DJ Avicii has teamed up with London born, Australia-raised singer Conrad Sewell for a new anthem for Coca-Cola.
Via press release:
The anthem is part of a brand new Coca-Cola ‘One Brand’ global marketing strategy that, for the first time ever, unites Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light/Diet Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, and Coca-Cola Life under the iconic Coca-Cola brand positioning in one global creative campaign, “Taste the Feeling”.
“Taste the Feeling” features the studio wizardry of Swedish DJ, artist and producer Avicii.
A first acoustic version by Sewell is being featured in various TV spots for the new campaign and the lead single with Avicii will be released soon.
Sewell, an Australian singer, currently living in Los Angeles, was featured in the Kygo’s breakout 2015 single “Firestone,” which produced 300 million Spotify streams and 3 million-plus worldwide sales. Conrad has also toured with a number of notable artists such as Ed Sheeran, Maroon 5 and more recently Jess Glynne.
Grammy-nominated Avicii is best known for his work with Aloe Blacc on “Wake Me Up,”feel-good theme “Levels” and dance anthem “Hey Brother.” Avicii also collaborated with Wyclef Jean and Carlos Santana to create the official FIFA 2014 World Cup Anthem, “Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way).” Avicii has appeared in the top 10 of DJ Mag’s ‘Top 100 DJ’s’ rankings every year since 2011, reaching number 3 in both 2011 and 2012.
Coca-Cola’s True Friendship campaign, which shows teens how not to be cruel at “crossroads moments,” teamed up with Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black on this short film about two teen besties and “that” moment.
From the official description:
In this eight-minute film, a group of teen boys joke and tease each other in the usual high school way about girls, video games and such-like.
Two of the boys are especially close buddies, but Rafael is hiding something from his friend Diego – he’s gay.
When he leaves his phone unattended, Diego reads a text that surprises him.
His decision to cover for his friend, and accept him for who he is, is what cements this true friendship. And, as Rafael points out, gay guys know all the pretty girls.
I have to say: well done. The “moment” has it’s tension and the background is laid beautifully. The rhythms of the dialogue feel like those high-school friends we probably still have in our lives today.
Today, if you put yourself out there in the big, wide world, it’s very possible you’re going to encounter some trolls and haters. Folks who, because they feel safe in their parents basement behind a computer screen, think they have a right to comment, crucify and bring you down.
Michael Sam has experienced firsthand how the Internet has grown increasingly negative.
Watch as Sam teams up with Coca-Cola to channel negativity into positivity and provides great advice for how to #MakeItHappy.
Tune in to the 2015 Big Game to watch Coca-Cola’s commercial. More positive messages from Coke partners here.
Can I get an amen for Atlanta-based NBC 11’s Brenda Wood?
After the “outrage” of some xenophobes who were offended that Coca-Cola would produce a commercial that featured “America the Beautiful” sung in different languages and included (gasp!) a brief glimpse of a gay couple with their daughter, Brenda Woods addresses the issue head on.
Here’s just an excerpt of her “Last Word” on the subject:
“The fact that people are outraged over this ad is outrageous itself. People indignant that others have the audacity to sing “America the Beautiful” in a language other than English, when America was built on opening our arms to the world?
“The quote on the Statue of Liberty doesn’t say “Give me your English-speaking only Christian believing heterosexual masses!” It says “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, tempest tossed!”
“Have we forgotten that every one of us “Americans,” except for Native Americans, are descendants of foreigners? That the English language is from England?
“What makes America difference from everywhere else is that we are melting pot! We are not homogenous! It is our diversity that built this country! How dare there be indignation over the very thing that makes is great?
“And why not honor the beauty of that in song? What is so sacrosanct about this song that it can’t be sang in other languages? By other ethnicities? By those of diverse religions and other lifestyles? A relevant question, considering that the words of America the Beautiful what penned by a gay woman! Katharine Lee Bates, in 1895, an English professor at Wellesley, who also wrote lovingly about her long time committed relationship to another woman!
“America the Beautiful, by any other language, is still America beautiful!”
With a multi-lingual version of “America the Beautiful,” Coca-cola tried to quell some of the angst fans are feeling over the soda maker’s support of the upcoming Sochi Olympics while not objecting to violence and anti-gay laws in Russia.
Included in the diversity was a brief moment with a gay couple.
