A writer named Calley Means recounts an eye-opening lesson:

Early in my career, I consulted for Coke to ensure sugar taxes failed and soda was included in food stamp funding.

I say Coke’s policies are evil because I saw inside the room.

The first step in playbook was paying the NAACP + other civil rights groups to call opponents racist.

Coke gave millions to the NAACP and the Hispanic Federation – both directly and through front groups like the American Beverage Association.

This picked up in 2011-2013 – when the Farm Bill and soda taxes were under consideration.

The conversations inside these rooms was depressingly transactional:

“We (Coke) will give you money. You need to paint opponents of us as racist.”