The Coca-Cola Company and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have become allies to protect the polar bear’s Arctic home. For the first time ever, Coca-Cola is turning its iconic red cans white in celebration of the polar bear and committing up to $3 million to WWF’s polar bear conservation efforts.
Beginning November 1, 2011, the familiar red can background will be replaced with an all-white panorama, highlighted by the iconic Coca-Cola script printed in red. The eye-catching cans will feature the image of a mother bear and her two cubs making their way across the Arctic. This holiday season, more than 1.4 billion white Coke cans will help raise awareness and funds to protect the polar bear’s home. White bottle caps also will be on bottles of Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Nestea, Minute Maid and more. 
White packaging will be on store shelves through February 2012. The Company is asking fans in the U.S. to join the “Arctic Home” campaign by texting donations. Anyone who wants to help the polar bears can text the package code to 357357 to donate $1 to WWF or make donations online at ArcticHome.com. Coca-Cola will match all donations made with a package code by March 15, 2012, up to a total of $1 million.
“Polar bears inspire the imagination. They’re massive, powerful, beautiful and they live nowhere else except the Arctic. Their lives are intimately bound up with sea ice, which is now melting at an alarming rate,” said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund, in a press statement. “By working with Coca-Cola, we can raise the profile of polar bears and what they’re facing, and most importantly, engage people to work with us, to help protect their home.”
WWF has a vision to help protect the polar bear’s Arctic home. This includes working with local residents to manage an area high in the Arctic where the summer sea ice will likely persist the longest. This area—potentially covering 500,000 square miles—could provide a home for the polar bear while protecting the cultural and economic needs of local people.
Coca-Cola and WWF also have partnered with Academy Award® nominated filmmakers MacGillivray Freeman Films, which is working with Warner Bros. Pictures and IMAX Corporation to co-produce the new IMAX® film To The Arctic 3D, scheduled for release in 2012. Coca-Cola’s “Arctic Home” television commercials and content on the website, ArcticHome.com, feature sneak preview footage from the film.
“Arctic Home” is another expression of Coca-Cola’s Live Positively philosophy, to make a positive difference in the world through sustainable business practices.
