President-elect Donald Trump was gifted a personalized bottle of Diet Coke by the top executive at Coca-Cola just four years after the soft drink giant criticized the Capitol Hill rioting on Jan. 6, 2021.
Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey presented Trump with a bottle that replaces the traditional Diet Coke logo with a label showing an image of the White House and text that says: “The Inauguration of the President of the United States.”
Trump, who famously had a button installed on his Oval Office desk to summon a fresh can during his first term, is seen grinning from ear to ear in a photo with Quincey that was posted on X.
A gift box next to the bottle in the photo contains a note which reads: “Founded 126 years ago in Atlanta, Georgia, The Coca-Cola Company takes great pride in producing hundreds of brands that people enjoy.”
“Along with our 60+ independent bottling partners, the Coca-Cola system generates $58+ billion in U.S. economic activity annually and supports more than 860,000 jobs in the United States,” the note reads.
The gesture from Coca-Cola marks an apparent shift in relations between the former president and the company.
In the aftermath of the 2021 rioting at the US Capitol, Coca-Cola condemned the events, calling them “an offense to the ideals of American democracy” and expressing confidence in the peaceful transfer of power.
In 2021, Trump had called for a boycott of Coca-Cola and other companies opposing reforms in Georgia’s voting laws that were signed by the state’s Republican governor.
Coca-Cola is the latest American corporate brand whose executives have sought to make nice with Trump ahead of his second term in office.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has personally met with Trump twice at his Mar-a-Lago estate since his Nov. 5 election victory.
Zuckerberg, who has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, announced that Meta would do away with its censorship and content moderation policies.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has also given a $1 million contribution to the inaugural fund and has made the trek to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
