Coca-Cola Advertisement Works

In a recent radio advertisement from Coke, a man calls a Coca-Cola secretary asking for the recipe to a new Coke product. She denies his request: "I don't have that information, and even if I did, I could not release it to you." Most people would agree that this guy is an idiot for asking such a question. Yet, real life reflects a different line as appropriate for the secretary: "Hold on for just one moment while I get that for you."

Three people were charged with stealing Coke secrets. They were caught after trying to sell Coke recipes to Pepsi. Instead of purchasing the documents, Pepsi executives sent a copy of the offer to Coca-Cola, who alerted the FBI. "Atlanta-based Coke thanked Pepsi for its assistance."

"The suspects arrested Wednesday — the day a $1.5 million transaction was to occur — include a Coke executive’s administrative assistant, Joya Williams, who is accused of rifling through corporate files and stuffing documents and a new Coca-Cola product into a personal bag. [She was caught on surveillance video.]

"Williams, 41, of Norcross, Ga., and 30-year-old Ibrahim Dimson of New York and 43-year-old Edmund Duhaney of Decatur, Ga., were charged with wire fraud and unlawfully stealing and selling Coke trade secrets, federal prosecutors said."

"On June 27, an undercover FBI agent offered to buy...trade secret items for $1.5 million from “Dirk.” The same day a bank account was opened under the names of Duhaney and Dimson, and the address used on the account was that of Duhaney’s residence, prosecutors said."

What a bunch of idiots!