New Mexico landscape featured in Coca-Cola’s Olympics ad
Meet Jon. In an advertisement that’s been airing during the 2018 Olympics, CocaCola Co. introduces global viewers to an employee who goes to work in a canoe on a picturesque waterway. As Jon takes water samples and a narrator speaks about how the company offers more than its signature drink — organic tea, water and juice, for instance — the world gets a taste of New Mexico.
“We have Jon leading our efforts to replenish every drop of water we use,” the female narrator says.
By Jon, she means Jon Radtke, manager of Coca-Cola’s water sustainability program. Many of the clips showing Radtke at work feature various landscapes in New Mexico, where the company is investing in a water-preservation effort.
In partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, the company has been funding water conservation and watershed restoration projects nationwide since 2013. More than 100 projects are planned, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
From 2015-17, Coca-Cola gave $450,000 to the state chapter of Trout Unlimited for restoration of the Comanche Creek, which runs through the pristine Valle Vidal wilderness in Northern New Mexico’s Carson National Forest.
While many organizations have
been involved for years with the creek’s watershed, Trout Unlimited has managed and overseen the Coca-Colafunded restoration project.
Coca-Cola did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the project.
“It’s basically repairing legacy damages with actually some cheap and easy techniques,” said Toner Mitchell, the New Mexico water and habitat coordinator for Trout Unlimited, a national nonprofit that strives to restore coldwater fisheries.
Mitchell said Coca-Cola is very hands off and allows him and his contractors to manage the restoration funds as they see fit.
The return, calculated by Coca-Cola and provided to Mitchell, is an estimated 2 billion liters of water flowing back through the wetlands. As the efforts continue, he anticipates the company’s project funding to reach around $1 million by 2020.
Mitchell said he presumed the soft drink company chose the Comanche Creek project because it already had cleared a major legal hurdle — meeting requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.
Labeling the project a success story, Mitchell said Comanche Creek is a betterfunctioning watershed than before the effort began. He has been able to slow the water flow and decrease soil erosion to expand the wetland, he added.
“Paying attention to watersheds at this level is important,” Mitchell said. “Folks in the environmental world give a lot of focus to protect, but I don’t think there’s enough focus on restoration of landscapes in bad condition from damage sustained years ago.”
While he is unaware of any other projects funded by CocaCola in the state, Mitchell said he hopes the company’s success with Comanche Creek will propel new investments.
“We’re hoping to work with Coke on other landscapes in New Mexico,” he said. “It’s also providing a mindset that I hope will transfer to other areas of New Mexico.”