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 [sic] depressingly transactional:

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