Coca-Cola personalised labels go wrong as users write offensive slogans

Phrases such as ‘gay pride’ were blocked, but homophobic phrases appeared to be allowed by company’s custom label maker

Coca-Cola’s make-your-own label promotion has backfired after social media users discovered they could create offensive terms for the bottles.

Coca-Cola’s ongoing customisation promotion allows customers in the US to create a label with a personalised message on a glass Coke bottle.

The company’s customisable system does block some words and phrases, such as slurs and trademarks. But people quickly discovered the restrictions were far from comprehensive and took to Twitter to share their findings.

The phrase “Black Lives Matter” is blocked, but “White Lives Matter” did not provoke an error message from Coke’s system.

In addition, despite the company rolling out a special rainbow label in honour of Pride month, the phrase “Gay Pride” was blocked.

However, it appeared that customers can write “I hate gays”, “Anti LGBT” and “I’m homophobic” on the bottle labels.

According to one Twitter user, the word “Palestine” was also blocked from being put on a custom label. However, they noticed that adding a full stop at the end of the word appeared to unblock it.

As part of research for this article, The Independent tried the personalisation tool and can confirm that adding a full stop to the end of the word “Palestine” – which was initially blocked – does appear on the customised label within the system. The term “gay pride” is also still blocked, as is “Black Lives Matter”.

When inputting words or phrases that were blocked, The Independent received a message that said: “Oops! Looks like the name you requested is not an approved one. Names may not be approved if they’re potentially offensive to other people, trademarked, or celebrity names.

“We’ve worked hard to get this list right, but sometimes we mess up. If you think this is an error, please contact our Customer Care team. Otherwise, please try again, keep it fun and in the spirit of sharing!”

A spokesperson for Coca-Cola told CNN Business: “We’re continuously refining and improving our Share A Coke personalisation tool to ensure it is used only for its intended purpose.

“Words or phrases that have appeared in the preview mode of the tool may not necessarily be approved, but are rather words we have not previously assessed.

“Actual bottles are not made with words that are inconsistent with the program’s intent. We have clarified in the tool’s preview mode that proposed language may require further review.”

The Independent has contacted Coca-Cola for further comment.