Sunday, November 22, 2009

COCA-COLA AND POLAR BEARS

By Debbie Bulloch



Christmas is just around the corner. That means that television advertisers will soon be filling the airwaves with commercials designed to get people into a “consumer mood.”

Most television Christmas advertisements are forgettable - many are simply plain bad. There is, however, one shining exception. The Coca-Cola Company produces some of the most imaginative Christmas ads. Their best commercials feature animated polar bears frolicking out on the ice, enjoying a cold Coke.

BH resident Leo Eppenberger recently gave me a cute, little Coca-Cola polar bear. The bear not only put a smile on my face, but it also reminded me of how cool the Coca-Cola commercials are.

So this morning, instead of the usual Sunday Comics, I bring you this collection of Coke and polar bear commercials.

Thank you Leo.

Enjoy!











If you enjoyed these commercials, and especially if you love and appreciate these majestic animals, here is something to think about.

Polar bears could be extinct by 2050 as their habitat melts away due to global warming. The loss of snow pack, thinning and disappearing sea ice all reduce essential habitat. Loss of sea ice leads to higher energy requirements to locate prey and a shortage of food.

Polar bear survival is entirely dependant on sea ice as a platform for hunting the marine mammals that provide their nutritional needs. Polar bears stalk the seals using their breathing holes in the ice, as the total ice diminishes it will vastly decrease successful hunts and their overall food source. Though polar bears are excellent swimmers they are not adept at catching seals in open water.

Female polar bears require soft deep snow for dens to keep their cubs insulated from the harsh weather, and sufficient fat reserves to survive denning after giving birth to their cubs. Seals, a primary source of prey for polar bears, also require icy habitat to breed and raise their young. Changing ice conditions have forced the seals to move and give birth in different areas, making them more difficult to find.

The polar bear is an iconic symbol of global warming, and among the first species to be so affected by it. More and more countries around the world, in particular those that incorporate Arctic landscape like the United States, Russia, Canada, and Greenland, are pledging to fight global warming in order to preserve the polar bear.

To find out what you can do to help polar bears, click here:

World Wildlife Fund

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Debbie

These commercials are very nice very cute ! funny ! i like it ! and the last one has a great message ! Together we can , together we can do it , we can catch the moon ! so you that is possible ! alone it is impossible but together , it is possible (hehehe) !
and thank you for this message about polar bears ! yes there is a danger for these bears and not only for them but we have to take care ! what we are doing all over the world is dangerous ! pollution, plants , cars and planes and a lot of things we do everyday allow the planet to get warmer and warmer ! we have to find ways to reduce that ! and that begins everyday by simples things ! Together we can do it but also with the help of our governments and industries

thank you deb
have a nice day

Anonymous said...

Hi Debsie,

Although the commercials are very nice indeed, they however distract you from the fact that cola is really really bad for you.

Regarding the polar bears (and other creatures roaming the icy north and south of our planet), they cannot be saved any more.

The warming of our planet is an unavoidable fact (and NO this is not because of us humans causing the so called global warming). This has in fact to do with completely different stuff which we can talk about later :-)

But rest assured their souls will not be lost they will simply re appear somewhere else perhaps even in a different form. xoxo Templar ;-)_

Debbie Bulloch said...

Dear Templar:

You comments are fine and well thought out. I do not disagree with you regarding the adverse effects of soda and cola. Soda drinks are bad for anyone’s health, too much sugar, to much sodium, too much phosphate – these are all things that are bad for one’s health. Of course, you can’t make a “Cuba libre” without Coke, but other than that I agree with you about cola.

These commercials are cute and for me, and many like me, they “herald” the beginning of the Christmas Season. And that is not a bad thing.

I do, however, disagree with you that polar bears (and other endangered species) are already doomed to extinction. They will be extinct if we do nothing to protect them. There are numerous success stories about species of animals brought back from the brink of extinction: the blue whale, the wolf, the bald eagle and, most recently, the brown pelican are all examples of what we can do when we focus are creative efforts to preserve a species. There are, however, many failures as well – and that makes me sad.

I do not know if animals have souls - I want to believe that they do. Every time that I look into the eyes of my big, furry dog, I can see a kind and loving soul staring right back at me. I do hope and pray that one day I shall be reunited with all the pets that I have loved and shared time with in this world.

Please keep reading (and commenting). I love it that you read the blog and that it makes you think.

XOXO :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi Debsie,

I was talking about animals on the north and south poles. I didn't say anything about other endangered species.

As the earth gets warmer (not due to "greenhouse effect"!) the poles get warmer. The animals living there will not be able to adapt to the new temperatures and will therefore disappear.

You can protect all you want, but you will not be able to save those animals except for when you build a big freezing dome or something to put them in.

When a habitat disappears...so (unfortunately) do the animals and plants that live there.

Don't get me wrong though, I am very sad about this too.

Grtz.
Templar