Coca-Cola Cans Exclusive Contracts

By Mark Walsh

The Coca-Cola Co. is taking some of the fizz out of its school marketing program.

The Atlanta-based soft drink giant announced last week that it will no longer require districts to sign exclusive beverage contracts that shut out the sale of competing brands on school premises.

Such contracts have proliferated in the past five years. Districts typically receive a cut of soft drink sales, sometimes in the millions of dollars, depending on the size of the school system and length of the contract. In exchange, the producers, particularly Coke, the Pepsi-Cola Co., and the Dr Pepper Co., gain exclusive access to schools for machine and fountain sales. ( "Schools Are Latest Front in Cola Wars," ...