PR disaster for drinks company as 'help me' messages found on bottle caps
A drinks company is dealing with a public relations nightmare after apparent cries for help from slave labourers turned up on their bottle caps.
Customers of SoBe, a company which makes zero-calorie flavoured water drinks, started posting photographs of the bottle caps, which read: "Help me trapped in SoBe factory".
The messages appear on the underside of the bottle cap, where batch numbers and similar information is often displayed on other soft drinks.
The company, however, said it often prints messages on its bottle caps, usually as jokes or offbeat phrases.
Users have been posting photos of the bottle cap to the company's Facebook page throughout the month of June. The company has been replying to those who ask what's behind it with a short statement.
"These sayings are intended to give our consumers a little smile or pause for thought, not offence, while they enjoy their favourite SoBe beverage," the company wrote.
"We are planning on removing this cap slogan from our current rotation, however, it will take a while for existing stock to run through the market."
But with working conditions in some countries a source of constant concern for ethically-conscious consumers, the "joke" is thought by many to be in poor taste.
