It’s Pride Month, and for many of this nation’s heartless corporations, that means the season of shameless pandering and cash grabs. That’s why it’s so refreshing (just like a certain soft drink!) when a company takes the time to listen, to care, and to make a highly personalized, uniquely targeted shameless cash grab at someone who could really use it.
Paul Gorbman is an openly gay 17-year-old high school junior living in the less-than-progressive suburbs of Jacksonville, Florida. In a recent viral social media video, Paul laid out harrowing details of the harassment and bullying he’s received since coming out, both from his fellow students and even, Paul claims, some of the school’s faculty members. The video is a sobering reminder that some parts of this country still have a long way to go when it comes to accepting the LGBTQ+ community. Fortunately for Paul, his story did not fall on deaf ears.
When representatives of the Coca-Cola Company saw Paul’s tearful video, they sprang into action to let the victimized teen know his voice was being heard loud and clear. Just imagine the surprise and joy Paul must have felt when he woke up the next day to see his social media accounts bombarded with targeted ads reading “Nothing Goes Better With Being Gay Than The Refreshing Taste of Coca-Cola.”
We reached out to Paul to get his reaction to Coca-Cola’s charitable marketing, and he was every bit as ecstatic as you can imagine!
“Yeah, it was weird; my whole feed was just the same Coca-Cola ad over and over. I mean, I like Coke fine, I guess. Don’t really see the dot connect with being gay, to be honest. Do they mean like, after gay sex? Coca-Cola is terrible after sex. All that sugar and fizz? You mostly just want water, if anything, maybe a sports drink? Anyway, still facing a lot of harassment at school.”
According to Coca-Cola spokesperson Terry Minx, this is only the beginning.
“The gay thing was just the first test of this exciting new format. With AI, the possibilities are endless. As you know, Breast Cancer Awareness month is right around the corner, and we’re already hard at work on a special targeted ad for everyone on the internet who has breast cancer! I’m thinking something like ‘Nothing goes better with breast cancer than the taste of Coca-Cola,’ or maybe, ‘an ice-cold Coca-Cola?’ We’re still workshopping, but it’s all just part of our way of saying “Hey, drink our product.’
It’s easy to be cynical in 2026, but as long as there are selfless helpers like The Coca-Cola Company out there, we can all rest assured that no matter what challenges we face, we will always be told where to get our high fructose corn syrup from. And if you find all of this AI-targeted advertising dehumanizing, just remember, nothing goes better with crippling depression than the refreshing taste of Coca-Cola!
