Coca-Cola is facing renewed criticism over its custom-can screening system after multiple users recorded tests showing phrases such as “Jesus is King” and “Christ is King” being rejected while references to Allah, Satan and derogatory statements about Jesus initially advanced to the preview stage.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Coca-Cola is facing boycott calls and accusations of inconsistent religious filtering after several social-media users recorded the company’s online can-personalization tool accepting some references to Allah and Satan while rejecting a series of Christian phrases, including “Jesus is King,” “Jesus is good” and “Christ is King.” The demonstrations do not establish why individual phrases were treated differently by the automated system, but the videos prompted users to question whether Coca-Cola’s stated policy against religious wording was being applied uniformly.
Conservative commentator Isabel Brown recorded one of the tests after she said a friend alerted her to the issue. Brown entered a series of religious phrases into Coca-Cola’s customizer while filming the results. According to the recording, “Allah is good,” “Muhammad is good” and “Satan is good” proceeded to a can preview, while “Jesus is good” produced an immediate message stating, “The name or phrase you’ve submitted is not permitted.” The same rejection appeared when she tried “Virgin Mary,” “Jesus Christ,” “Holy Trinity,” “Holy Spirit,” “Jesus is God” and “Christ is King.”
Brown’s test produced other apparent inconsistencies. “Jesus is King” was blocked while “The devil is king” advanced. “Yahweh is good” was accepted, as were “Jesus is bad,” “Jesus is evil” and “Jesus is the devil.” Switching back to favorable Christian declarations again generated the rejection notice. After seeing “Jesus is the devil” accepted while the positive references were blocked, Brown asked, “What are we doing?”
Coca-Cola’s message accompanying rejected submissions stated: “The name or phrase you’ve submitted is not permitted. Names and phrases may not be permitted if they belong to a business, organization, celebrity, public figure, school, team or other trademark, are religious or political in nature, or could be considered inappropriate or unsuitable for other reasons.
“We worked hard to get this right but if you think we should reconsider your suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and we will review this system decision further.”
A separate video circulated on X as the controversy spread online. Users responding to Brown’s demonstration said they had tried the tool themselves and encountered similar results. One commenter wrote, “I tried it for myself. It was 100% true. You can put I hate God on the can, but you can’t put I love God.” Another claimed the filter also treated racial or ethnic pride phrases differently, writing, “It will let you put Black Pride, Brown Pride, Asian Pride, Hispanic Pride, Latin/Latino Pride, etc… ANY ethnic or color pride you want, EXCEPT White Pride. It will not let you put White Pride on there.”
That allegation was also highlighted in another X post, adding to calls for Coca-Cola to explain how its moderation system determines which terms are permitted.
Social-media influencer Ryan Haff, who regularly posts about food and health, conducted another test from Coca-Cola’s website and said he intentionally recorded it live to address claims that demonstrations of the issue could have been edited. Haff entered “Allah Is King,” which appeared on the can preview without an immediate rejection, and then “Satan Is King,” which also advanced. When he changed the wording to “Jesus Is King,” however, the tool rejected the phrase while the previous Satan message remained visible in the preview.
“Coca-Cola, I’m gonna need an explanation for this. All right, we’re gonna do this one live because I don’t want to see any comments that, ‘Oh, this is a conspiracy theory.’ … The first entry we’re going to try is ‘Allah Is King.’ No issues with that—you can see it on the Coke can. … Let’s even try ‘Satan Is King.’ Zero issues with Satan. Now let’s try ‘Jesus Is King.’ Now that’s where there’s issues. … Immediately rejects ‘Jesus Is King.’ Gonna need an explanation on this one,” Haff said.
His demonstration was subsequently shared on X as users continued testing the website. By the time of the report, “Allah is King” and “Satan is King” were no longer being accepted. Other phrases, however, were reportedly still producing uneven results: “Allah Lives,” “Satan Lives” and “Pedophile Pride” were allowed, while “White Pride,” “Jesus Lives” and other Christian wording continued to be rejected.
The controversy resembles an earlier dispute over Coca-Cola’s customization filters in 2024. At that time, similar accusations of anti-Christian discrimination and calls for a boycott circulated online, but the company said its restrictions applied to religious terminology generally. Reuters reported on that dispute and quoted Coca-Cola as saying the tool “does not approve names or phrases that are religious in nature or are for political candidates, trademarks, or celebrities.”
Coca-Cola also denied at the time that it had altered its system to begin rejecting “Allah” only after complaints went viral. The company told Reuters that the religious names and phrases cited in the controversy had already been among submissions the system was programmed to deny. Reuters concluded in its 2024 fact check: “False. Coca-Cola’s online tool for customizing cans does not allow customers to use religious names, including ‘Jesus’ and ‘Allah.’”
The latest recordings have revived the dispute because users documented different outcomes for phrases entered into the current version of the tool, including favorable, unfavorable and neutral references to religious figures. Coca-Cola’s own rejection notice says religious wording may be prohibited, but the examples recorded by Brown, Haff and other users prompted fresh demands for an explanation of why some religious and provocative phrases reached a personalized-can preview while others were immediately blocked.
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