...I hope the irony of being burned by a grass-roots movement for creating a false grass roots movement is not lost on Coke"

AdNews - Editor's Comment - 'Choking on Coke'

"To marketers it no doubt all seems a little harsh on the side of the detractors, but as I have said before in this space, the new comms tools are in the hands of the consumers, if you want to play with them you need to do so cautiously or it could backfire in a massive way."

B & T Blog - Zero plus zero is still zero

"If Coke’s attempt at reclaiming its intergenerational cool standard has failed, then it’s become the soft-drink equivalent of that try-hard teacher we all had in school. You know, the one who let you use their Christian name out of hours and name-dropped bands that were five years out of date."
The Bulletin - Less than Zero

Sunrise Host (Mel): Is [Coke's zero movement campaign] the marketing of the future and does it work?
Media expert (Jane Caro): I think it smacks of desparation just a tiny little bit... ads are losing their traction. Particuarly not very good ads...
Seven Sunrise - Responsible advertising?

"Although the goal was to tease the market and create some buzz among the web-savvy "neos" in the twenty something age-bracket, the blogging community has issued its own verdict.

Those searching out blogger commentary on the zero movement are likely to find posts along the lines of: "How many ad agencies does it take to patronise a demographic?"
The Sydney Morning Herald - Coke gets a zero for effort

"Tim Longhurst, who set up the anti-Zero site www.thezeromovement.org, said Coca-Cola Australia was guilty of misleading the very market it aimed to capture.

"Presumably someone who has only recently chopped off their ponytail has decided it would be a good idea," Mr Longhurst said.
The Courier-Mail - Web stunt sends Coke from hero to zero

"..."Why don't nights out come with zero morning afters?" asked a white footpath stencil.

Yes, why don't they, we wondered. Then: Hang on, why hasn't this washed off? So we called Coca-Cola, where Cokesperson Sarah Kelly said the company began its now ubiquitous Zero campaign in December with 150 "teaser" stencils. They were done with "spray-on chalk" that lasts up to three months.

We asked Leichhardt Council if they knew about it; they didn't. They're now issuing a seven-day, $320 clean-up order against Coke, said ranger Steve Blaydon.

"We don't know what it is that is going down the drain [when it washes away]," he explained. "Unless it's rainwater, it's a pollutant really and they shouldn't be doing it. "
Stay in Touch - Sydney Morning Herald

"Has coke overstepped the mark with its invasion of the online community? Judging by the various examples above, I'd say yes. Is this the type of response Coke was looking for? I'm not entirely sure it would be."
BannerBlog - Coke Zero backlash mounting online

"Perhaps Coke could be forgiven if the blog was actually interesting, but at best, it's just condescending"

"If a company doesn't understand the inner machinations of the blog world, than it appears about as hip and relevant as an old man in golf pants hanging out near the punch bowl at a junior prom."

Adjab - Coke blog is a zero and Why fake blogs are lame

"A clandestine element of the campaign urging men to consume Coke Zero is a weblog, with no mention of Coke's involvement, named The Zero Movement on which a guy rants about why life is so full of stuff to do and how it would be so much nicer if there was, well, zero to do. It's written in typical character blog prose, devoid of personality and full of whiny banter which comes off like it's a product of a creative brief. There's even fake, supportive comments to go along with it."

i-wisdom - How a fake blog can become real suicide

"If breaking the first rule of marketing — don’t hoodwink your target market — is not bad enough, Coke apparently sees no inclination of coming clean. The Zero Movement blog today has big banners screaming Coke Zero has arrived, acting as if there was no deception. The problem is we don’t even know if Coke meant for this blog to be edgy, or rebellious, or whatever. We just know there are jaded bloggers who feel they’ve been lied to. Not a very wise way to start off a marketing campaign, particularly for a product that has a long way to go to convince consumers. Where else have you been distorting the facts?"
Blogging4Business - Coke's fake blog draws genuine ire

"In creating The Zero Movement, Coke has lied, misled and misrepresented. Some would call this reprehensible and irresponsible. We'll just call it stupid..."

Adrants - Coke Lies, Misleads With Fake 'Zero' Blog

Coke Zero is nieuw. Geheel passende in de trend dat grote merken steeds vaker weblogs gebruiken is ter introductie hiervan een blog gemaakt . Het blog heeft veel opschudding veroorzaakt, de afzender was niet duidelijk, startdatum klopte niet, en ook inhoudelijk is het niet sterk. Er is zelfs een ontmaskerende tegensite gemaakt. Al met al voorbeeld van hoe het niet moet.
Brandactivation (Netherlands) - Coca Cola The Zero Moment

Blogers οι οποίοι μόνο με καλό μάτι δεν είδαν την ένταξη στις προωθητικές ενέργειες της εταιρείας ενός web site με την ονομασία Zero Movement το οποίο θυμίζει -έως και είναι- ένα blog. Η αντίδραση ήταν άμεση καθώς εκτός από τον κατακλυσμό των μεγάλων fora (Yahoo κλπ) με μηνύματα, υπήρξε και η κατοχύρωση του ίδιου domain name αλλά με κατάληξη org αλλά και αρκετές ακόμα ενέργειες οι οποίες καλύπτονται σε σχετικά ρεπορτάζ τόσο στο Bandit όσο και στο iWisdom αλλά και σε πολλά ακόμα σημεία στο Δίκτυο.
Netsphere (Greece) - Coke zero vs Bloggers

 

En inderdaad, consumenten zijn de Coke-boodschap gaan verspreiden. Er is nu een andere Zero Movement op de .org-versie van het domein. Het motto: "[Coke Zero] is a bunch of advertising wankers pretending to be a grass-roots movement". De alternatieve site staat zelfs in Wikipedia onder de term Coke Zero.

Frislicht - Coke Zero verslikt zich in weblog 

"There is plenty of dishonesty and misinformation on the internet, but projects like wikipedia show that the vast majority of the internet's citizens operate with honesty and integrity. Coke's dishonest decision to make up dates for posts and imply their site had been running for six months longer than it really had puts them in that special group of scammers and spammers that bring down the quality of the internet."
Tim Longhurst - Consumers - 1, Coke - zero