The brand has purchased a series of prominent advertising spaces with Portuguese media in which it highlights the discriminatory nature of the tax, while reminding readers of its continued efforts to reduce sugar content.
European Partners Portugal, which operates the Refrige factory in Azeitão just south of Lisbon, said it had already set expansion plans in motion which would have seen the unit increase its floor space by around 28,000 square metres.
The renovation was expected to generate monetary investment in the region of 40 million euros.
However, the company has now put this move on ice due to a government tax which will see just under half of the money paid by consumers for a can of Coke revert to the state’s coffers.
The factory currently produces cans and bottles totalling around 800,000 litres a day or 192 million a year.
Coca-Cola Portugal Director Andrés Curbelo said that the company is still hoping that the government reconsiders its move to tax fizzy drinks that are said to contain excessive amounts of sugar.
Just over 70 percent of the production at the Azeitão factory is for domestic consumption, while Coca-Cola accounts for a third of all fizzy drinks sold in Portugal.
In the meantime, the company has invested heavily in bringing its “plight” to the public’s attention.
In full page advertisements taken out this week in daily newspapers, Coca-Cola asks readers; “Do you know the tax on soft drinks is being increased by up to 48 percent?”
The company also explains that it has worked on developing new formulas to reduce or even eliminate the consumption of sugar in its beverages.
In a statement, Coca-Cola also queries why soft drink companies have been specifically targeted by the government to battle obesity and to rake in an additional 80 million euros from the tax.
“Obesity cannot be tackled through a restrictive approach that is punitive and discriminatory and affects only one category when there are others which equally contain calories and are left out”, the company complains.
It also challenges the decision by the government to tax its Zero and Light products which do not contain sugar.
Nonetheless, Coca-Cola Portugal’s attempts to force a change of heart in Lisbon do not appear to have run out of gas: “We reinforce our availability to work with the government on the creation of an effective policy to combat obesity, simultaneously safeguarding the legitimate interest of collaborators and industry partners alongside the need to increase revenue from taxes.”