On January 6, Kate Irvin, Group Director of the Coca-Cola Washington, D.C. office, came to the embassy to express official apologies for the misunderstanding caused by the map, Ukrainian diplomats wrote on their official site, as Ukraine Today reported.
Irvin handed a letter to Ambassador of Ukraine H.E. Valeriy Chaly from Clyde C. Tuggle, Senior Vice President of The Coca-Cola Company, with apologies for the map. The letter said the social media post's content had been prepared by an independent agency without Coca-Cola's knowledge or approval, but stated that the beverage company assumes full responsibility.
The map, which was taken down once controversy erupted, prompted Ukrainians to call for a boycott of Coca-Cola; they were angered by the inclusion of Crimea, the Black Sea territory which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in March 2014 in a move which has not been internationally recognized.
