Calls to Boycott Coke for False Claim its Custom Can Tool Favors Harris
PLUS: No, Vance Didn’t Rent His Dog; Walz’s Phantom Teleprompter
Welcome to Reality Check, your inside look at how misinformation online is undermining trust — and who’s behind it.
Today:
Trump supporters call for Coca-Cola boycott over false claims that its can customization tool favors Harris
Barking up the wrong tree: Liberals take Vance’s “rent-a-dog” comment out of context
Teleprompter? High-tech contact lenses? Conservatives falsely claim Walz cheated during debate
And more…
Today’s newsletter was edited by Jack Brewster, Eric Effron, and Sofia Rubinson.
1. Coca-Cola Faces Boycott After False Claims of Pro-Harris Can Customization

What happened: Coca-Cola’s new can customization tool has sparked boycott calls from pro-Trump social media users, who falsely claim the tool allows pro-Harris slogans, such as “Harris 2024,” but blocks similar pro-Trump phrases, such as “Trump 2024.”
Context: The new tool, available since June on the official Coca-Cola store website, allows customers to order a personalized Coke can that includes a word or short phrase of their choice under the company’s logo.
A closer look: False claims about the tool appear to have originated in a Sept. 25, 2024, X post by the pro-Trump account @jackunheard.
“BREAKING: The Coca Cola boycott is officially happening. Their new custom website allows the use of ‘Harris 2024’ but prohibits ‘Trump 2024’ due to it being deemed ‘political in nature’ or ‘offensive.’ This is election interference.” The post received 4.2 million views in two days.
Actually: A NewsGuard test of the customization tool on Sept. 25, 2024, found that both partisan phrases were prohibited.
When a NewsGuard analyst entered “Trump 2024” and “Harris 2024” into Coca-Cola’s tool, the site returned error messages stating that neither term was “approved.”
Both error messages stated that the tool did not allow phrases that were “trademarked, political in nature, names of countries, celebrities, religious figures, or anything that could be considered offensive for other reasons.”
How it spread: Since @jackunheard’s post, multiple pro-Trump accounts have amplified the false narrative, selectively including a screenshot of the error message when users try the phrase “Trump 2024” without showing the same result for “Harris 2024.”
For example, a Sept. 25, 2024, post by pro-Trump X user @CubanOnlyTrump stated, “[Coca-Cola’s] new custom website allows the use of ‘Harris 2024’ but prohibits ‘Trump 2024’ due to it being deemed ‘political in nature’ or ‘offensive.’” The post, which featured the hashtag “#Boycottcocacola,” received 173,800 views and 1,200 likes as of Sept. 26, 2024.
In response to an email from NewsGuard, Coca-Cola confirmed that its customization tool “does not approve names or phrases that are religious in nature or are for political candidates, trademarks or celebrities.”
The false narrative and its accompanying boycott call did not appear to have an impact on Coca-Cola or its stock. A Coca-Cola spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email from NewsGuard requesting comment on how the boycott call impacted the company.
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2. Liberals Use Misleading Clip of J.D. Vance for False “Rent-a-Dog” Claim

What happened: A viral video clip circulating on social media claims that Republican vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance admitted to renting his dog, Atlas, to appeal to dog-lovers.
A closer look: The claim that Vance rented his dog is based on misleading editing of a Sept. 18, 2024, interview Vance gave to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
At the beginning of the interview, Carlson asked Vance about his dog, Atlas, who was walking around the room as the two talked.
In the clip, Vance sarcastically says, “I found out on the Internet that he’s actually a rent-a-dog that was given to me by the [Trump] campaign.”
Actually: In the full interview, it’s clear Vance was joking.
After his initial sarcastic remark, Vance went on to laugh and explain that Atlas has been part of his family since he was a puppy.
The Vance family got Atlas in January 2024, a Vance spokesperson told PolitiFact (NewsGuard Trust Score: 100/100). That was six months before Vance was chosen as Donald Trump’s running mate.
However, liberal groups and social media users shared only the first portion of the video, leaving out Vance’s later indication that he was joking.
For example, the political action committee Liberal Muckrakers posted the edited video on X, stating: “HOLY CRAP: How weird is it #1: @JDVance has a ‘rent-a-dog’…and the dog is to ‘make me seem like I’m a dog fan…’” The post gained nearly 1 million views and thousands of reposts as of Oct. 2, 2024.
Similarly, a user on Reddit posted, “JD Vance is so weird he rents a dog.” A ShowBiz411 article stated: “Maybe Vance is kidding. But it seems true, strangely.”
If you need proof: An image of Vance and his dog at the U.S. Capitol given to USA Today (Trust Score: 100/100) by Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder was taken in January 2024, according to the image’s embedded metadata information analyzed by the newspaper.
Click here to find out more about NewsGuard Trust Scores and our process for rating websites. You can download NewsGuard’s browser extension, which displays NewsGuard Trust Score icons next to links on search engines, social media feeds, and other platforms by clicking here.
3. One more thing … Conservatives Baselessly Claim Walz Had Teleprompter Help During Debate

What happened: Just minutes into Tuesday's vice-presidential debate, conservative social media users began baselessly claiming that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was using a teleprompter to read his responses.
A closer look: “Walz dodged the first question. Seems like his answer is off a teleprompter,” stated an Oct. 1, 2024, X post with 1,700 views by user @AustinSilverFX, who typically publishes content about online trading.
“Walz is reading from a prompter #VPDebate2024,” stated an Oct. 1, 2024, X post by pro-Trump user @Madam_Constance, which was shared 15 minutes after the debate started. The post garnered 900 views within 10 minutes.
There were 200 online mentions of “Walz” and “teleprompter,” primarily on X, in the first 12 hours after the debate, according to a social media analysis tool used by NewsGuard.
Actually: The claim is baseless. NewsGuard reviewed high-resolution still images from both the debate stage and from behind the scenes, confirming that no teleprompters were present in the CBS News (NewsGuard Trust Score: 90/100) studio in New York where the debate took place.
Both candidates were prohibited from having props or pre-written notes on the stage, according to official debate rules. They were provided a pen, notepad, and water bottle.
Bionic assistance? Some users went further, claiming that Walz used high-tech contact lenses to view a teleprompter, allowing him to read responses without others noticing.
“Waltz is reading text on contact lens. It’s so obvious. Staring forward probably using certain background to make it easier. This technology was used by biden in 2020 debates. Lots of staring blinking,” stated a since-deleted Oct. 1, 2024, X post by user @Hoorayoil, who has frequently criticized Democrats.
Maybe someday: Although one company, start-up micro-technology company Mojo Vision, has been developing smart contact lenses that can display text and some images, these types of lenses have not made it to market.
The company stopped working on the lenses while they were still a prototype in January 2023, according to a press release published on the website.
Flashback: During the first presidential debate on Sept. 10, 2024, conservative social media users similarly claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris had lines fed to her through an earpiece disguised as an earring. In fact, it was just an earring.
Following the Sept. 29, 2020, presidential debate, conservative accounts baselessly claimed that President Joe Biden wore a wire. In fact, the supposed “wire” was just a crease in Biden’s shirt.
The Harris-Walz campaign declined to comment. CBS News and Walz’s office did not immediately respond to NewsGuard’s inquiries.
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