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Assuming the source was an aggregator that at worst would simply be reproducing Coca Cola's greenwashing PR was a less reliable source than Coca Cola's greenwas

Assuming the source was an aggregator that at worst would simply be reproducing Coca Cola's greenwashing PR was a less reliable source than Coca Cola's greenwashing PR would seem like a pretty bad heuristic... Granted, there are also conspiracy theory websites likely to be less reliable than Coca Cola about Coca Cola, and activist websites whose reliability on the subject of Coca Cola varies from considerably more to considerably less reliable than Coca Coca's own press team, but I don't see any particular reason why teens would assume Reuters was one of those, even if they didn't know what Reuters was. Particularly not if they were showed the article. Sure, there are other ways you can make it make sense like if you substituted "reliable source of Coca Cola's opinion" into the text. But the more obvious explanation is that a large minority of teenagers believe that the most trustworthy authority on anything about Coca Cola is The Coca Cola Company. Just like similarly large proportions believe that Google's sponsored ads are the most popular or relevant results or that something labelled "Commentary" isn't an opinion...

beezlebroxxxxxx 2y ago
> But the more obvious explanation is that a large minority of teenagers believe that the most trustworthy authority on anything about Coca Cola is The Coca Cola Company. This would track in the same way with how the very concept of "selling out" doesn't seem like a big thing for young people anymore. Working with any company for money, or parroting what they say, seems to be pretty popular. Influencer roles have made the wholesale commodification of ones life popular, even earnestly desired. That would seem to promote an atmosphere and general sense of going along with whatever a company says in the same way a lifelong employee might feel compelled to "toe the company line".

beezlebroxxxxxx 2y ago

> But the more obvious explanation is that a large minority of teenagers believe that the most trustworthy authority on anything about Coca Cola is The Coca Cola Company. This would track in the same way with how the very concept of "selling out" doesn't seem like a big thing for young people anymore. Working with any company for money, or parroting what they say, seems to be pretty popular. Influencer roles have made the wholesale commodification of ones life popular, even earnestly desired. That would seem to promote an atmosphere and general sense of going along with whatever a company says in the same way a lifelong employee might feel compelled to "toe the company line".