While stumbling through the cultural artifact essay, I came across an article that made me change how I felt about the Coexist brand. While I still think that the bumper stickers aren’t any better than a cancer awareness ribbon, I did find that the company behind the stickers is doing some great work around the world.
Coexist began as submission by Piotr Młodożeniec in 2000 to an international art competition. The now CEO of the Coexist Foundation, Tarek Elgawhary, was living in Egypt during the emergence in popularity of the sticker. At first, he was turned off by it but eventually he looked past the crunchy exterior and the underlying message resonated with him.
Being the savvy entrepreneur that he was, he jumped on the opportunity and sought out Młodożeniec to buy the rights and licensing. Now, Elgawhary’s Coexist Foundation is a large, non-profit company that (between donations and purchases) have raised close to $30,000,000 for programs and started 33 projects in 9 countries for efforts including quality education, gender equality, youth empowerment, and economic opportunity.
The staple of the company is obviously the bumper stickers, but a lesser known product that they carry is coffee. The Coexist Foundation website boasts that purchases will not only go towards their efforts of unity, but also supports small farmers.
https://www.washingtonian.com/2015/01/25/theres-a-coffee-company-behind-those-coexist-bumper-stickers/