After four messages seeking PepsiCo’s comment on the commencement speech of president and chief financial officer Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo vice president of consumer relations Christine Jones has written Major E.:
Thanks for your e-mail.
Please know that PepsiCo obviously agrees with Ms. Nooyi’s efforts to explain her comments as well as the public apology she issued as soon as she realized that some people were offended and angered by her remarks. Since that time, we have been advising anyone who contacts us of both those facts, and posted the same information on PepsiCo’s website.
PepsiCo is an American-born and raised enterprise – a company that has, for more than a century, done business with brand-names that speak “America” all over the world. Clearly PepsiCo does not now, nor have we ever, considered the U.S. as disrespectful towards the rest of world.
This has been a very unfortunate and difficult situation for everyone involved, and I am grateful for the opportunity to clarify things for you.
Thanks again for your interest.
And please know you remain in our thoughts and prayers, and please take care.
All the best,
Chris
Major E. has responded:
Dear Chris, Thank you for your response.
If Pepsico feels that the US is not, and has never been, disrespecful
toward the rest of the world, why does Pepsico accept Ms. Nooyi’s
explanation that she made a “thoughtless gesture or comment”?
Again, she made her point through an extended metaphor that defined a
prepared speech at a high-profile event with media present–at a location none other than Madison Square Garden.
If you can specifically answer that, I look forward to a response. If
not, I respectfully request that this message be forwarded to the Board of Directors in order to seek their response.
Sincerely,
Major E.
UPDATE: Charmaine Yoest asks: “But where’s the bling?” Reader Ben Philip writes:
Thank you for your recent postings on Pepsico
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