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You know how Pepsi isn’t as good as Coke, and no way is Diet Pepsi even comparable to Diet Coke? It no longer matters. Thanks to the just-announced boycott by the American Family Association, I’ll be drinking nothing but Pepsi from now on. As an “AFA Alert” email informed me yesterday (bolds are mine):

Dear David,

Pepsi has produced another TV ad not only promoting Pepsi but also promoting the gay lifestyle. Click here to see the ad.

Pepsi had released a similar ad before. The ads serve two purposes for Pepsi: to sell Pepsi and to promote the homosexual lifestyle. AFA asked Pepsi to remain neutral in the culture war, but the company refused – choosing to support the homosexual activists.

Pepsi has made no effort to hide their support for the homosexual agenda:

Pepsi gave a total of $1,000,000 to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) to promote the homosexual lifestyle in the workplace.

Both HRC and PFLAG supported efforts in California to defeat Proposition 8 which defined marriage as being between a man and a woman. HRC, which received $500,000 from Pepsi, gave $2.3 million to defeat Proposition 8.

Pepsi forces employees to attend sexual orientation and gender diversity training where the employees are taught to accept homosexuality.

Pepsi is a member of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Take Action!

Hurrah for Pepsi.

David Schmader—former weed columnist and Stranger associate editor—is the author of the solo plays Straight and Letter to Axl, which he’s performed in Seattle and across the US. His latest...

58 replies on “Have a Pepsi!”

  9. Is Coke bad on these issues? If not, I’m not leaving it. Pepsi being good is fantastic, but that doesn’t equate to a reason to effectively boycotting Coke, which I couldn’t do even if they had their own slave trade going on. I loves me some Coke.

  12. Pepsi is also rolling out HCFS-free (and sugar-tastic) Pepsi and Mountain Dew soon. As we all know, HCFS is queer suppressant, so this is just another step in Pepsi’s push for everyone to become a gay.

  13. Pepsi owns Pizza Hut.

    Which is weird, because Yum Brand Foods (the company that controls Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell) was listed as one of the anti-gay companies on the Gainesville FL anti-discrimination website. Hum.

  20. Isn’t this the superbowl ad? From like a month ago or whenever that was?

    And isn’t the expressions at the end of the commercial, on newly gay dude’s friends faces a reason not to switch to Pepsi?

    @15–totally true. Coke is better than Pepsi, but Diet Pepsi hands down beats Diet Coke.

  21. @ALL

    1st- commercial is awesome and hilarious.

    2nd- Apparently Coke IS pretty gay-friendly, as it gets a 100% rating from the HRC. Quote:

    “For the second straight year (2007), the nation’s largest lesbian and gay rights organization, The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), has given The Coca-Cola Company a 100 percent rating for its workplace policies for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) associates. The HRC’s Corporate Equality Index measures the extent to which employers promote workplace fairness for their GLBT employees, measuring factors like non-discrimination policies, diversity training and benefits. “

    So, hey, not bad.

  23. @12: Yes! I was going to mention that. I don’t drink soda because of the high-fructose corn syrup content, but the “throwback” Pepsi (and Mt. Dew!) coming in April will be sugar-sweetened. This just gives me one more reason to drink it!

  25. I already preferred Pepsi, but this news has righted the wrong they did me when they discontinued the utterly wonderful coffee-flavoured Pepsi Max Cino here in the UK. Bottoms up!

  27. You know that Pepsi was a solid supporter of civil rights in the 50s, as opposed to Coke which openly supported segregationist causes. That’s why I drink it.

  28. Yes, damn Pepsi for training its employees not to get the company embroiled in discrimination and harassment lawsuits.

    Seriously, even putting myself in the shoes of the AFA, I can’t see why they would want to make an issue of corporate diversity training. That’s really not very optional for most large corporations.

  30. If Pepsi is doing diversity education that includes gay people you can be sure that many other large and small companies are too. This effort by AFA has the feel of desperation by people who know they will lose the culture war.

  31. I am always amazed at how Christian groups call for hate. I do not like the corn syrup so i drink the mexican coke, which may contradict a buy in America policy, but shit. I guess I will await the Pepsi throwback and put two straws in for me and my bf.

  32. No one suggested that people call Pepsi and say how much we like the ads and like the fact that Pepsi treats Gay Americans like humans.

    Come on people, it’s not enough to bitch and moan when things are ugly, you have to cheer and clap and say thank you when things go Gay!

  33. Paranoid much? Corporations have only one agenda: make as much money as possible. Obviously, big national brands think they can make more sales to queers than they would lose to fundie boycotts. Disney is an even more interesting example. They actually need the gays to produce their product, and have consistently told the fundies to fuck off when they have demanded that Disney adopt anti-homo HR policies.

  34. I don’t like soda.

    Ok, I’ll do my part. When my coke-swilling family comes to visit my house and they head to the fridge for a drink – pepsi will greet them!

    I’m sick of hearing about crazies who want to dictate what other people can and can’t do. I’m very happy to hear Pepsi embrace tolerance and actually go a step further to fund it!!

  35. Big K represent!
    OK…so you know how silly christians and republicans talk about the “homosexual agenda,” is there really such a thing? Are there secret meetings of powerful gays where decrees and protocols are drawn up and then handed down among the ranks? I like to think that there is.

  36. Never mind about calling Pepsi and saying thank you. They make it impossible to do so. I guess the thing to do is buy the carbonated sugar water they sell and call it a day.

  37. you could all call Pepsi and tell them how much you appreciate them standing up for equal rights.
    (800) 433-2652
    Pepsi Customer Relations

    Pepsico, Inc

    700 Anderson Hill Road
    Purchase, NY 10577

  38. What #7 said.
    Good to hear there’s HFCS-free pop coming. I’ve been drinking nothing but Jones Soda for years to avoid that crap.
    Ha! I notice the AFA took down their page where you can email the president of Pepsico. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who used it to tell him how delighted I am with the commercial, and that I expect to spend some of my hard-earned gay dollars on his product.

  39. Unfortunately, Pepsi also agreed to distribute Rock Star Energy Drink which was created by bat-shit crazy facist radio host Michael “Savage” Weiner and his son Russell Weiner. Savage’s wife, the equally right-wing Janet Weiner, is the company’s CEO. So, for me, it’s a wash on Pepsi’s stance for my equality. I’ll be sticking to my Black Cherry Fresco, a Coca-Cola Product, thank you very much.

  40. Fuck Pepsi. They are merely riding a wave of social change to forward their singular interesting in selling shitty brown-colored sugar water.

    In essence, they are ABUSING gay rights for their own profit.

    Fuck Pepsi. Boycott them, AND the whores they rode in on.

  44. Let us start our own beverage, Queer Cola. (Insert Taste-Test joke here.)

    Support PepsiCo just because some Fundy Idiots hate them? A tad reactionary, Dave.

  48. @ 42

    You nailed it. Coke is better because it burns a little bit on the way down, but diet pepsi, diet pepsi is like fuckin ambrosia.

    Not that I drink soda, but if I did, diet pepsi all the way.

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