PepsiCo
PepsiCo, Inc. is a global
American beverage and
snack company. The company manufactures, markets and sells a variety of carbonated and non-carbonated beverages as well as salty, sweet and grain-based snacks, and other foods. Besides the
Pepsi-Cola brands (including
Mountain Dew), the company manufactures
Quaker Oats,
Gatorade,
Frito-Lay and
Tropicana. In many ways, PepsiCo differs from its competitor
The Coca-Cola Company, having three times as many employees, larger revenues, but a smaller net profit (
See comparison at Yahoo Finance). The company formed for distribution and bottling is the
Pepsi Bottling Group . PepsiCo is a
SIC 2080 (beverage) company.
Headquartered in
Purchase, New York, The Pepsi Cola Company began in 1898, but it only became known as PepsiCo when it merged with Frito Lay in 1965. Until 1997, it also owned
Kentucky Fried Chicken,
Pizza Hut, and
Taco Bell, but these
fast-food restaurants were spun off into
Tricon Global Restaurants, now
Yum! Brands, Inc. PepsiCo purchased Tropicana in 1998, and Quaker Oats in 2001.
Current members of the
board of directors of PepsiCo are:
John Akers,
Robert E. Allen,
Dina Dublon,
Victor Dzau,
Ray Hunt,
Alberto Ibargüen,
Arthur Martinez,
Indra Nooyi,
Steven Reinemund,
Sharon Rockefeller,
James Schiro,
Franklin Thomas,
Cynthia Trudell, and
Daniel Vasella.
Former top executives at PepsiCo
*
John Sculley*
Donald M. Kendall*
D. Wayne Calloway*
Christopher A. Sinclair*
Roger EnricoPepsiCo owns five different billion-dollar brands, the most of any company. These are Pepsi, Tropicana, Lay's, Doritos, and Gatorade. The company owns many other brands as well.
* Pepsi, including
Pepsi-Cola,
Caffeine-Free Pepsi,
Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Light,
Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi, Caffeine-Free Pepsi Light,
Pepsi Twist,
Pepsi Vanilla, Pepsi with Vanilla,
Pepsi With Lime,
Diet Pepsi Twist,
Wild Cherry Pepsi,
Pepsi Max and
Pepsi ONE.
* Other U.S. carbonated soft drinks, including
Frawg,
Mountain Dew,
Mug Root Beer,
Sierra Mist and
Tropicana Twister Soda*
7 Up (international distribution)
* Other U.S. beverages, including
Aquafina,
Dole,
Gatorade,
Mountain Dew AMP,
Propel Fitness Water,
SoBe,
Quaker Milk Chillers, and
Tropicana* Beverages marketted outside the U.S.:
Alvalle,
Concordia,
Copella,
Evervess,
Fiesta,
Frui'Vita,
Fruko,
Kas,
Loóza,
Manzanita Sol,
Mirinda,
Paso de los Toros,
Radical Fruit,
San Carlos,
Shani,
Teem,
Triple Kola, and
Yedigun*
Frito-Lay brands:
Baken-ets,
Barcel,
Bocabits,
Cheese Tris,
Cheetos,
Chester's,
Chizitos,
Churrumais,
Cracker Jack,
Crujitos,
Doritos,
Fandangos,
Fritos,
Funyuns,
Gamesa,
Go Snacks,
Grandma's Cookies,
Hamka's,
Lay's,
Miss Vickie's,
Munchies,
Munchos,
Nik Naks,
Oberto Meat Snacks,
Quavers,
Rold Gold,
Ruffles,
Rustler's Meat Sticks,
Sabritas,
Sabritones,
Santitas,
Smartfood,
The Smith's Snackfood Company,
Sonric's,
Stay's Pita Chips,
Sun Chips,
Tor-tees,
Tostitos,
Walkers, and
Wotsits*
Quaker Oats brands:
Aunt Jemima,
Cap'n Crunch,
Coqueiro,
Crisp'ums,
Cruesli,
FrescAvena,
King Vitaman,
Life,
Quake,
Quisp,
Rice-A-Roni, and
SpudzPartnerships
PepsiCo also has formed partnerships with several brands it does not own, in order to distribute these or market them with its own brands.
*
Elma Chips, leader of the Brazilian chip's market
*
Frappuccino*
Starbucks DoubleShot*
Starbucks Iced Coffee*
Mandarin (license)
*
D&G (license)
*
Lipton Brisk*
Lipton Original Iced Tea*
Lipton Iced Tea*
Ben & Jerry's Milkshakes
*
Dole juices and juice drinks (license)
*
Sunny Delight (produced by PepsiCo for
Procter & Gamble)
Discontinued lines
*
All Sport: a line of sports drinks. All-Sport was lightly carbonated; in contrast, rivals
Gatorade and Coke-owned
POWERade were non-carbonated. The 2001 purchase of
Quaker Oats (in effect acquiring Gatorade) made All Sport expendable, and the brand was sold to another company.
*
Crystal Pepsi, a clear version of Pepsi-Cola.
*
FruitWorks: Flavors were Strawberry Melon, Peach Papaya, Tangerine Citrus, Apple Raspberry, and Pink Lemonade. Two other flavors, Passion Orange and Guava Berry, were available in
Hawaii only.
*
Josta: launched
1995, "with
Guarana," the first
energy drink launched by a major soft drink company in the US.
*
Pepsi Kona: launched
1997, a coffee-flavored version of Pepsi-Cola.
*
Matika: Run in
August 2001, it was a tea/juice alternative beverage, sweetened with Cane Sugar & containing Ginseng. Dragonfruit Potion, Magic Mombin, Mythical Mango, Rising Starfruit, Skyhigh Berry
*
Mazagran: launched
1995*
Mr. Green (
Sobe)
*
Patio: line of flavored drinks (1960-late '70s)
*
Pepsi Edge, a mid-calorie version of Pepsi-Cola.
*
Pepsi Blue, a berry-flavored, blue version of Pepsi-Cola.
*
Slice, a line of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks.
*
Smooth Moos: launched
1995, a flavored milk-based drink.
*
Storm: launched
March 15,
1998, replaced by
Sierra Mist.
Former brands
PepsiCo owned a number of restaurant chains until it exited that business in 1997, selling some, and spinning off others into a new company Tricon Global Restaurants, now known as
Yum! Brands, Inc.). PepsiCo also previously owned several other brands that it later sold.
*
California Pizza Kitchen (bought 1992, sold back to original founders in 1997)
*
Chevys Fresh Mex (bought August 1993, sold May 1997 to
J. W. Childs Equity Partners)
*
D'Angelo Sandwich Shops (sold August 1997 to
Papa Gino's)
*
East Side Mario's (United States franchises – bought December 1993, sold early 1997 to
Marie Callender's)
*
Hot 'n Now (bought in 1990, sold in 1997)
*
Kentucky Fried Chicken (bought October 1986 from
RJR Nabisco, spun off October 1997)
*
North American Van Lines*
Pizza Hut (bought in 1977, spun off October 1997)
*
Stolichnaya*
Taco Bell (bought in 1978, spun off October 1997)
*
Wilson Sporting GoodsDiversity
PepsiCo received a 100 percent rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the
Human Rights Campaign starting in
2004, the third year of the report.
Tampering
During the summer of 1993, PepsiCo managed to stave off a runaway hoax pertaining to alleged product tampering. Syringes were claimed to have been found in cans of Diet Pepsi -- first in Seattle, then throughout the U.S. over the next few days. With the arrests of several of the fraudulent claimants, reports of found hypodermic needles ceased. PepsiCo's subsequent handling of the situation via carefully-worded press releases and VNRs is frequently cited as a textbook example of how exactly to handle falsely-spread rumors about a company.[
1]
PepsiCo in India
|
A woman waking up on a sidewalk in Bijapur, India, under a Pepsi advertisement. |
PepsiCo gained entry to India in
1988 by creating a joint venture with the
Punjab government-owned
Punjab Agro Industrial Corporation (PAIC) and
Voltas India Limited. This joint venture marketed and sold
Lehar Pepsi until 1991 when the use of foreign brands was allowed; PepsiCo bought out its partners and ended the joint venture in
1994.
["Coca-Cola India", Jennifer Kaye, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, 2004 (PDF)] Others claim that firstly Pepsi was banned from import in India, in 1970, for having refused to release the list of its ingredients and in 1993, the ban was lifted, with Pepsi arriving on the market shortly afterwards. These controversies are a reminder of "India's sometimes acrimonious relationship with huge multinational companies." Indeed, some argue that PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company have "been major targets in part because they are well-known foreign companies that draw plenty of attention."
["Coke, Pepsi lose fight over labels", Knight Ridder News, 9 December 2004]In 2003, the
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a
non-governmental organization in
New Dehli, said aerated waters produced by soft drinks manufacturers in India, including multinational giants PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company, contained toxins including
lindane,
DDT,
malathion and
chlorpyrifos â€"
pesticides that can contribute to cancer, a breakdown of the immune system and cause
birth defects. Tested products included
Coke, Pepsi,
7 Up,
Mirinda,
Fanta,
Thums Up,
Limca,
Sprite. CSE found that the Indian-produced Pepsi's soft drink products had 36 times the level of pesticide residues permitted under
European Union regulations; Coca Cola's 30 times.
["Indian Coke, Pepsi Laced with Pesticides, Says NGO", Inter Press Service, August 5, 2003]CSE said it had tested the same products in the US and found no such residues. However, this was the European standard for water, not for other drinks. No law bans the presence of
pesticides in drinks in India.
The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo angrily denied allegations that their products manufactured in India contained toxin levels far above the norms permitted in the developed world. But an Indian parliamentary committee, in 2004, backed up CSE's findings and a government-appointed committee is now trying to develop the world's first pesticide standards for soft drinks. Coke and PepsiCo opposed the move, arguing that lab tests aren't reliable enough to detect minute traces of pesticides in complex drinks. On
December 7,
2004,
India's Supreme Court ruled that both PepsiCo and competitor The Coca-Cola Company must label all cans and bottles of the respective soft drinks with a consumer warning after tests showed unacceptable levels of residual pesticides.
Both companies continue to maintain that their products meet all international safety standards without yet implementing the Supreme Court ruling.
As of 2005, The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo together hold 95% market share of soft-drink sales in India.
["How a Global Web of Activists Gives Coke Problems in India", Wall Street Journal'', July 7 2005] PepsiCo has also been alleged to practice "water piracy" due to its role in exploitation of
ground water resources resulting in scarcity of drinking water for the natives of Puthussery
panchayat in the
Palakkad distict in
Kerala, India. Local residents have been pressuring the government to close down the PepsiCo unit in the village.
In 2006, the CSE again found that soda drinks, including both Pepsi and Coca-Cola, had high levels of pesticides in their drinks. Both PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company maintain that their drinks are safe for consumption and have published newpaper advertisements that say pesticide levels in their products are less than those in other foods such as tea, fruit and dairy products.
[Cola sales down 10% on state bans] In the Indian state of
Kerala, sale and production of Pepsi-Cola, along with other soft drinks, has been banned.
[Kerala bans Coke and Pepsi] Five other Indian states have announced partial bans on the drinks in schools, colleges and hospitals.
[Indian state bans Pepsi and Coke]PepsiCo in Burma
From 1991 until 1997 PepsiCo invested in the Burmese military regime which has been alleged to be responsible for some of the worst human rights violations in the world. PepsiCo's involvement saw one of the biggest Burma-related boycotts in history - on a par with those against
Texaco, running around the same time, and currently against
Total Oil. PepsiCo formally began their investment in Burma in November 1991 when they opened a bottling plant in the then-capital Rangoon, in direct contradiction to
Aung San Suu Kyi's and the National League for Democracy's requests for no foreign investment in Burma until it returned to democracy. The campaign against Pepsi was initiated by the Asian-based Burma Rights Movement for Action, but was not taken up seriously in the West as Burmese human rights groups at the time were focused on Texaco, Amaco and Petro-Canada. When Petro-Canada left Burma, however Canadian and U.S. based Burmese democracy groups took up the campaign with huge dedication. The campaign received a massive boost when, in 1996, the Free Burma Coalition took the lead in forcing Pepsi out of American universities. This included the scrapping of a $1 million deal at Harvard. The campaign then began to spread to Europe where a huge boycott took hold. In response, in 1996, PepsiCo attempted to step out of the spotlight by selling their Burmese investment to their sister company and making it a franchise. Aung Sung Suu Kyi responded "As far as we are concerned, Pepsi[Co] has not divested from Burma" and both human rights and environmental groups continued the pressure on Pepsi. Eventually, with the Burmese regime holding violent anti-democracy rallies and pressure from around the world mounting, PepsiCo cut all ties with Burma on May 31, 1997 for business reasons, as the Burmese operation was unprofitable. However, to this day, PepsiCo has not admitted that it was morally wrong to invest in Burma as other companies have upon leaving the country.
Pepsi boycott historyPepsi and bullfighting
PepsiCo has received criticism from
animal rights activists for advertising in stadiums that are used for
bullfighting.
*
Pepsi Stuff*
Cola Wars*
Pepsi Challenge*
PepsiCo official page*
Yahoo! – PepsiCo, Inc. Company Profile*
Political contributions by PepsiCo
