Claim: Pepsi pledged $100 million to Black Lives Matter
The killing of George Floyd, an African American man, while in police custody in Minneapolis sparked a widespread racial justice movement, often led by Black Lives Matter. It prompted a number of corporations and other organizations to address issues of racial equality raised by the incident and the ensuing protests.
Several Facebook users have posted items that said, “Pepsi just gave BLM a hundred million dollars… Boycott Pepsi!!”
A pledge to BLM, but not by Pepsi
The posts appeared to stem from a claim by Lou Dobbs on Fox Business Network in July that major corporations were donating money to Black Lives Matter. He included among these: Bank of America, purportedly pledging $1 billion; PepsiCo, $400 million; and $100 million each from Comcast, Walmart and Apple.
One day after the broadcast, Dobbs issued a correction on his program and also posted statements on Twitter and Facebook, saying the show’s claim regarding the corporate donations to BLM was inaccurate.
“The large amounts of money were not for Black Lives Matter but rather pledges of investments to address economic and racial inequality,” the statement said. “We apologize to each of these companies for our mistake, and we apologize to you for the error.”
Black Lives Matter is a movement, founded in 2013 by three community leaders –Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi – after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager, in Florida. It has 16 U.S. chapters, according to the BLM website.
Its charity, known as The Black Lives Global Network Foundation is incorporated in Delaware, according to the Delaware Department of State: Division of Corporations.
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Gatorade has pledged to BLM, others
PepsiCo, Bank of America, Walmart, Apple and Comcast issued statements emphasizing that their pledges are aimed at advancing social justice and equality.
PepsiCo is the global corporation, and Pepsi is a brand of the soft drink that the company produces.
Alix Ekstrom, a spokesperson for PepsiCo, tells USA TODAY by email that “the Pepsi brand has not made any such donation” to BLM. She said PepsiCo in June “announced that we will be investing more than $400 million over 5 years to address issues of inequality and create opportunities.”
But a separate PepsiCo brand, Gatorade, has pledged a donation to BLM. It announced on Instagram on June 3 that it was donating a total of $500,000 to four organizations, including Black Lives Matter, the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union and Know Your Rights Camp, a group founded by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Gatorade called the donation a “first step.”
“We’re committed to creating a more equitable society through influence, education, and support,” it said in announcing the pledge.
Regarding PepsiCo’s position, CEO Ramon Laguarta described on the corporate website, under the heading “PepsiCo’s Racial Equality Journey,” the goals of the $400 million investment: “to lift up Black communities and increase Black representation at PepsiCo. These initiatives comprise a holistic effort for PepsiCo to walk the talk of a leading corporation and help address the need for systemic change.”
More:Poll: Nearly two-thirds of Americans support protests against racial injustice
After outlining plans for changes in such areas as PepsiCo’s workforce and its relations with business partners, he spelled out how the company’s donations would be used more broadly:
“Accelerating our support for social programs that impact Black communities, including delivering $6.5 million in community impact grants to address systemic issues; investing $1 million to replicate our holistic community support program, Southern Dallas Thrives, in Chicago; expanding our Food for Good initiative providing jobs and access to nutrition to more Black communities; and increasing our contribution to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to support the struggle for social justice.”
Laquarta’s only reference to Black Lives Matter was in the closing sentence of his statement, when he wrote: “We proudly stand with our Black associates and Black communities, and we believe unequivocally that Black Lives Matters.”
The Facebook user who posted the claim did not respond to an email regarding the original item.
The claim was also found to be “false” by FactCheck.org and “mostly false” by Snopes.
Our rating: False
Our research shows that Pepsi is not donating money to the Black Lives Matter organization, therefore we rate this claim as FALSE. The original source of that claim corrected its early claim, which it called a mistake. PepsiCo, the parent company of Pepsi, has pledged millions to build up social programs, and PepsiCo brand Gatorade has pledged a donation to BLM, but not Pepsi itself.
Our fact-check sources:
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