In September, 2008, PepsiCo Foundation gave a record $500,000 to PFLAG's Straight for Equality program. The Straight for Equality Program is an education outreach program that seeks to help people become informed about the GLBT community.
The Straight for Equality Program launched in October 2007 to fill a niche that PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian and Gays) began. The Straight for Equality program has produced a great information booklet for straight people who would like to be supportive of gay friends and family but don't really know how. It answers the questions many of us are afraid to ask.
The odds are very high that someone in your family or someone you count as a friend identifies themselves as GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered) whether you are aware of it or not. The organization Straight for Equality, is an organization that is for everyone. It's an excellent educational source.
PepsiCo along with IBM, Campbell's Soups and other sponsors, have joined PFLAG in its commitment to fair and equal treatment in the workplace.
Earlier in January, the American Family Association launched a boycott of PepsiCo. It's not the first time the AFA has boycotted corporations that work to promote equality in the workplace.
The AFA's purpose is to punish corporations that don't follow the tenets of the AFA's agenda. They persecuted Campbell's Soup for advertising in The Advocate, a GLBT magazine. The AFA boycotted American Girl dolls for donating to Girls, Inc.
They boycotted ABC over the television show, "NYPD Blue" which created enough hype that the show became one of the most popular shows of the season.
Don't let the name of the AFA fool you. They advocate censorship of the print and electronic media. They lobby for the criminalization of homosexuality. They use implicit language to forward their cause. For example, they claim they are against abortion because it is a means of birth control. The language of the statement implies that women use abortion as a birth control method instead of choosing to use abstinence, condoms, pills, etc. The truth is that no woman wants to have an abortion. Abortion isn't a decision anyone makes lightly. See how neatly the AFA has turned the very sensitive issue of abortion into just another form of birth control which would of course, be repellent to most people? Nothing could be further from the truth.
The AFA is just as well known for boycotting companies that don't use Christmas the way the AFA thinks they should in their advertising. If an advertisement reads, "Happy holidays" the AFA sees that as an attack on Christianity and the bible.
In the 1980s and 90s, and to a lesser extent the 2000s, there were plenty of companies that bowed to pressure from the AFA. Abercrombie and Fitch succumbed to pressure not to publish "pornographic" images in its catalog. About a quarter of the ABC affiliate stations that ran NYPD Blue, refused to show the episode the AFA complained about.
Fortunately, a lot of corporations have resisted the temptation to follow the agenda of the AFA. Walt Disney Company gives benefits to same-sex employees' partners and the AFA was quick to act. Kudos to Disney for standing their ground.
A McDonald's employee is a board member of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and the AFA launched its usual boycott of the restaurant. McDonald's stood its ground on this issue:
Now the AFA is boycotting Pepsi and its affiliate products like FritoLay, Tropicana and Quaker oatmeal. I've always been a Coke drinker personally but I'm going to go out and buy a case of Pepsi and a bunch of Campbell's chicken noodle soup to boycott the AFA. McDonald's anyone?
http://www.examiner.com/x-1172-Birmi...t-for-Equality
Stupid people, thats all i gotta say on the matter.
Regards,
Lee
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