26 February 2017

After Threat of Boycott, Pepsi CEO Joins Trump Team

Pepsi's CEO
After the threat of product boycott for spreading false news and insulting President-elect Donald Trump, PepsiCo's CEO and Chairman Indra Nooyi joined Trump's new economic advisory board.

She was named a member of the President's Strategic and Policy Forum, it was announced last 14 December, alongside Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick, chef executive of Uber.

The forum, which launched in early December, is intended to serve as a group of business leaders who advise President-elect Trump on economic matters.

In November, shortly after the election, fabricated quotes began circulating in which Nooyi told Trump supporters that the company didn't want their business, reported Snopes.

The misinformation quickly spread on social media.

As of 14 December, some Twitter users were still encouraging the boycott, using the #BoycottPepsi hashtag.

Articles featuring the fabricated quotes on Truthfeed and The Conservative Treehouse linked to a Business Insider article, covering an interview of Nooyi at The New York Times' DealBook conference. At the conference, Nooyi congratulated Trump on the election win, but acknowledged that many Pepsi employees were in mourning following the results.

"Our employees were all crying," Nooyi said. "And the question that they're asking, especially those who are not white, 'Are we safe?' Women are asking, 'Are we safe?' LGBT people are asking, 'Are we safe?' I never thought I would have to answer those questions."

However, Nooyi, who supported Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, has maintained that Americans need to unite and accept the outcome of the election.

"The process of democracy happened," she said. "We just need to let life go on."