As part of our "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign, organizers directly challenged Pepsi executives for the misleading marketing of its bottled water brand, Aquafina. We also delivered thousands of postcards generated from religious congregations, community activists and student groups over the last several months.

Below are the statements read from the floor of the PepsiCo Annual Shareholders' Meeting in Plano, TX on May 3, 2006.

STATEMENT BY GIGI KELLETT,
CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY INTERNATIONAL
ANNUAL SHAREHOLDERS' MEETING OF PEPSICO,
PLANO, TX--MAY 3, 2006

Good morning. My name is Gigi Kellett and I am the Associate Campaigns Director with Corporate Accountability International. Corporate Accountability International is a membership organization that protects people by waging and winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world. For over 25 years, we've forced corporations--like Nestlé, General Electric and Philip Morris/Altria--to stop abusive actions.

Today, over one billion people don't have access to safe water to drink. If current trends are not reversed, in less than 20 years, two-thirds of the world's population will not have access to enough water.

In response to the emerging global water crisis, the goals of our members are to secure the human right to water, to prevent corporations from interfering in people's right and access to water, and to protect democratic control over water.

Despite the claim that PepsiCo "recognizes that water is our planet's most precious natural resource" and it is committed to "respecting people's right to have access to water," it remains a leader in an industry that aims to turn water into a profit-driven commodity, like oil.

Corporate Accountability International launched our Think Outside the Bottle campaign earlier this year. In the past month, over one thousand people have participated in Tap Water Challenges in cities across the U.S., exposing the dangerous reality behind bottled water brands, like Pepsi's Aquafina. As was reported on NBC's Today Show, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, people can't tell the difference between tap water and leading bottled water brands--not surprising when you consider that brands like Aquafina use municipal tap water for the source.

Every year, Pepsi is spending tens of millions of dollars to brand the water we drink and turn it into a status symbol by promoting Aquafina as pure, safe, clean, healthy and superior to tap water. The reality is that bottled water threatens our health and our ecosystems, costs thousands of times what tap water costs and undermines local democratic control over a common resource.

From Austin, Texas to villages in India, thousands of people across the country and around the world are joining the campaign to protect the human right to water and challenge the control of our water by corporations like Pepsi and Coke. We are joining in the common refrain: "our water is not for sale." The growing opposition to the commodification of water will only continue to grow and negatively impact all of your brands.

Pepsi's shareholders and the financial community are watching closely. Mr. Reinemund, how do you plan to address this growing pressure demanding an end to your corporation's irresponsible and dangerous actions?

STATEMENT BY ZANDRA RICE ON BEHALF OF
SR. NANCY MACDERMOTT, SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME,
CHARDON, OHIO PROVINCE
ANNUAL SHAREHOLDERS' MEETING OF PEPSICO,
PLANO, TX--MAY 3, 2006

My name is Zandra Rice and I'm an organizer with Corporate Accountability International. I am here today to deliver a statement on behalf of Sister Nancy MacDermott, a Sister of Notre Dame from the Chardon province in Ohio. Sister Nancy attended the Coca-Cola shareholders' meeting three weeks ago, and was struck by the level of protest there. People are challenging your corporation, too, and Sister Nancy has this question for you.

Mr. Reinemund:

On September 12, 2005, the Sisters of Notre Dame adopted a living corporate stance of "Water for Life" in recognition that water is a basic right for life. I am a member of the Environmental Justice Committee that is using the United Nations millennium goals for global sustainability to promote awareness of the water crisis facing our world today.

As Sisters of Notre Dame, we revere water as a sacred gift. We work to protect the waters entrusted to us and we act to ensure that this right to water be extended to all, especially the poor in areas where our Sisters serve. To attain this goal, we employ and teach principles of sustainability at every level of water use.

PepsiCo has chosen a different path. Today, over one billion people around the world do not have access to safe water to drink. Yet, instead of respecting water as a fundamental human right, your leadership promotes it as a commodity to be bought and sold.

There is a growing international movement to highlight Pepsi's misleading promotion of bottled water and its interference in public policymaking. In our province alone, we have collected over 700 signed postcards calling on Pepsi to change its ways. I have sent a small sampling of these to show you today, and request that after the meeting you will accept a larger delivery of thousands of postcards generated from concerned congregations, community activists and student groups over the last several months.

As you will see, we are only one of many, many communities of faith moved to call on PepsiCo to stop its abuses. We shall continue to share information with other congregations so that they, too, may pressure you to make better decisions. Already, we have sent a legislative alert to all Sisters of Notre Dame, detailing the problem. These points include the fact that bottled water is up to 10,000 times more expensive than tap water, and that expanding the bottled water market paves the way for higher prices and corporate control of water resources. Decisions about a life-giving substance and a fundamental human right must not be left to corporations like PepsiCo.

Water for Life is a commitment that the Sisters of Notre Dame have made, transforming our prayer, our planning and our personal and communal actions over the next ten years. On behalf of religious leaders across the United States and around the world who recognize the dangerous reality behind the images of Pepsi's advertising, I ask you, Mr. Reinemund, when will PepsiCo and its Board of Directors step up to the plate to run a business of high moral standing?

Search | Site Map | Contact Us | Jobs and Internships | Privacy Policy | Donate Design by Communicopia.Net