Statement: Annual shareholders’ meeting of PepsiCo, Mark Hays

By Mark Hays, Think Outside The Bottle Campaign

For Immediate Release: May 5, 2010

Contact: Christina Rossi, 617-447-2540

Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. My name is Mark Hays. I am with Corporate Accountability International’s Think Outside the Bottle campaign.

Our members are concerned about the inherit conflict of interests posed when transnational corporations like Pepsi position themselves as the solution to managing our most precious and limited resource, water. We believe that water is a human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold. All people need to be ensured affordable and equitable access to safe water.

Here in the United States, we have been able to provide equitable access to water through public water systems. Yet, with the rise in the promotion and marketing of bottled water over the past decade, we have seen - along with rising bottled water sales - a decrease in political will to adequately support our public water systems. This trend threatens to bring about a two-tiered water distribution system: one for those who can afford to buy bottled water and one for those who cannot.

In response to growing public concerns about corporate control of water, last year Pepsi announced it would develop and adopt corporate guidelines regarding the human right to water. These efforts are a clear sign that Pepsi feels compelled to react to these concerns.

Guidelines regarding the human right to water may sound promising to some. However, Pepsi’s actions must back up its claims that it respects the human right to water. We believe this means Pepsi must not undermine public water systems and the ability of democratic institutions to set and implement public policies on water, public health, environmental or human rights issues. Unfortunately, Pepsi’s track record on this front is spotty.

For example, Pepsi has said publicly it does not compete with tap water; yet, in a 2000 interview Pepsi’s then Vice Chairman Robert S. Morrison went on record to say: “the biggest enemy is tap water.” More recently, in June 2008, when more than 1000 mayors resolved to cut city bottled water budgets to reduce waste and promote tap water, Pepsi’s trade association lobbied aggressively against the resolution.

Given these examples, how can Pepsi in one breath say it does not publicly compete with tap water; yet in a second breath, say or do things that undermine public water systems? My question is, how does Pepsi reconcile these statements and actions with its so-called commitment to honor the human right to water?
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