PepsiCo bans mentions of war in advertising in Ukraine
PepsiCo has banned references to the war in its advertising strategy in Ukraine.
Source: global coalition of civil society organisations B4Ukraine
Details: The search for a new PR agency in Ukraine in the autumn of 2023 set requirements that prohibited references to the war in PepsiCo's advertising activities, including:
- mentioning war, hostilities, aggression, military personnel, the Ukrainian Armed Forces;
- supporting Ukraine or the Ukrainian Armed Forces;
- negative connotations, creating a sense of "danger".
At the same time, PepsiCo is still operating in the Russian market and paying taxes. The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) reported that PepsiCo paid US$115 million in taxes to the Russian coffers. The company also has 20,000 employees and 40,000 agricultural workers in Russia.
Even though the company has formally stopped selling its main product, Pepsi Cola, it is still available on Russian shelves through what is known as "parallel imports".
Background: On 21 September 2023, wreckage from a downed Russian missile hit the territory of PepsiCo's plant and warehouse in the town of Vyshneve (Kyiv Oblast). The warehouse was partially destroyed.
Earlier, NACP added the US companies PepsiCo and Mars to the list of international sponsors of the war.
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