An e-mail claiming that a new patriotic Pepsi soda can had the words “Under God” striken from its design is a hoax.
Date collected: 8/12/2002
Pepsi has a new patriotic can coming out with pictures of the Empire State Bldg. and the Pledge of Allegiance on them. But Pepsi forgot two little words on the pledge, “Under God.” Pepsi said they did not want to offend anyone. If this is true then we do not want to offend anyone at the Pepsi corporate office. If we do not buy any Pepsi product then they will not receive any of our monies. Our money after all does have the words “Under God” on it.Please pass this word to everyone you know. Tell your Sunday School class tomorrow and tell your Pastors so that they can tell the whole congregation. Christians stand up and let your voices be heard.
We want the words “under God” to be read by every person who buys a can.
Based on the e-mail I received, it apparently caused quite a stir in the Christian community (though as a reader points out, other faiths might have been upset about it as well, although none of them e-mailed me about it.) No doubt their concerns were fed by recent attempts to strike the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegience
Everyone can relax — Pepsi has no plans to release any redesigned cans with an abridged pledge on it.
Here’s what the webmaster at Pepsi’s Web site had to say when I e-mailed the company about the hoax:
Thank you for e-mailing us here at Pepsi-Cola Company. We always appreciate hearing from our consumers. I have attached what is located on our website at www.pepsi.com. We hope that this will help clarify the situation.
We wanted to clarify an erroneous report that has been circulating around cyberspace for the past several months. Pepsi has NOT created any packaging (on cans or bottles) containing an edited version of America’s Pledge of Allegiance. A patriotic package used last year by Dr Pepper was inappropriately linked to this rumor. Dr Pepper’s position is very clearly articulated at: http://www.dpsu.com/drpepper_can.html