An eagle-eyed TTAG reader alerted us to this 2013 Gabrielle Gifford gabfest in tony Aspen, Colorado featuring the disarmament doyenne and her ex-astronaut husband Mark Kelley (a.k.a., Americans for Final Responsible Solutions). The not-so-dynamic duo thrilled the assembled throngs with a talk called “Building a Movement to Keep Our Communities Safer.” Here’s the blurb . . .

(courtesy aspenideas.org)

Check out the last sentence.

I called PepsiCo (1-800-433-2652) to see what’s what. “That is absolutely outrageous,” Customer Service Rep Hannah said. “We would never do something like that.” After spending an Internet eon on hold listening to the audio history of Pepsi jingles, Hannah transferred me to her supervisor, Elise Galgano. “PepsiCo doesn’t sponsor any gun control-related event,” she told me. “I’ll pass this along to my boss and get back to you.”

We’ll update this post as and when.

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121 COMMENTS

  1. “The Pepsi generation supports universal background checks*.” -Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly

    *despite the fact no one knows what they are.

    I’m shocked Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly would lie in such a way…not.

        • *Wild Cherry Pepsi is a’ight. It’s not great. A bit too sweet, in my opinion. If I had to cast a vote for Pepsi, I’d say that the best Pepsi is, by far, Pepsi Throwback. None of their high-fructose stuff; too sweet. I stick with any Zero or non-diet variety of Coke and Dr. Pepper.

          ETA: Geez. Why do I bother posting my opinion? I know y’all don’t care, but I do it anyway …

        • I wish Pepsi Throwback was easier to find in stores since HFCS is chock full of Mercury while Aspartame is known for brain tumors, weakened bones and susceptibility to leukemia and lymphoma.

      • No matter which you love, it’s still mostly phosphoric acid. Pour a glass of your favorite PA, put a penny in it, and check back in a week. Your favorite drink will be phosphoric acid and copper. Yum.

        • Ah, but let’s not forget that Pepsi co also owns Mountain Dew! The primary ingredients of which are Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and Orange Juice concentrate!

          I do dearly hope they’re not sponsoring this. Or that if they are they drop this event like it’s on fire and their PR managers dispense copious apologies. I would realllllly miss Mountain Dew 🙁

        • It *is* drinking acid. Phosphoric and carbonic acid, specifically.
          And don’t forget the link between HFCS and obesity and endocrine system disorders.

        • Coke just signed a deal with Green Mountain to produce a Coke – Keurig Cold soda machine. As Green Mountain just built a huge manufacturing facility in my little town of Windsor, VA, bringing up to 800 new jobs in the next 5 years, I endorse these products.

  5. I have never cared much for Pepsi products. Personally, I enjoy plain old Coca Cola. However, one my New Year’s resolutions was to cut back on my soft drink intake. So far, I haven’t had a single one this year.

  6. I don’t drink soda anyway.

    Water is healthier and cheaper.

    Remember, no matter how much you shoot or spend on guns, you can’t shoot yourself back to health.

    • And beer if food(TM). Well, the better the beer, the better the food. Proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy. And buzzed.

    • Coca Cola (and I’m sure Pepsico too) will sell you bottled water. From the fire hydrant, through the filter to get rid of the dead mice, and into the bottle. Flavor enhancing additives and stabilizers added, of course. Natural goodness on your store’s shelf. Gotta love $heep.

    • Winner, winner, chicken dinner. I prefer Coke over Pepsi by a mile (I am from the Atlanta area, after all), but I LOVE Mountain Dew. It would be a travesty to have to give it up.

  8. Looks like the reference to Pepsi has already been deleted. The video is posted by the Aspen Institute and the only relationship I could find between them and Pepsi is that a couple of their fellows and advisory board members are either current or former high-level employees of Pepsi Co. That said, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if a large international conglomerate like Pepsi Co supported further firearm restrictions.

  9. The Giffords’ super pac has become one of the leading super pacs in raising money, which makes me much more wary of them than I was before they announced that.

    • Well of course. What self-respecting C Suite executive would say no to a retired ex-astronaut and his former Congressional meat puppet?

    • If a woman has an already established profession then it maybe a good idea for her to keep her last name.

      Like if she has been published, or is publicly well known by her maiden name.

      My mother kept my father’s last name, even when she married my step father, she owned a business and property under that name and didn’t want to go through the process and cost of changing it.

      It’s not traditional, but it could be more professionally based than ideologically based.

      • My sister divorced the prick she was married to, yet still keeps her married name. I’d feel better if she reverted to the family name, but she’s my sister, and a real champ, so I keep my mouth shut about it.

        • I wasn’t married to your sister, but I’d certainly feel better if my ex-wife would take her family name back and leave mine alone. I think she keeps it just to piss me off.

    • Because her name is better. Good alliteration, makes her sound like a Marvel Comics super villain. Even has her own evil origin story and everything

      • Because changing her name to “Meat Puppet” didn’t sound all warm and fuzzy, like “Gabby”.

  12. No Pepsi, Coke. Or something.
    Kind of curious to see how this one turns out. It would be hilarious if they just threw around the Pepsi name hoping no one would look into it.

  13. Mark Kelly, you are a hypocrite. You stand there and preach gun control, and that AR15’s should be illegal, yet you walk into a gun shop in Arizona and purchase an AR15 for yourself. Are you kidding me? preach your crap to someone else.

    • Yep, he thinks he made a name for himself by flying faster than a bullet -on America’s dime- and now wants to limit rights of all Americans. The truth is nobody would remember him and nobody would give two shyts about him if is wife had not been attacked by a liberal backing lunatic.

    • He didn’t actually purchase on for himself, he tried to purchase one, lying on form 4473 saying it was for him, when cornered, he said he was going to give it to the local PD, thereby making an admission of a straw purchase, something he’s NEVER been charged with…

      • You are correct WI Patriot, but we all know he purchased it for himself and then tried to feed everyone his lies after he got caught. He wanting to show how easy it was to purchase a firearm… So in other words Mr. Kelly, you wanted to show how easy it is for an American citizen with no criminal record to walk into a gun shop and exercise your second amendment right? That’s what your supposed to be able to do you dumbazz.

  14. I don’t drink sodas, but Pepsi owns hundreds of brands of food, many of which I do use. Check out the pepsico website. I’m glad it looks as though they’re not involved.

  15. Don’t email, write a letter.

    Include a screen capture.

    Tell them that you would hope that Pepsi would stay out of political discussions.

    It makes a a difference – this is how the grabbers make it seem there is a groundswell of support.

    You don’t have to be a jerk or make threats but calmly explain how disappointed you are and that this makes you reconsider their products.

    It’s not just the drinks, it’s other products – take a look at http://www.pepsico.com/brands.

    mention a few brands, and point out that you are a brand conscious consumer and that you will readily consider substitutes from other companies.

    They’ll dump this operation (at least publicly) in a heartbeat.

    Then we declare victory just like MDA.

    • No the MDA would make up a story that Kraft is supporting a program to hand out machine guns at elementary schools. Then when Kraft said they have no such policy and have no intention of implementing one, MDA would declare a victory.

      • I would think the corporate executives wouldn’t even respond or acknowledge such a farce.
        But showing their corporate name in the credits, that warrants a response.

    • When will people here wake up and see that it is not just about “the left”. Do you honestly think that our Republican masters want us armed, either?

  18. I would be shocked if PepsiCo (the actual company, not some local manager acting above their authority) sponsored something like this. Large companies rarely get involved in divisive political issues, because of the risk of boycotts or damaging their brand. They just can’t win by doing it, and it would be incredibly stupid if turns out to be true.

    • You’d be surprised. I once on a whim went out to see this mysteriously advertised live show called “The 99” or something like that, wondering if it would be some traveling religious horror show like you see around Halloween (this was in spring, mind you) or something else. Big huge banner out front said it was sponsored by Papa John’s, so I thought it would be kosher. I was wrong! It really was the forced conversion, fire and brimstone horror show my instincts warned me about.

      Since then, I’ve only eaten local pizza, and I don’t even live anywhere near a Papa John’s anymore anyway.

    • Aspartame? A very serious neurotoxin. Look it up.

      Know what Aspartame (from Schiff Pharma and Donald Rumsfeld) is made from? E-coli poop. Google it.

      • I took your advice and looked it up. Aspartame is not a neurotoxin, though the two amino acids it breaks down into (aspartic acid and phenylalanine) can act as neurotoxins in high enough doses. Phenylalanine is only an issue issue if you have phenylketonuria (a condition which limits how quickly phenylalanine can be metabolized). You may be shocked to learn that phenylalanine is actually an essential amino acid, and your body requires it. You may be even more shocked to learn that a quarter pound ground beef patty contains more than 9 times the amount of phenylalanine in a can of soda.

        As for aspartic acid, you’re already getting plenty of that in a normal diet from protein sources (just like phenylalanine). So, that quarter pound beef patty? Over 18 times the amount of aspartic acid as in a can of soda. Bottom line is, if you’re truly worried about aspartame, you should really be reducing your protein intake first.

        [edit] Forgot to address the e.coli part – yes, e.coli can be used to produce aspartame, but not originally. More on production via e.coli here: http://skeptoid.com/blog/2013/11/15/aspartame-and-e-coli-oh-my/

  20. Ha! What dick bags. I’m gonna laugh so hard when Pepsi brings the hammer down on these guys.
    And if they dont…well…mountain dew already pissed me off by not making game fuel a permanent flavor.

  22. Hmm… So now I feel ashamed at having built this website. I knew the client was left leaning when I worked on it a few years ago, but they paid the bills. Now I feel guilty 🙁

    Link to the video posted at the Aspen Ideas Festival
    http://www.aspenideas.org/session/building-movement-keep-our-communities-safer

    What the PepsiCo underwriting refers to BTW is the support PepsiCo has placed for the festival (possibly that specific venue of the festival) not necessarily the content of the event. (At least thats my understanding of how things worked)

    • Adam I looked before posting this and other things on the website don’t show underwriting for others.

      • Maybe because they haven’t been co-opted by self-serving hypocritical jackwagons. And their unaware, brain-damaged wife in name only.

  23. I rarely drink brand-name sodas to begin with.

    It really wouldn’t surprise me if Pepsi Co. really is in bed with these sock puppets, either, though. If not, good for them, and I really hope they make their non-association very public (also followed by some juicy litigation that robs them of precious pennies).

  25. Well, crap. What am I supposed to drink now (before and at the range, anyway)?

    I gave up Coke after they butchered “America the Beautiful” with that god-awful, multilingual Super Bowl commercial. Now I have to quit Pepsi!

    And don’t forget, they own Taco Bell and Pizza Hut! I could starve to death!

  26. I don’t drink soda at all or “pop” as it was called in Western Pennsylvania, but I am going to be destroyed if the company where I buy my Moroccan Mint Green tea, or Makers Mark comes out in favor of gun control or sponsors any such even.

  30. “PepsiCo doesn’t sponsor any gun control-related event,” she told me. “I’ll pass this along to my boss and get back to you.”

    WOW

  31. “Good evening. My name is Gabrelle Giffords, and this is my husband, that guy from Lost who used to be Lance Henriksons boss on that other show. We are here to ask for your support. You see, my husband is FLAME DELETED

  34. You can contact PepisCO here: https://cu.pepsico.com/pepsi

    To express your concern. The text of my missive follows:

    I just became aware of claims that PepsiCo is underwriting the activities of Gabriel Gifford’s and Mike Kelly’s facetious and nefarious anti civil rights, anti liberty civil disarmament group; Americans for (Ir)responsible Solutions.

    I genuinely hope this isn’t so. I have loved several of your products for most of my life and would be greatly disappointed if PepsiCo weighed in on the debate on the side of those who would, though fictitious information, obvious lies and emotional appeals restrict our natural and constitutional rights.

    While I would surely miss some of your products, if this endorsement of the anti-constitutional anti-liberty group fancifully named “Americans for Responsible Solutions” (being neither truly American nor responsible) is a matter of fact and not a false claim I would immediately cease purchasing any products affiliated with PepsiCo and do my committed best to convince others to do the same by whatever legal means avail the goal; a wholesale rejection of a corporation that rejects our rights and liberties.

    Please ‘say it ain’t so’, or else confirm that this shame is embraced by PepsiCo so that I can immediately cease purchasing all of your products and encouraging other freedom minded and liberty respecting Americans to do the same.

    Sincerely,

    (NAME REDACTED)
    Ardent supporter of constitutional rights and loyal customer for over 30 years.

  35. Mike BloomBUG was right Pepsi is a danger to society and needs to be banned

    Pepsi is worse then a “smoking gun”

  37. Could it be the local Aspen area bottler/distributor who paid out the money without the parent company’s input?

  38. Pepsi changed their logo in order to have drinkers associate with the Obama symbol around the time of His first wave of political hype. I crossed them off my list when they made the change.

  40. I’d rather this weren’t true, but no skin off my back otherwise. Pepsi’s crap, and I got fat doin’ the Dew in college. Lost the weight after I quit drinking that bilge and got more serious about my health though.

  41. Wouldn’t surprise me at all. Pepsi is headed by a leftist CEO. That is why they changed the Pepsi logo over to one that resembled the 2008 Obama campaign logo (which IMO looks a lot worse than the logo they had had before it, which IMO was awesome).

  44. Many years ago I use to while away the hours shooting Pepsi and Coke cans with my .22 Remington single shot bolt action rifle. Now I’m going to dig up a bunch of Pepsi cans and riddle them with holes using my old Ramline folding stock 10/22 with 25 rd mags. That will really get the Kelly/Giffords panties in a bunch.
    I couldn’t even get through the whole video I was so disgusted with their bs. Born and raised in Colorado, now gone a dozen + years, my worst fears were realized when it finally became Californicated. Of course Mabby were speaking in Aspen, playground of the rich and famous and well protected. Mabby didn’t give two hoots about gun control until being shot by a psycho Democrat. Try to pass all the laws you want bitches, I’m not giving up one standard capacity mag., black rifle or cop killer bullet. Molon Labe

  45. “Festival” website still says underwritten by Pepsico. That’s a much bigger target than just Pepsi, which I will continue to drink with much gusto. Hope Pepsico and its BOD comes to their senses.

  47. I just fired off a “Contact Us” note to the linked page from above, I suggest everyone else do the same. Let them see a steady stream of concerned customers that they have to respond to.

  48. Watch the video. He has his facts wrong. Automatic weapons are NOT banned but regulated on the Federal level. Just need to buy the tax stamp. Why do the news people not challenge these statements? Seems they must have the same agenda as Mr. Kelley.

Comments are closed.