Pepsi Did Not Donate 100M to Black Lives Matter

Editorial Team

Politics

27th August 2020

Pepsi Did Not Donate 100M to Black Lives Matter

This large donation has created circulating claims on social media (Getty Images)

The Claim

In 2020, PepsiCo gave $100 million to entities and projects associated with the Black Lives Matter movement.

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Emerging story

In June 2020, PepsiCo, the corporation that produces the popular soft drink Pepsi, along with many other soda and snack products, announced along with a large number of other corporations that in light of the public outcry over the Black Lives Matter movement, they would be donating more than $400 million to “lift up black communities and increase Black representation at PepsiCo.” This large donation has created circulating claims on social media, including on Twitter, that PepsiCo directly donated that sum to the Black Lives Matter movement specifically.

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar’s investigation into this claim reveals it to be false. Only a comparatively small fraction of PepsiCo’s donated sum, $6.5 million, is allocated towards “community impact grants” to groups like Black Lives Matter. The rest ($410 million) is allocated towards investing in black-owned businesses and suppliers for mutual benefit with the company. However, it is unclear whether companies that also pledged to donate over $100 million to the black community, like Walmart and Apple, will also pledge that money to efforts other than Black Lives Matter specifically.