Florida Churches Join AFA’s Boycott Of Pepsi, Move To Drinking Coca Cola

09/10/09- by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
When the Community Issues Council, which include Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, FL, decided it was time to join with the American Family Association and boycott Pepsi products, they made the switch to Coca Cola. In doing so, they went from a relatively LGBT friendly company to a really LGBT friendly company. Coca Cola has consistently scored higher on the Human Rights Campaign’s list of LGBT friendly businesses.

The furor started when Pepsico donated money to groups such as PFLAG and the HRC. Furthermore, AFA is upset that Pepsico supports Pride Parades including the one that they do not sponsor in Atlanta, GA. For the record, Coca Cola sponsors the Pride Parade in Atlanta, GA. They do sponsor, via Frito Lay, Cleveland, Ohio’s pride parade.

Of course, the AFA and CIC are both furious with Pepsico over their diversity training, which is actually not quite as good as Coca Cola’s, and their work place support of LGBT individuals, which is not quite the same level of support as seen in Coca Cola Corp.

The CIC was formed to protect Judeo-Christian values, and to promote their beliefs in what those are, which typically relies more heavily upon the Christian and less on the Judeo side of that. According to their head, Terry Kempell who is a member of Bell Shoals Baptist, “This year, they [Pepsico] pumped millions of dollars into organizations that opposed California’s same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8. There are a lot of corporations that have diversity programs, but Pepsi goes far beyond.” He also stated that they came to the United States for religious liberty and not sexual liberty. Also joining the boycott are Kings Avenue Baptist Church in Brandon and Plant City Church of God.

Kempell pointed to other boycotts such as the one against Kmart, Circle K, and Ford Motor Company as examples of how effective the boycott can be despite the fact that the only boycotts that actually worked were against 7-Eleven and Circle K. Even Ford only pulled back on their advertisements in LGBT magazines. The AFA stated that they were boycotting McDonalds they had a director on the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, but dropped the boycott after they received a memo ensuring their ‘neutrality’ in the culture wars. The director was not dropped, however.

In fact, the AFA has been boycotting Pepsico largely since the Madonna “Like a Prayer” tour in 1989 because they objected to the video. They never officially called off the boycott apparently.

It should be noted that, while Pepsi has made inroads into the Southern market, it is still dominated by Coca Cola, and that may be why the AFA, CIC and the three churches involved in this boycott are able to justify this. In Brunswick, GA, there is still the old Coca Cola distribution center. Coca Cola is available everywhere.

Including at Atlanta Pride.

Picture via Wikipedia
AFA Pepsi Boycott Pledge
Tampa Tribune Article Brandon Baptist Church Pulls Plug On Pepsi Products