Fact Check

Pepsi CEO Tells Trump Supporters to Take Their Business Elsewhere

Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi never told supporters of Donald Trump to "take their business elsewhere," implicitly or explicitly.

Published Nov. 15, 2016

Claim:
Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi told Donald Trump supporters to "take their business elsewhere."
What's True

Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi said on 10 November 2016 that a number of her employees were worried about the election of Donald Trump.

What's False

Nooyi didn't say Trump supporters should "take their business elsewhere."

Following the 8 November 2016 U.S. presidential election, a number of web sites quoted Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi as purportedly having stated that supporters of Donald Trump should "take their business elsewhere":

BREAKING : Pepsi STOCK Plummets After CEO Tells Trump Supporters to “Take Their Business Elsewhere”

BREAKING NEWS NOVEMBER 15, 2016

Pepsi should have taken a look at Macy’s and what happened to them after they irrationally attacked Trump and his supporters.However, they’re ignoring Macy’s plight and attacking Trump supporters and telling us to “Take our business elsewhere.”

However, Pepsico is ignoring Macy’s plight and attacking Trump supporters and telling us to “Take our business elsewhere.”

The same "breaking news," along with PepsiCo's purported "take their business elsewhere" quote, was reported on 13 November 2016 by a separate blog:

Massive Stewardship Fail — PepsiCo CEO Tells Trump Supporters to Take Their Business Elsewhere ...

This will not end well for shareholders of stocks in PepsiCo. Macy’s business model collapsed after they took a similarly adversarial position toward candidate Donald Trump in 2015. Now that Donald Trump has won the presidency, PepsiCo is following the same path as Macy’s.

These items linked to a 10 November 2016 Business Insider article which reported Nooyi said some company employees were upset by the election results:

PepsiCo's CEO said the election of Donald Trump as president was terrifying her employees.

"I had to answer a lot of questions from my daughters, from our employees. They were all in mourning," PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi told Andrew Ross Sorkin at The New York Times' DealBook conference.

"Our employees were all crying," she said. "And the question that they're asking, especially those who are not white, 'Are we safe?' Women are asking, 'Are we safe?' LGBT people are asking, 'Are we safe?' I never thought I would have to answer those questions."

After congratulating Trump for his success, Nooyi, who supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, said everyone in the US needed assurance of their safety. ... Nooyi also said she was disgusted more generally by the language that has been used to discuss women in recent months.

"How dare we talk about women that way," Nooyi said. "I don't think there's a place for that kind of language in any part of society, not in locker rooms, not in football players' homes, not in any place. And, if we don't nip it in the bud, Andrew, this is going to be lethal force that's going to take over society."

An embedded "full video of Nooyi and Sorkin's conversation" followed:

The piece concluded:

Ultimately, Nooyi told Sorkin she thought Americans needed to unite and accept the outcome of the election.

"The process of democracy happened," she said. "We just need to let life go on."

Nowhere in this video did the CEO of Pepsi state that Donald Trump supporters should "take their business elsewhere," either explicitly or tacitly. Moreover, Nooyi congratulated Trump on his win and described the outcome as "the process of democracy." Although she did state some employees were troubled by Trump's election, she never in any way said Trump supporters should not purchase Pepsi products.

Sources

Taylor, Kate.   "PepsiCo CEO: Employees Are Scared for Their Safety After Trump's Election."     Business Insider.   10 November 2016.

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.