Pepsi Cuts “Under God” from Pledge of Allegiance on Cans-Fiction!

Pepsi Cuts “Under God” from Pledge of Allegiance on Cans – Fiction!

Summary of eRumor: 

New cans of Pepsi will feature the Pledge of Allegiance without the phrase “under god.”

The Truth: 

This eRumor was sort of true at one time, but it’s not anymore.

Reports that “under god” had been left off cans of soda showed up after the 9/11 terrorists attacks. TruthorFiction.com investigated back then, and we found that Dr Pepper — not Pepsi — had in fact released a can of soda that said “One Nation … Indivisible” across the top. Click here for the story.

Critics said that Dr Pepper left out “under god” because the company wanted to be politically correct. The led some to call for boycotts of the soda. The Dr Pepper Snapple Group responded:

“In recent days, several news media outlets in the country have reported on a special edition Dr Pepper can that was created to show support for the patriotic fervor that has been sweeping America since the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, and to show the world that we are a united nation of people who place a high value upon freedom. Much of the information being circulated on this subject is incomplete or inaccurate. Here are the facts:

“The can, released last November, features an image of the Statue of Liberty along with the words ‘One Nation … Indivisible.’

“The special packaging was designed to reflect our pride in this country’s determination to stand together as one. The Statue of Liberty and Pledge of Allegiance were chosen as two of the greatest symbols of American freedom.

“Due to space limitations on the can, only a few of the 31 words from the Pledge of Allegiance could be used. The available area for graphics limited the amount of verbiage on the can.

“Of the 31 words in the Pledge of Allegiance, only three were included. More than 90 percent were not included.

“We at Dr Pepper/Seven Up strongly believe that the message on these cans is a resoundingly patriotic, bipartisan message that we are a united nation.

“More than 41 million special edition cans were ordered by Dr Pepper bottlers in portions of a dozen states.  Because the limited edition patriotic can is to be retired in February, you will soon see regular packaging graphics for Dr Pepper at your local retail stores.”

That should have settled it, but somehow the eRumor has changed over the years. Now chain emails urge people to boycott Pepsi because it supposedly left “under god” off its cans. That isn’t true. Pepsi responded directly:

“You’ve received an erroneous email about a ‘patriotic can’ that Pepsi allegedly produced with an edited version of America’s Pledge of Allegiance. The truth is, Pepsi never produced such a can. In fact, this is a hoax that has been circulating on the Internet for more than six years. A patriotic package used in 2001 by Dr Pepper (which is not a part of PepsiCo) was inappropriately linked to Pepsi. Thanks for giving us the chance to clarify the situation and please feel free to share this message with anyone else who may have received the erroneous email.”

It’s not unusual for eRumors to morph over the years, and it appears that’s what happened here.