Milwaukee High School of the Arts, Wisconsin public schools, parks and recreation, and pretty much the entire recreation division in the state of Wisconsin, bow to the great corporate god of Pepsi.
While touring a Milwaukee public school, I stumbled upon the high school cafeteria and decided to check out the vending machines, since drinks and snacks available to children has become a national pastime for us middle- aged, unemployed folks who have nothing better to do than to discover hypocrisy patterns with our local school officials.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered the Unilever/Pepsi product, Lipton lemonade and fruit punch were being sold to Milwaukee’s helpless teenage population. I immediately snapped a photo that I hoped would turn viral at the discovery of such propaganda.
According to a Huffington Post article dated from March 2010, “Pepsi outdoes Coca-cola , plans to stop selling sugary drinks in schools worldwide”( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/16/pepsi-outdoes-cocacola-pl_n_501...) obviously, there has been some sort of miscommunication within the state of Wisconsin regarding the removal of such products.
Pepsi is supposedly making strides to remove sugared sodas from public schools and replacing those products with low calorie alternatives and water. The Lipton’s fruit punch contains 183 calories in its 20 ounce bottle while a 20 ounce serving of Pepsi contains 250 calories. There is a 60 calorie difference but the Huffington Post article seemed to imply that Pepsi is acknowledging the sugar content in all its products and making progress in changing the vending products being offered in public schools. We certainly wouldn’t want to assume that Pepsi makes public statements than doesn’t follow through with their commitments.
According to an article published by Motherjones.com,( http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/08/schools-limit-campus-jun...) eighty percent of public schools allow big soda companies(either Coke or Pepsi) exclusive pouring rights and total control of their vending snack brands within public school districts. But we kind of know it’s a total joke anyhow, the big companies gain a foot In the door of any facility (even jail, Pepsi rules) they desire all they do is pay for it.
Frankly, In consideration of this nation’s current economic situation, in regards to budget cuts etc. one wonders why they don’t just allow Pepsi and Coke to have at it so to speak. Hell, if we already allow big soda company’s access to the consumers they desire, perhaps we should just turn over the entire public education system to them, it is pretty much inevitable anyhow. In fact it is a win-win situation. They pay to fix the school system and field trips, books, libraries and cafeterias and hey, they can simply start training their employee prospects right from age four and five. If they end up in county jail, Pepsi products and snacks are still the brand that is in complete control of all institutions within this state. All hospitals and state institutions sell their brands as well. Most of downtown Milwaukee vendors all sell Pepsi products as well. I wonder why the Pepsi logo isn’t a part of the state flag.
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