Posted on 05/20/2005 2:58:53 PM PDT by Pikamax
Nooyi apologises for 'slight of hand' to protect PepsiCo
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2005 12:27:06 AM] Sign into earnIndiatimes points MUMBAI: Indra Nooyi, whose ‘America-as-the-middle-finger’ remarks ignited a raging blogstorm in the US, has tendered a formal apology after an initial clarification failed to douse irate Americans calling for a Pepsi boycott.
“I appreciate the honest comments that have been shared with me since then, and am deeply sorry for offending anyone,” she said in a statement posted on the Pepsi website. “Over the years I have witnessed and advised others how a thoughtless gesture or comment can hurt good caring people. Regrettably, I have proven my own point. Please accept my sincere apologies,” she added.
In her Sunday speech at the Columbia Business School graduation ceremony, Ms Nooyi had compared the five continents of the world to the five fingers of the hand. Europe was the index finger, Asia was the thumb, Africa the little finger and the US, the middle finger.
She said that the world regards Americans as boorish and therefore, they (Americans) must exercise caution and engender respect among the world. She also said that as the middle finger anchors the hand, it has a great responsibility to ensure that the hand functions smoothly.
The apology came after an initial clarification over her remarks at Columbia on Sunday failed to make critics hold their fire. Ms Nooyi had said that her remarks were “misconstrued and depicted in a different sort of context as unpatriotic”. “Although nothing could be further from the truth, I regret any confusion or concern that I may have inadvertently created,” the statement released by PepsiCo on Wednesday had said.
It is not known if even this apology will help. Irate Americans are asking for a boycott of Pepsi products, an explanation from Pepsi CEO Stephen Reinemund on a television or a talk show, while others are even hinting at drastic measures.
“The blunder needs to be contained. Abject apology followed by abject apology. Decide right now whether Indra Nooyi matters more than a lasting black eye. Think about the brand,” said a posting on hughhewitt.com, a well-known blog.
Ordinary Americans also seem to be upset. Graduate Wes Martin, who first informed www.powerlineblog.com about the speech, told the New York Sun that he was quite disturbed.
“My family had flown a great distance and spent a great deal of money to come and celebrate a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and were disturbed that the president and CFO of a US-based company made such a comparison at a business school ceremony,” he said.
Another reader, Hugh Marshall, questions the very basis of Ms Nooyi’s analogy. “Since when does the middle finger anchor the hand? Jerry Garcia didn’t even have a middle finger and it didn’t stop him from playing the guitar.
The opposing thumb is far more important and if there is any analogy here, it is that the US is a big opposing thumb that keeps the rest of the world from losing its grasp,” he added.
Eric Egland, member of the Iraqi Field Team’s Improvised Explosive Device Task Force, wrote that he had been humbled by the gratitude displayed by many Iraqis and Afghan people to the US for their action and that he found her comments offensive and off-base.
Lies after lies .....
Is that you Chappaquidik Fats?
Now please go away.
heptadactylism
You can defend her speech all you like, but there was something wrong with it, or she wouldn't be apologizing and saying she made a mistake.
Germans are the engineers
If you liked Pepsi, try Wal-Mart cola. It's very similar.
And she does it with a juvenile gibe. Like that of adolescents whose maturity isn't even up to their own age.
What was wrong with it was that is was poorly written and banal.
She apologized 'cause she offended a bunch of sensitive Sallies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.