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.
"They see America and "middle finger" and conclude the worst without reading the speech."
You should see the buchanan threads....
Yah, yah, yah... this could have been written by Howard Dean, too.
she left out this part...
"However, if used inappropriately –just like the U.S. itself -- the middle finger can convey a negative message and get us in trouble. You know what I’m talking about. In fact, I suspect you’re hoping that I’ll demonstrate what I mean. And trust me, I’m not looking for volunteers to model."
It just seems to me that if she wants to go to a liberal bastion and rouse the America Haters, she'd be wise to consider her other hat at Pepsico. She's having her very own Rosie/K-Mart moment in her career, and I choose to watch the show.
This woman is a stupid twit. Everyone knows that OPPOSABLE Thumbs rule the world...without the THUMB we are primordial slime...no better than dolphins even...and don't even get me started on the walking upright thing!!
G
No, that is not what she is saying. Those few that snub their fingers are Republican patriots in the Bush administration. You are not reading this correctly.
Really? Where does she say that?
It seems to me when so many are saying that sort of thing outright, to go after a woman who specifically did NOT say that because you think her remarks indicate a person who might think that, to go after a woman who outwardly professes her patriotism and love for America at a time when so many attack even the notion of patriotism -- that is going way beyond rational reaction to her speech.
Where did she say that?
You are not reading this correctly.
I'm not making up comments that a woman never made? So many people are attacking Republicans and the Bush administration, and this woman specifically does not mention them -- and you still want to attack because you're pretty sure that's what she refrained from saying?
She may very well think that. But I credit her for leaving those opinions out of her speech, letting the graduates make up their own minds about what constitutes finger-snubbing.
I do not know what you are smoking, but you need to reread what she said. YOu are missing the entire tone and substance of her remarks.
Do you place any judgement on the mere fact that she was asked to speak at Columbia?
That alone speaks volumes of what she represents. Columbia wouldn't invite an unknown to speak; they seek only the hardest liberals they can find.
You DO know she's trying to make a juvenile joke for the college kids she's talking to, right? Ha ha, get it, middle finger? How is that "go[ing] to a liberal bastion and rous[ing] the America Haters"?
So you can't find any support for your position? You can't find the anti-Americanism in her speech to post it? It's hidden somewhere in the 'tone'?
I'm certainly not about to attack someone just for speaking there.
I have a feeling they're reading this thread by now...
Then here is a place where you can defend her against those who do make such judgements.
Get a grip!
No one has offered any evidence to contradict my statements. Can you?
One thing I don't understand is why we aren't rioting, destroying our own mosques and killing each other over this outrage.
We have so much to learn from our blood thirsty Islamo-Fascist brethren of the Religion of Peace.
Ms. Nooyi,
There is no taking it back.
You must pay.
You will pay.
Hehehehe...
This stupid b*tch is toast. Pepsi remembers what happened with the Dixie Chicks, and they won't take a chance. She has to be fired quickly, to put out the fire!
I think the original Coke is much better, also.
I can't boycott Pepsi because I don't drink their (IMHO) inferior product.
But the remarks made by Nooyi certainly offended me.
I couldn't agree more.
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