Announcing A Great New Partnership
Apr 01, 2012, Updated Aug 17, 2017
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Update, sometime after April 1, 2012:ย Just kidding! ย This was my annual April Fools post.ย I haven’t actually sold out to Pepsico, and I’m pretty sure they won’t be making “Chia Cheetos” anytime soon! ย (but if they do, I want a kickback…) ย ๐
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Last August I had the privilegeย of hearing Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo, speak at the BlogHer Conference in San Diego.
At the time, I was highly critical of what she said. Well, word of my criticism actually got back to Ms. Nooyi, and to my surprise, she reached out to me personally!
After several surprising hours with her on the phone, and even chatting into the wee hours of the night about everything from farm subsidies to school lunches, I started to understand how her vision of PepsiCo’s “Better For You” products will be able to make healthier choices an accessible,ย affordableย reality for everyone.
For example, we all know that most Americans are not getting enough fiber in their diets — and we also know that Quaker Oats are a terrific source of fiber. But no one likes to eat mushy, bland oatmeal! I now think my original frustrations were short-sighted: I’ve come to realize that combining the nutritious, fibrous power of oatmeal with a delicious, trans-fat-free breakfast cookie is the only possible way we’reย going to get kids to eat their oats.
Similarly, the new Trop50 line is the only scientifically proven way to help reduce the amount of “empty” calories Americans are drinking. By replacing half the actual juice with water (and including just a tiny amount of Generally Recognized As Safe sweeteners and flavoring agents), we can simultaneously boost people’s water intake while reducing the amount of unnecessary sugar they consume. And with a full day’s supply of added Vitamin C, no one will ever have to suffer from Scurvy again!
They’ve also been quite receptive to my ideas of how to make their products even better. Based on our conversations, they’re currently in development for Seven-Grain 7UP, Flaxseed Fritos, and (my personal favorite) Chia Cheetos!
After working together so well behind-the-scenes, Ms. Nooyi (and her lawyers) and Iย have decided it’s time toย publiclyย proclaim our partnership. So I’m thrilled to announce thatย as of today, April 1st, PepsiCo is now the flagship sponsor of Eating Rules!
As part of this arrangement, I’ve sold them the full naming rights to the site, and soon I’ll be moving everything to the new domain: PepsiCoRules.comย (be sure to click through for a “beta” preview of the new site!)
I wholeheartedly believe that this partnership will make Eating Rules truly “Better For You,” and I thank you for your continued support!
I totally missed what day it was and I was SOOO disappointed with you. I had decided not to unsubscribe, but wait and see what happened. I went & read the last post about this and then came back to read the comments here. Then I found out what Day it was. Very well Done. I was completely fooled.
I am going to go to bed laughing because of your post! I almost felt an inkling of disappointment when I saw the title, but I remembered the date:)
I love you, my witty friend:)
I appreciate that you didn’t indicate the truthfulness of this post outright.
I was hung up on the idea of kids not liking oatmeal, then the artificial sweetener threw me for such a loop-gotta love april fools. great post.
Another great one for April 1, Andrew! Very well written, as always.
Wow, I was excited about chia cheetos as well ๐
Great post ๐
You da bomb, baby.
I hope you sent this to Pepsico. LOL
OMG too funny!!!!! I should have known from Chia Cheetos! lol!
Well, you got me. You did get me, and I am very hard to fall for an April Fool’s joke!
I STILL cannot believe you got me, and this will trouble me until April 1st 2013 – there, are you happy? ๐
priceless post, though…