Pepsi and 7-Eleven Boost Feeding America

Pepsi is at it again, showing how a mega-brand can make a major difference, even one nickel at a time.

According to World Hunger, last year some “17.2 million households, 14.5 percent of households (approximately one in seven), were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States.”

Partnering with 7-Eleven convenience stores nationwide, the beverage giant will donate five cents from each 20-oz. Pepsi product purchased at a 7-Eleven store, or, in a growing trend of slacktivism spurred by social media, they'll double the donation if it involves checking in using Facebook Places.

Through Dec. 31, Pepsi is collecting up to $250,000 for Feeding America, which provides emergency food assistance to 37 million Americans each year including 14 million children and three million senior citizens. 

"We believe it's important to create unique, point-of-sales marketing programs that engage our customers and provide them with a convenient, immediate way to do good," said Bryan Welsh, Pepsi's VP of shopper marketing.

An estimated 2 billion people are poor and hungry in the world today, many much poorer than here in the U.S. according to World Hunger Facts. A new study, Food Banks: Hunger’s New Staple, reports that many Americans chronically depend on food pantries and charitable food services to feed themselves and their families. 

Both Pepsi and 7-Eleven will promote the campaign in-store and online including case cards on Pepsi end-caps as well as national and hyper-local advertising on Facebook and participating food bank websites.  

"Studies show that cause-marketing and social media are two critical ways to reach millennial consumers, a target demographic for both 7-Eleven and Pepsi," said Jesus Delgado-Jenkins, 7-Eleven senior VP merchandising, marketing and logistics.  

It’s significant that PepsiCo, with the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, generating net revenues of approximately $60 billion, continues to model a corporate commitment to Performance with Purpose.

That said, it will take a lot of nickels to make a difference in this unconscionable social crisis of epidemic proportion — food insecurity, and a nation where food assistance has become the ‘new normal.’