PepsiCo's new commitment to viewpoint-neutral advertising headlines slew of early season shareholder wins
Food, beverage giant adopts policy to guard against future politicized ad buys while ADF-supported shareholders score victories at major brands AT&T, Apple
WASHINGTON – In response to successful engagement by shareholders and Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys through the ballot resolution process, PepsiCo has adopted a new stance of viewpoint neutrality in its advertising policies. The move is intended to guard against future instances of viewpoint-discriminatory advertising decisions by the $240 billion corporation, and it’s just one of three early victories for ADF-backed resolutions in the early portion of the 2025 proxy season.
Many household brands joined the now-defunct Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which promised to promote “digital safety” and protect brand value. But in practice, GARM actually worked to censor mainstream conservative and religious views. PepsiCo had been a participant in GARM, which disbanded in 2024 after X CEO Elon Musk filed a lawsuit alleging that the group illegally conspired to pull advertising dollars from his platform. Formed in 2019 as an offshoot of the World Federation of Advertisers, which represents around 90% of global advertising, GARM pressured Spotify to boot Joe Rogan from its platform and promoted the Global Disinformation Index and NewsGuard, which blacklist mainstream conservative media outlets as “misinformation.”
Financial advisor, author, and television commentator David Bahnsen filed a shareholder resolution calling on the board of directors to account for PepsiCo’s discriminatory ad buying through GARM, and the company met with ADF attorneys and Bahnsen’s representatives at Bowyer Research to discuss the resolution. PepsiCo agreed to change its policy in exchange for Bahnsen withdrawing his resolution from the ballot.
“This is a big step in restoring corporate America to its proper place in our society, and I applaud PepsiCo for making this crucial change,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President for Corporate Engagement Jeremy Tedesco. “No corporation should be involved in censorship at any level, and the participation of so many companies in silencing the views of everyday Americans through GARM should concern us all. We hope every company follows PepsiCo’s example and recommits to doing its part to protect freedom of speech and thought in our nation and throughout the world.”
Along with the policy change at PepsiCo, ADF-supported shareholders have also notched a series of notable victories elsewhere in the run-up to this year’s annual shareholder meeting season. In response to a National Center for Public Policy Research resolution, AT&T agreed to provide transparency into its government-mandated supplier diversity requirements. At Apple, all four resolutions that will appear on its proxy ballot for its upcoming annual meeting Feb. 25 were filed by ADF allies.
For the second year in a row, Apple filed a no-action request with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in response to an ADF-backed resolution—this time aimed at providing transparency into why the company has removed an iOS software function designed to identify child sex abuse material. But the SEC did not grant Apple its requested relief, so Apple must now allow shareholders to consider that resolution, along with those touching on diversity, equity, and inclusion, ethical AI, and religious discrimination in charitable giving.
Overall, shareholders have filed over 60 ADF-backed resolutions for the upcoming season—more than twice those filed in the previous year. Those resolutions have resulted in at least 25 meetings with corporate leaders.
“America’s major corporations belong to American shareholders, not ideologically driven activists, so it’s encouraging to see this kind of positive engagement from household brands that we use every day,” said Tedesco. “Our goal is to bring about meaningful and lasting change in corporate America. We’re grateful to see the explosion of fruitful dialogue we’ve had with corporate leadership.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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