Nweswire: Pepsi

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Pepsi's Burma Presence Draws Student Protests: W. Post
 
   NEW YORK (AP-Dow Jones)--PepsiCo Inc.'s softdrink 
sales in military-ruled Burma has spawned a wave of 
student activism against the company and appears to be 
a boon to once-politically unpopular rival Coca Cola Co., 
the Washington Post reports on Thursday. 
   The paper reports that students at about 75 schools 
have begun pasting boycott appeals on Pepsi soft drink 
machines and lobbying for university trustees to join 
shareholder revolts against business in Burma. Harvard
University's director of dining services this week reversed 
a plan to transfer $200,000 in business from Coca-Cola to 
Pepsi after meetings with students claiming that the company 
contributes to forced labor practices in Burma, the
Post reports. 
   'Burma has become the South Africa of the '90s and the 
problem that Pepsi has is that they can find people that feel 
like this on campuses around the world,' the Post quotes 
Simon Billenness, a senior analyst at the Boston-based 
Franklin Research & Development Corp., as saying. 
   Elaine Franklin, manager of corporate information at 
PepsiCo, said the company entered a soft drink joint venture 
in Burma in 1991 with Burmese entrepreneur U Thein Tun, the 
paper says. The company's initial investment of $1 million has 
grown to one which produces more than $8 million in revenue 
each year, the New York Times says. 
   The company has 240 Burmese employees and is a major 
sponsor of sporting events in Burma, also known as Myanmar, 
the paper reports. 
   'PepsiCo certainly does not support tyranny and terrorism,' 
the Post quotes Franklin as saying, adding that Pepsi believes 
'that we can best promote the well-being of the citizens of a 
country by providing quality products, employment, social 
benefits, trading opportunities and introducing new ways of
thinking.' 
   (END) AP-DOW JONES NEWS 04-04-96
   0536GMT