14 DAY TRIAL // Just like she did 4 years ago, Beyonce Knowles will take to the stage again and perform at the Obama Inauguration ceremony today. Those wishing she wouldn’t – mostly because of her new Pepsi endorsement deal – can’t do anything anymore because the White House pulled their petition down.
Several days ago, on the We The People website, a petition popped up asking for the White House to disinvite Beyonce from the Inauguration because her extremely lucrative deal with Pepsi went against everything she’d done with Mrs. Obama on the Let’s Move! program.
In other words, Forbes notes, people were asking the White House to be consistent with the message sent out to the public by Mrs. Obama, by ditching Beyonce to the curb, for supporting now a soft drink giant, in a context in which soft drinks are considered among the main reasons for the obesity epidemics.
The petition was initiated and created by Laurie David, an environmental activist and author of “The Family Dinner,” Forbes writes.
It didn’t last online for more than a few days before it was pulled down.
“A White House spokesperson ‘explained’ why the petition was removed to the Obama Foodarama blog, saying that Beyonce’s performance on Monday’s ceremony is ‘not something the White House actually has jurisdiction over. Selecting performers is a function of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, not the White House. We the People’s terms of participation state that users cannot post petitions that do not address the current or potential actions or policies of the federal government’,” Forbes writes.
It also accuses the White House of hypocrisy in endorsing an artist who goes where the money is at regardless of consequences.
“This deal involves standard advertising initiatives as well as a multimillion-dollar fund to support the singer’s chosen creative products; all of which will send mixed messages to her legions of fans, many of whom are precisely the young people the ‘Let’s Move!’ campaign targets. Beyonce’s face will appear on Pepsi cans across the country, and supermarkets will prominently feature cut-outs of the popstar in a tiny pair of hot pants pushing a grocery cart packed full of Pepsi. The final word being, if you like Beyonce, buy Pepsi and plenty of it,” Forbes writes.
So, it’s been settled: Beyonce will perform at the Inauguration and will most likely continue to support Michelle Obama in the project, even if her work with Pepsi will send an entirely different message to her legions of fans.