Twitter Users Slam Pepsi Poster Promoting A Florida COVID-19 Testing Site

A Pepsi-sponsored poster promoting a COVID-19 testing site at a Walmart in Orlando, Florida, is leaving a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths.

That’s because the poster prominently features Pepsi branding including the soda’s current motto, “That’s what I like.”

But a lot of people apparently didn’t like it, based on the Twitter reaction to this photo of the poster:

Despite the value in letting people know where they can get tested, Pepsi’s insistence on corporate branding left many people feeling as flat as a soda set out in the sun for two hours.

One person snarkily rewrote the poster to make it more accurate.

Others feared it might be the start of a trend.

Some were confused by the poster’s wording.

Others found the poster ominous for other reasons.

But at least one person joked the brand messaging was appropriate.

A Pepsi spokeswoman told HuffPost the poster “was an unfortunate mistake by one of our local sales associates that in trying to move with speed to get this important testing message up, did not follow proper approval protocols.”

She said the sign has been taken down. 

A Walmart spokeswoman sent this statement to HuffPost: 

“We know how important access to testing is in our local communities, and there was nothing negative intended by the banner. The local teams were trying to raise awareness about the testing site in order to help more people in the community. As soon as we learned about them, it was taken down.” 

This story has been updated with comment from a Pepsi spokesperson.