January 6, 2011; Source: New York Times | Here’s another one of those “we could have seen this coming” situations. According to Stephanie Strom of the New York Times, Pepsi Refresh, the high profile charity contest which encourages nonprofits to compete for grants by having supporters vote for them, is apparently being sullied by (gasp) bought votes.
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Those votes are apparently being organized by a certain “Mr. Magic” who seems to be operating out of India via his accountant in Baton Rouge, La. This violates Pepsi’s rules against both proxy votes and votes from abroad. Some of the contestants have cried foul and say that they have repeatedly complained to Pepsi but with little effect.—Ruth McCambridge