Pepsi Refresh Project Deceptive, Falsely Advertized, Un-Nescessairly Hyped- Up Waste of Time... Internet

I am SOOO irritated right now with the Pepsi Refresh Project... For those of you who aren't familiar with the "Pepsi Refresh Project", it is a program that Pepsi initiated, where they advertise that the general public can go online to their website and apply for a grant for "anything they want", then wait for it to be voted for... Anyone who is like me and has tried to apply for a Pepsi Refresh Grant knows that this is not the case.

The program was launched by Pepsi at the beginning of this year, with ideas able to be submitted beginning early December 2009, and those ideas being voted on through the month of January 2010.

Essentially this is a popularity contest. Those who have enough friends get a hand out to do whatever they want, and those who are like me and are a nobody don't get squat. I have been trying to get my idea submitted ever since the program was first launched, and every month it is always a new excuse as to why they can't approve my idea to even be voted on.

When I submitted my Idea for January's cycle, they told me there had already been 1,000 submissions. Same answer when I tried to submit for February and March's cycle, so on March 1st (the first day you can submit your idea for the following month is the first of that month; you only have until the 15th of the previous month to submit your idea) at 12:01am, I submitted my idea, and FINALLY was able to be one of the first 1,000 submissions.

Because I had gotten my idea in on time, I assumed everything was in the works to go into voting for the month of April. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Apparently, during the month of March, Pepsi changed the rules on submissions, so that a letter of recommendation was no longer an optional submission when applying for a grant, and I hadn't submitted a letter of reccomendation, so they kicked out my application, and they didn't bother to tell me until it was too late on April 1st. When I got my letter of reccomendation, which was the same day, I scanned it into the computer and attempted to re-submit my application, in order to try to get into the voting stage for the month of May, and there had already been 1,000 entries. So now, I have to wait another MONTH to go into voting, because of THEIR STUPIDITY...

I sent an e-mail to Pepsi through their website, giving them a piece of my mind. I told them I thought it was messed up that I have to wait so long while everyone else gets a piece of the action. Not to mention half the projects that I've seen get funded are BS. Who's to say that the recipient isn't just pocketing the money and running? I had a legit idea, and they won't even give me a chance.

When I sent out the e-mail, I included all of my contact information in the e-mail, so that they could contact me in person, and I could HOPEFULLY work something out with them. This was not the case, though. They sent me a BS computer- generated response that didn't even come close to addressing my issue.

All that did was make me even more angry. I used to drink Pepsi faithfully, but now I have lost my taste for all Pepsi Products... I find it hard to support a dishonest company.

If any of you are considering trying to apply for a refresh grant, don't bother. Take my advice, and you will save yourself 6 months of bull crap...