Edward F. Boyd

This focus on the African American market caused some consternation within the company and among its affiliates. They did not want to seem focused on black customers for fear that whites would be pushed away. In a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Pepsico president Mack, who favored progressive causes and was the impetus for this marketing push, tried to assuage the 500 bottlers in attendance by saying, "We don't want it to become known as the nigger drink." At the utterance of those words Boyd, who was in attendance at this meeting, walked out of the auditoriwum, shocked and dismayed by Mack's statement. Later Mack apologized and expressed his repentance, Boyd understood that those were not his sentiments. "I didn't forget it, but I didn't hold it against him either," he told The Wall Street Journal. After Mack left the company in 1950, support for the black sales team faded and Boyd was let go.

When Boyd joined Pepsi in 1947, most U.S. businesses either ignored the African American market or depicted them using ethnic stereotypes such as the "Mammy archetype". But Walter S. Mack, president of Pepsi at the time, saw the potential of a vast untapped market. In fact, he had previously established an all-black sales team in 1940, but had to drop it due to the onset of World War II.

Boyd, an African American himself, was born and grew up in Riverside, California. After high school, he trained at a local opera company and wanted to be a diplomat. After graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1938, he enjoyed a short film career, playing minor roles, often as stereotypical singing and dancing roles which he resented. During his time in Hollywood, he escorted Hattie McDaniel to the 1939 Academy Awards ceremony when she became the first African American performer to win the prestigious award. He later worked for the Screen Actors Guild, was the first African American to work for the Civil Service Commission in San Francisco, and then worked as a housing specialist for the National Urban League.

Edward Francis Boyd (June 27, 1914 – April 30, 2007) was an American business executive who was responsible for the marketing of products specifically to African Americans in an era when racial discrimination was rampant and blacks had either been ridiculed or systematically ignored in advertising. His efforts for Pepsi-Cola pioneered the concept of niche marketing and allowed Pepsi to substantially increase its market share in the black community at the expense of Coca-Cola. Boyd was a leader in the African-American business community.