Update:
Pepsi has announced that they're pulling the controversial Kendall Jenner ad: pic.twitter.com/45gUpuxI2P
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) April 5, 2017
File this Kendall Jenner ad under the “how the hell did the pitch get accepted?” category.
Pepsi teamed up with the second-most popular Kardashian to create one terrible fucking ad.
Here’s a synopsis.
A staged protest is happening during a Kendall Jenner photoshoot. The shoot is juxtaposed against artists and millennials engaging in perhaps the most upbeat protest ever. Jenner cluelessly looks out at the protest wondering WTF is going on. Eventually, after gazing into the eyes of a protester, she stops the shoot, rips off her blonde wig and joins the movement. She’s SOOOOOO woke now.
Here’s where things get fucking stupid. Jenner picks up a Pepsi, awkwardly fistbumps fellow protesters and gives the drink to a cop who drinks it, as a photo is snapped. Protesters cheer?
All of this is captured with Skip Marley’s (son of Bob Marley, a man with many protest songs) hit “Lion” playing.
Here’s how Pepsi described the ad:
“A short film about the moments when we decide to let go, choose to act, follow our passion and nothing holds us back. Capturing the spirit and actions of those people that jump in to every moment and featuring multiple lives, stories and emotional connections that show passion, joy, unbound and uninhibited moments. No matter the occasion, big or small, these are the moments that make us feel alive.”
Does Pepsi think protests are glamorous? Do they know even one of the many reasons why discriminated groups rightly protest around the globe? Do they think Pepsi can cure police brutality? Seriously, what the fuck?
Perhaps, worst of all, the image parallels a real-life situation. As Elle points out, Jenner reaching out to Police with a Pepsi is nearly an identical shot to when Black Lives Matter Protester Ieshia Evans approached cops in Baton Rogue. The powerful imagery is completely shit on by Pepsi. Choosing Jenner, a non-talented model, born into money, who’s never made any real attempt to speak out on social issues, is laughably frustrating and tone deaf.
The reaction on Twitter was appropriately unkind.
https://twitter.com/CzarIito/status/849382857890045954
https://twitter.com/miabellastclair/status/849375677157605376
https://twitter.com/chrisgayomali/status/849373629469118464
https://twitter.com/hmaxwellpitts/status/849383883871322115
https://twitter.com/BRANDONWARDELL/status/849371079692963842
Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Kendall Jenner, John Lewis, Ella Baker
— Zito (@_Zeets) April 4, 2017
This is awful and you should feel awful
— CB (@ascannerburkely) April 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/AGoot18/status/849391048552054786
Pepsi literally made the wrong decision in nearly every aspect of this commercial. Jenner is the last person you should get to represent today’s tenuous political climate. Protests aren’t supposed to be fun. Unfortunately, the world sucks for a lot of people. It’s a tough reality, not a marketing ploy. Do better Pepsi—this shit is garbage.
PS: Coke’s better.
