Pepsi Pulls Out Kendall Jenner Commercial Following Unpopular Feedback
ByHeppy Dewandani
Apr 05, 2017 07:34 PM EDT
The current political situation is steamy and it is better for companies and public figures to react to it carefully. Taking the moment as an opportunity for a campaign, Pepsi received negative feedback from people after featuring Kendall Jenner on its latest ad campaign.
The advertising, which is a two-and-a-half-minute video, shows Kendall Jenner doing a photo shoot while there is a protest marching in front of her. While other people representing the minority groups like an Asian cello player and a Muslim photographer joining the march, Jenner takes off her blond wig and wipes her lipstick to join too.
Kendall Jenner then took a can of Pepsi before offering it to the cops at the protest. After drinking the coke, the cop smiles and everyone in the march is seen cheering for her for making peace.
But this supposedly political ad that features "Lions", a song by Skip Marley, is not welcomed by many. Variety reported that people on the Internet are not happy with it.
Many people view this as a racist and tone deaf commercial. While some people believe it portrays the Black Live Matters protests that end up having Kendall Jenner a privileged, white woman who comes from a socialite family, as the heroine, some also believe that the company is doing it on purpose for just publicity.
Following the backlash, Pepsi released a statement and it is not what people expected, according to Marie Claire. Instead of an apology, the company explained that the controversial commercial is "a global ad that reflects people from different walks of life coming together in a spirit of harmony, and we think that's an important message to convey."
But people are not impressed with the excuse and the backlash continued until Pepsi decided to pull the ad and gave an apology statement. "Clearly we missed the mark and we apologize," the company stated. They also apologized to Kendall Jenner for putting her in the situation, as reported by i-D. The ad will not be available on Youtube anymore and will not be aired on any platform.
