The choice of a new generation? Not exactly.
Pepsi withdrew a controversial TV ad less than 24 hours after its debut this week, after it received harsh criticism and relentless ridicule on social media.
Print7 April 2017
Pepsi has been no stranger to controversial ad campaigns over the years. The company found itself in hot water way back in 1989 when Madonna starred in a commercial featuring a “black Jesus” and burning crosses.
The company might have been aiming to recapture some of that zeitgeisty excitment with its latest ad campaign. The two-minute TV ad featured reality star Kendall Jenner abandoning a photoshoot to join a protest march, before defusing the situation by offering a police officer a can of Pepsi, much to the delight of her fellow protesters.
This is not 1989, however, and social media allows reactions to ad campaigns to be immedate, total and – in this case – devastating.
Within hours, there was outcry about the advert undermining the Black Lives Matter movement, which has grown in recent years in response to police shootings of unarmed black men and boys. Pepsi was accused of appropriating “protest culture” in order to profit which, given the current climate in the USA, is a cynical, tone-deaf and highly inappropriate move.
To make things worse, the ad’s release on 4 April coincided with the asssassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. Bernice King, daughter of the civil rights leader tweeted a photo of her father, sarcastically adding “If only Daddy would have known about the power of Pepsi.”
Others commented that a caucasian, beautiful and born-rich model such as Jenner was hardly an appropriate choice to front the ad.
As the criticism and mockery grew, Pepsi first defended its advert, saying it “reflects people from different walks of life coming together in a spirit of harmony”. However, eventually the tide broke, and the company announced that it was halting the campaign and ceasing any further roll-out.
“Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding,” the company said on its official site. “Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are removing the content and halting any further rollout.
“We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position,” it added – a code which drew even more criticism. The internet’s a tricky place, eh?
Watch the full ad here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA5Yq1DLSmQ
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