For a few weeks now, I’ve seen hype-pieces about Kendall Jenner’s new Pepsi commercial. People really wanted the commercial to be something special, like the 2017 version of Cindy Crawford’s iconic Pepsi ad. Well, Kendall’s commercial was released yesterday and… you guys, this is one of the tackiest, most ridiculous pieces of advertising I’ve ever seen. It offends me deeply, I’m not even joking. Here’s the commercial (update: Pepsi has pulled the ad from YouTube but thankfully nothing ever dies on the internet):
Kendall Jenner is a rebel without a cause in new Pepsi commercial: https://t.co/E0HxK0gtl7 pic.twitter.com/clxmrM0Nwq
— Pret-a-Reporter (@pretareporter) April 4, 2017
Pepsi was like, “Hey, you know how we’re in this incredibly tricky moment involving religious identity, civil rights, Black Lives Matter, women’s rights and inclusionary politics? F–k it, let’s make an ad that glosses over all of those issues with naked commercialism!” Some questions I have:
1. Why do I have the feeling that the pitch meeting for this commercial involved at least one bro saying, “bitches love protest marches”?
2. Why do I get the feeling that everyone involved with conceptualizing this ad is a white dude?
3. Why does Pepsi want to commercialize a sanitized, child-like idea of protest culture?
4. Why was Kendall Jenner cast as the heroic white girl who solves all of the problems in the world by handing a cop a Pepsi?
5. If a non-white person had approached a cop with a Pepsi, what are the chances that the cop would have used deadly force?
6. Why was the Muslim woman cast as “the photographer” and not the model?
7. Why was Kendall wearing a blonde wig and what’s the symbolism of Kendall snatching her own wig?
8. Why don’t the protesters’ signs actually have any meaningful or topical statements?
9. Why did the Muslim woman photographer actually MISS the money shot of Kendall handing the Pepsi to the cop? That was the image she should have been shooting, so Pepsi is making her look incompetent.
Kendall passes an officer a Pepsi can and police brutality is solved, lmao White Media never ceases to amaze me
— Queen Mel (@BLVCKMATTERS) April 5, 2017
You guys laugh about this Pepsi thing now, but when Dr. Pepper finally solves healthcare you're all gonna feel pretty silly.
— Connor Kelley (@WhichItIs) April 5, 2017
everyone hates that Kendall Jenner ad but I gotta admit she totally made me want to enjoy a cold Pepsi and fire rubber bullets at protesters
— Matt Oswalt (@MattOswaltVA) April 5, 2017
The worst part of the Pepsi commercial is when Kendall decides to protest racism by making a black woman hold her wig. pic.twitter.com/NEfSwXqJvm
— Sean Kent (@seankent) April 5, 2017
Coke execs tonight after watching kendall’s pepsi ad pic.twitter.com/3u7Ti01bpi
— JamesMichael Nichols (@JMN) April 4, 2017
"Yo Kendall, im gonna need you to come through with a pepsi, these cops are wildin" pic.twitter.com/dOpKnTq8LU
— Kim Jong Tun (@ignant_) April 5, 2017
Right-wing conspiracy theorists have finally found their elusive "paid protester": Kendall Jenner https://t.co/gbWLoHDO6w #Pepsi pic.twitter.com/YHWK4auvwk
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) April 5, 2017
"Aye…tell Jesse to get a 6-pack of Pepsi and bring it to Selma. I'll explain later…" pic.twitter.com/5VElyQqC0W
— Suge Night Shyamalan (@B_Effin_G) April 5, 2017
Screencaps courtesy of Pepsi.
Yes. It is. All of the above.
My favorite joke is that it’s secretly a Coke ad lol
The Dr. Pepper solving healthcare made me snicker very loudly, I’ll admit.
Yeah, I loved that Coke ad one! Wish I’d said it.
Secret Coke ad…Brilliant.
Yeah, the Dr. Pepper one was my favorite. Actually LoLing over here.
Pepsi has pulled the ad claiming they “missed the mark” on their message. Duh.
A statement on the company’s website read: “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. 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.”
“1. Why do I have the feeling that the pitch meeting for this commercial involved at least one bro saying, “bitches love protest marches”?”
Idk, this ads tone-deafness strikes me more as ignorance based on class & age than anything. I dont see bro’s here. I picture a bunch of wealthy (men & women) baby-boomer/millenials pepsi execs, ad directors, financial analysts thinking THIS is what this new “Genation Z” will like/are. The ad plays like a patronizing joke.
It reminds me of Google’s recent amazingly hilarious “”This Is Lit”: A Guide To What Teens Think Is Cool”” package study
http://mashable.com/2017/04/03/google-its-lit-young-people-cool-report/?utm_content=buffer4bdda&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#nL1to02CXaq6
Oh my WORD the cool charts. I am dying laughing.
Baby-boomers/millenials…
You left out an entire generation there! Generation X. We’re in our 40s and 50s now, so we’d have definitely been in that meeting. Not sure millenials would be there.
But you inadvertently proved a point. My generation was so quiet and go-with-the-flow that we didn’t even get a name. That’s why we’re X. The lost, quiet, forgotten generation.
I was a teenager in the nineties and we still very much considered ourselves X. Yeah, I was that kind of kid.
Pepsi exec 1: ‘All these kids with their protests… it’s like activism is the new Coachella.’
Pepsi exec 2: ‘Protests. SO hot right now.’
*lightbulb goes off*
‘PROTESTELLA!!! Let’s get one of those Hadid girls! Aren’t they kinda Muslim or something? Not available, eh? Let’s get Kendall Jenner. She’s got Muslim AND black friends! They’ll fuckin LOVE her! My God, I can’t wait for the raise I’m going to get.’
Should we also be mad at Skip Marley for allowing his song to be used in this commercial? I mean did he not know/see the commercial before signing off?
As an musician that has had their music in ads, as long as it is not a racist or oppressive or inherently evil organization, I tend to let it be used, because these days I gotta eat when I can eat:)
In this case, I doubt he even knew how bad it was….
the cringe factor is off the charts in this piece of garbage.
It’s so awful that I feel like throwing out the (one) can of Pepsi that’s lingering in my fridge. WTF were they thinking?? Gah.
I stopped drinking Pepsi years ago. I hate the taste. Coke tastes better to me. I guess I was ahead of the curve lol. But just know Pepsi, as a company, makes many many products.
now she is the ultimate definition of nothing burger…just so bland.
She is ridiculously bland, for sure.
That cellist, however ….. *fans self*
Anyone know who he is? 🔥
The female photographer looks like the actual model compared to bland Kendall. She and the cellist (hot guy alert) were way more interesting.
Yep and he lip enhancements are so obvious in this. I wonder how all of those poeple in the commercials feel about it now.
Burger is way too interesting, she’s like oatmeal with nothing added, and not the good oatmeal, that instant stuff that you could use as wallpaper paste if needed.
I noticed the cute cellist too.
I had a hard time watching the whole thing. Who the hell approved this piece of garbage?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say a room full of white copy writers with a token woman and person of color. Very possibly a woman of color to cover all bases while displacing the lowest number of white guys.
A token woman of colour nobody listened to, during that meeting.
It’s actually a relief that I can’t watch it because I’m at work. Just the description alone makes me wanna throw things.
I watched it screaming things like “noooo, nooo. Come on?! REALLY?! OMFG. You cannot be serious Pepsi?! And his case is blue and shaped like a glass Pepsi bottle? Sure. Are we really capitalizing off of this using a movement-less movement?”
The commercial is tone deaf. It plays like what old white people think hip youngsters like (which kind of explains why the type of protest is unidentified and signs are nonsensical).
It’s offensive on every level – offensive to good taste, offensive to any sense of justice, and offensive to eyesight.
I liked parts of it. I like the young Muslim woman going out with her camera, and the musician, also. I didn’t mind Jenner noticing the march, although I hated that there were no signs that meant anything. I also didn’t mind her pulling off the blonde wig and lipstick, becoming bare-faced. I liked that.
It went off the rails every time they showed the soda and when they had a white woman offer the Pepsi to a white cop (who would have been hidden in riot gear in the real world) who takes it and all applaud.
Ugh. That was offensive, stupid, nonsensical, etc. etc.
I think some of the ideas weren’t bad, but they had to put Pepsi in there. Think how amazing the Budweiser commercial after 9/11 was – the Clydesdales bowing to the empty WTC site. No sign of a beer anywhere. They didn’t trust the viewers to put 2 and 2 together. Stupid.
This gave me the most intense second hand embarrassment that I’ve ever experienced from TV. *cringe*
Gah. So gross. How long before they pull it due to backlash?
The problem is advertisers have gotten away with offensive stuff like this for years. They have forgotten that times are changing ! They will learn. It’s weird because a lot of times they use focus groups to get input. I’m wondering what went wrong. Perhaps they intentionally did a “bad” commercial just for “outrage”? But how would that benefit them other than initial trending numbers? This won’t actually make people drink Pepsi. They think because they put a Muslim girl in the commercial they were going to get applauded? Nope. Make the Muslim girl the model and the main character and then we can talk. Or how about we simply just have Muslim people and POC in commercials because this IS what the world looks like and not because it’s the “trendy” thing to do?
My understanding from Adage was this was created by Pepsi’s in house creative team. After watching it a couple of times and reading a bit about it I think I have an idea what happened. Apparently young people aren’t drinking soda, so they looked at their research for what young people do like and are passionate about. They came up with all these ideas and threw them all into this ad. The diverse crowd, a nameless protest, cool music, and they may have even tried to replicate the Iesha Evans photo. My favorite is they put in every racial and religious persuasion they could think of. Must have the asian, muslim, african american older white women, etc. Kind of stealing from the iconic coke ad from the seventies, and it really seems like a calculated forced thought. I don’t think they did this because it is trendy, although that is part of it. I think they did it because their research told them they needed to be diverse. Definitely tone deaf, and they forgot the most important thing they are only selling soda.
I blame the ridiculous spectacle of the super bowl ads for this. Companies are obsessed with some phony holy grail of creating the highest rated, ground breaking, most talked about ad to shill their product. Now with SOCIAL JUSTICE! and GLOBAL RELEVANCY!
So incredibly offensive. Gosh if only people brought Pepsis they would be arrested!
Nothing like white america profiting off the struggles of minorities. Never fails. They never learn.
*wouldnt
Except the CEO of Pepsi is an Indian woman. Maybe I am crazy but it makes the whole thing so much more cringe worthy. Cuz the company really doesn’t get it. The worst was the handing of the Pepsi to the cop. UGH
Yes it’s bad but it’s not Kendall’s fault, it’s pepsi’s. Let’s not act like she is allowed to have creative ideas or opinions. I’m sure she got paid very well to do this.
Yeah, I’m getting a bit annoyed by how much focus is Kendall. A lot of people are calling her out and actually completely bypassing calling out the massive conglomerate that is Pepsi.
She’s just a model hired to do a job. Yes, it would have been smarter to say no, but a Pepsi campaign is a big deal for a model of any stature.
I don’t know, she is more than just a model, she is a celebrity. She has a platform that young people listen to. She could think a little harder about the choices she makes.
What Lenn said. Presumably, she knew the storyline for the ad beforehand and nobody forced her to take the gig–she did so on her own volition.
You almost imply that Pepsi pulled a bait and switch when the more likely scenario is that as a rich, privileged white woman who has greatly benefitted from nepotism, she lacked the depth, foresight, and awareness to see what was wrong with this commercial.
I agree. It would be just as bad no matter who was in it. She was paid to be in it, not create the ad
Kendall couldn’t mastermind a subject change during a conversation, much less have anything to do with the creative side of this commercial. Watching her performance, I can imagine the director saying, “Look at the marchers like, ‘Why aren’t they paying attention to me? What can I do to make them look at me?'”
I agree with Lenn and Kitten. She wasn’t tricked into this, she probably just didn’t have the intelligence/awareness to realize that it was an offensive premise.
I think Pepsi is the “most” responsible party here, but to act like she shouldn’t be held accountable for her choices on an obviously important issue is to diminish her agency. She made a mistake, hopefully she will learn from this. If she is protected from backlash, she’ll miss an opportunity to be educated.
Kendall isn’t an innocent. She’s part of a money grubbing, culturally appropriating family of harpies who has this down to a science. The whole thing isn’t her fault but she’s there for fame and dollars.
I mean, at the end of the day, she did the job for the money. That’s not at all unusual – though maybe it’d have been nice that once she had the ‘script’ or whatever, she could have turned it down. It’s not like she NEEDS the money that bad. But at the same time – this girl does seem to enjoy working as much as any of that family ever could – she’s a lot less ‘in your face’ than the others, so I guess I can only complain so much about her doing this commercial.
But the most ridiculous part is that someone got paid to write this crap. This went through SO many people to get to the stage where Kendall showed up. I’m always baffled when ridiculous or offensive commercials make it through final production – so many people would have had to sit there and say “Yes! This is a great idea, let’s do it!” – even after it was completed – there is time for someone to say “Wow – actually watching it – it’s kind of offensive isn’t it? Let’s re-do some of it”. But nobody did!
Pepsi is absolute trash for approving and making this ad but Kendall gets no pass from me unless she donates her salary and all residuals from it to a worthy charity. She can afford to do that; she’s not some poor newbie fresh off the bus. Unless she does that she is complicit and as stupid as she seems.
She’s not some 16 yo unknown model. She’s a major celeb-model who could have said something.
Completely agree. Kendall had a choice here.
I suspect she has the mentality of a 16-year-old, so is incapable of thinking beyond “wow-I’m-going-to-be-the-next-Pepsi-star”. She simply did a job and got (well) paid for it, and at the same time, gets major exposure. The negative comments are water off a duck’s back to every member of her family.
Agreed. If she had an iota of awareness inherited from some unknown corner of her gene pool, she could’ve said no way and then retreated back to her mansion. She bears responsibility for her part in this parade of stupid.
Please that argument only kinda works for new models and celebs. If she said something chances are changes would’ve been made. I’m done giving a pass to these idiots that dress up as other cultures and participate in this crap. They don’t get a pass. They aren’t helpless
you know what? I DO blame her. After all, we blame ScarJo for whitewashing, and she is (allegedly) JUST an actress who accepted the part. Only that’s not true: as long as you willingly participate in such projects, you become a part of a problem.
ScarJo got heaps of backlash for repping Occupied Territory-based Sodastream.
Sodastream moved out of the West Bank laying off all of its Palestinian workers. Great job BDS and it’s supporters!
Ali Jafar, a shift manager from a West Bank village who has worked for SodaStream for two years, said: “All the people who wanted to close [SodaStream’s West Bank factory] are mistaken. … They didn’t take into consideration the families.”
“SodaStream should have been encouraged in the West Bank if [the BDS movement] truly cared about the Palestinian people,” Birnbaum said.
It’s easier to feel like an activist by going after Candull than actually being one and taking concrete action against pepsi that might even require Americans stop drinking soda. That one is never gonna happen lol.
She’s too stupid to know there was anything wrong with it. She’s doesn’t seem to be too bright. With the whole family, it’s all about the benjamins!
(Places index finger along side of nose)
Being time deaf is the majority of white America. I’m not really sure how you expect a very young white woman to have more sense than a seasoned board of professional advertisement execs
I’m sort of with both sides on this. As an adult public figure, Kendall is responsible for the decisions she makes and she definitely has enough wealth and privilege be able to say no to something like this. But, Kendall, like Kylie, comes across as kind of uneducated and out of touch. I think Kendall is the same one who, when asked in an interview about whether or not she was a feminist, said she didn’t know what it meant and that it was something she’d have to look up (which is at least an honest and not overly offensive answer). Kendall probably really is clueless enough to have not automatically seen the issue with a commercial like this, and may have even thought it was ‘sending a good message’ or some other bull. It was still an ignorant tone-deaf move on her part though, and she does need to hear the criticism for it so that it can be a teachable moment. But the pepsi people who came up with the idea get the bulk of my annoyance on this one, more so than any of the models/extras who participated. It was very dumb, and came across as pointless pandering from them.
Taking money to make this offensive ad doesn’t make it better, or mean she shouldn’t be held accountable for the message they are peddling. The idea that she is just earning a paycheck and therefore doesn’t have any responsibility for the message is ridiculous. It’s her face, she damn well needs to understand the message she’s selling with it. It’s not just Pepsi that is tone deaf.
so so tone deaf it kills me
#sad. I have been a lifelong Pepsi not Coke girl. It’s cool, now I’ll be healthier sticking to water.
I find this very upsetting. How dare Pepsi try not only to hijack these movements for monetary gains, but they tried to make one of THE most privileged white women the face of them. It’s disgusting. Jenner doesn’t have the brain cells to say no and only chases paychecks, but she should’ve said HELL NO to this. The ad belittles the struggle these people are facing – guys, all you needed was a white chick on your side and it’d be OVER.
SMGDH
It is so awful and offensive. I watched it a few hours ago and I am still stunned.
It is really upsetting. It insults the VERY serious issues that people have been marching for.
+1000
Dumb and dumber commercial!!!
More proof these rich white idiots have no idea about today’s struggles. What do you expect from a member of kardashian/Jenner family being involved in this trite. Of course all our issues can be solved by Pespi? Give me a break!!!
I’m NOT a fan of her family, but be fair. This rich girl didn’t come up with the ad. Pepsi did. She just shouldn’t have been it, there are other jobs for her out there. This terrible ad was not a smart thing to do. Plenty of white people struggle too. I personally know, because I am one of the white strugglers
WTF? Pepsi stepped into a steaming pile of s$it. I don’t blame Kendall, she isn’t smart enough to get why this is so offensive.
No excuse, she’s not a twelve year old, you can’t play the “she’s too naive to know better” card.
I…didnt think it was that bad? I mean of course there had to be a moment with a can of pepsi, it’s a pepsi ad.
Me, too, runcmc. I wasn’t looking for all the symbolism. I agree with most everything said above, but it had to be pointed out to me, so I guess I’m not “woke.”
The ad was fine until Pepsi did the stupid thing and had Kendell hand the cop a can of Pepsi and suddenly everything is great again. As if a protester can just go up to a cop and hand them a Pepsi without something happening to them. Also the ad having a white woman be our savior. Why couldn’t the Muslim be the one to hand over the Pepsi? Anyways here’s an idea….keep the protest idea or whatever and just have Kendall leave her supposed photo shoot, which they could make it seem like she was doing a photo shoot for a Pepsi ad, and then start handing out cans of Pepsi to the protesters.
It’s honestly not that hard to not be offensive.
Agree with you. It also would have been a great ad with no Kendall at all and just the cello guy, the Muslim woman and the marchers and subtly show them drinking Pepsi. Kendall is a dumb afterthought and was completely unnecessary and is what Pepsi spent its money on in making this ad.
I wouldn’t even guess it was a Pepsi ad until they showed the can for half a second
What they show Pepsi like 5 different times
I don’t understand how these ad execs have jobs. Not one of them saw this for what it is?
Those tweets are great tho.
The tweets are everything. The ad, not so much.
Yeah, it’s funny how Twitter tends to bring out people who are smarter and funnier than the advertising people themselves. Sort of ironic.
Some of the best humor is in reply tweets these days.
I agree, the funniest people are on twitter. They do it for free too lol.
A black person or certain other POC wouldn’t get close enough to hand a cop anything. Pepsi had an opportunity with this commercial and pissed it away. Either go all in or leave it alone. I hate these ads that try to pander to audiences, but won’t take the full step.
Also this commercial brings a lot of attention to how overinflated her lips are.
Actually, that’s not QUITE true, but that’s actually why this is just SO offensive to me. A minority couldn’t get close enough to a cop without getting ARRESTED.
How do we know? Because of the actual occurrence/image that Pepsi co-opted from an actual act of courage by a black woman to make into a happy hero moment for white Kendall. This is based equal parts in the famous “Flower Power” photo and the famous image of Ieshia Evans, a nurse from Louisiana, who stood up to cops at a anti-police brutality protest in the wake of the Alton Sterling murder. She walked towards the practical army of cops, and looked into their eyes, and they threw her in jail for the night. The image is of her standing firm as two cops hold up their giant shields and get out a set of shackles for her. She’s even holding out one of her hands to cuff them.
So, yeah, this thing with Jenner is literally Pepsi trying to turn a black woman’s moment of courage into an ad starring a white girl (only, of course, in this case, the white girl manages to make the cops put down their weapons and save the whole protest, or something. So she “wins”, or something.)
Ieshia Evans’s courage was white-washed in two different senses. And that’s part of what infuriates me so much. Ieshia, knowing she could get shot and would certainly be arrested, walked up to the cops to look them in the eye and have them see one another as people, and literally held out her arms as they cuffed her for the crime of walking over to them and looking them in the eye.
In this, there’s a black woman who Kendall hands her wig to before going off to solve/save ALL THE PROTESTS.
Excellent, spot-on analysis WendyNerd.
The part where Kendall carelessly tosses her wig at only one of very few black women (or the only black woman) shown in the entire commercial, when a black woman’s single act of courage was clearly the inspiration for the climax of this commercial, is ridiculous on a level I can’t even fathom.
Pepsi thought this would be its edgier version of Coke’s timeless “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” ad.
That’s what I was thinking.
Because protests are so trendy, these days!
Protests are trendy. Pepsi is just trying to appeal to liberal vultures, that’s all.
There were a lot of protests (violent and non-violent) at the time Coke did the ad too, the 70’s were brutal. The difference is Coke’s ads didn’t come across as “white people can fix this, just drink a Coke”.
There’s been a trend to commercialize “wokeness” and use it to promote/sell things (see, e.g., the Beauty and the Beast promo tour, feminism as celebrity PR tool, this year’s Super Bowl commercials, etc.), so this particular commercial isn’t surprising at all. However, at least past attempts have actually taken a stand on something; Pepsi here seems to be trying to have it both ways.
“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Other companies have tried to do the protest commercial and were criticized. I think Coke got blow back from a Superbowl commercial so I don’t know why execs think this time it will work.
First of all where is the critical thinking of the Pepsi people to even let such a commercialon air, right that’s the first thing
Second of all if they need to start having black and brown people in the rooms to tell them sh!t is a bad idea I offer my services For a low price because Jesus f*cking Christ this is TRASH
ALSO THIS IS THE LAST LAST TIME Yall…this is the last time any of you is coming to me telling me this trash ass spicy white culture vultures and the plastic sisters are what” harmless gossip” they are NOT HARMLESS All they do is steal from us steal from our culture for attention, taking from black culture cause we are fly and because it looks good, because we look good and basically tried to pass off as the better alternative to black women, i’m here to tell you this is totally in keeping with the better alternative to black women who couldn’t even stop to guard a moment of silence last time y’all feel like acknowledging the police kills black people here like target practice and they couldn’t even do that
Also this all but guarantees any time you see me in these attention Black Holes Posts Im going to be Dragging like there is NO TOMORROW – NO COUNTRY FOR THESE ATTENTION HUNGRY NEW RICH TRASH BAGS ALL OF THEM AND THEIR F*CKING FAT TRANSFERS
You want a Coke?
Lolol NOT ON TAHDAY! What i do want is their sh!tty wigs and leftover lip fillers at my doorstep, as an offering (appeasing vengeful Goddesses and such the like)
Literally the reason I love y’all 😭 My soul is too weary to even address the situation at hand
You make a great point about the ad execs. I cannot imagine and PoC signing off on this.
Why diversity in the workplace is a thing, you know?
Also agree that these women are guilty of consistently appropriating black culture not only for attention, but for profit.
I have never posted before but I love your posts! As a black woman, I consistently argue about the failures due to a lack of diversity in a room. This is one huge fail. Either there were no minorities in the room when this ad was proposed or they ignored every single concern voiced by the one minority ad exec in the room. They deserve all the backlash and I’m going to ensure that my petty ass goes to the bodega and buy me a nice coke.
Just cause you said my Magic Words, This Petty Drive Thru Coke You JUST talked me into buying is for us to toast to your first comment then! *cheers*
I’m just still baffled like how many adults in the room didnt put their brains on for this, how MANY steps of the way?? when proposing this on the mood board?.. when they go to Pepsi Co with this? they all Guffaw and say YES!, YOUTH WILL LOVE THIS! So Fun and Topical!, During the coming to the Vulture and her Vulture mom with it.. they talked about it at dinner, everyone is … like YASS BITCH SLAY IT SIS… And then they test Run this with ……. WHOOOOOO??!??!? There are SO many steps where someone’s eyes shoulda gone like Plates and say… WAITAMINUTE! Stop!.. Do you Know Black Twitter? Black Lives Matter Proper Messy Cousin with a Mob Dragging behind?!
There is a great think piece on Wear Your Voice:
“There are multiple problematic things happening with the entire ad. The one that hit me the strongest was how off-base their portrayal of protest was. When black folks protest for our lives, our children, our rights, the police show up in riot gear with pepper spray, rubber bullets and a brutal energy.
(…) What in the living fuck were they thinking? After Kendall successfully centers herself during the march she’s been in for three seconds, she hands the cop the Pepsi, he pops it open and everyone motherfucking cheers — as if racism is finally over! Thank goodness Jenner was there to solve hundreds of years of systemic oppression!”
http://wearyourvoicemag.com/issues/pepsi-kendall-jenner-ad
@QQ – yeah, I’ve noticed that this dead-eyed rat, for all her “I’m so hard working and high fashion not like the other sisters” claims, is equally bad.
I can’t wait for people who offer her modelling jobs to notice her face is heading into uncanny valley from the fillers and stop foisting her on us via adverts. It’s like Pepsi just wanted to compound the utter flop nature of it all by hiring her.
I’ve been on Celebitchy for over 10 years now and you know what keeps me coming back? QQ. QQ ALL DAY.
You and me both!
Yep, I scroll the comments to see if she turned up, then go back to top to start actually reading.
Me too. She is the best.
QQ FTW!! Her posts always give me life!
I’m Dying over your second comment about the “offering”they should leave at your door!
And co-sign everything in your first comment.
1) The influence a commercial like this has over the public is absolutely NOT harmless; especially, in the current climate.
2) Kendall could have said no, or suggested changes, at any time… and she has the pull to have her concerns taken seriously. As we all know, though, her only ‘concerns’ are personal, and involve lip and butt plumpers.
Bottom line, she is responsible for her involvement, just like ScarJo. I don’t care how doorbell-dumb they are… whitewashing is a mainstream discussion. There is no excuse, no pass.
3) If I were a conspiracy nut, I’d go one farther than the ‘secret Coke ad’ suggestion, and say that PepsiCo got paid to undermine protesters in the media.
And if we’re voting with our wallets, and really want to boycott Pepsi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_PepsiCo
They have a lot of assets. To hurt these companies financially is a commitment.
Thanks for the link!
…Pepsi Salty Watermelon?!? What on earth is THAT?
No clue. I generally avoid these products, anyway…
But, still. If I hadn’t been in this thread, and reminded myself to ‘look it up!’, I wouldn’t be armed with new knowledge about this company’s long reach.
I want to be thinking in that direction always – before buying anything. I know that sounds exhausting, but I want to know about the companies I support with my hard-earned money – I want to know what THEY support. That’s not always easy, but I want to try.
I really do believe that whitewashing has become such a mainstream argument, if you’re ScarJo, and you sign on to play a Japanese character – you ARE taking a side in this conversation. You’re saying, “I don’t think this is as big a deal as people are making it out to be.”
That, or, “I just don’t care about something I don’t believe affects me.”
I don’t care if they haven’t thought too deeply about it; that’s part of the problem. If people aren’t held accountable for their actions, casual or otherwise, they’ll never change.
There you are! I was waiting for you, QQ.
Big fat YES to your comment. I’d like to add something about marketing/ad execs. That’s an industry (much like jounalism before blogging became a paying occupation) where you need to “pay your dues” for – sometimes – several years before you make money. It’s trendy and fashionable and therefore the industry can afford to offer unpaid internships and what have you and get more applicants than they’ll ever be able to employ.
Now, who has the money/background to afford years of unpaid work? Yeah. That’s right. Probably more white hipster children than anyone else.
I don’t know for sure if this is a big issue in the US as well (I’d guess so) but from what my friends over here in the field tell me, it’s a problem. One of them never encountered it because he came from a private university. Where basically your tuition covers the connections.
I would think that that is one of the reasons why that room full of people thought this hipster-y abomination was a great idea.
yes Little miss naughty, advertising agencies are full of wealthy white hipster (very young) execs. This ad was probably produced by people in their 20s and the actors including Kendull were cast based on their Instagram followers/reach potential. Tone-deaf, privaleged ,clueless, trying to be ”inspirational” and ”bridge building” and ”inspiring”. The advertising industry is always parasitic and insipid, and tries to capitalise on any social movement that it feels is ”on brand”. You are old in that business by age 30/35, so my feeling is this was made by a bunch of rich kid 20 somethings, no racial (or otherwise) diversity in the agency, and signed off by the Pepsi marketing director/ED who are older and also too ”out of touch” to know any better, so they trust the younger execs to help them connect with the younger audience. It is offensive and ridiculous, and I’d not expect anything less from a company selling us hideously unhealthy and addictive sugar and chemical laden ”beverages!”.
I’ve actually been trying to find Ieshia Evans’s social media accounts (if she has any) and I hope she makes a statement since it was her courage that is literally being stolen, commercialized, and whitewashed (in two different ways). Like, maybe I could understand why some people might think that a white girl wearing her hair a certain way *might* not be such a big deal. But that’s simply neither the beginning nor the end of it. It’s not just clothes or hairstyles, it’s literally acts of courage that are being stolen. Accomplishments. Work.
It’s like John Oliver’s metaphor about the wage gap and people debating the numbers as if that somehow invalidates the issue. If you take a shit on my desk, I don’t care if it’s only a tiny little turd, you’re still taking a shit on my desk! White girls with cornrows is a small turd. They get defended for taking a small turd, and so they keep popping a squat on the desk, and now, they’re letting loose the full green apple splatters. Because they believe that it’s all fine.
Ieshia Evans was thrown in prison for a night. Kendall Jenner is getting paid millions to pretend to do a pathetic, meaningless, corporate rip-off of that moment. These girls and the people behind them don’t just steal hairstyles, they steal acts of heroism. Pepsi might as well do a mini-remake of “Hidden Figures” starring Karlie Kloss, Kate Upton, and Cara Delevigne at this point (only in this version, they get the astronauts all the way to MARS! And solve racism).
Although I did not know her name she is the first person I thought about when I saw this ad.
Please don’t lump Karlie into this group! She’s a huge advocate for women in STEM and has a foundation to fund girls learning to code.
Erica, I have some not-great news about Karlie, and even if I didn’t, I wasn’t accusing Karlie of racism. I just used her because she’s a famous white supermodel. It’s a joke. A joke about idiot corporations replacing great black women with famous white supermodels.
At the same time, though, I still have some bad news about Karlie where race is concerned… A quick search of her name on Celebitchy will explain it.
co-sign
Pepsi does seem to get controversial at times with their commercials. Remember the Madonna commercial and the burning crosses? Or even Michael Jackson and unintended disaster with his hair catching fire? In all cases it gets people talking and remembering the commercial but I wonder how many people actually go out and buy the product ?
I remember when commercials used to actuallybe more abot the product
+10000
Offensive, ridiculous & stupid?
All three.
The concept is horrible enough, particularly in light of what we are facing as a country and the types of legislation that are being attempted to squelch not only right to protest, but to literally make it legal to run down protesters-a kind of even more disgusting “stand your ground”.
And then they take a horrible idea and make it worse, by putting a member of the most vacuous, vapid, out of touch family on the planet and putting her front and center as the person who magically stops a protest by handing a cop a Pepsi. A family of people who are never going to have to worry about ANYTHING, and have zero idea what it is to have to fight for rights or beliefs.
It is disgusting and I hope Pepsi’s sales tank.
Im speechless. There are things so offensive you cant say anything. This is just…wow.
Also corporations need to get out of causes. I dont want to see “Equal Pay Commercials” that just makes me think “Do you pay your workers equally?” Dont spend that money on ads, pay your employees. Use the saved money to make sure you dont ruin the environment or using child labor.
Yeees QUEENB! I totally agree about using advertising budgets to go towards more worthy causes (increase in pay, more jobs, better healthcare, environmental standards, etc). It’s gross what all these companies spend on advertising.
And this commercial is the worst!!!
Yes, this is terrible and offensive and a really stupid idea but I guess I’m not surprised at a commercial that’s co-opting a sensitive issue for commercial gain. Not new. As someone who spent more than 20 years in advertising, I can completely imagine the Pepsi people and their agency congratulating each other about how they were the coolest and edgiest and most woke people in the world to be doing this ad. Cringe.
How quickly she changed into her protest clothes. I’ve nothing to add to the backlash so I just wanna know the name of the cutie cellist.
The commercial is fing stupid, and offensive, and tone deaf. But, I have seen more mentioned of Pepsi on social media and in the news today than I can ever remember – so I guess, job done?
Ha. So true.
Yeah but this won’t make people go out and purchase Pepsi…so in the long run this was a bad move.
What the eff does all this tonedeaf mess have to do with your fizzy sugar drink, Pepsi?!
I’m amazed by how horrible this is. I can’t blame Kendall really because I’ve seen the dumb show enough to know that she has the least critical thinking ability in that family, by far. She’s… not bright.
The tweets are everything, thanks celebitchy for compiling them. It gives me solace that many people are calling this bullshit for what it is.
Making the insipid “I’d like to give the world a Coke” ad seem worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize is not easy but Pepsi did it.
The meme’s and tweets coming out of this are amazing though. I guess it did get people talking about Pepsi? Who drinks soda anymore anyway? I rarely do, it’s just absolutely terrible for you, I’d rather have a beer. 😉
I don’t drink soda anymore either but I have teens and just bought a crap ton for the basement because I’d rather have them drinking it than beer! My kids never had much soda at all (my one son has literally never had any) when they were little so now getting to drink it with friends is sort of liberating to my one son. I can’t imagine how much fun he’ll have with beer when the time comes, sigh.
I don’t drink soda, but my nephews gulp it down like they’re dying of thirst in the desert. I can’t have caffeine or alcohol anymore and diet soda is dangerous to your nervous system. I’d love a Dr. Pepper
A girl after my own heart.
And a good craft beer can be healthy, too. Lots of grains! 😉
My beverage-addiction-of-choice is iced tea, but I occasionally change things up with cola. To keep it (relatively) healthy, however, I usually make my own from unsweetened cola syrup, sweetner, and club soda. 🙂
I was starting out like “Well, this isn’t so bad. I don’t see what all the fuss is abo- Oh. Yup, there it is. Oy gevalt.”
Idk kardashians are famous for stirring up controversy and I remember once Kendall was told in an episode not to talk about black lives matter cause it was going to affect her image and now she accepts a job when they all know is going to upset many people? Annnnd remember Kim said that she makes all of her family’s decisions so I don’t know what to think about this, but clearly very offensive.
Kim says a lot of things, most of them aren’t true.
Lol!!! What the eff did I just watch?! The fact that exes actually thought that this commercial was a great idea just shows how out of touch Pepsi is with the market. Hahahahahaha! Sorry but I get a kick out of corporations messing up huge.
So this is Pepsi’s ‘Hold my beer’ moment in regards to tone deaf advertising?
Well congrats because you did it Pepsi, that commercial was completely ridiculous.
WTF???? In what alternate university did someone think this was as a good idea? It shows how very, very far we have to go as a society. And more importantly, it shows just how greedy and corrupt Corporations & Wall Street are. They will use ANYTHING and EXPLOIT it (nothing is off topic or untouchable) for profit. And those are the assholes controlling our country right now.
Pepsi hasn’t been right since MJ’s hair caught on fire.
I like how she hands the wig to a black girl
I don’t even understand that part. She she took off her blonde wig and red lipstick and that makes her “woke”. Huh? You can be into material things and still care about the world.
I didn’t get the point of that part either.
It is scary how out of touch with reality and empathy that the people behind this advertising really are, how on earth they could think this would be a good idea?!
It is like they are making fun of the social issues that brought people out to protest, and look how happy and fashion all the protesters are wow.
Also the model giving the police a Pepsi is at the same position like the girl that was standing in front of the police during a protest do “black life’s matter” , so if it was a reference to that iconic picture I think it is revolting.
So white girl solves the world’s problems and makes peace by giving the police officer a Pepsi? Problem solved! Such an irresponsible ad.
Shame on them!!! WTF were they thinking?
Indeed. 🙁
Fight injustice with a pepsi (and a clueless privileged model). What the heck? Thank god there’s kendall who can be the leader for everyone (lol). So stupid. Also, I couldn’t really concentrate because Kendall’s new face is so obvious and weird..
This is a fail because the basis of a “protest” ad is not to genuinely support a people or a cause but to simply make some money. It’s a cheap ploy, everyone knows it and the issues they’re playing with are really serious. If they are unwilling to really deal with the deep cultural issues that they reference just leave it alone.
17371. Stop crying
So… Pepsi pulls ads from Youtube, but then uploads ads to YouTube? Hypocrite much? This is so fundamentally offensive in so many ways…
I couldn’t tell if it was depicting a protest or a block party. So many young, beautiful model types filling the streets (with a few attractive Baby Boomers thrown in), dancing and playing music. Even the cop looked all young and modelly. Whatever message they were trying to convey was completely lost in the presentation.
Yeah, I only just saw the actual ad here on this post but read the, er, conversation Pepsi has started earlier. And during the first part I was like, if they are going to a protest this ad is already a fail cause it looks like everyone is on their way to Central Park for a flash mob party. It’s half-assed garbage all the way around.
Their first mistake was thinking the Kardashian Name had that much power…
I started watching it and actually thought “huh, this isn’t really that bad”…until they threw Kendall in. I mean, why? Why was it necessary? By hiring someone like her, they absolutely miss the point of what could have been a pretty cool concept. Oh, right. For sells.
OMG, this is hilarious and dumb and BAD!
I quite like the song, though.
And some more questions:
Has Kendull messed with her face or what?
Who goes to a protest march with a cello?
Who continues shooting while protesters are walking all over you?
Why is the ad in a loop? It’s totally repetitive.
What does it all mean? 😉
PS: soda is bad for you!
I’m not sure what is worse to me. The commercial (disgusting) or Good Morning America calling her a “Supermodel ” on their story this morning….🤔
Weird ad. I don’t really blame Kendall. Models are not expected to have any input, in fact, this supposedly makes them more problematic to hire and the agency may frown on it. You may think she is a top model but she can easily be replaced in this ad by say, the Hadid sisters. She is not Naomi Campbell in the 90s. Pepsi is a huge endorsement for any model, I’d say only Aplus listers like Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron or even Michelle Obama may have more say in ad campaigns. Anyway, this wouldn’t make me drink Pepsi. I would drink Coke once in a while. Pepsi comes off as desperate here.
She’s not just a random model, she has immense social media power, which is why Pepsi hired her. I’d say Pepsi needs her, not the other way round. If she had objected to this ad, I’m sure someone would’ve thought twice about going through with it. She doesn’t see anything wrong with it, any publicity is good publicity, and controversy didn’t hurt Madonna in her heyday either. Her fandom will spin this positively and she’ll also pick up a nice hefty check.
Definitely she is not a random model and agreed her social media presence is huge, so I think your opinion still has merit. But Pepsi is a big brand, it is not some secondary or upcoming brand who needs Kendall more than she needs this on her portfolio. They could have gotten others with similar social media presence, especially Gigi who fits this ad’s ‘message’ because she is not a blonde Caucasian (don’t even know if this is even the message lol). They could even have gotten Beyonce again, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez or even her sister Kylie to appeal to youngsters. I am not a Kendall fan but would never deny Kendall’s popularity and I have little issue with her being cast here. I simply think she was there to collect a cheque and add Pepsi to her branding. Thus, I have little expectation that she has massive input into the ad’s creative direction. In fact, she’s not known for critical thinking. This is different from say, knowingly performing for a dictator, or supporting a brand that has been proven to be racist/sexist etc. So, personally for me at least, I blame Pepsi more.
Edit: Would like to add that even if Kendall has no input, she could have said no if her opinion on the ad did not count to the execs. So saying yes and proceeding to shoot is still on her.
Not a Kendall fan, she seems dumber than a box of rocks to me, but I’m not sure she had a full understanding of the concept or a script. She probably didn’t ask either though.
i literally died off of Yo Kendall, I’m gonna need to you come down here with a pepsi…. I literally died… as a black person you know why… but white people be soooooo clueless and tone deaf to hilarious and ridiculous proportions
I thought it was a “Funny or Die” sketch, that’s how absurd it is.
I laughed my way through this, i kept picturing a bunch of white dudes in suits patting themselves on the back for all the boxes they ticked. Look it’s a hijab! Look man in dreads! Musicians and diversity! (But of course lead is a white girl with a suspiciously over tanned skin tone.) let’s send a message of love, look Pepsi reunites us all! Like I just can’t, I can’t take this seriously, it’s so bad the only thing I had left in me was to laugh.
Terrible ad…just awful.
What kind of monster carries a can of Pepsi around like that?! She could spill it! So offensive.
Soda (pop, whatever) adds nothing of value to the diet. Why on earth does a soda company feel the need to add to to the social consciousness of the country? Just put another pop star on a stage and try not to burn their scalp off with your pyrotechnics, Pepsi.
I guess they went with the “as long as they spell your name right” strategy.
I’m surprised the Muslim girl with the Hijab on wasn’t cast by Gigi Hadid or Bella lol. I mean sh*t with all the other offensive crap in this commercial why not?
Hey let’s all go buy a Coke today in protest lol !
How incredibly tone-deaf. I will say this though, there’s a lot of people with star quality in that ad, and there’s also Kendall Jenner for some reason. Reminds me of how one pairs bold and stunning statement jewelry with a very plain and basic frock.
Tone deaf…or intentional sanitizing of serious social issues in order to dilute the original message of these protests?
Bingo. You have just figured it out. I don’t think it was just bro-douches managing this message.
I just looked on twitter and laughed at all the memes, etc. But too bad the gas attack in Syria is not getting as much outrage as a damn Pepsi commercial. We are a hypocritical generation. I saw footage of the victims on the news last night, broke my heart to say the least. I hate this world.
As someone mentioned up thread, total second-hand embarrassment all over the place. I do have a sincere question, though. What is the significance of Kendall ripping off the blonde wig? I get that it would have been inappropriate to have a white woman swooping in to lead the march and save the day with a freebie Pepsi for the cop, but…she IS white…blonde wig or not. So still inappropriate. Also…it slightly made me feel like “oh, if you’re white, you can’t really be a supporter of others’ civil liberties.” I am not trying to say that I’ve lived other’s struggles, but why can’t a blonde person support others in their right to justice? I guess what I’m trying to say is: the Scooby Doo-esque wig unmasking scene was just unnecessary. What did it add? Not that there was anything to add to.
They were just talking about this ad on the news. She had the wig on because in the commercial she was in the middle of a photo shoot when she decided to go outside. 2 of my biracial black/white friends have natural platinum blonde hair. Don’t let hair color upset you. There’s more important things to be concerned about these days
Thank for the response and totally agree that hair color isn’t the real issue here (by a long shot!) It’s just…such an oddly executed commercial!
I am beyond words with this.
A multinational + a Kardashian is never ever going to pass even the most basic integrity test.
Looks to me like a white priviliged girl gives a cop Pepsi. Kendell is ok by me as the face of white privileged girl. .
They pulled it…must have been reading this thread!
Obviously Don Draper was nowhere to be found and Peggy too busy.
HA when has a Kartrashian ever put self respect or good judgement over a paycheck?
Pepsi is 100% to blame for the multitude of issues with this ad but she should’ve said hell no and walked away from this. But that would be assuming that’s she aware and intelligent enough to see the problems with it in the first place. I personally don’t give her that much credit.
Really talk tho – who drinks Pepsi over Coke?
Self-respect ≠ modesty or classiness, but I totally agree with the rest of your comment.
Comedy writing must be one of the easiest gigs in show buisness these days.
Coke solved nothing either, just a different ad.
Well, they apologized for “missing the mark”…. to Kendall Jenner.
Because poetry.
Started looking into Pepsi…just found out the the CEO of PepsiCo is an Indian/American woman named Indra Nooyi and she is pretty impressive. The ad was created by Creators League Studio, which is part of Pepsi.
I hold Pepsi accountable for missing the mark with this commercial. Kendall is just a model and Pepsi is a big deal. I think its a horrible ad. But if this is the concept they want. Pepsi should have put Kendall as the photographer and the Muslim woman (photographer) as the model with the Pepsi can. Or better yet, remove the police altogether. If they wanted to portray unity a protest with all walks of life drink Pepsi would be sufficient. This moment will eventually end up as a case study in a school text book. How advertising can go horribly wrong.
I find this incredibly offensive. Whats even more upsetting is that pepsi gets publicity for this and so does kendall they knew it was bad so now cue the apology but they just advertised pepsi…..also wtf on pepsi apologizing to kendalll….she knew very well wut she was shooting she was in the sbots she saw what it was about. Shes as guilty as anyone
Yeah I don’t understand why Pepsi is apologizing to Kendall. Also, I am sure the E! cameras are currently rolling to get all the “Kardashian reaction” about this…stay tuned for a very special KUWTK episode where Kendall cries about how her life is so “unfair”.
OMG this ad is just a shit show!!!! Kendull really shines in this (sarcasm). I love the GIF of her handing her wig to the black woman. Do these people REALLY think a Kardashian symbolizes a generation? Jeez, what if they’re right???
And now we wait for Kanye west for president! Stupid stupid idiots! Can you imagine kardashian trash running America? Wake up people
White girl savior #fail
From a family that takez from black culture and act like the invented it and are applauded for it #fail
I am so distracted by her face!
What is happening in there??
Also, of course the ad is ridiculous. It is also a testimony of how much that girl is hated. An idiot with a face (and work/botox/fillers etc.) of 40 year-old with many imaginary (digital or paid your choice) fans that apart from some visibility she has, nobody likes or wants to buy her endorsed products.
Even small budget projects have focus groups. I just can’t understand how this got through on soooo many levels
The ad’s been pulled! Hurray. Pepsi apologised TO KENDALL though, wtf?!
“Offensive, ridiculous & stupid!” That’s the family mantra though. Isn’t it?
Pepsi’s failed attempt at relevance. Pop may be relevant, but never soda. 😉