pepsi ad

Kendall Jenner in hiding after Pepsi ad cancelled

Jenner promotes controversy with protest-themed commercial. 

Kendall Jenner recently starred in a Pepsi advertisement which uses recent events such as racial and political protests as a tool for the fountain drink to boost sales. 

The commercial depicts Jenner with makeup and designer clothes on taking modeling photos when she locks eyes with a protester who gives her a nod toward the direction of the protest line. She stops what she is doing, wipes her makeup off to reveal her face with another more casual set of makeup, and walks into the crowd. 

As she passes through the mob of protestors, she exchange glances with many of them and encroaches ever-closer on the police line containing the protest. She then reveals her problem-solving can of Pepsi as she comes face-to-face with a police officer without being promptly pepper-sprayed. 

She opens the drink, hands it to the officer, and then he takes a sip. A woman with a traditional muslim headdress takes a photo of the life-altering moment that just transpired, everybody cheers. Shortly after everybody is cheering and are friends. 

Kendall Jenner has saved the day. This caused immediate outrage among socio-political advocacy groups, 'Black Lives Matter' being one of them. 

Daughter of Martin Luther King Jr, Bernice King tweeted the above message in response to the original Pepsi advertisement shortly after it aired. Pepsi posted the below message as a public apology to Bernice King and to Kendall Jenner.

Many others on multiple platforms of social media made their voices heard by publicly ridiculing the advertisement and Jenner. The most notable social media outlet being Twitter by far. People referenced extremely important pivotal moments in history and belittled the Pepsi ad by saying all that was needed was a Pepsi to avoid the whole situation. 

Twitter user @ziwe mentioned the Rodney King events could have been avoided if he simply had a Pepsi.

Below Twitter user @chenyboi uses a popular Black Lives Matter protest photo added a caption making fun of the Pepsi commercial.

Near the end of the commercial, many people have made a connection of visual cues between the ad itself and an influential photograph by Jonathan Bachman which shows Leshia Evans standing against a police line in defiance. The latter image is used commonly by activist groups such as Black Lives Matter as a symbol of resistance, which Pepsi's parody seems to make a mockery of. 

'Saturday Night Live' spoof rubbing salt in the wound.

'SNL' wrote a skit which centers around a man supposedly having written the Pepsi commercial and being very excited over it. He calls his sister while on set moments before the ad airs to tell her about the commercial and is immediately met by comical resistance from not only her, but his friend Doug, and Doug's African American neighbor. Shortly after it cues the Pepsi logo with eh phrase 'live and learn' and fades out.

Kendall Jenner has been taken aback by the reaction the advertisement has received. The overwhelming backlash the ad is receiving has caused her to gravitate into a state of hiding. Jenner has been reported as 'laying low' from a source which states she has been staying with friends to avoid press at this time. 

When the ad aired she was working abroad in Paris and was met out of the blue with a firestorm of outrage on social media. Jenner is also leaning heavily on her family at this time which is no stranger to controversy and being in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Despite being emotionally distraught by the events, Jenner has issued no formal apology or publicly stated an inkling of regret in any official capacity. 

Jenner also displays a lack of compassion by not even attempting to focus on the wrongdoing by Pepsi or the fact that their advertisement tried to rewrite the real narrative of political protests and commodify racial struggle.