Pepsi Co. has pulled the now notorious Kendall Jenner protest ad after it was criticized for trivializing Black Lives Matter and police brutality.
Pepsi apologized in general and to the model herself for the controversy, saying the ad missed the mark, and insisting the company was trying to create a “global message of unity, peace and understanding.” Where do you come down on Pepsi’s decision and apology? Should Kendall be the one to apologize? Was Pepsi right to pull the ad? You can weigh in on Heavy’s polls at the end of this post.
Some weren’t buying it.
The Kendall Jenner Pepsi fiasco is a perfect example of what happens when there’s no black people in the room when decisions are being made.
Many felt the ad offensively appropriated protester Ieshia Evans’ defiance in Baton Rouge:
The latter apology (from Pepsi TO Kendall), especially, has Twitter divided, with some saying Jenner owes the apology too because she earned a paycheck for the ad, signed on for it, and is an adult. Why, goes this line of thought, is Pepsi apologizing to Jenner? Where’s her apology, some say.
It’s incredible that @pepsi apologized to Kendall. She chose to be a part of that ad. Pepsi needs to apologize to the protestors.
Others thought it was Pepsi’s fault, not Kendall’s.
Some people thought people should talk about more important things: Like Syria.
Can everyone stop talking about Kendall Jenner and start talking about more important things like what is happening in Syria right now
According to NBC News, critics accuse Pepsi of “appropriating a nationwide protest movement following police shootings of African Americans.” Prominent activists have criticized the ad as tone deaf, offensive and insensitive. Among them: Bernice King, the daughter of slain Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr.
If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi.
In the ad, which Pepsi released Tuesday, “Jenner is in the middle of a photo shoot when she happens to notice a protest march making its way down the street,” reported NBC News. She joins the protest, and hands a police officer a Pepsi, causing the crowd to cheer. Some critics of the ad argued that the ad misstates the protest and Black Lives Matter reality, where a can of soda doesn’t do anything to help extremely serious matters that a privileged model like Kendall Jenner can’t understand.
Others offered a different position.
Now people in my class are defending Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi commercial. A room of counselors, teachers, and social workers.
Was Pepsi right to pull the ad? Take the first poll:
Was Pepsi right to apologize TO Kendall Jenner? Or should Kendall apologize too?
Watch the Kendall ad here:
