On April 3, Pepsi Global released a protest-themed campaign starring model Kendall Jenner. Shortly thereafter, the internet exploded like a shaken soda can. Because of the backlash, the corporation pulled the ad on the morning of April 5.
Called “Live For Now Moments Anthem,” the ad featured a crowd of multicultural, millennial protestors marching with signs urging “peace” and “join the conversation.” Watching the scene from the middle of her photo shoot, Jenner ripped off her wig, wiped the stain from her lips and joined the resistance movement. Something progressives should love, right?
Not so. Although Elle contributor Jaya Saxena commented that it would take “thousands of words to unpack” all the ad’s “problematic moments,” those angered by it homed in on one particular segment. In the final scene, Jenner made her way to the front of the crowd and approached a police officer. Cracking open a can of Pepsi, she handed it to him with a smile, effectively breaking the tension.
Instead of rejoicing over the unity the commercial promoted, liberal journalists and activists accused the ad of appropriating the Black Lives Matter movement. Many noted the similarities between the final scene of the ad and the widely published photograph of BLM protestor Ieshia Evans confronting the police in Baton Rouge after the death of Alton Sterling.
Saxena further suggested that the commercial “co-opts protests as something new and trendy… rather than a dangerous necessity.” Other angered writers derided the ad as “cringeworthy” and “tone-deaf,” while Black Lives Matter protestor Deray McKesson called it “trash.”
Some, like New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino took a more snarky approach. “Next time @pepsi do one where Kendall Jenner marches to Montgomery but the cops don’t bludgeon her bc she’s white and has a refreshing @pepsi.”
CNN political commentator Symone Sanders was highly offended. “Literally, Pepsi just used Kendall Jenner to co-opt the resistance to sell a freakin’ can of soda,” the former former Bernie Sanders campaign press secretary exclaimed. “This is absolutely crazy.”
In The View’s April 5 discussion of the ad, co-host Jedediah Bila offered her opinion that protests were made to look like a block party. “This minimized their struggle and their fight,” she suggested. But co-host Whoopi Goldberg disagreed. “I don’t know if it’s tone deaf. I just think this is [Jenner’s] way of trying to say, hey listen. Let’s be a little more inclusive.”
For its part, Pepsi probably did not anticipate the backlash from the protest-loving left. Now, after caving in to complaints, the brand has pulled the ad. "Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding," its April 5 statement read. "Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue."
Who knew such vague, feel-good messaging could cause such a ruckus?
