Kendall Jenner's Pepsi Commercial Derided As Tone Deaf
NEW YORK (AP) - Model and Kardashian clan member Kendall Jenner's turn as a Pepsi-wielding protester has some on social media decrying the imagery as appropriation of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The "Live for Now Moments " video released Tuesday has Jenner in a platinum wig on a photo shoot when protesters amble by. She rips off her wig, smears away her lipstick and joins them, eventually handing an officer on the demonstration line a can of Pepsi. He gulps some down, and then grins as Jenner dances off with her new friends.
Reaction on social media ranged from some saying the imagery was tone deaf, to it evoking a widely circulated photo of Black Lives Matter protester Ieshia Evans last year in Louisiana. Evans was detained when she approached police at a demonstration in Baton Rouge.
This Pepsi ad is so unrealistic. Those protesters would have been Dr. Pepper Sprayed. https://t.co/oNjjtm6eFu
— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) April 5, 2017
— Gore Vidal Sassoon (@JimmyJazz1968) April 4, 2017
EXT. GAZA STRIP
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 5, 2017
A MASSIVE RIOT is erupting. Suddenly, a Pepsi truck approac
In a statement late Tuesday night, Pepsi defended the ad.
"This is a global ad that reflects people from different walks of life coming together in a spirit of harmony, and we think that's an important message to convey," the statement said.
But late Wednesday morning, Pepsi announced that it would be pulling the ad.
"Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding," the company said Monday in a news release. "Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize."
"We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position," PepsiCo Inc. said.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.