Kendall Jenner Faces Backlash Over Pepsi Protest Commercial
NEW YORK (CBS SF/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.
Released Tuesday, the 2+ minute "Live for Now Moments" video (above) has Jenner in a platinum wig on a photo shoot when protesters amble by. She then 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.
Iesha Evans did it better. #PEPSI pic.twitter.com/ua1ZWQP7ke
— Geraldine (@everywhereist) April 4, 2017
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.
Pepsi released a statement late Tuesday night. "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 read.
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