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Image: YouTube
Pepsi has pulled a commercial starring Kendall Jenner and apologised, admitting they “missed the mark” after widespread outrage.
The two-and-a-half-minute clip, which has been taken down but can currently still be found on YouTube depicts a protest march. It shows Jenner leaving a photoshoot to join the protesters, where she grabs a can of Pepsi and hands it to a police officer who takes a sip, prompting the crowd to cheer and celebrate.
The ad has been widely criticised for making light of protest movements and the Black Lives Matter movement in America in particular, where tensions often run high between protesters and the police presence, and misrepresenting the experience of protesters who face serious dangers when they take to the street.
“No one is finding joy from Pepsi at a protest,” Elle Hearns, the executive director of the Marsha P. Johnson Institute and formerly an organiser for Black Lives Matter told the New York Times. “That’s just not the reality of our lives. That’s not what it looks like to take bold action.”
Even Martin Luther King Jr’s daughter Bernice King tweeted her disgust.
If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi. pic.twitter.com/FA6JPrY72V
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) April 5, 2017
We did this in Baltimore. Nothing changed @pepsi pic.twitter.com/YveSvfmpYu
— Will (@YeahItsWilly) April 5, 2017
“Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark and apologise,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday local time. “We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout.”
The company also apologised to Kendall.
“We also apologise for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.”
