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Why the Ad received Backlash

This Pepsi ad has been criticized for framing white privilege. Kendall Jenner uses a can of soda as a peacemaker between civil rights and police. The Ad shows all ethnicities carrying signs representing peace and love. “As the march reaches a line of police officers, it’s impossible not to think about the violent clashes between activists and police in the wake of several killings of unarmed people of color and the use of excessive force at recent protests, including the pepper spraying of Black Lives Matter supporters.”

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In 2017, Kendal Jenner was apart of a Pepsi commercial that left many people very frustrated. Kendall was in the middle of a photo shoot while she saw a group of people walking down the street, so she pulled off her wig, wiped off her lipstick, and joined the movement. Kendall Jenner continues march with this protest and walks right up to an officer. When she gets to the line of officers Jenner hands him a Pepsi, he accepts the pepsi, opens it, takes a drink, and everyone goes crazy. Although the ad never specifically addresses the black lives matter movement, the Pepsi Ad was pulled after it was criticized and associated with the movement following the police shootings of African Americans.

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Big Deal Over Nothing

Some individuals believe that people are making a big controversy over nothing. It's not clear what the smiling, attractive demonstrators are upset about, the only clues being their placards reading "peace" and "love" and "join the conversation." Some people even relate it to the, “ I’d like to buy the world a coke” advertisement. So that was the basic idea: to see Coke not as it was originally designed to be -- a liquid refresher -- but as a tiny bit of commonality between all peoples, a universally liked formula that would help to keep them company for a few minutes." This was created in opposition to the Vietnam war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VM2eLhvsSM

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“Pepsi's new commercial mimicking a protest is so tasteless. Bye #pepsi.”

DE ELIZABETH

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A controversy that arises is that Kendall is a rich, white supermodel. As you can see in the photo right next to her, a woman by the name of Iesha Evans was arrested for protesting a Black Lives Matter Movement. 

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It drew scathing criticism on social media from Bernice King, the youngest daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She posted an image of her father mid-peaceful protest — literally being pushed back by a police line and tweeted: "If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi.

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Since Kendall Jenner starred in the controversial Pepsi ad, the sales of Pepsi was drastically affected. As you can see on the graph it took nine months for Pepsi’s perception to fully recover with millennials from the ad’s backlash. This backlash stemmed from making light of the Black Lives Matter movement. “The Jenner ad brought Pepsi’s Purchase Consideration score with millennials down from 27% to 24% from early April to mid-July.”

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“Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark and apologize,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. “We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout.”

Victor, Daniel. “Pepsi Pulls Ad Accused of Trivializing Black Lives Matter.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Apr. 2017,