Yesterday Pepsi launched a tone deaf, politically-charged commercial with Kendall Jenner that tilted the axis of the earth out its proverbial orbit. The ad showed a political protest that’s resolved when an A-list millionaire model hands a cop a Pepsi, as if a soda is some sort of flower that will unite everyone in this politically divisive era.
cop: im not racist anymore
— BRANDON WARDELL (@BRANDONWARDELL) April 4, 2017
Kris Jenner was thrilled about her daughter getting a look from one of the world’s biggest brands. As of this writing, she just deleted the tweet a few moments ago:
— Kris Jenner (@KrisJenner) April 4, 2017
That said, the backlash was very real. The Internet delivered with some A++ tweets to put context behind the ridiculousness of the ad. For example:
— Suge Night Shyamalan (@B_Effin_G) April 5, 2017
— Ronnie San Jose (@thisway2sanjose) April 5, 2017
Meanwhile, Pepsi went into full damage control, admitting it was a big mistake:
“Successful marketing campaigns have the power to add millions to the value of a brand. However, ill-conceived campaigns equally have the power to significantly erode hard-earned brand equity. Pepsi, which already had a difficult 2016 with its brand value dropping by 4% to $18.3 billion dollars, could face further losses in the value and strength of its brand as a result of this ad. Companies are right to push the boundaries and take risks when it comes to marketing products, but this proves that fallout from a single video can have a very damaging effect.”
— Jennifer Maloney (@maloneyfiles) April 5, 2017
Which brings us to the point of this post. Why, exactly, is the ad so damn toxic. Music video director/meme lord Jack Wagner a.k.a. @GrimmKardashian went on tweet storm over just how tone-deaf the ad was.
— jack wagner (@GrimmKardashian) April 4, 2017
— jack wagner (@GrimmKardashian) April 4, 2017
— jack wagner (@GrimmKardashian) April 4, 2017
— jack wagner (@GrimmKardashian) April 4, 2017
