Pepsi Commercial

In a recent Pepsi advertisement, Kendall Jenner joins a peace protest in the middle of a photoshoot she is doing. She makes her way to the front of the protest where the protesters and a line of police officers stand face-to-face. With a Pepsi in hand, Kendall Jenner walks up to one the police officers and hands it to him. The officer proceeds to drink the Pepsi and smile as the protesters cheer him on and begin high-fiving and hugging on another

            This commercial almost seems like it is a parody of what a Black Live Matter protest is meant to be like. This advertisement to me is a bunch of random people who had no intention of being a part of the protest becoming curious about what was going on and just joined in. There seems to be a lot of dancing, music, and smiling for this to be a protest. This advertisement is a mockery of representation of a Black Lives Matter protest due to unrealistic depictions and ethnic diversities.

            A real Black Lives Matter protests are usually over a community’s outrage of police brutality. Just as there was in Ferguson, Missouri after the death of Michael Brown, who was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. I can assure you there is dancing, cheerful music or smiling going on during these protest. People are protesting because they are angry and want to stop seeing members of the black community being shot for unjust reasoning with most police officers not receiving the punishment they deserve.

            The main moment of this commercial is when Kendall Jenner approaches the officer and hand him the Pepsi, but this not what would have happen had that been a young black woman during a Black Lives Matter protest. I know this because this moment was failed rendition of Ieshia Evens icon photo of her standing alone in front of a line of police officers wearing riot gear. Two officers rushed out to detain her as she peaceful stood there. There was no smiling or any signs of happiness from either side. However, in this advertisement all of these unrealistic depictions of happiness, fun, and peace are false.

If Pepsi really wanted to try to reenact a Black Lives Matter protest, they could have at least had more black people in the advertisement. The lack of ethnic diversity is appalling to say the least. I know there are other protests going on in the United States besides Black Lives Matter, but seeing as how Kendall Jenner and Pepsi ripped of an icon moment of the movement; it would be nice to see more than two black people dancing in the advertisement. This advertisement represents nothing of the Black Lives Matter movement and is why it was so heavily criticized. Within a few days, Pepsi posting this advertisement it was taken down; they got the message that many people were not happy about it and though it was in poor taste. It was even spoofed by Saturday Night Live (SNL) for being so bad, as if the original commercial was not bad enough. The SNL skit portrays the director on the phone getting negative feedback about the commercial he was about to film where Kendall Jenner is the person who bring peace to between the police and protesters. It was even so bad that even Bernice King, Martin Luther King’s youngest daughter, tweeted “If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi.”
This advertisement was a completely inaccurate portrayal of what Americans who are protesting go through to get their message and purpose across. However, if all it takes is Kendall Jenner handing out Pepsi to bring world peace then I am sure Pepsi will re-air this advertisement, but until then I would say they need to go back to the drawing board. The misconstrued conception of what goes into a protest enraged many with this advertisement. It did not capture the true representation of emotions go into having to fight for justice, peace, and equality.
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