Kendall Jenner is at the center of a horrible failed attempt from Pepsi to advertise using, appropriating the Black Lives Matter movement.
During the commercial advertisement Jenner is modeling in a photo shoot as she notices the commotion of a protest taking place outside.
Herself, along with a southeast Asian music artist and an Islamic female photographer, all share a common thread, Pepsi and artistry. The music artist and photographer join the protest and the music artist hints to Kendall Jenner to join along. She snatches off her blonde wig (pun intended) and grabs herself a Pepsi and begins marching with the crowd with a big smile.
She then approaches the police officer and the camera pans out to mimic the viral image of Ieshia Evans during a #BLM protest or in other words they appropriate the pain of black culture by copying this serious moment to sell a soda. Kendall then hands the officer a Pepsi and the crowd erupts with joy, and the soda solves all of their problems. Oh and we mustn’t forget that during the exchange of the Pepsi the Islamic photographer ‘captures’ this ground breaking image (sarcasm).
I think the clear appropriation of the #BLM movement is sickening but what’s more disturbing is how Pepsi neglected to have an African American in the center of this commercial. Yes, there were flashes of black people mixed into the protesting crowd but there were no distinct characters who were clearly African Americans. As mentioned above, there was an Islamic woman as the photographer and the musician appeared to be of Southeast Asian descent. The only brown main character in this commercial was the can of Pepsi. I believe overall the concept was a terrible one to begin with but it is clearly problematic that a beverage that has been marketed towards African Americans for years, and who’s major consumers of their product is the African American community would use Kendall Jenner as their main character in a commercial that is centered around protesting and uprising. The fact that they used a member from a family whose claim to fame is the appropriation of black culture as the main character to sell a product to the black community is unsettling.
Pepsi if you’re reading please get rid of this commercial. It is not going to convince us to buy your product it’ll only convince us not to buy your product. Watch the full debauchery unfold below.
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