PepsiCo recently made headlines when it joined a number of other companies yanking commercials off of YouTube when it was revealed that those ads were being paired with racist and offensive videos. Now, Pepsi is making headlines, along with Kendall Jenner, for doing some offending of its own with a commercial that has set the Internet ablaze, thanks to its implications that the company's signature drink has the power to make protesters and police forget about everything besides that Pepsi taste or whatever. Watch the full cut of the ad below, which also has a shorter version for airing.
How this entire production got from Point Origin to Point YouTube is beyond me, especially since there were so many people involved in front of and behind the camera. But it exists, and it would take a passionate amount of research to find a suitable number of positive social media reactions, as the pannings, sarcastic comments, and outright dismissals have been the near-universal reaction from anyone who's talking about the commercial.
And nothing is free from being a target, from the overwhelmingly forced diversity of the protesters to Kendall Jenner's blonde wig to how she gets rid of the wig to the generic Join the Conversation protest signs, and it goes on. The most scathing responses, unsurprisingly, come from the final "resolution" when the one cop takes a drink from Jenner's gifted [soda][1], and that somehow sates every single protester, and all differences are put to the wayside. It's all so very wowzers, and this tweet kind of sums up everyone's feelings.
[1]: http://And nothing is free from being a target, from the overwhelming diversity of the protesters to Kendall Jenner's blonde wig to how she gets rid of the wig to the generic Join the Conversation protest signs, and it goes on. The most scathing responses, unsurprisingly, come from the final
The backlash has only grown as the hours since the ad's release occurred, but Pepsi didn't budge from its initial stance that the ad was meant to be one of a peace-making nature. Here's the statement they gave to AdWeek.
This is a global ad that reflects people from different walks of life coming together in a spirit of harmony, and we think that's an important message to convey.
If it's possible for someone to make it through that entire ad with a straight face, it's also within the realm of possibility that Pepsi's goal of togetherness was more strategic than it seems. Basic statistics dictate there are people out there who like this ad, but people from all points of the political spectrum have crapped all over the commercial. So what if bringing everyone to the same side in that way was the REAL goal that Pepsi and Kendall Jenner had in mind? Wait, why is everyone laughing hysterically?
It'll be interesting to see if anything else comes from this beyond punchlines. In the meantime, let us know what you thought of the ad and head to our midseason premiere schedule and our summer TV guide to see what ad-fueled programming is coming to the small screen in the near future.
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