People on both ends of the political spectrum are not happy with Pepsi's latest ad featuring Kendall Jenner.
Released on Tuesday, the ad depicts Kendall's ~rapid ascent to woke-ness~ after she sees a rally go by outside while she's in the middle of a photoshoot. Empowered by a cello-carrying protestor and the crowd's generic signs of "join the conversation," the model rips off the blonde wig she is wearing and wipes off her makeup before running to join them, despite the commercial never specifying what injustice the crowd is protesting.
Intercut with shots of other frustrated, creative, and happy youths, Kendall then walks through the crowd to hand a Pepsi to a police officer — apparently making peace between the protestors and police as a result. The crowd then erupts into cheers.
The backlash against the ad was swift, with many criticizing the commercial for being tone deaf at best, and unforgivably offensive and damaging at worst.
<p>Many were quick to point out that the ad was blatantly taking advantage of the recent increase in protests sweeping the nation as a result of the most recent presidential election. Furthermore, the ad seems to be specifically co-opting imagery from the Black Lives Matter movement: In particular, the now iconic photo of protestor Ieshia Evans being arrested in Baton Rouge while peacefully protesting. But, as <a href=" http:="" www.elle.com="" culture="" news="" a44278="" pepsi-commercial-kendall-jenner-problematic="" "="" target="_blank">Elle points out, instead of featuring a black woman putting herself at risk in order to protest for her right to exist, the commercial instead replaces her with a wealthy, white supermodel — who in no way faces the same risks for her actions.
Neither Kendall nor Pepsi have released a statement in response to the backlash at this time, but we will update this post accordingly if they do.
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