On Wednesday, amid a tide of backlash and almost as swiftly as the company launched it, Pepsi withdrew its controversial "Jump In" commercial featuring Kendall Jenner.
Originally posted on YouTube, the ad “captures the spirit and actions of those people that jump in to every moment,” Pepsi wrote.
But critics of the spot say the commercial made a mockery of any kind of serious protest movement, particularly Black Lives Matter.
In the 2½- minute spot, protesters march down the street, catching the eye of a modeling Jenner.
Jenner takes the reigns of the march and hands a police officer a can of Pepsi — effectively ending the conflict.
If Pepsi wanted the ad to spark conversation, it did. Just not how the company wanted.
“This ad communicates a reality that doesn’t exist for black people. Our resistance has never looked like a block party,” said Black Lives Matter advocate Aurielle Lucier. “This is a capitalistic exploitation of what Pepsi sees as a popular trend. But black protest is not a trend. This is not fun. We don’t hit the streets for a photo opp. We do this to protect our community and to provide visibility to our deaths and killing of our people.”
Bernice King, the youngest daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., posted a rare ironic tweet.
"If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi," she wrote.
Pepsi pulled the ad and then issued a statement: “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark and apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout.”
Timothy D. Lytton, a distinguished university professor at the Georgia State University College of Law, who writes about food policy and regulations, notes that Pepsi has been fairly aggressive in its attempts to push diversity across its brands.
“But it sounds like that intention did not carry over very well in terms of how it this commercial was perceived – which was the commercialization and trivialization civil rights efforts,” Lytton said.
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