Twitter reacts to Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi ad

A new Pepsi ad that premiered yesterday online has many people scratching their heads and others angry. The ad features Kendall Jenner, daughter of transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner, in the midst of a large protest.

As the camera pans the crowd the viewers are shown — women in hijabs, angry Black protestors and what are assumed to be same-sex couples screaming at a line of stoic and stern-faced police officers. As the crowd gets heated, Jenner approaches the line of officers and offers one a cold can of Pepsi. There is a brief moment of silence as the officer takes and drinks the soda and then gives a beaming smile. The crowd erupts in cheers and all is suddenly well among the protestors as an ending title reads “Live Bolder, Live Louder, Live for Now.”


There was an almost immediate reaction on Twitter as the majority of users called the ad an insult to anyone who’s been marching and fighting for injustice in America — the thought that a White woman among a sea of Black and Brown protesters can just shed her change from glamorous clothing and give a cop a Pepsi and then all is right with the world is baffling.  As one tweet stated, a “Black protestor giving a cop a Pepsi would result in that protestor receiving a ‘Dr. Pepper-spray.’”

Pepsi responded to the criticism of its ad with the following: “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.”


But Twitter users disagree; here are just a few responses:

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Join our Newsletter

Sign up for Rolling Out news straight to your inbox.

Read more about:
Also read
Rolling Out