Kendall Jenner is everything I want to be – a Kardashian, a VS Angel and… the hero to the struggle of discrimination against minorities?
Kendall Jenner found herself in an uncomfortable position when her new commercial with Pepsi was met with a wave of fury and disgust.
The ad captures the young model mid-photoshoot while protesters take to the streets. Inspired by the marchers, she then pulls her blonde wig off and joins the crowd, bringing peace to the tension-filled scene when she hands an attractive police officer a can of Pepsi.
The advertisement has since gone viral and has accumulated an alarming amount of critique for the appropriation of protest and resistance culture in the name of a cheap soda. And at the top of the immense social-media mountaintop Twitter sat the daughter of the legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
“If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi,” she tweeted, adding her voice to the growing online crowd of backlash with eleven powerful words and an equally shiver-inducing black and white photo of her father.
If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi. pic.twitter.com/FA6JPrY72V
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) April 5, 2017
Pepsi was quick to jump to the defence of their ad on Tuesday: “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 they later retracted their ad and statement, following up with an apology on Wednesday.
“Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding,” read their statement. “Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout”.
They also apologized for putting Kendall Jenner in the limelight of fury, though the model has yet to comment on the controversy.
#Peace.Love.Pepsi
