All the Black Lives Matter movement needed this whole time was to be led by a 21-year-old white supermodel armed with a can of fizzy soda. She can make everybody get along.
That’s how people are interpreting Pepsi’s new ad featuring reality TV star Kendall Jenner. That ad has been met with widespread condemnation with people accusing Pepsi of appropriating a nationwide protest movement following police shootings of African Americans to sell a global cola.
You can watch it here:
The ad’s climax has caused the most uproar. Many people believe the final scene, in particular, is a direct reference to one of the defining images of the Black Lives Matter movement: a photograph of Ieshia Evans, a 28-year-old nurse being detained in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Jenner reaches the remarkably calm front-line of the protest. She spots an officer, walks up to him and hands him the Pepsi.
He takes a sip, a woman wearing a nose-ring and a traditional Muslim headscarf takes a photograph and everybody cheers.
Responses to the commercial, titled “Live For Now Moments Anthem,” were swift and merciless on social media as many people accused Pepsi of appropriating serious political and social-justice movements to sell soda.
Pepsi released a statement in response to the backfire.
“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,” they said in a statement.
