Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi ad video has been shut down after Bernice King wrote a Twitter rant. Jenner was slammed by the netizens after the advert blatantly made light of social justice protests. It has caused a humongous uproar after many assumed that the beverage giant’s advert was an attempt to co-opt various political resistance movements and police killings of black people in America for the purpose of increasing its products sales. Bad move, Pepsi!
The outrage caused by the commercial entitled, “Live For Now Moments Anthem” has prompted the Pepsi executives to withdraw the ad from Youtube on Wednesday. Despite the release of their statement that the advert was meant to connect people “from different walks of life,” it missed its spot as people called the ad “tone-deaf” in its content. After pulling out the advert and apologizing to Jenner, Bernice King, daughter of iconic human rights protester Martin Luther King, wrote a Twitter rant in response to the tackless ad. Her tweet was liked by over 211,000 users and was shared more than 122,000 times.
Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi ad video shutdown after getting torched
The commercial depicted the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star ditching her modeling photo shoot and joining the throng of supporters on the street. She dramatically took her wig off, wiped her burgundy lipstick, and reached for a can of Pepsi in an ice bucket. Kendall weaved her way through the crowd and handed out the fizzy drink to a police officer who was monitoring the protest.
The ad ended with the young demonstrators cheering as the cop grinned at them. If only it was that easy to attain world peace. No wonder Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi ad video shut down before it was even released on TV. The one scene that angered viewers is the insensitive portrayal of authorities and protesters. Pepsi appears to be making fun of a serious problem that has embedded the country for years. Protests against police brutality and racism throughout American history were completely erased as it was being replaced by a white female heroine addict who bears the torch for world peace.
WATCH: Apparently @KendallJenner and @pepsi have taken over Black Lives Matter. Not kidding. pic.twitter.com/VUbQvxkPmW
— Yashar Ali ? ????? (@yashar) April 4, 2017
Many ridiculed the 21-year-old model as the central character who brings about civil rights equality, saying that it was absurd to compare her to the likes of Martin King and Gloria Steinem. Pepsi also released an apology to Kendall for putting her “in this position.”
On Wednesday afternoon, the company was forced to pull their advert from Youtube following the tremendous criticisms they received. “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace, and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue,” the Pepsi management said in a statement.
The considerable backlash intensified on Tuesday as it commemorates the anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King in 1968.
Bernice King threw a blistering tweet at Pepsi
Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi ad video shut down after Bernice King released a Twitter rant. The image she posted was of her father together with other protesters who stood their ground while being pushed back by police officers. Bernice wrote on the caption, “If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi.” It’s an emotional photo for activist and CEO of King Center in Atlanta, Georgia as it recalled the bloody division between blacks and whites which resulted in violence and death.
If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi . pic.twitter.com/FA6JPrY72V
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) April 5, 2017
Critics have also trended the photo of Kendall who was offering Pepsi to a police officer to that of 28-year-old activist Ieshia Evans at a protest in Baton Rouge. Bernice King followed her Twitter rant with an article on the Huffington Post . She wrote that the Pepsi ad video “contributed to the notion that there is a fairy-tale, light way to ease conflicts that have existed in this nation for hundreds of years. That way to what my father would call ‘false peace’ was depicted as being cleared by a white woman in a moment parallel to a photo of Ieshia Evans, a black woman who bravely stood before law enforcement in Baton Rouge, LA.”
[Featured Image by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images]