Does it get any more fake than this? A new Pepsi commercial featuring Kendall Jenner from the TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians attempts to bend over backwards to “send a message” that social justice movements are the hip new thing for young people.
It must be so, because we see Kendall interrupting her hard “work” of modeling to join a street protest that’s awfully reminiscent of recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
Not only is this unrealistic (Jenner has never expressed interest in any political issue before, with the exception of urging people to vote for Hillary Clinton — likely something she was paid to do, like the rest of her family), but Jenner surely isn’t going to walk out of a modeling gig, which is her daily bread and butter and is integral to her future in the entertainment business. Real-life social media activists (including Martin Luther King’s daughter) blasted both Jenner and Pepsi for the exploitation of their causes online.
So tone-deaf is the ad that Pepsi pulled it just a day after it was released, with a company spokesperson saying, “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark and apologize. We didn’t intend to make light of any serious issue.”
Watch the clip, and you can see why this commercial was a bad idea from the day it was dreamed up.