I’m just going to say it…. I don’t understand the backlash on the Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad. I just don’t. Before you run off and grab your pitch fork, here’s why. It’s a commercial. It’s an ad for a product. It’s art imitating life and it’s completely subjective.
The ad was posted Tuesday on Youtube and ever since has been a pretty hot topic of conversation. We see creatives and people of all types, colors, sizes, and ages marching through the streets of some hipster city while beautiful Kendall Jenner watches out of the corner of her eye during a kind of weird photo shoot.
During the beginning an adorable, non Caucasian, cello player joins the movement. Then a frustrated gorgeous middle eastern Photographer wearing a hijab and some awesome eye brows grabs her camera and joins the movement as well. Of course, Kenny and the adorable cello player lock eyes and in that moment, she knows, she has to join this movement too. Kenny rips off the blonde wig and wipes off the wine-colored lip stick. Somehow in between her photo shoot and the street, she has found a terrible jean jacket and some jeans that were clearly not big sisses “Good American’s”. Everyone smiles, looking beautiful and then sweet Kenny marches over to the wall of police and hands the cutest one a Pepsi. Of course, he takes it with a smile, I mean it’s Kendall Jenner, and takes a big swig. The people in the movement are elated and everyone feels a little more at peace. Why? It’s a commercial.
Is this real life? No. The hypocrisies and lack of critical thinking swarming the internet are just comical at this point. Case in point the below comparison: Insert photo of girl resisting here. This is not to downplay AT ALL what Ieshia Evans was doing. She was resisting. Kendall Jenner was in a Pepsi commercial and got millions of dollars. In NO WAY is that a comparison to Ieshia and her courage.
I’ve also seen a lot of people mocking about how Kendall decided to join the movement. Do we not all have to start somewhere? Are people not influenced by them around them all the time?
Again, this is an advertisement that suggests unity, makes you want to crack open a cold Pepsi while envying Kendall Jenner’s eye brows and of course joining a larger conversation that is generating clicks and MONEY. At the end of the day the ad is not terrible and did exactly what is was meant to do. It got people talking about it but it.
