Another Pepsi Fuels Phonyness With Kendall Jenner #TheySleep

If you haven't seen the Pepsi commercial that everyone is talking about, you will walk to look. In what was supposed to inspire people, the ad has turned into a social media frenzy. No sooner had Pepsi launched its shiny and new expensive global campaign starring Kardashian sister, Kendall Jenner, in its protest-themed commercial, when it had to pull the ad in the wake of an epic social media backlash. The soft drinks giant promptly made an apology, but people aren't buying it. Many people are calling it the worst ad ever, and Pepsi has said it missed the mark in its overall attempt to project a global message of peace, unity, and understanding. The soft drink giant apologized profusely to the world and particularly to Jenner. Some people are saying that that ad was a middle finger to all the hard work that protestors and advocates around the world have put in over the last couple of years. And to have Kendall Jenner star in the ad, a girl who has lived a life of privilege and most likely never had to deal with most of the issue at hand, was a weak move. The fact that this commercial made it through to air is a bit unnerving, to say the least. That is the good thing about social media as people get the chance to voice how they feel, whether it be good or bad, there is a constant conversation going on, and things get called out for what they are.

This trending video has people talking and the issues at hand, and that is a good thing. The strangeness of the Pepsi apology set off a mini-storm on Twitter and left people wondering what sort of involvement Jenner, had, if any, in bringing the concept to life. Late night host Jimmy Kimmel articulated what many people were thinking about the ad, and asked how this ad ever saw the light of day. Going on to say that the fact that this ad somehow made it through, at who knows how many meetings, and edits, and pitches, and then got the thumbs-up from who more people is mind-boggling. The advertising industry website Ad Age did some research and found that Pepsi's in-house creative team, the Creators League Studio, came up with the concept, and said the ad takes a more progressive approach to reflect today's generation.

The backlash to the ad was fast and brutal, and Pepsi is said to be hurting from the damage to its reputation before they begin to count the cost of pulling an expensive global campaign after 24 hours. There are some however that are saying that the ad was deliberately created by Pepsi and that the entire creative and marketing team at Pepsi didn't consider, even for one moment, that having a pseudo-famous white rich celebrity pretend to be in a protest march was a bad idea. Since the backlash, there have been thousands of memes created and shared by millions all over the world, and that is the kind of publicity and visibility that money can't buy. There is no such thing as bad publicity.

This is not the first time that a Pepsi ad has been controversial. In 1989 the soft drink giant had to cancel an ad with pop star Madonna in it. Pepsi canceled plans to broadcast a television commercial in which the rock star Madonna advertises Pepsi-Cola, after finding that consumers confused the Pepsi commercial with a music video by the singer that included religious imagery. This is just one of the trending videos and trending news you will find on the LinkedIn site. **