The Black Lives Matter protest all over the country have brought Kendall Jenner’s infamous Pepsi commercial back to the forefront, and not in a complimentary way. Major towns all over the U.S saw demonstration the week following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Monday. along with other last tragedies. While Americans online are debating who is at fault and how things should be done differently, all seem to agree that there was no chance that protests would like Jenner’s Pepsi ad.
The ad was released return in 2017 when the U.S had already seen drastic demonstrations over other police killings of unarmed African American people. It looks like the public perception of this unfortunate ad has not changed much. Critics have accused Pepsi and Jenner of appropriating and trivializing real social issues for a transparently corporate cause.
Disappointment in Jenner continues, with some fans hoping that she would at least speak out on demonstrations behalf this week since she aligned herself with them in this ill-fated commercial, instead, critics have pointed out that Jenner’s social media output continues to be product placement, with no mention of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. Many people believe the final scene of the ad in particular is a direct reference to one of the defining images of the Black Lives Matter Movement a photo of Leshia Evans a 28-year-old nurse being detained in Baton Rouge Louisiana.
