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Model and Kardashian clan member Kendall Jenner’s turn as a Pepsi-wielding protester has some on social media decrying the imagery as appropriation of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The “Live for Now Moments ” video released on Tuesday has Jenner in a platinum wig on a photo shoot when protesters amble by. She rips off her wig, smears away her lipstick and joins them, eventually handing an officer on the demonstration line a can of Pepsi. He gulps some down, and then grins as Jenner dances off with her new friends.
Watch it here:
https://youtu.be/dA5Yq1DLSmQ
Reaction on social media ranged from some saying the imagery was tone deaf, to it evoking a widely circulated photo of Black Lives Matter protester Leshia Evans last year in Louisiana. Evans was detained when she approached police at a demonstration in Baton Rouge.
See some of the reactions here:
In Baton Rouge, LA, Ieshia Evans didn't meet the same reaction as Kendall Jenner from police when approaching during a protest. #pepsiad pic.twitter.com/OjJg2zDlDu
— BD_PR (@Brittany_AD) April 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/MOEQueenOfPeace/status/849516222001668100
Not only is that #Pepsiad offensive, it is also very badly executed.
— zodwa kumalo (@Zoddies) April 5, 2017
To clarify, I'm pissed at the #PepsiAd bc this is what happens if you walk toward police barriers. No soda protects PoC from police violence pic.twitter.com/6lrNluHUBf
— Stef Sanjati 💕🎮🔥 (@stefsanjati) April 5, 2017
That @pepsi ad, though… IS what neoliberalism is all about: everything is solved with capitalism#PepsiAd
— leftyaaron (@leftyaaron) April 5, 2017
So that means every war we just going to give ourselves pepsi then everything will be alright? #PepsiAd
— Jennette Sabido (@jennsaab) April 5, 2017
In a statement late Tuesday night, Pepsi defended the ad.
“This is a global ad that reflects people from different walks of life coming together in a spirit of harmony, and we think that’s an important message to convey,” the statement said.
