Kendall Jenner starred in a Pepsi ad that landed on the internet on 4/4 that was a part of Pepsi’s “Jump In” commercial. Following Pepsi’s “Live for Now” motto being promoted this year, the commercial starts by showing the viewers Kendall Jenner on a photo shoot set. On the set she notices a group of protesters marching down the street, and at this point she decides to “Jump In”. Then she procedes to take off the blond wig she had on and the lipstick off too; walking into the group of protesters and towards a line of cops. She walks right up to the cops and pulls out a can of Pepsi and gives it to one of them; that said cop smiles and then people lost their minds.

All of the internet exploded in backlash, and many memes were created about this commercial. SNL even made a skit about it, showing how truly a bad idea it was. The ad was eventually taken down and Pepsi released an apology statement, “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark and apologize.” Not even defending their own ad they didn’t have another choice. Kendall Jenner has been laying low as of right now after this accident. She is projected to make an appearance at the upcoming Coachella.

Many people were upset about the obvious tone-deafness about real world issues. Many complained that this lazy commercial made by Pepsi takes advantage of the real struggles that protesters go through against the cops. Simply handing the cops a beverage that’s so unhealthy for you won’t solve any real world problems. Many expressed the similarity to protester Ieshia Evans facing down police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana last year.

Twitter didn’t hold back:
Activist DeRay Mckesson tweeted: “If I had carried Pepsi I guess I never would’ve gotten arrested. Who knew?”
Bernice King, a daughter of Martin Luther King Jr, said this: “If only Daddy would have known about the power of Pepsi”

Out of all this major problems, maybe an even greater, more positive consequence came out of it. At the end of it all it brought the internet together, against this terribly made ad. Gaining 1.6 million views on YouTube in 48 hours, it gathered five times as many dislikes as likes. Not many issues that pop up on the internet can find a majority consensus, but this ad managed to do that, doing something commercial failed to do for itself.  Trying to exploit the real issues of  Black Lives Matter, the Women’s Marches , and the Civil Rights Movement was a bad move. Pepsi tried to use this as a way to sell their own carbonated beverages and it just left a bad taste in the peoples’ mouths.