Remember yesterday, when Pepsi taught the world to sing out against its foolishness with an ad rife not just with cultural appropriation, but with protest appropriation?

If you missed it, Pepsi released an ad entitled “Jump In,” in which Kendall Jenner escapes from a photoshoot to lead a protest against … something, using Pepsi as an agent of unity, all while a struggling Muslim photographer finds inspiration in Jenner’s sudden political awakening.

We talked about what Twitter thought: you can read all about it here. To recap briefly though, the ad had a reception worse than Trumpcare. I mean, everyone had something bad to say, from Martin Luther King’s daughter:

To Charlamagne:

To the always delightful Lakeith Stanfield:

So, today, Pepsi, wising up at last, released a statement that said, “We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are removing the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.”

Yesterday, in a Pepsi statement, Jenner said Pepsi “shares a voice with the generation of today,” and that she was “thrilled to join the legendary roster of icons who have represented their generations and worked with Pepsi.” She hasn’t mentioned how she feels about it today.

For many on Twitter, it seemed the apology and the removal of the ad was too little, too late:

 

To them, Pepsi said, “Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize.” Next time you think about co-opting a civil rights issue to sell soda, Pepsi, maybe don’t be so thirsty.

AdvertisingBlack-lives-matterKendall JennerPepsirace and politics