April 5, 2017

If Pepsi pulled this ad, why can I still see it?



The NYT has an excellent summary of the social media uproar — "Pepsi Pulls Ad Accused of Trivializing Black Lives Matter":
Pepsi has apologized for a controversial advertisement that borrowed imagery from the Black Lives Matter movement, after a day of intense criticism from people who said it trivialized the widespread protests against the killings of black people by the police....
The ad looks very beautiful and expensive, and it seems to be part of a recent trend in ads (for example during the Super Bowl) that associate the product with a deep-but-shallow angsty-but-feel-good political message. And it reminds me of the old I'd-like-to-buy-the-world-a-Coke prettiness:



Coke told us "It's the real thing," so maybe Pepsi's the fake thing, and in that light, I suspect Pepsi made a beautiful and intentionally flawed commercial that would stir up social media and get everyone to watch the commercial and talk about it. Pepsi would apologize, but it wouldn't really be sorry. It made you look.

And I'm saying that because if that wasn't the idea, Pepsi is just so dumb. That commercial took a lot of work and a lot of money to make. So many people were involved. They had to know some segment of social media would trash them for appropriating the seriousness and pain of others. Unless they are flat-out idiots with too much money to throw around, perhaps enough to buy the world a Coke.

But if they were indeed idiots, it gives me hope. Hope that advertisers will henceforth eschew politics in ads for commercial products. Maintain the separation of commerce and politics.

AND: Much of the social-media trashing uses images from recent protests, such as the lovely black woman in a long dress who stood elegantly in front of riot-geared police. They're aghast at the idea that a woman giving a Pepsi to a cop would solve the problems that the protests are about. But maybe the commercial was made by old fools who remember the idea of protesting the Vietnam war by sticking flowers into the barrels of the rifles of guardsmen — as seen in the famous photograph "Flower Power" (by Bernie Boston):



BUT: Only a desire for virality can explain why, when Kendall Jenner rips off her blonde wig (at 1:48), she hands it to a black woman. Here, hold my wig. I gotta protest. I mean, it's one thing to say stop being blonde if you're going to join a protest, but it's aggravating to fling that thing at the nearest black woman.

But let's talk about the gender question — why does Jenner take off her wig and, also, wipe off her lipstick? That seems to say women who fix up their hair and put on makeup are somehow unfit for the political uprising — even an uprising consisting of not much more than a search for love and a display of graceful loveliness. That rejects a lot of women.

And what about the association with that other Jenner, Caitlyn? There's quite a bit of wiggage and makeup on that one.

ADDED: Now, I'm getting interested in the question of how much makeup to wear to a protest. I found this at reddit:
I'm going to DC for the Women's March on Washington on January 21 (the day after the inauguration) and I'm thinking about how I want to do my makeup for the day. Factors I'm considering:
  • for everyday makeup I just do my brows, cream blush, and whatever lipstick I'm in the mood for at the moment
  • it's gonna be cold and I'll be sleep deprived and tired from travel, so I want to go with something that won't require touch-up
  • do I want to go for something sharp/severe and angry, or go for something overtly feminine [i have a thing about how society praises women when we act more masculine/ aggressive, and that femininity and softness are seen as signals of weakness rather than a certain kind of strength)
ALSO: Meade sends me this video...



... and I'm all: "Is that the music? I was trying to figure out who it was. I thought it might be Sting." I see it's Skip Marley — Bob Marley's grandson — and I feel sorry for him. Such a nice song and now it's getting dragged down by this controversy. Or is it getting a boost through this virality? We're all listening to it, noticing him.

In the comments, Meade, signing on to the virality theory, writes:
The entire thing is very Trump-y. Skip Marley, Jenner, Pepsi... even Trump will win from this.
AND: Rewatching the commercial, I'm struck by the complete lack of any racial message in the protest. The signs say "Join the conversation" or "Love" or show peace signs. Why are people saying Pepsi is using Black Lives Matter rather than a completely nonspecific anodyne generic protest? Is it just that there are many black people (along with a lot of other people) in the commercial?! Isn't it racist to look at black individuals and understand them as an embodiment of their race.

I didn't fix on the lyrics to the song, other than to notice the word "generation," long associated with Pepsi. You can read the lyrics here, along this response from Skip Marley to the question whether it's about the Trump election:
It didn’t stem from [the election], but it just happened to fall around that time. The song can be used in that way. It can [be used like that] because it’s up to people and their interpretation of a song. You can say it, but it’s not really a political song. I don’t want it to be viewed as a political song because it’s not really that kind of song. But I’m happy that people take it as strength in these times. It’s for the people in the United States to reassure that there’s a feeling inside that we're lions.
PLUS: I don't know if Skip Marley is, like his grandfather, a Rastafarian, but the lion is an important symbol in that religion. And the song does warn about losing religious freedom ("Yeah, if ya took all my rights away/Yeah, if ya tellin' me how to pray/Yeah, if ya won't let us demonstrate/Yeah, you're wrong...").

IN THE COMMENTS: Sean Gleeson said...
I didn't see a protest in the ad. More of a parade. The signs were wordless peace, love, and smiley face symbols. Everyone is smiling ear to ear. Even the police, who are not bothering anyone or barking orders, just standing by, like they are on a parade route. It's got kind of a flash-mob street party vibe.
Thanks for making me see the lineage back to "I'm a Pepper"!

119 comments:

rhhardin said...

It's a good ad. I don't see the uproar about it.

It keeps your attention trying to figure out a story line.

It ends with be nice to the police. Pepsi makes people come together.

Leftists appear to be very angry; Armstong and Getty ridiculed it from the right, taking it as a leftist ad.

JackWayne said...

Heckler's veto the story of the year.

Sebastian said...

It didn't show BLM. The demonstrators carried peace signs. Everyone knows BLM is not about peace. Now if they had shown Jenner using a can to douse the flames of a fire set by BLMers, that would have trivialized them.

So let's see: leftist demonstrators, Muslim photographer, Asian musician, white woman. All the right boxes checked, the non-left white male box left empty. Doesn't prevent "uproar" of course. Pepsi should have known better. Better kowtow now.

Todd said...

So some folks are mad that a company turned a lie [the Black Lives Matter movement] into a commercial to sell a product? Then the company folded like a house of cards and pulled the ad?

What were the odds...

rhhardin said...

You can't trivialize Black Lives Matter. It starts trivial.

rhhardin said...

They probably rejected pussy hats.

rehajm said...

...and it seems to be part of a recent trend in ads...that associate the product with a deep-but-shallow angsty-but-feel-good political message

Exposing the 'serious' protests as shallow see-and-be-seen fashion events 'tis what caused the unrest.

Great pussy hat! Your sign- how clever! Can I get a selfie with you Gloria?

J. Farmer said...

Can you really trivialize BLM more than they do themselves?

Unknown said...

Holy crap, is that ever an over-produced, empty gesture.

Somewhat like the movement on which it feeds parasitically.

Message: if the cop just drinks this sugar water, the angry children can all go home. Peace is sure to come.

Sprezzatura said...

Nice to see an NYT compliment among the regular criticism.

Ya don't want to seem too much like a Debbie Downer, or whatever it is that is the gal equiv for the stay-off-my-lawn dude in his golden years.


rehajm said...

Not BLM, NYT. NFW.

Amexpat said...

Pepsi is trying to connect with it sees as the the new Pepsi Generation.

Fernandinande said...

trivialized the widespread protests against the killings of black people by the police.

Because it didn't mention or refer to them. Oh, the horror.

The egotistical ignorami at the Bureau of Land Management must think they're the only people who have ever protested and held signs with armed people standing around. No tanks at least.

Todd said...

Other than that, it is sort of a stupid commercial.

What are the very peaceful protesters protesting? For peace? Why are the very calm and polite police line in a line for? Looks like everyone is on the same page so Pepsi is showing happy, polite demonstrators winning over happy, polite police to "happy"?

This looks like no "black lives matter" protest ever.

Why are they upset? Is it cause there were some black people in the commercial?

Sprezzatura said...

Ya sure can tell the linage of those big asses in that family. It doesn't seem to have been passed down by the moms.

Virgil Hilts said...

The vast majority of people (even liberals) think the BLM movement is dumb, counter-productive and has lead to probably a lot of net deaths. So Pepsi can run the ad, look edgy and when the SJW attacks start, they pull it and get sympathy from all the rationale people who hate the BLM movement and, of course, millions more people watch the ad (at no cost to Pepsi) because it has become controversial.
Meet Scott Adams, new consultant to Pepsico's advertising and marketing division.

Brando said...

Controversy sells.

Though I still don't get why ubiquitous products like Pepsi still need to advertise--it's not like watching an ad makes us more likely to buy a product that has been essentially unchanged our whole lives. However, the companies seem to be sure that they must do this to maintain and grow market share, so either they're being ripped off by advertising firms or they know something the rest of us don't.

J. Farmer said...

Ya sure can tell the linage of those big asses in that family.

I'm guessing the provenance is more likely a cosmetic surgeon's office than DNA.

Achilles said...

rhhardin said...
You can't trivialize Black Lives Matter. It starts trivial.

Threads over.

If All Lives Matter is offensive to you you are pretty silly indeed.

David Begley said...

Hate Pepsi. Too sweet.

Sebastian said...

This is the trivialization of uproar.

rhhardin said...

But if they were indeed idiots, it gives me hope. Hope that advertisers will henceforth eschew politics in ads for commercial products. Maintain the separation of commerce and politics.

It depends what the comment is.

Here the politics is that the police are my opponent, not my enemy, not a bad message for a democracy.

MadisonMan said...

I'd like to see a company ignore uproar. It's usually only about a day, day-and-a-half before the next uproar-worthy "controversy" erupts.

Michael K said...

I think the Trump hatred and the bathroom follies are teaching advertisers that politics does not help with product marketing.

Scott M said...

Where do daisies in rifles fit within the whole punching-up worldview?

Meade said...

The music rocks. Bob Marley's grandson I believe.

Fernandinande said...

Todd said...
What are the very peaceful protesters protesting?


A puppy shortage.

rhhardin said...

There was a nice 60s cartoon of a B-52 crew after dropping the bomb breaking out the beer, with the caption "It's Miller time."

Obviously an excellent ad.

Meade said...

"Here the politics is that the police are my opponent, not my enemy, not a bad message for a democracy."

Exactly. Very different from "KILL THE PIGS" of the 60 70's.

Stephen Taylor said...

I had the privilege over the weekend of watching a special aired on NBC back in 1967, "Movin' With Nancy", starring Nancy Sinatra, Dean Martin, Lee Hazlewood, Sammy Davis Jr and "Daddy". It was outstanding. Some tremendous music, almost all performed in an outdoors setting. The program won several awards. Anyhow, Royal Crown Cola must have sponsored the entire hour. Art Linkletter opened and closed the show, but Nancy did several commercials for RC Cola. The ads were designed to be integrated into the special and "flow" seamlessly, and they certainly did. Watching Nancy extol the virtues of RC Cola was a hoot; made me want a Moon Pie.

Oh, there was no social justice in the ads, and very little in the entire special. It was so very refreshing.

Jay Vogt said...

Designed in just a way to make you feel better about your self administered high fructose corn syrup induced diabetes.

George M. Spencer said...

You'd really have to ask people between the ages of 6 and 25 (?) if the ad worked or somehow figure out if it changed their consumption habits. Catch 'em while they are young, and they'll be loyal for life. The bit with giving the soda to the cop is just a sop for fogies like us.

It's all about moving the dial mit der kinder.

Doesn't matter if it was pulled after a day. Got a lot of buzz.

Rae said...

Now they don't have to pay to run the ad, and everyone knows about it.

But it should have been Crystal Pepsi. Or a glass of milk. That would have gotten people talking.

traditionalguy said...

They just made it clear that the War on White People is a winning cultural movement. Looks like white men need to fight back.

John henry said...

Not interested in any product peddled by a Kardashian or a pseudo-Kardashian.

John Henry

David Begley said...

Can the entire Jenner/Kardashian clan just please go away?

Beth B said...

All the sincerity of an Aldous Snow music video... Sodomize Intolerance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI4XLhY10VA

John henry said...

Watching Nancy extol the virtues of RC Cola was a hoot; made me want a Moon Pie.

Roadgeek, just hearing that makes me want to go listen to some Brother Dave records.

If I had a record player.

And some Brother Dave records.

Fortunately there is Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4E_Nrm0j8k

For those who don't know, an RC and a Moonpie is the southerners idea of Haute Cuisine.

We can't get RC down here but Sam's Cola is made from the same concentrate.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

"Join the Conversation"

LOL

Meade said...

"Now they don't have to pay to run the ad, and everyone knows about it."

The entire thing is very Trump-y. Skip Marley, Jenner, Pepsi... even Trump will win from this.

Todd said...

Meade said...

Exactly. Very different from "KILL THE PIGS" of the 60 70's.

4/5/17, 3:29 PM


Or BLM last week...

Rob said...

The demonstration (clearly not a Black Lives Matter demonstration; see all the peace signs) seems mostly to be protesting that the police won't drink a Pepsi. That's why, when a cop breaks ranks and drinks the Pepsi, the crowd cheers--they've accomplished their goal. And a Muslim photographer gets the picture. Makes me want to drink . . . lots of whiskey.

rehajm said...

why does Jenner take off her wig and, also, wipe off her lipstick

The 'protest' in the Pepsi ad was akin to the Women's March, not a BLM event. The Pepsi protest's race ratio isn't even up to corporate standards.

NYT was worried about the common trivialities of the Pepsi/Women's March so they called it BLM.

Todd said...

John said...

For those who don't know, an RC and a Moonpie is the southerners idea of Haute Cuisine.

4/5/17, 3:44 PM


Only if they are out of cow tails at the gas station...

Meade said...

"Join the Conversation" "Peace" "Love"

It's the old Pepsi Generation in a new bottle.

Rick Lee said...

Ohh... that was painful to watch.

Jay Vogt said...

Althouse said : . . .I suspect Pepsi made a beautiful and intentionally flawed commercial that would stir up social media and get everyone to watch the commercial and talk about it. Pepsi would apologize, but it wouldn't really be sorry. It made you look.

I'll take the other side of that bet. This was the product of Pepsi's in-house creative. There was no Don Draper to spin it into something more than it is. It's not possible to do that from the inside. And, don't care that they call it "creative", the operative phrase is "in house"

Will Cate said...

My guess is that the all-white creative team spent endless nights brainstorming at the hookah lounge, wearing their pussy hats and their "Feel the Bern" t-shirts, talking about how great it will be when they win their first-ever NAACP Image Award for best commercial.

Will Cate said...

Jay Vogt said... "I'll take the other side of that bet."

I agree.

rhhardin said...

Klavan likes the ad, praises capitalism. (Podcast, about 8 minutes in)

"We don't care what you think so long as you drink our soda."

Notes that both the left and the right amusingly hate the ad.

sparrow said...

stopped watching after Marley said "we are the chosen" or some such, way too self important for me.

mockturtle said...

Michael K observes: I think the Trump hatred and the bathroom follies are teaching advertisers that politics does not help with product marketing.

And yet, fools [continue to] rush in where angels fear to tread.

Meade said...

Already dubbed “the voice of our revolution,” the burgeoning reggae star leads a movement against the likes of racial injustice to religious persecution without as much as a flinch: “If you’re hoping we’re gonna run, wrong.”

“I want to spread my music to the people and help them unify,” the third-generation Marley said in a statement. “I want people to take away a message of love, of looking at the way you are living and thinking where we can work to be our best. Whatever they’re feeling, I want them to be able to turn up my music and think, relax, and get good vibes.”

Meade said...

“I want people to take away a message of love, of looking at the way you are living and thinking where we can work to be our best."

In short, Make America Great Again.

Earnest Prole said...

If you told me the whole thing was an Onion parody I would believe it, except that the Onion ain't what it used to be and probably couldn't pull it off now.

Jake said...

Who drinks soda anymore, anyway?

Jay Vogt said...

This is how you quench your thirst at a protest

James Pawlak said...

It is "BLACK LIES MATTER".

AlbertAnonymous said...

I thought it was a pretty bad commercial. Tried to hard to be "with it" and failed miserably. They look like a giant TOOL...

Sean Gleeson said...

I didn't see a protest in the ad. More of a parade. The signs were wordless peace, love, and smiley face symbols. Everyone is smiling ear to ear. Even the police, who are not bothering anyone or barking orders, just standing by, like they are on a parade route. It's got kind of a flash-mob street party vibe.

Peter said...

" I still don't get why ubiquitous products like Pepsi still need to advertise--it's not like watching an ad makes us more likely to buy a product that has been essentially unchanged our whole lives."

Because name-brands that don't advertise gradually fade into becoming off-brands, and off-brands sell at significantly lower prices than name-brands. Big brand names have enormous economic value, and advertising is used to maintain that.

Neither Pepsi's nor Coke's ads are about the product itself; after all, the product itself is carbonated, flavored sugar water and many who buy it probably could be fooled in a double-blind test against an off-brand or store-brand cola.

There are some ads for some products that are actually about the price, quality, and value of the product relative to its competitors, but, when was the last time you saw one?

And, yes, the ad apparently was produced by 'Creators League,' Pepsi's in-house content agency.


No doubt Pepsi does have a harder time advertising than Coca-Cola. Coke is perceived as No. 1 and all the ad has to do is make you feel good about drinking it; it's the default choice. Whereas Pepsi always has to be edgy, to position itself (and its users) as somehow different. But not too different, for Pepsi is still No. 2, and it's never going to be all that edgy to remain safely within the Coke-Pepsi duopolistic universe.

Michael K said...

No, it's Black Labs Matter.

Fernandinande said...

The Pepsi Degeneration.

Jake said...

Those awful police

Darrell said...

Pepsi--the official soft drink of ISIS.

Darrell said...

Wags call the Garbage People on The Walking Dead "Heapsters." I think it's time to extend the use of that word to garbage political and social protesting.

Martin said...

This is really just an update of the old "Pepsi Generation" campaign from the 1960s. Young, cool people drink Pepsi, Coke is for squares, man. But if a square tries Pepsi, he'll like it more than Coke, and be surprised at that, closed-minded bastard that he was. Embrace the new. (Even if Pepsi dates back to 1898, Coke is older.)

Pepsi was #2 then, and is #2 now. A time of social and generational tension then, and now.

What more do you have to know?

Heywood Rice said...

“I want people to take away a message of love, of looking at the way you are living and thinking where we can work to be our best."

In short, Make America Great Again.


But if they were indeed idiots, it gives me hope. Hope that advertisers will henceforth eschew politics in ads for commercial products. Maintain the separation of commerce and politics.

Cereal!

tim maguire said...

I found it unwatchable. tried, the internet thinks it's important and who am I to disagree? But I tried and I tried and just could't do it. Even in 15-20 second bits, it was still too much vacuous emptiness.

Big Mike said...

Coke told us "It's the real thing," so maybe Pepsi's the fake thing, and in that light, I suspect Pepsi made a beautiful and intentionally flawed commercial that would stir up social media and get everyone to watch the commercial and talk about it. Pepsi would apologize, but it wouldn't really be sorry. It made you look.

Or maybe they just screwed up. Just because they work for large corporations doesn't make them geniuses.

Heywood Rice said...

all i wanted was a pepsi

Big Mike said...

And BTW, the Coke "Hilltop" commercial is one of the all time best commercials ever. This Pepsi commercial, not so much.

YoungHegelian said...

That commercial took a lot of work and a lot of money to make. So many people were involved. They had to know some segment of social media would trash them for appropriating the seriousness and pain of others. Unless they are flat-out idiots with too much money to throw around, perhaps enough to buy the world a Coke.

Oh, professor, clearly you've never been trapped in a "project going to hell in a hand basket". I have, as LOTS of large software development projects turn into very expensive shelfware. All it takes is for the few movers & shakers at the top to be convinced of their utter righteousness, & it goes down hill from there. Middle management & folks on the line try & percolate their concerns up to the top, but they don't wanna hear it. "Goddammit, Hegelian, we're paying you to code, not to think!". So, with a more or less clear conscience since one has said one's concerns, you go sit down, code, & draw your paycheck. And at the end it all falls apart, & if anyone takes the rap (which rarely happens, at least in federal contracting), it's the guys at the top.

That's how such large project disasters happen.

Meade said...

Of course some people blame Pepsi for killing Michael Jackson.

readering said...

Using a famous model, and famous for being vacuous, instead of an unknown also a mistake.

YoungHegelian said...

There's too much of a strong whiff of "All art must serve the revolution" about this commercial for me to be able to find it non-objectionable, even discounting its other flaws.

tim maguire said...

Mr. Hegelian, you're probably right. I've certainly been in my share of meetings where I gave my opinion, the decision went another way, and I did what was decided. So be it. I'm paid to share my expertise and to do what I'm told. And I do both.

There had to be people in this project aware of what a minefield lefty movements are for even the best intentioned. But they did not win those discussions.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Skip Marley?

Who are his brother and sister, Scooter and Sissy?

Ann Althouse said...

"Using a famous model, and famous for being vacuous, instead of an unknown also a mistake."

Because she unleashes virality. The Kardashians are a HUGE force in social media.

David Begley said...

Live for Now.™

Meade said...

"Who drinks soda anymore, anyway?"

According to Gallup, "overweight" "non-white" and "low-income" describes the largest slice of the soda market.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I've certainly been in my share of meetings where I gave my opinion, the decision went another way, and I did what was decided. So be it. I'm paid to share my expertise and to do what I'm told.

disagree and commit

Mr. Pants used to work for Amazon....two words for you....Fire Phone

eddie willers said...

All I got out of it is that there is a Pepsi that comes in a black can.

Speaking of coming in little black cans.....

Oh wait....Meade already brought up Michael Jackson.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Pepsi CEO is an Indian-American SJW-type who keeps swerving the snack and drink company into "causes" for no apparent reason.

Re "why advertise?" All the fizzy sweet drinks are very similar and advertising is used to differentiate what essentially undifferentiated products.

Roughcoat said...

According to Gallup, "overweight" "non-white" and "low-income" describes the largest slice of the soda market.

Hunh. Well, two out of three ain't bad.

Unknown said...

Prof. Althouse: "...Isn't it racist to look at black individuals and understand them as an embodiment of their race."

This comment is the definitive example of Faux Naive.

Michael K said...

The big international market for soft drinks are Muslims in the Middle East.

So there,s that.

William said...

It's a manipulative ad, but there's a kind of zen factor to its manipulation. What about this ad would inspire anyone to drink Pepsi?.....I think Peter at 4:24 had the right take. The purpose of the ad is to make you aware that Pepsi exists. If people are aware that God exists, then many of them will find their way to church. If people are aware that Pepsi exists, many of them will drink it.

Gahrie said...

i used the Flower Power picture in my class this week as I was teaching about the Vietnam era.....

gadfly said...

So who didn't know or at least suspect that Barry Manilow is gay? Mannerisms, folks, mannerisms - and that is not a play on the word.

Known Unknown said...

Hey dipshits at Pepsico. You make fucking soda.

buwaya said...

Since contracting diabetes, I have not had a Coke, or any such drink.
I have been Coke-free for five years now.

These days I have to refresh myself on the blood of my enemies.
It is tepid.

roesch/voltaire said...

If the ad doesn't move people it is a flop-- check out Mad Men to understand.

Bill said...

It's so think with virtue signalling that it would be difficult to parody. There's even a trans couple at 1:45.

mockturtle said...

I admit to a fondness for Diet Rite Pure Zero Cola.

MathMom said...

I can't figure out the thing I am to learn from the Pepsi commercial. That Muslim women can operate cameras? That a white woman was able to summon the courage to approach a policeman and give him a can of soda that wasn't pre-shaken to fizz all over?

Dumb as shit commercial. And WAY too multiculti. The only way you get THAT diverse is with a casting call.

cubanbob said...

Started to watch. Couldn't get past the one minute mark. Pretentious virtue signaling BS. It is anti-ad. Makes me not want to buy a Pepsi.

TML said...

Let me assure you, since this has been my business for over 30 years, that they stumbled into this 100% believing they had a winner. Internal agency, complete bubble, stupid ad wankers, self-congratulatory nonsense, "wokeness" fever...it's all there.

This was not intentional. Trust me.

Perhaps the most pathetic thing I've seen in my world since 1986 when I started as a copywriter.

Chris N said...

Reminded me of this sad, sad lady

brentfinley said...

I just do not see BLM in the ad at all, if the NYT referenced it, then they are guilty of creative editorializing.

My take on the wig and makeup is that she was quitting her job, and joining the protest to make a difference. No more vacuous model, now fighting for peace. That is all. I do not see the connection to pathetic whiney girls debating protest makeup protocol.

The Godfather said...

I listened to the first part of the Skip Marley video and I thought he was taking on ISIS or maybe Iran. He says They took our trust, something about Hate, They took all our rights away, made us feel that We don't belong, they are Hiding behind a gun. That's not America, not even "Trump's America", but it sure could be lots of other places. According to Wikipedia, Skip was born in Jamaica but brought up in Miami, which is one of the most vibrant and multicultural cities in America. Nobody there Took all his rights away, made him Feel that he didn't belong.

And the whole Pepsi video is saying that in America (even if it was filmed someplace else, it was set here) you can have a peaceful protest and the man won't hassle you, in fact the cops won't even be in riot gear (in reality, in a peaceful protest, the cops would be out stopping traffic on the cross streets, not standing in a line for no purpose).

Laslo Spatula said...

One hundred comments, and no one has seen the Scientology subtext? Really?

Do they actually have to SHOW Xenu's Air Force dumping the bodies in the Volcanoes?

I am Laslo.

cheddar said...

Regarding what to wear to a protest, Ann quoted this from reddit: "for everyday makeup I just do my brows,.."

See, brows are important. You seemed to scoff at this in a post in January. (24th to be exact.)

mockturtle said...

That's right, cheddar. Brows are really big these past two years. Literally and figuratively. I even started enhancing mine with a bit of pencil when I noticed how they disappear in a photograph.

Richard Cranium said...

I have not knowingly drank a Pepsi-Co product since Ms Nooyi make disparaging comments about America.

I used to drink Mountain Dew *all* the time.

(The "I am not a robot" crap is almost designed to prevent people from posting at all.)

Darrell said...

welas asih drinks Pepsi.

Lewis Wetzel said...

A week ago one of the stupid rear shock supports on my old Ford Explorer gave out. I made a temporary repair. I called my mechanic about it. He can fix it, using junk yard scavenged parts for about $400. That's paying him $40/hr.
I cannot imagine that any person in the Pepsi video would be able to that. Not the protesters on the Left or the cops on the right.
F*ck 'em all.

Oso Negro said...

Here is what I get from the commercial - a mob of mongrel third worlders, incapable of creating a society that either they, or their immigrant parents would want to inhabit, take to the streets to protest the wreckage of the American society created by primarily white, Protestants. But they lack the validation of a transcendant white goddess! ENTER Kendall, doubtless fresh from touching up her vagazzle. Our white goddess radiates her goodness to the unwashed masses and, lo! They are validated! Oh, and in Her Beneficence, she bestows the goodness of Pepsi on the white policeman.

harkin said...

"Why are people saying Pepsi is using Black Lives Matter rather than a completely nonspecific anodyne generic protest?"

Because aren't you woke enough to know BLM invented protest marches?

Just like hoop earrings....stop 'propriatin'.

To me the most positive image was when the young Muslim women, clearly showing the most anger, picked up a camera and not a pressure cooker or a suicide vest.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Wait a minute. It was filmed in Bangkok? Then I really don't understand the point of squeaky clean American-looking cops and protesters and the signs in English. Bangkok? What is Ms. Noori thinking? So much for supporting American workers or issues. Very strange.

Bandit said...

Protest chic for halfwits

MadisonMan said...

(I still haven't seen the ad)

Clyde said...

At this point, I'm in full IDGAF mode about anything that the snowflakes are outraged about. To hell with them, and with all of their causes.

Jon Burack said...

Love the ad. My only concern is will Pepsi diminish its important product's prestige by tying it too closely to anything as trivial as a bunch of mindless youth pretending to know a thing? Well I guess mindless youth are the target, so I hope it works for them. Anyway, Don Draper lives. Finally, putting the fake populism of the streets to good use.

Inkling said...

There's on trait we must keep in mind. Ideologies and their champions know they must fit the world into boxes. Certain groups have to be portrayed as good . Others have to portrayed as irredeemably bad. Nazi leaders were furious that, while many Germans accepted the party's antisemitic policies they made exceptions. "Yes, punish all the others, but my neighbor is an exception. Don't mistreat him."

You see that with Hillary's remark about the "basket of deplorables." She went on to claim: "Now some of those folks, they are irredeemable. But thankfully they are not America." That is very revealing. Those who disagree with her are "irredeemable," much like Jews were to hardcore Nazis. That they were "not America," much as in Nazi ideology, no German Jews was really German. Look at communist regimes, and you find the same attitude but built on class rather than race or ethnicity.

Now recall that Pepsi ad. It was well within the realm of modern progressive dogma for that upscale model to join the less elegantly clad masses on the street. Models aren't numbered among the irredeemables. Liberal fury is directed at Trump's wife and Ivanka, because they belong to a wealthy caste that is regarded as redeemable. Where the ad crosses the line is when it has that lovely model offer a Pepsi to a cop and that cop displays a likeable, redeemable character. That is as far beyond the pale in progressive thinking as for Nazism to recognize a "good Jew" or Marxism a "good capitalist."

I might ad that this is one reason why these ideologies hate Christianity. It believes that no one is beyond redeption, not even one of the thieves crucified alongside Jesus or Paul, persecuter of Christians. By that, Christianity demonstrates that it is a faith not an ideology.

And yeah, a little cyncism is necessary. From Pepsi's 'money is all' perspective, that closing scene was necessary. Cops buy soft drinks too, so cops cannot be irredeemable.

richard mcenroe said...

Kendall Jenner and Pepsi's message is obvious: every black woman should wanbt to be white. What's wrong with that?

hombre said...

Pepsi for moonbats. Coke for real people.

hombre said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
gg6 said...

Well, skuse me, but iMHO, I've never seen so much ado about so much nothing!!
Ann, you've written thousands of words about a commercial that you accurately summarize in about your third paragraph as a stupid piece of junk. Not that you don't get on the record of having it both ways...you begin with this mad theory:
"I suspect Pepsi made a beautiful and intentionally flawed commercial"
Having had a career in advertising/PR and a wife who still does, I feel so very safe in assuring you that such a thing is not just improbable, it's utterly impossible. Believe me and your own common sense - no professional in the Ad/PR/Mktg business would dream of such suicidal risk. Think about it - do you write INTENTIONALLY flawed columns that cost tons of significant money and risk billions in lost future business, not to mention the loss of your pundit career? And even if it WAS intentional, which this was undoubtedly NOT, it was a morass of dumb, clumsy executional, creative errors ...a number of which you point out yourself - like the HS play casting, the wig and lipstick slapstick, the absolute reduction of everything including their own billion $ product to a hack cliche.
But, oh, so, thankfully, Ann, you do ultimately save yourself when you 'conclude' (in a still hedged way?) that perhaps:
"Pepsi is just dumb...flat-out idiots...if they were indeed idiots, it gives me hope. Hope that advertisers will henceforth eschew politics in ads for commercial products. Maintain the separation of commerce and politics."
Now you have the conceptual bottom line and the explanation - when consumer mass-marketers attempt to pony their products with social-cultural issues they put a gun to their brainless head....not in any 'moral' way but in a humdrum economic way! Did they not notice that a few things have changed in the 50 years since Coke put beatific people on a mountain to sing hymns to a soft drink?!
As to the "opinion research" numbers, I'll spare you my extended rant/thesis on that subject...other than to say I wonder what Morning Consult predicted on the morning of Nov 7, 2016?