Why Did Pepsi Get Attacked As “Tone-Deaf” On This Ad?
Have you seen the infamous Pepsi ad that’s been called “tone-deaf” by progressives, and which Pepsi pulled quickly? Before you read the rest of this post, please write your impression of it in the comments.
I watched the part of it shown on this segment of The View.
And I agree with Whoopi: the message is about inclusion.
Yes, it is co-opting the movement. Advertisements have always co-opted cultural memes. If you wear $60 torn jeans, you can thank the hippies and grunge-punks who wore their clothes to rattiness. For that matter, Bud commercials and Wheaties cereal boxes have been co-opting sports culture for decades (it feels like millennia).
I’m old enough to remember when hijab-wearing women and people of color and same-sex couples would not have been allowed anywhere near a commercial. What I see most of all is a message to DT that we are united in our diversity (and that includes the cops, who are actually our allies most of the time–and which the movement made a big mistake in automatically trashing in the 1960s).
I also agree with Whoopi that water is my preferred drink over any kind of soda.
That Pepsi was attacked to the point where they pulled the ad is much more shocking to me than the ad itself.
But I guess I shouldn’t be shocked. Here in the Blue Bubble, behind the “Tofu Curtain” (not a phrase I invented) in Massachusetts’ Hampshire/Franklin Counties—one of the bluest parts of a very liberal state—those accusations of “tone deaf” are all-too-familiar. Two among many examples:
- A program in which cops in the schools did something sociable with the kids was kiboshed and the very progressive police chief (an out lesbian who was seen at Pride Day marches long before she became chief) was trashed as tone-deaf
- Two towns over, several years ago, a production of “West Side Story” was canceled because some people thought the whole idea of the play was racist. I don’t know if they read the script or saw the movie, but to me, that movie makes a statement against racism, just like Twain’s Huckleberry Finn (which has also been criticized for racism, because it uses the N-word—even though it was written in the 19th century when that was the term used and the whole premise of the story is to show the absurdity and cruelty of racism)
It reminds me of the days when the left (my teenage self included) would practically canonize any extreme statement that happened to be made by a person of color or one who identified as any shade of LGBTQ, even if that statement incited violence against innocent people who happened to be white and straight. I should have spoken out against those outrages 45 years ago, but I was just as hoodwinked.
I’m not talk about any false unity of sweeping real grievances under the rug. But I am objecting to the shrill side of political correctness that demonizes the Other without even listening, even when the Other is mere steps away on the political spectrum, dividing instead of uniting and leaving us all at risk when the real forces of repression sweep in.
Posting on behalf of Anne Thornley-Brown (Twitter @athornleybrown)
The only thing I find offensive about the ad is that Kendall Jenner is in it. The Kardashian/Jenner clan is not to be emulated or promoted in any way. They already have way too much money and fame, FAR more than they deserve. As a society “Sex tape your way to fame and fortune” is not a message that we should be sending to young people. I know other FAR more truly talented, intelligent, deserving, and hard-working professionals who are struggling financially so this does not sit well with me. I will boycott all products that use the Kardashians/Jenners.
Unlike you, I was a power Pepsi drinker. I have been encouraged by doctors, friends, and family to cut down on and cut out drinking Pepsi but I really loved it. I stopped a few months ago but still had cravings. Now that Pepsi has used Kendall in an ad, I have no more cravings for their product. Perhaps all manufacturers of soft drinks and sweets should do that and I will be craving-free for life. LOLOL
Now about the ad. Pretending it’s a different model, I don’t find the ad offensive in any way shape or form because it speaks of unity across racial, religious and cultural lines.
The police are not the enemy. Yes, there are some VERY bad apples in the police force and they need to be brought to justice when they kill unarmed people Black or White when they have not been approached in a threatening way. There should be the death penalty for that.
But…big BUT, there are racist, bad apples in EVERY profession. Police don’t have a monopoly on that. The fact that the model shed her glamorous trappings, joined the crowd in the protest and reached out to the police in a gesture of friendship was positive and a reminder that there is no them and us. The police are doing their job. Many may even be in sympathy with the protestors.
DISCLAIMER: I am a proud Black Jamaican woman. I abhor police brutality. My cousin is the current and first Black police chief in Toronto.