Back in 2017, the more photogenic of the Kardashians – Kendall Jenner – fronted an ad for Pepsi that was so famously bad it was labelled the “worst ad ever made”. Check out B&T’s initial reporting here.
So derided was the spot, Pepsi immediatley apologised for it, pulled it and basically hoped no one would speak of the horror again. Even Jenner issued a public apology over the calamity while the police threatened to sue over their depiction in the ad.
The spot was the work of Pepsi’s own in-house creaive team and was roundly seized upon by agencies everywhere as to why brands shouldn’t use in-house creative teams.
However, the “black lives matter” protests exploding across the US – and the world – following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of the police are having people call Jenner’s Pepsi ad ahead of its time, a poignant social message and, worse still, calling on Pepsi to start running the ad again.
In the spot, a blonde-wigged Jenner modelling before a photographer as a rowdy street protest strolls on by. Jenner ditches the modelling gig (and the wig) and joins the protest that includes anyone from a multitude of ethnicities, hippies, Muslims, gay and transgender people before confronting an all-male white police line-up. Jenner then brings peace to all by opening a can of the soft drink. Check it out below:
At the time of its release, some did jump to the spot’s defence, including B&T’s own editor-in-chief, David Hovenden, who penned an opinion piece arguing the outcry was overstated and the “overriding message was one of peace, inclusion and diversity”.
And judging by the social media reaction, people are loving the ad once again and want Pepsi to drag it out of mothballs given the current rioting in the US.
Check out some of the newfound love for Kendall’s original work:
