MARKETING FAILS

The Pepsi & Kendall Jenner ad fail

Pepsi acutely realized that 2017 was a big year for political activism. What Pepsi didn’t fully grasp is that political activism is predicated on taking direct, authentic stances and that consumers don’t love it when marketers use watered-down versions of their politics to prop up a brand. In short, Pepsi made quite an error in judgment in what became one of the biggest marketing fails of 2017.

The notorious Pepsi advertisement features groups of young people walking down a street for unclear reasons — holding signs that say ambiguous slogans such as “Join the Conservation” (Which one? We’ll never know) and “Love.” The ad culminates with Kendall Jenner leaving a photo shoot to join a protest where she hands a police officer, who is blocking the demonstrators’ path, a can of Pepsi. He drinks it and he glances at one of his colleagues a “gotta hand it to ’em, this stuff is pretty good” look as everyone cheers along.

Pepsi quickly pulled the commercial, but Kendall Jenner and news outlets left it up, ensuring that its snafu will live on the internet for years to come.