On January 24th, 1987, Pepsi managed to catch the King of Pop’s hair on fire, leaving him with burn wounds and scars for the rest of his life. On April 4th, 2017, Pepsi lit fire to its own proverbial hair with the release of its “Live for Now” ad, leaving the company scarred and burned for months to come. The problems with the ad stem from its abrasive use of their key three colors, the use of Kendall Jenner as the leader of a racially charged protest, and the trivialization of protests themselves.
Based on this ad alone, Pepsi seems to only know three colors: red, white, and, of course, blue. When the ad first shows the protest from a distant, one of the first things to catch your eye is the copious amount of signs. All of these signs either
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She is seen wearing a dark, wine red lipstick, blonde wig, metallic silver dress, and a black throw-over jacket. For some reason, the protest catches her eye and she becomes instantly enthralled with the proceedings to the point of leaving the shoot to join the protest. She somehow makes a wardrobe change in the street from this glitz and glamour look to jeans, a white t-shirt, a blue jacket, and is now wig-less and without makeup. This weird wardrobe change gives off the air that Jenner must lower herself from her elite status to join a protest that she knows nothing about and is just joining for the hell of it. In fact, using Jenner as the lead in the ad doomed it from the beginning. Jenner and the rest of the Kardashian clan have been focal points of cultural appropriation scandals in the past, which never looks good for an ad whose focal protest is similar to that of a BLM movement. Looking at their various Instagram posts and Snapchat stories, one can find images of the Kardashian-Jenner sisters wearing “Boxer Braids”, “KKW Signature Braids”, and various other hairstyles synonymous with African-American culture. This isn’t to say anything is wrong with wearing these styles, but the fact that people say this is a new trend that the Kardashian-Jenner’s are starting is when the culture becomes appropriated. The sisters also have not been known to speak up or out on …show more content…
While there is nothing wrong with this message, the way that Pepsi went about it resulted in the immense amount of backlash the ad received. Protests are becoming more and more common in this crazy, fucked up world we live in, where our country is run by a tangerine with a hairpiece, and police can openly kill people of color with little to no consequence. Many of these protests, not surprisingly, preach a message of racial equality. This is mainly through the organization known as Black Lives Matter (or BLM). The protest in the Pepsi commercial echoes these BLM protests and lazily shoe-horns in people of color to show that they are, in fact, a diversity-focused company. The ad shows a sole Eastern-Asian man, a singular Muslim woman, a smattering of African American men and women, a still of two trans-women, and a surprising amount of white people. This comes off as pandering to these demographics and makes these actors “token” races in the commercial. On top of haphazard diversity, Pepsi trivializes the institution of peaceful protest. No protest is full of laughing and smiling people with coolers of Pepsi for everyone participating in spontaneous displays of dance set to random street music. No protest is greeted calmly by an extremely spaced out police line. No protest erupts into a chorus of cheers as one of the participants, in this case, Kendall Jenner, approaches aforementioned police line and proceeds to give them a
Cultural appropriation has been a controversial subject of debate for decades; hence it is not something “new” as society likes to think. The issue of cultural appropriation seems to have recently emerged in the 21st century because technology has allowed information to be more widespread and easily accessed. The borrowing of cultural elements of minority cultures, particularly black culture and indigenous culture, (hairstyles, music, fashion, art, etc.) by fashion labels and designers, celebrities, and the dominant culture often elicits unforgiving backlash from liberals. For example, Kylie Jenner has frequently been called out by the black community for continuously
When the U.S prepares for the Super Bowl, Americans become excited for two things, football and commercials. This February, the NFL had its 48th annual Super Bowl in conjunction with the highly anticipated commercials. There was one commercial released by a world famous soda producer, Coca Cola, which has created much controversy. Coca Cola took a unique take on the classic “America the Beautiful” song that has caused quite an uproar regarding prejudice, discrimination, and ethnicity in America.
For centuries, black women have been criticized and laughed at for wearing styles like cornrows, locks, and bantu knots, being told that their hair is too ethnic or African
PepsiCo with almost a 3-minute commercial using Kendall Jenner as the silent communication source, using visual language with all ethnic and race being included using career choices such as a cellist, a photographer and dancer; a song written and sung by Skip Marley “Lions”; not to mention the men in blue was expected to be a hit advertisement by showing it was time to bring the world together as one. To be able to bring peace and understanding to every individual or let it be shown that all people count, not just one ethnic group or race. This advertisement was used to try to defuse the conflict of street protest and the violence that often comes with it, particularly the black lives matter movement. Showing the men in blue there to protect and serve; yet will do whatever it takes to control the ongoing issue at hand. The way Jenner being shown ditching a high fashion photo shoot ripping off her blonde wig, to join a protest and prance around with every nationality with a Pepsi in hand smiling as saying this is what will make the world a better place. The words in the music “we
Catchy jingles are what persuades consumers to buy more and more products that they hear about every day. This concept has been around for years and the Coca-Cola Company is no stranger to it. Back in July of 1971, Coca-Cola released the commercial, “I’d like to Buy the World a Coke” that sent their customers into chaos with over 100,000 letters being sent to the company asking for more. This leaves many people asking: how did this one commercial have such an impact on the audience? And what did Coca-Cola use that drew so many people in? Here we will discover the method behind what is “I’d like to buy the World a Coke.”
Do you want to be responsible for the next rebellion lead by women? The Dr. Pepper Ten commercial is depicted as a movie scene where the main character is discussing the product and directing the commercial to women viewers. As the main character shows the product, he makes it clear to the viewers that the product is only meant for those of the male gender and even mentions that women would not the scene because action movies are for men. Based on the assessments of branding, plot, and message, Dr. Pepper’s “Dr. Pepper TEN” commercial should be removed from the air because of the negative effects that the commercial can have on the reputation of the brand. Branding in television commercials is essential because it can cause the consumer
1975 heralded the Pepsi Challenge', a landmark marketing strategy, which convinced millions of consumers that the taste of Pepsi was superior to Coke. Simultaneously, Pepsi Light, with a distinctive lemon taste, was introduced as an alternative to traditional diet colas. In 1983 Coke launched aspartame/saccharin blend Diet Coke. In response in 1989 Pepsi-Cola introduced an exciting new flavor, Wild Cherry Pepsi. Thus Diet Pepsi's 'The Other Challenge' campaign was based around a 54-46% lead over Diet Coke in independently researched taste tests in Australia. It was only in 1996 that Pepsi unveiled a revolutionary 'blue' look worldwide 'to transform the image and attitude' of one of the world's best-known brands. 'Pepsi Blue represents a quantum leap into the future and redefines how the Cola Wars will be fought and won in the 21st Century.'
This ad may also turn off many buisnissmen or foreign investors who do not want to be seen doing buisness with intel because of its inappropriate marketing techniques and strategies. Intel could have taken an alternative approach for this ad, instead of using a caucasian manager, they could have used a black or african american manager. They could have kept the caucasian manager but at least they should have changed the ethnicities of the runners to have more diversity and this would not depict this ad as being ethnically racist or culturally insensitive and
An analysis of the signs and symbols used in Patek Philippe Geneve's "Begin your own tradition" advert.
Pepsi is a well known carbonated soft drink that is sold all around the world. With a net worth of millions, Pepsi has featured many famous artists in our society, including the late singer and songwriter Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson, who was already at the peak of his stardom, had partnered with Pepsi for a commercial specifically aimed towards the younger audience who they referred to the ‘new generation.’
This paper will analyze an ATT commercial according to audience, purpose, context, ethics, and stance. The focus will emphasize the audience which the aid is trying to reach and how they do so.
This ad does a very good job of accomplishing PepsiCo’s brand communications strategy. It is exciting and exhilarating and shows the personality traits of fun, irreverence and daring.
Pepsi was introduced in 1893 by Caleb Bradham as “Brads Drink” which then was renamed to “Pepsi Cola” in 1898. There wasn’t many options for advertising in this era due television not being introduced into households till the late 1900’s. One of the first Pepsi Cola advertisements was a black and while flyer that had a few characters laughing and read “Whoope!!! Zoom!! Drink Pepsi-Cola” at an advertisement from Pepsi, the have bright blue, red, and white colors that pop and are eye catching. Comparing this ad with a current ad and modern technology, you can see that Pepsi’s marketing and advertising techniques have come a long way. Reviewing a recent Pepsi advertisement, you can see that they have made groundbreaking changes to their branding techniques. First I will I will note that their choices in colors (red, blue, and white) for their brand are not only eye popping, but in a way symbolize the colors of America. I am not sure if this was their intent but it sure does standout. Next, there slogan in the ad states “Help Kick Off The Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show”, this ad targets a very large group people because its directly relating to one of the biggest sports event which is Super
... a cola option that is “guilt free”. They also push the fact that it tastes the same as regular Pepsi telling them they don’t have to sacrifice taste for lower calories like most diet products. The target women is in her 20’s and 30’s single, dating age so she watches her weight. Diet Pepsi is a great option for her at the bar as well. She is middle class to upper middle class in a city, and she has no children. She dates a lot and is outgoing, she drinks and eats diet products because like all women her age she wants to look good and dreads going up a pants size.
Thanks to my fascination with PepsiCo and partly because this is an assignment, I went online and search for some of PepsiCo’s most successful and ongoing marketing campaigns and strategies. During my research I noticed several daring marketing strategies Pepsi employed throughout the years. For example, gaining the support of Michael Jackson in the 1980’s and latest gaining the endorsement of global pop star Beyoncé.