Live for Now-Pepsi
Pepsi is one of the most famous brands in the market of soft drinks and it is the main competitor of Coca-Cola. Pepsi was originally created and developed in 1893 and from there it has a long history gaining more and more popularity.
Many consider that Pepsi owes its success to its great marketing. Pepsi chose to use famous movie stars and singers in order to attract younger generations. Celebrities like Britney Spears, Shakira, Beyonce, David Beckham have appeared in print, TV or the Internet, advertising Pepsi products. A great example is the advertisement which was showed in 2004.
That commercial had a trio of pop’s biggest names facing off in a Roman arena as gladiators. Britney Spears, Beyonce and Pink had their game faces on as they put down their weapons and decided that instead of fighting, they would sing a fierce rendition of Queen’s ‘’We Will Rock You’’ for a confused emperor Enrique Iglesias.
However, Pepsi’s choices were not always right. Back in 1989 Pepsi yanked an advertisement starring Madonna after the controversy over her ‘’Like a Prayer’’ video, which the Vatican slammed as blasphemy due to a scene in which the pop star is depicted kissing a black saint. The soda company did pull back the ad after the Vatican called for a Pepsi boycott. The soft drink company also withdrew its planned financial support for Madonna’s tour.
Almost 30 years later, Pepsi is once again surrounding its name with a great deal of controversy and with an advertisement that turned into a fiasco.
In their “Live for Now”, also known as “Live for Now Moments Anthem” commercial, Kendall Jenner, a high-profile member of the Kardashian family, is shown walking away from a modeling shoot to join a crowd of young protesters. She puts the trappings of capitalism away to go on a march. She throws her blonde wig, removes her bold lipstick and becomes one with the protesters. They cheer after she hands a can of Pepsi to a police officer as a peace offering, who takes a sip and smiles at his colleague. The commercial spot, according to the company, was an effort to approach the Millennials.
It seems that the problem with this ad couldn’t be limited to just one. With that being said, there is a particular issue that makes people quite angry when it comes to it. Pepsi seems to offer a rather romantic solution to one major issue of our time, one that could sum the problems of our generation such as racism, war etc.
The advert was widely criticised for trying to express that social justice would be a much easier goal to achieve with the unity of the world and with the cooperation of police and protesters. Among those mocking the advert was Bernice King, who tweeted a photo of her father, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, being confronted by a police officer at a protest march. “If only Daddy would have known about the power of Pepsi,” the tweet said.
CNN reports that the spot is very similar with the case of Ieshia Evans, a protester who was arrested by the police in Baton Rouge, protesting about the death of Alton Sterling. The point that caused the backlash is when Jenner hands a can of Pepsi to the police officer, as this spot reminds us of asnapshot of the walk “Black Lives Matter”, that time when a young woman stand still in front of three armored police officers.
It is clear that people get confused from the mixed messages that the advert is trying to express and that is not encouraging at all. Some of them got the initial idea of Pepsi after two or three views of the commercial video. Most of them, though, got really confused and offended.
“Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding,” the company said in a statement. “Clearly, we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.”
People doubt that Kendall Jenner can actually solve the problem of racism and bring unity and world peace by offering just a Pepsi to the policeman. It is clear that Pepsi and Kendall Jenner didn’t intend to offend or hurt anybody and all these weren’t done on purpose but, it is safe to say that, social and political issues are too sensitive to touch and explain during a short time ad commercial.
Incidents like these indicate that even O.G., colossal brands are not immune to mistakes. This advertisement is a clear example of poor strategy and insufficient planning.
There is no doubt that Pepsi has invested a serious amount of time and money in this project and, as a brand that has celebrities like Beyonce, Britney Spears and even Michael Jackson in its portfolio, it is surprising how this attempt was such a huge miss. One thing that comes to mind when we see the video and the amount of backlash that followed is that their advertising team did not take matters seriously enough.
It is clear that the brand was aiming for a vibrant, upbeat commercial — like we’ve seen in the past — and was not interested in passing any sort of social and political message. They just wanted to keep up with recent events and make their ad relevant and they completely missed the not-so-sunny side of protests. Maybe neither them, nor Kendall Jenner had ever taken part in a protest and maybe they had never experienced police brutality. But, as marketers, it is their job to know anything and everything around their proposals. Nowadays, the world is filled with movements against war, racism and police brutality and it only takes a minute to find out about these online.
As future marketers we understand that strategy is not just a detailed plan regarding product development and advertisement but it also involves a 360 approach on each little aspect of the job. And after all this, we’re sure that Pepsi also knows that now.
by Viral Vixens: Marina Karvouni, Eirini Tsv, Elena Tsakiridou, georgia flaouna
