How Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner video got 58M unwanted views… after being deleted
It’s no surprise controversy generates curiosity. When Pepsi was planning their new campaign, it was not in their plans to create one of the most controversial ads of 2017 (I guess)… but that’s exactly what they did! What could be just another ad to go unnoticed with a simple message, as many others, it rapidly became popular for the worst reasons. The bad reactions started spreading from the moment the ad was published and Pepsi tried their best to go back in their action, but the seed was already planted.
Once you post something on the internet, it will stay there forever. The controversy and curiosity led to multiple people re-uploading their video in many platforms such as Facebook or YouTube.
Pepsi lost total control and their ad, allegedly already taken from the internet, generated almost 700 re-uploads, 58 million views, 1 million likes and put 200 thousand people actively talking about it*. The reachability of the campaign was much larger than expected and Pepsi may not be fully aware of its true extension.
Although not planned, the truth is this campaign generated more buzz and created more visibility to the brand than ever. Pepsi is again on everybody’s lips, which didn’t happen for awhile, and that is something their creative team must be proud of. But just a little!
*this data was obtained using a reverse video search technology — Spotter
