WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
Brands occasionally lose product towards controversial messages portrayed in commercials. In 2017, Pepsi released a commercial that depicted the white supermodel Kendall Jenner solving racism with a can of Pepsi soda. The commercial depicted Kendall joining a crowd of protesters, then handing a can of Pepsi to an officer. The officer then opens the can and takes a drink as the crowd goes wild, cheering and celebrating as it seems that the 12oz has ended a problem that has lives for centuries. With this commercial Pepsi told its audience that their product is the key to racially based police brutality. National outrage and uproar came with the publishing of the commercial due to the ignorance the brand showed to the thousands of groups and movements, such as Black lives matter, that have spent decades working to solve this societal problem.
Dove has faced a similar controversy. In 2017, Dove received the most attention for a commercial that many saw as explicitly racist. The commercial depicted a black women taking off the brown shirt she had been wearing and turning into a white women in a white shirt, implying that the black women was “dirty” and upon using the brands product she turned into a “clean” white woman. Dove faced immediate backlash with the publishing of the commercial because of the pure ignorance shown by the usually aware brand.
Both Pepsi and Dove have released commercials that disgust me, as I cannot understand how the brand approved of such ads to be released.
Dove has faced a similar controversy. In 2017, Dove received the most attention for a commercial that many saw as explicitly racist. The commercial depicted a black women taking off the brown shirt she had been wearing and turning into a white women in a white shirt, implying that the black women was “dirty” and upon using the brands product she turned into a “clean” white woman. Dove faced immediate backlash with the publishing of the commercial because of the pure ignorance shown by the usually aware brand.
Both Pepsi and Dove have released commercials that disgust me, as I cannot understand how the brand approved of such ads to be released.
It’s sad that our world has come to the point that these businesses have to be so careful with what they promote in their advertisements. This was not a bright thing of the companies to do, and I believe that they deserve every bit of negativity they are getting because of this.
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