Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner Ad

A Masterclass in Car Crash Marketing

There are some marketing mishaps that go down in history. Some just miss the mark; others are so bewilderingly tone-deaf that they leave you asking, “How did no one in the room raise their hand and say ‘Wait, what?‘” The infamous 2017 Pepsi ad starring Kendall Jenner falls squarely in the latter category. It’s not just a car crash, it’s a multi-car pile-up, a motorway shutdown, and possibly some overturned lorries thrown in for good measure.

This isn’t your ordinary ‘oops’ moment in marketing. No, this is the kind of catastrophic failure where someone needed to say “Cut!” after reading the first draft of the script, but instead they said, “Brilliant, let’s make it bigger!”

Note:

This article features content from the Marketing Made Clear podcast. You can listen along to this episode on Spotify:

The Premise: What Could Go Wrong? (Spoiler: Everything)

Picture this: Kendall Jenner, supermodel and member of the Kardashian mega-machine, family, or is it a club?? (sorry, don’t know how else to describe them), is mid-photoshoot, rocking a blonde wig, when she suddenly notices a generic street protest happening nearby.

What are they protesting?

It’s not clear — maybe bad Wi-Fi, maybe daylight savings time, who knows? It’s a beautiful, ethnically diverse crowd, but they’re missing something.

It kind of just cuts between some dude playing a cello,

then some scenes from a protest

Then the cello player is all wet for some reason

Someone painting photos?? Or something

More protest….

It kind of goes on like that for a bit

Side note but it reminds me of when I joined the protests in London about tuition fees or “top up fees” as they were called at the time when I was at college, I took a bag of wine and pretty much drunk the whole thing whilst walking round the streets of London. I had an amazing time. And I met an anti-Bush protestor who had a shirt that said “the only Bush I trust is my mums”.

Ewwww.

Apologies, back to the ad…

Enter Kendall. Without hesitation, she rips off her wig (because nothing says “I’m serious about social justice” like a dramatic hair toss), grabs a Pepsi, and walks straight up to a stern-looking riot police officer. With the grace and confidence of someone who’s definitely solved world peace before, she hands him a can of Pepsi.

He takes a sip, and suddenly… peace.

The crowd cheers.

The officer smirks.

The world is cured. Congratulations, Pepsi.

What could possibly be wrong with this heartwarming message of unity? Oh, wait — everything. As one critic aptly noted, Pepsi’s attempt to bottle up the spirit of social justice movements and serve it back with a fizzy, sugar-filled bow was “stunningly oblivious.” Another reviewer quipped that the ad seemed like it was conceived by a “room full of white people who’ve never been to a protest but saw one in a movie once.”

Ouch.

Pepsi in Wonderland: How We Got Here

Pepsi’s marketing team apparently thought they were making a bold, progressive statement. Their press release confidently described the ad as a moment “where different walks of life come together in a spirit of harmony.”

In theory, that sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

Except, of course, the ad was so ham-fisted in its execution that it felt like watching a soap opera episode about the civil rights movement, except written by someone who only skimmed the Wikipedia page.

As it turns out, pulling a random supermodel from a photo shoot to single-handedly solve social justice issues with a Pepsi isn’t quite the profound, unifying statement they thought it would be.

Who knew?

The ad’s biggest mistake, beyond the nonsensical plot, was its blatant attempt to co-opt real, legitimate movements — from Black Lives Matter to various anti-police brutality protests — and sanitise them into an edgy, feel-good corporate message. Critics were quick to point out that not only did it trivialise serious issues, but it also inadvertently made Jenner the white saviour in a sea of nameless, faceless protestors of colour.

“The ad was like watching someone hit a piñata of political symbolism and pretending the candy that falls out is actual progress,” said one reviewer. Others went further, comparing it to “trying to use a Band-Aid to fix a broken bone.”

“Who Approved This?” – The Million-Dollar Question

At some point, someone in a sleek conference room probably said, “This ad is going to change the world.”

That person now lives in infamy as one of marketing’s most spectacular visionaries, right alongside New Coke and McDonald’s “I’d Hit it” campaign. It’s genuinely hard to understand how the Pepsi team didn’t see what was coming. Did no one look around and say, “You guys, this might not be it”?

I can only imagine the meeting where a scriptwriter, fresh from watching daytime TV and half a TED talk on empathy, pitched this idea, and everyone nodded along, saying, “Yes, this is the bold message we need right now.”

If there’s one universal truth in marketing, it’s that once something becomes a punchline, you’re done. And boy, did this ad become a punchline. Comedians, critics, and even the average Twitter user had a field day. There were memes, parody videos, and hashtags that tore the ad to shreds.

SNL didn’t just mock it — they dedicated an entire sketch to portraying the baffling ad creation process, with the director screaming in horror as it dawned on him just how terribly wrong everything had gone.

Please give it a watch, it’s very funny!!

An Apology Was Not Enough

Pepsi eventually pulled the ad and issued an apology, stating that they “missed the mark.” But by then, the damage was done. The brand, and by extension Jenner, became synonymous with the kind of corporate cluelessness that makes you want to facepalm into oblivion. Kendall, for her part, tearfully expressed regret, saying she “never meant to hurt anyone”, but she also blamed Pepsi, subtly distancing herself from the fallout like a passenger jumping out of a flaming car.

In truth, while Jenner’s performance was central to the ad, the real issue lay with Pepsi’s tone-deaf, formulaic approach to what they saw as trendy social justice themes. As one critic noted, “They wanted to show they were ‘woke,’ but what they delivered was an ad that made it seem like the marketing team had been asleep for the last decade.”

Lessons from the Wreckage: What Not to Do

In the years since, the Pepsi-Kendall Jenner ad has become a cautionary tale in marketing circles. It’s studied in business schools as an example of how not to approach social movements.

There are some clear takeaways from this debacle:

1. Don’t trivialise real issues: Movements like Black Lives Matter aren’t marketing opportunities. Trying to reduce them to a trendy backdrop for selling soda is not only tone-deaf but offensive.

2. Authenticity is key: People see through forced attempts at “wokeness” faster than you can say “global brand.” If you’re going to engage with serious topics, do it with respect and real intent — not with the goal of cashing in on the latest social trend.

3. Read the room: Seriously. When your ad concept is on its third draft and it still features a rich celebrity handing soda to riot police as a solution to conflict, it’s time to pivot.

Pepsi learned these lessons the hard way. And while they’ll likely recover from the PR disaster (corporate giants have a knack for bouncing back), this moment will always remain a sparkling example of car crash marketing at its most spectacular.

So, the next time a brand goes viral for all the wrong reasons, remember: somewhere out there, a Pepsi exec is still wondering how it all went wrong with just one can of soda and a blonde wig.