Dear Pepsi.
WTF?
No. Seriously.
WTF?
At one time, you were the soft drink brand that all others wanted to be. One of the biggest reasons for that was because of your advertising. You always seemed to know just what to say in your advertising. And perhaps more importantly, given the times we live in now, where the whole world can make or break brands in 24 hours or less – you knew exactly what NOT to say in your advertising. Sure, like every other brand on the planet, after all was said and done, you were out to sell product. It’s not like your advertising was art. That said, it at least got noticed, in most cases, in a way that invited consumers to the party. Which brings us to the current state of affairs. The new video you created featuring Kendall Jenner. I don’t even know where to begin. It’s just a hot mess from beginning to end. I don’t know how you ended up where you did, but all I can say is, let’s just hope you never walk down that path again. It’s one thing to be inspired by what’s going on in pop culture at present. It’s quite another not to be cognizant of how hard it is to associate yourself with the zeitgeist in an authentic way when the end goal ultimately is to sell carbonated sugar water to the masses. What you signed off on and then unleashed into the world wasn’t just bad. It was in bad taste. I’m sure there were many involved in the decision making process who thought this was a good idea. Now, presumably, they all know better. The smartest thing you did was to remove it from everywhere it was posted and then apologize for the mistake. You have done better. You can do better. And hopefully, you will do better in the future. If not, you may just end up being the choice of no generation.
