The situation

In April 2017, Pepsi had been working with Kendall Jenner and creative agency Creators League Studio (an in-house Pepsi unit) on a brand campaign. The ad — which depicted Jenner leaving a fashion shoot to join a stylized protest, then handing a Pepsi to a police officer who smiles — was meant to evoke unity. The visual references to Black Lives Matter protests (the protest scene, the iconic Ieshia Evans image of confronting police) were unmistakable.

What Pepsi did

The ad was released on April 4, 2017. Within hours, social media reaction was overwhelming negative — civil rights leaders, Black Lives Matter activists, and ordinary social media users criticized Pepsi for co-opting protest imagery and trivializing serious social movements. Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., tweeted "If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi" with a photo of MLK being shoved by police. The hashtag #PepsiAd trended globally with mockery. Pepsi pulled the ad within 24 hours and apologized: "Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly we missed the mark."

The mechanics — step by step

  1. In-house creative team (no external agency check)
  2. No diverse review of cultural sensitivity
  3. Ad released without consumer testing
  4. Universal social-media backlash within hours
  5. Pulled within 24 hours
  6. Apology issued same day

Outcome and numbers

The ad was pulled from all channels and Pepsi issued public apologies. Brand-tracking research showed measurable damage to brand favorability among target demographics for several months. The case is now taught across business and marketing schools as a textbook example of cultural insensitivity, the failure of in-house creative without external review, and the speed at which brand crises can develop in social media.

Why this case is on every syllabus

Pepsi's Kendall Jenner ad is the canonical case for cultural insensitivity in marketing, the importance of diverse creative review, and the velocity of social-media brand crises. It is also a crisis-communication case (the response was relatively fast and direct).

Use this in an essay

How to cite Pepsi in a paper

Cite Pepsi when discussing cultural sensitivity in marketing, in-house creative limitations, crisis communication, or the social-media-amplified speed of brand crises. Use the 24-hour pull as specific evidence.

Three takeaways students miss

  • Cultural sensitivity requires diverse creative review
  • In-house creative without external check is risky
  • Co-opting social movements for product marketing usually fails
  • Social media compresses crisis timelines from weeks to hours
  • Rapid response (within 24 hours) is now table stakes
Editor's note Want a deeper walkthrough? Our editors recommend pairing this with Crisis Communication for a worked example you can adapt to your assignment.

Frameworks used in this case

Concept · Promotion & IMC Crisis Communication Concept · Consumer Behavior Cultural Influence on Consumption Concept · Consumer Behavior Subculture Marketing Concept · Product & Brand Brand Positioning Concept · Promotion & IMC Message Strategy