Pepsi Pulls The New Campaign Within One Day Of Its Launch: The Importance of Marketing Research.

So what made Pepsi's new advertising video with the appearance of Kendall Jenner encounter a strong reaction from the netizens, and made this beverage giant removed the video and apologized after just one day of launch? 

On April 4, 2017, Pepsi's new video was launched on Youtube and attracted a lot of attention when it invited Kendall Jenner, a famous model having more than 112 million followers on Instagram, to star in the leading role.

The commercial is more than 2 minutes long, portraying the young people who want to fight and protest for fairness for the colored community in the U.S. Then, Kendall appears captivating as a professional model shooting with her team. Unexpectedly, she removes her blond wig, leaving the photo shoot to join a diverse-cultured group of people holding signs with good messages like "voice", "love" and "join the conversation".

The climax of the entire video was the moment she handed ... a can of Pepsi to a cold-faced policeman during the demonstration as a peace sign and the crowd of protesters cheer his friendly smile. Lastly, the screen displays: "Live bolder. Live louder. Live for now."

This clip quickly got the "dislike" rate and pushed the controversy to its climax. The interaction on Pepsi's digital platform skyrocketed to 366% but all were negative feedbacks, 43% of respondents mentioned the Black Lives Matter movement, 31% called this campaign is 'tone-deaf" (lạc điệu) and 10% of them considered it as the worst ad of all time.

According to the majority of netizens, the advertisement was motivated by the rally of participants in the "Black Lives Matter" movement, with the aim of countering inequalities and acts of police violence against African Americans. Thus, the background is said to be very unrealistic and has shown the innocence of the advertising crew to reality.

Besides, many people believe that Pepsi is taking advantage of the protests against the discrimination of police for black people, happened in the U.S. Perhaps Pepsi could not deny that the ad was reminiscent of a photo of Leshia Evans being arrested by two police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2016.

"Nobody is looking for joy from Pepsi at a rally. That is not the reality of our lives", a Youtube user commented.

"If I bring along a can of Pepsi, I guess I'll never get caught by the police. Who knows? Pepsi, this advertisement is not appropriate", a human rights activist ridiculed.

The company immediately removed the controversial and tweeted this statement on its Twitter account: "Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace, and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are removing the content and halting any further rollout". 
Pepsi also publicly apologizes to Kendall Jenner for the decision she made and got paid for.

In conclusion, this case of Pepsi a big lesson for the marketers: The marketing formulas that you learn at university are completely meaningless if you don't have a basic understanding of social culture and consumers behaviors. The backlash over the ad also points out that marketers need an outside perspective, whether from an agency or by conducting thorough market research and reaching out to consumers.

Trinh Van

*References:
1. Pepsi is pulling its Kendall Jenner ad after backlash
2. Pepsi Pulls Controversial Kendall Jenner Ad After Outcry
3. Bị công chúng phản ứng, Pepsi thu hồi quảng cáo của Kendall Jenner