Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about, if not seen, Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi commercial. And unless that rock is soundproof, you’ve likely heard the backlash.
The commercial features Jenner leaving a glamorous photo shoot to join a protest happening outside. After walking through the crowd, she approaches a police officer and hands him a Pepsi. The crowd explodes in cheers and applause, the issues of the protest forgotten. Though Pepsi was trying to get across a message of unity and individuals coming together, that message fell flat.
Though she removed her tweets promoting the ad, Jenner has yet to comment, as according to an unidentified source who spoke to ET Online, she is not allowed to comment without the company's approval.
That same source says that Jenner is “devastated” by the fallout of the commercial and was quick to defend the star, saying that “she had nothing to do with the production and the message of the campaign.” They added that unfortunately “she will be blamed for this since she is the face.”
The question on many people’s minds is whether she should be blamed. Sure, she wasn’t responsible for the creative process, but she agreed to do the commercial and made a few quick millions in the process. That unidentified source says Jenner was given the right in her contract to approve the ad before it aired, but “Kendall relied on Pepsi to do their due diligence and trusted that it would be tasteful.”
Should Jenner be blamed for the ad? It’s pretty common for celebrities to defend themselves in controversial situations like this and claim no fault. But if Jenner was given the option to shoot down the ad before it was released, shouldn’t she have? Jenner is an adult and as “devastated” as she is by the backlash, she probably should have considered the fallout before she agreed to something like this. The people who are reacting have every right to be upset.
Now we’ll just have to wait and see if Pepsi will let Jenner defend herself.
