KENDALL JENNER AND PEPSI: A STEP TOO FAR

KENDALL JENNER AND PEPSI: A STEP TOO FAR

It is no secret that advertisements often aim to provoke emotions within consumers to get them to buy a product.  Ads have the power to make people laugh, cry and most importantly to ad agencies buy the products they now have an emotional connection to.

An example of this "emotional advertising" can be seen through Dawn.  The company marketed its dish soap as a safe solution to clean certain animals that had been hurt by the Gulf Oil spill in 2010. This extremely successful ad campaign made people believe in the good of humanity (and Dawn) in such a devastating time as we all watched the company partner with major rescue organizations.  After hearing about these rescue missions on the news and on TV we soon saw Dawn bottles with cute baby ducks in stores, reminding us of what a great company Dawn is.  Having established a powerful emotional message the company enticed us to pick Dawn over the rest of the multitudes of soap brands when doing our shopping.





When done right advertising campaigns that tie in with important issues can result in a positive response with consumers who are emotionally invested in the issues that the ads are based off of.  However this is not always the case.  When companies go about provoking emotional responses it can often backfire, leading the consumer to come to the conclusion that important aspects of their life are being belittled with the hope that people will buy a product based on the idea that it plays a bigger role than it appears to.


In light of the many protests, walk-outs and marches surrounding many social issues Pepsi used Kendall Jenner in trying to market their soda as a unifying force or solution to serious problems many of which stem from years of oppression of groups of people.  The idea that a soda and an out-of-toutch star/model could solve these problems was seen as incredibly offensive.  To many it made serious issues that people have been fighting to change seem skin-deep and easy to solve.  Instead of gaining fans, Pepsi and Kendall Jenner received a lot of backlash for the advertisement.



This ad campaign should be a reminder to us as consumers that we need to be more aware of the ways in which companies can manipulate our emotions and thoughts through clever advertising.  Because although it may appear to be obvious when our emotions are being manipulated, companies are frequently able to adapt to our  wants and needs, making us fall in love with their products and blinding us from the true purpose behind their campaigns.