The revolution will not be trivialised

Last week, South Africans took to the streets in their thousands to call for the firing of President Jacob Zuma. Zuma is still in power though, because what all marchers were clearly missing was an ice-cold Pepsi.

According to brand Pepsi, the revolution will be led by Kendall Jenner; it will look like a street party where protesters are buoyant and joyful, and the police will be calm, thirsty and in desperate need of a soft drink to temper their brutal dispositions.

As Pepsi’s latest commercial went horribly south last week, we have to ask the question: how on earth did that ad leave the building in the first place?

Let’s talk about the creative process. Making and selling a commercial is a long and winding process. It’s like surviving a game of Super Mario Bros, where your idea is the princess in the tower and you must brave many levels of deep waters, lava pits and strange creatures to free her. In other words, it’s not easy to get an idea out of your mind, onto paper, through creative directors, past marketing teams and on air. So one has to ask why, in this elaborate labyrinth of ad creation and production, did nobody say “Hell no” to this idea?

There are theories that the ad was created by Pepsi’s in-house agency, and in-house agencies have a reputation of being populated by old, washed-out creatives. But still, that’s no excuse. When an idea is so blatantly wrong for the times, when an ad trivialises important movements like Black Lives Matter and the anti-Trump Women’s March, it should be torn up and tossed into the bin at the brainstorming phase. It’s the kind of idea creative directors should bomb and clients should never see, in case they’re stupid enough to buy it.

What’s worse about the ad making it to the world’s timelines is the fact that an entire advertising and marketing team can be so delusional, out of touch and naïve. It’s our job as advertisers and marketers to keep our ears to the ground, to understand the pulse of human behaviour, the social mood and temperature, and the gravity of movements like Black Lives Matter. It’s our job to translate human truths and insights into pieces of communication that speak the brand’s purpose. Clearly, nobody on that team has ever had to fight for their own rights, take to the streets to defend their people or suffer brutality at the hands of policemen. The people who made, sold and bought that commercial are privileged, cocooned and blinkered.

When Pepsi withdrew the commercial, the statement it issued read, “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark and apologise. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue.” Perhaps its only saving grace as a brand is the ability to own up.

IT’S THE KIND OF IDEA CREATIVE DIRECTORS SHOULD BOMB AND CLIENTS SHOULD NEVER SEE, IN CASE THEY’RE STUPID ENOUGH TO BUY IT

So, Pepsi failed, but consumers won the day. It’s crucial that in an age when we engage our consumers in far more personal ways — where we make them part of our conversations — that they stand collectively against communication that is in poor taste and is, ultimately, damaging.

Gwendolyn Brooks says: “We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” Perhaps this ad won’t truly hurt the sales figures of PepsiCo. Perhaps the world has already moved on and Jenner will still sleeps softly in her mansion. But for one day, ordinary people displayed the real power of collective outrage by defending decorum and, to some extent, human integrity. What we all need, now more than ever, especially in our own country, is the ability to tend each other’s harvests and to build a steadier human bond.