That one Pepsi ad, yeah cultural appropriation?

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It is no surprise that both Pepsi and Kendall Jenner received a lot of lash back due to the release of this Pepsi ad. The ad, depicts Kendall Jenner exiting a photoshoot to join the march for #blacklivesmatter, where she hands a police officer a cold, fresh Pepsi to "resemble" peace. This was a whole new level of cultural appropriation, because not only does the ad exploit the movement, it is also centered around whiteness. This disregards the discrimination towards black and muslim people in the U. S. during the time, and highlighted Kendall Jenner as the "white savior trope." As opposed to having someone who can actually represent the black or muslim community, this acts as exclusion towards these cultural groups eradicating their issues such as police brutality, as well as reinforcing the over-represented dominant white group. In other words, how can someone who comes from a white-privileged background be able to represent marginalized people of color? *cough cough* white supremacy??? Appropriating black culture is not anything new amongst the Kardashian and Jenner crew.


Kylie Jenner, has appropriated Black culture by using hairstyles such as corn rolls, as a fashion trend. This makes the black community to be seen as a commodity, rather than a culture. Black women have received many discriminatory threats for having this hairstyle, but when Kylie Jenner wears it, it is not seen as ugly or unacceptable. Though it is difficult to count what belongs to who, it is clear that Kylie Jenner has the social platform to further exploit Black culture.


This can be related to when they sold t-shirts depicting Tupac Shakir an African American rapper who was successful in his time. Not only is Tupac on the shirt, so was their Kylie Jenner's body. Given his huge platform and his significance to the black community, the Jenner's sure enough were able to use this consumable image and sell each t-shirt at a whooping price of $125. This ideology of difference is what further subordinates people of color, while the dominant group in society benefits by marginalizing and exploiting these racial groups. Black culture or any culture for that matter should be up for sell.













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