Reaction to the ad was swift, with a variety of people (from Lena Dunham to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s daughter) weighing in to call it tone-deaf (or worse), and outlets including the New York Times covering the controversy. Pepsi initially defended the spot, calling it “an important message to convey,” but after furore didn’t die down, they decided to pull the ad altogether.
Since the criticism, Jenner has deleted multiple tweets related to the commercial, including an excited response to a congratulations on being the first model to star in a global Pepsi campaign since Cindy Crawford. Jenner’s throwback photo of Crawford, captioned “goals”, is the only related tweet still on her page.
Jenner’s mother Kris also deleted a congratulatory tweet: “So proud of you @kendalljenner!,” the deleted message read. “Thank you @pepsi for choosing Kendall to be the face of your new campaign!”
A source tells WHO the model and her pal Gigi Hadid are currently in Paris for a photoshoot.
When asked to comment on the ad, Jenner had no response and quickly tucked into a nearby elevator.
Pepsi apologised to the reality star in a statement announcing their decision to take down the ad. “Pepsi was trying to project a global a message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologise,” they said. “We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologise for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.”
In an interview with People before the ad went live, she expressed her enthusiasm for the message. “I’ve been a huge fan of Pepsi and their lifestyle that they’ve created and everything,” she said. “It’s really fun and it’s really awesome to be – it’s actually an honour to be following up some of the icons [who have previously modelled for Pepsi] – the amazing, just cool people that have done this before me and been a part of these commercials and everything. Yeah, it’s really exciting.”
This article originally appeared on PEOPLE.
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