I.

NAME OF COMPANY

"PEPSI COMPANY”

II. VIEWPOINTS

Indra Nooyi

- former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo

- Nooyi said she realized that the final scene, featuring Jenner and the policeman,

caused the most controversy as it "linked back to Black Lives Matter."

- She added that it was not their intention to offend anybody because this company

is known for diversity, and the fact that everybody who produced the commercial

and approved the commercial did not link it to Black Lives Matter. That’s why

the minute she saw people upset, she pulled it.

III. TIME CONTEXT

This controversial issue about Pepsi Company’s advertisement arises in the year 2017

which has brought major effects on their overall sales, customer’s buying behavior and

marketing strategy. This issue began during pre-pandemic.

IV. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

PepsiCo, Inc. is a multinational American food and beverage company with products sold

in over 200 countries. It took its name after the Pepsi-Cola Company combined with Frito-

Lay, Inc. in 1965. The headquarters of the company are in Purchase, New York.

Caleb D. Bradham, a pharmacist from New Bern, North Carolina, invented the original

Pepsi-Cola. Bradham called his sweet cola-flavored carbonated beverage Pepsi-Cola in 1898

in an attempt to replicate the recent popularity of Coca-Cola. The drink was so successful

that Bradham established the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1902. During several years of modest

profitability, the corporation fell on hard times during World War I and was reformed and

reincorporated numerous times in the 1920s.

The company's trademark and assets were purchased by Charles G. Guth, the creator of

modern Pepsi-Cola, in 1931. He founded a new Pepsi-Cola Company, had a chemist develop

a better drink, constructed new bottling plants, and began selling a phenomenally popular 12-

ounce bottle for five cents. Guth was also the president of Loft, Incorporated, a candy maker

and soda-fountain chain, and he lost a majority position in the Pepsi-Cola Company to Loft's

new management in 1936 due to legal conflicts. When the Pepsi-Cola Company joined with

Loft in 1941, the name was changed to Pepsi-Cola Company.

 PepsiCo concentrated its efforts in the early twenty-first century on developing its

business in other countries, particularly Russia, which was the company's second largest

market. It purchased a majority stake in JSC Lebedyansky, Russia's largest juice

manufacturer, in 2008, and finalized its acquisition of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods three years

later. These investments helped PepsiCo in becoming Russia's largest food and beverage

company.

V. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study examines U.S.-based multinational food and beverage company PepsiCo’s

protest-themed commercial for its carbonated soft drink Pepsi and the consequent decline

in millennial purchase consideration and brand perception. Pepsi campaign entitled “Live

for Now Moments” was launched on April 4, 2017, in the ambitious attempt to showcase

Pepsi as a millennial-friendly brand with a socially relevant and unifying message. The ad

showed 21-year-old supermodel Kendall Jenner partaking in a photo shoot and then

“jumping in” with protestors marching along the road. In the end, Jenner approaches a cop

with a can of Pepsi soda. Due to crushing condemnation from critics and social media users

claiming that the ad was co-opting protest movements such as “Black Lives Matter” for

commercial gain, Pepsi had to pull the advertisement off the air and off the internet less
than 48 hours after the initial release.

This ad’s purpose was initially to reach millennials and to project a global message of

“unity, peace, and understanding.” The advertisement featured a staged protest full of hired

actors, including 21-year-old supermodel Kendall Jenner. Many people criticized the ad for

its insensitive approach and for what some viewers found to be improper execution of the

desired message. During the ad, Jenner joins the protest and eventually approaches a cop,

who is standing guard over the protestors, with a can of Pepsi and he takes a sip. Critics

immediately began condemning PepsiCo and the advertisement on social media:

Entertainment Weekly called it “a tone-deaf attempt to co-opt a movement of political

resistance” to increase sales. Many Twitter users expressed concern and disgust following

the ad’s release, claiming that it trivialized real-life protests where several people lost their

lives fighting for an actual cause. Some users hated that Pepsi made itself look like the cure

for all social problems.

ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTIONS

 Prioritize market research

Pros:

1. Easy detection of market problems and opportunities

2. Helps in marketing strategies formulation

3. Understanding of customer needs

4. Improve sales performance

5. Helps in launching of new products

6. Support the management in decision making

Cons:

1. Market research takes time

2. Needs personnel in conducting research

3. Research is expensive

4. Inaccurate information

5. May only target a small population

 Focus more on creating realistic advertisement concept

Pros:

1. It can catch the attention of your target audience

2. It might be more interesting

3. Your target audience can easily understand what you are trying to convey

4. The concept will be more reliable to consumer

5. People will give positive feedback

Cons:

1. Your idea may not be clear to the audience

2. People might misinterpret the whole concept

3. The concept may not catch the attention of your target audience

4. The idea may not be interesting

5. The overall concept may not be effective

 The use of appropriate personality or celebrity in promoting the brand

Pros:

1. Builds credibility

2. Makes your brand stand out

3. Opens up new markets

4. Influence consumer purchases

5. Helps in delivering the message to the public

Cons:

1. The image of the company may be ruined by celebrity’s image

2. The popularity of the celebrity may cause trust issues with customers

3. They may overshadow your brand

4. Loss of public recognition

5. Endorsements are expensive

VI. CONCLUSION

Marketing is an important part of a company's success. If you want your business to

grow, you have to market it. Good marketing can make the difference between a successful

business and one that struggles.

To be successful in marketing, you need a good product or service that people will want

to buy. You also need an effective way of getting the word out about what you have to offer.

This means that you need an effective website or social media presence so that people can

find out more about what you do and how they can get involved with your company.

But one thing that I could recommend to this company regarding of what happened on

their controversial advertisement last 2017, it is to prioritize market research. I think this is

the first and most important thing they should consider to improve their marketing strategy. It

can help them better understand their target market through gathering information about their

taste and preference. It is also used to help businesses determine the best way to create and

market a product, as well as how to make it more appealing to consumers.

VII. REFERENCES

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/pepsi-ad-kendall-jenner-echoes-black-lives-

matter-sparks-anger-n742811

https://time.com/4726500/pepsi-ad-kendall-jenner/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi#Marketing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi#History