Introduction
The paper covers a Pepsi Company advertisement featuring celebrity Kendall Jenner, which the public found controversial. On April 4, 2017, Pepsi, a beverage company, posted an ad to promote its drink (Los Majores, 2018). The ad shows a musician playing the guitar on the roof of a building, where he sees a crowd of protesters marching on the road and joining them.
A female Muslim photographer is stressed about her table-filled photos in a different scene. Upon seeing the protesters pass her place, she joins them with her camera (Los Mejores, 2018). The climax of the ad features a supermodel, Kendall Jenner, on the roadside, wearing blonde hair and a silver dress as her photographer takes her pictures. The protesters have boards and banners with statements such as ‘love’ and ‘join the conversation.’
When Jenner looks at the passing protesters, the musician signs to her to join the crowd, and the supermodel immediately ditches her blonde wig and rubs off her makeup as she joins the protests. Jenner is then seen picking a cold Pepsi can, marching forward to the front crowd, and giving it to one policeman (Los Mejores, 2018). The policeman takes a sip of the drink and the crowd cheers. As Jenner returns to the march, the police officer smiles, and the ad ends with messages, “Live Bolder, Live Louder, Live for Now” (Los Mejores, 2018). This ad is worth analyzing because it failed to achieve Aristotle’s ethos elements of persuasion. It was controversial that Pepsi had to withdraw and delete it from social media platforms.
The ad caused a public uproar because Americans related it to the political context of the civil rights movement. According to critics, the ad signified the protests of #BlackLivesMatters and that Pepsi ridiculed black people’s rights by choosing Jenner, a rich model who has never been in such protests (BBC News, 2017). This paper analyzes Aristotle’s rhetorical framework, the application of the ad to the framework, and the conclusion of these concepts.
Ethos elements of appeal demand that the information source be credible, trustworthy, and authoritative. Jenner failed to appeal to the public because she had public support as her authority, but she had no experience in protest matters. The analysis results indicate that the Pepsi ad failed to adequately apply the elements of ethos, especially credibility and trustworthiness, in persuading the audience.
Theoretical Framework: Aristotle’s Ethos
Aristotle provides three rhetorical appeals, ethos, logos, and pathos, that guide public speaking and audience persuasion. Ethos is based on the ability to appeal to the audience from a position of authority (Miles, 2022). This element applies where the audience can believe what the speaker says based on their authority and relations in the social world.
The speakers develop their credentials by using work experience, passion, or educational qualifications (Miles, 2022). For example, it is easier to believe a story published by CNN than one initially posted on social media. In this case, CNN is a credible news source compared to social media, which often has misleading information.
Ethos appeal comprises three components: trust, credibility, and authority. The speaker’s character or credibility is shaped by respect and good behavior. For the audience to feel persuaded by the speaker, they must have enough respect and acceptance of the speaker’s character (Miles, 2022). The speaker must also be publicly trustworthy in the relevant and general aspects.
Furthermore, the audience must believe that the speaker is powerful in society and related topics (Miles, 2022). Having authority in a field is often based on personal experience. For example, a president would be better positioned to convince the public of their safety than a model. The president’s authority is based on his personal experience in the security field. The speaker or source of information may not know it is credible until proven by the audience.
To achieve credibility and likability, the speaker must show care, talk from their experiences, acknowledge the color of their lens, and be authentic. Therefore, if the information source fails to meet credibility, trust, and authority, it cannot appeal to the audience from the ethos perspective (Miles, 2022). The ethos rhetorical framework is suitable for analyzing the Pepsi ad because for the ad to sell or effectively meet its purpose, it must appeal from the ethos perspective (Miles, 2022). For the public to be convinced to buy the drink, they must feel appealed by the credibility of the advertising model based on their experience with related matters.
Analysis: Application of Ethos in Pepsi Ad
The ad by Pepsi did not effectively incorporate the principles of ethical appeal for the persuasion of the public. When Pepsi aired the ad, which featured Jenner as a supermodel easing the protest tension by giving the drink to the police, the crowd did not react. The main problem with the ad was that the company used a model who lacked experience in protests. According to the ad critics, it was wrong for the beverage firm to use protest-related matters for fun following recent years’ protest agendas (BBC News, 2017). In other words, the speaker of the message lacked credibility based on personal experience related to protest matters.
Jenner has the authority from social support but lacks experience in protests or the struggles of the protestors. Ethos dictates that for a source of information or public speaker to attain public credibility, they should speak from personal experience (Miles, 2022). The 21-year-old Jenner is a well-known model and a worldwide acclaimed celebrity. Indeed, she is currently in the top 10 list of most-followed people on social media, particularly on Instagram, with 283 million followers.
As of 2017, Jenner was in the top three of the most followed individuals in the world; hence was a powerful influencer (BBC News, 2017). In other words, she passes the requirement of having public authority to influence. The ethos element of power demands that a speaker have a good influence to appeal to the public (Miles, 2022). Pepsi successfully applied the authority component of ethos by selecting Jenner as their influencer or the deliverer of the message.
The Political Concept
Jenner lacks the credibility and trust to appeal to the public from the perspective of protests. The model is rich and from a wealthy family that has not been involved in the struggles of protests. Although the Pepsi ad does not reveal what the crowd was protesting about, the timing of the ad is related to demonstrations of # BlackLivesMatter (BBC News, 2017). The hashtag is a black people movement that seeks to protest against injustices of the ethnic and racial groups. During the release of the Pepsi ad, America was experiencing progressive demonstrations by black people. The civil rights movement started in 2013 after the police shot Michael Brown, who was unarmed at the time of the shooting (Sidahmed, 2016).
The Pepsi ad incorporated Muslims and immigrants, who in this case were represented by the Asian-American musician, and marching women, who were represented by Jenner (Los Mejores, 2018). The ad audience quickly related the protests to the ongoing protests against the Trump administration’s policies, which sought to deny people of color their civil rights. Women, in particular, played a massive role in the march rallies supported by # BlackLivesMatter (BBC News, 2017). Henceforth, when the advertising company used the concept of protests relating to people of color, they failed to choose a person with such experiences.
While expressing how the ad did not appeal to them, the public associated it with a viral picture of Leshia Evans. Evans is a female nurse from Pennsylvania who was arrested by the police during the protest in Baton Rouge. As shown in Figure 1, Evans stood before two armed police officers in riot gear when one of them cuffed her hands. Evans was attending her first-ever protest after she learned about the shooting of Alton Sterling, a black man killed by two police officers during an altercation (Sidahmed, 2016). She was walking toward the police to try and reason with them against the shooting but was arrested. The photo of Evans went viral, and the global media called it iconic.
Pepsi was highly criticized for using the idea of this viral picture in its protest-ideological ad. The public expressed disappointment that the company used the protest idea for fun. From the ad audience’s perspective, the ad was inappropriate and ridiculed people of color, especially for their struggles in demonstrations. In the ad, Jenner walks toward the police officers, ensuring safety during the protests (Los Majores, 2018).
Like Evans, when she walks up to the police officers for reasoning, Jenner is seen approaching the officers with a can of Pepsi. When the police officer drinks Pepsi, he seems to agree with the protestors and even signals for other officers to conform. The public interpretation of this message is that all the protesters need to win the American protests is to bribe the police officers (BBC News, 2017). From the angle of the public and the company, such an interpretation is wrong. Indeed, it shows how Pepsi does not value the lives of black people and would use such concepts to promote fun times.
The ad generally failed to earn public trust, hence the inability to persuade the audience. Although the public trusts Jenner and the Pepsi Company, the ideology of the ad message triggered mistrust (BBC News, 2017). PepsiCo, known as Pepsi, is an international food, beverage, and snacks organization headquartered in New York, America. The firm has operated since 1965 and has earned public trust, especially in the US (BBC News, 2017).
Pepsi was highly criticized for using the idea of this viral picture in its protest-ideological ad. The public expressed disappointment that the company used the protest idea for fun. From the ad audience’s perspective, the ad was inappropriate and ridiculed people of color, especially for their struggles in demonstrations. In the ad, Jenner walks toward the police officers, ensuring safety during the protests (Los Mejores, 2018). Like Evans, when she walks up to the police officers for reasoning, Jenner is seen approaching the officers with a can of Pepsi.
When the police officer drinks Pepsi, he seems to agree with the protestors and even signals for other officers to conform. The public interpretation of this message is that all the protesters need to win the American protests is to bribe the police officers (BBC News, 2017). From the angle of the public and the company, such an interpretation is wrong. Indeed, it shows how Pepsi does not value the lives of black people and would use such concepts to promote fun times.
The ad generally failed to earn public trust, hence the inability to persuade the audience. Although the public trusts Jenner and the Pepsi Company, the ideology of the ad message triggered mistrust (BBC News, 2017). PepsiCo, known as Pepsi, is an international food, beverage, and snack organization headquartered in New York, America. The firm has operated since 1965 and has earned public trust, especially in the US (BBC News, 2017).
Pepsi has also successfully run multiple ads. These ads are global and designed to impact people from diverse cultures. The controversial ad targeted an international audience, but Americans felt highly targeted. Americans noted that the company ruined their trust in the public by disregarding or making fun of the injustices against blacks.
The likability and credibility of the message’s source are based on care, personal values, and authenticity. Pepsi wanted to relay a message to the public, asking for support by taking their soft drinks. According to Aristotle’s ethos, effective persuasion requires caring for the audience, implying personal values, and genuineness. When Pepsi inappropriately used the concept of protests held by black people fighting against police injustices, they indicated a lack of care.
The firm failed to care about the feelings of the people of color, thus implying that their values stand against the people of color and support police brutality. Indeed, some audiences felt that if they handed the Pepsi drinks to the police during real protests, the police would stop their injustices against the blacks (BBC News, 2017). When the audience confronted the company, they first defended themselves, saying that the ad message was unrelated to particular protests (BBC News, 2017). However, such comments revealed the organization’s lack of realness, missing the chance to persuade the public. That was poor ground for Pepsi to be associated with, so they had to delete the ad and apologize to the public for the misconception.
Conclusion
Through an ad, Pepsi Company failed to meet the elements of ethos for effective audience persuasion. Aristotle’s theory of persuasion demands the application of ethos to persuade the public. The analysis indicates that Pepsi’s ad missed the representation of a credible speaker based on the protest’s message.
The company also failed to communicate genuineness, care, and values to the public. In other words, Pepsi, through its ad, could not be trusted to know the well-being of society. The ad was a total failure of the ethos model of persuasion because instead of appealing to the public, it offended people of color.
References
BBC News. (2017). Kendall Jenner Pepsi advert: Why did it wind people up? [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Los Mejores Anuncios de Siempre y de Hoy. (2018). PEPSI Kendall Jenner so controversial commercial. YouTube.
Miles, T. J. (2022). The ethos, pathos, logos: Journal of reflection. Independently Published.
Sidahmed, M. (2016). ‘She was making her stand’: Image of Baton Rouge protester an instant classic. The Guardian, 1.