By Victoria Gonzalez
Kendall Jenner pepsi ad sparks interest in activism?
The morning of April 2nd 2017, many people woke up to social media outrage concerning Pepsi’s latest commercial. The ad featured model Kendall Jenner at some sort of ambiguous protest. Many critics were quick to point out that the ad was tone deaf and trivialized the serious issue of police brutality against Black people and people of color. Further more the ad seemed to take advantage and played off of a picture during a Black Lives Matter protest that had gone viral earlier that year.
In the main scene Jenner makes it to the front lines of the rally, approaches a straight faced policeman, extends a can of Pepsi as a sort of peace offering, to which the officer responds with a smile and the crowd cheers. This ad came at a time when Black Lives Matter were actively protesting the shooting of Alton Sterling and many drew parallels between Kendall’s role and the iconic picture of Iesha Evans facing the police before being arrested.
Pepsi apologized in a statement and pulled the ad due to the controversy. But did the ad encourage others to take part in activism? An analysis of Google search data shows that there was little increase in searches for activism the day of the Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial release. Although, about a month later there was a significant increase in searches for the term activism, could this be a product of the ads influence? (That also happens to be the same day Mike Pence delivered the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame.)
Did “13 Reasons Why” intent to spark conversations on suicide prevention work?
If you had a Netflix account in 2017 or happened to frequent the internet that year, then you probably were bombarded with all things “13 Reasons Why.” The Netflix series chronicled the fictional suicide of high school student Hannah Baker and her friend Clay Jensen’s journey to discover the truth surrounding her death. The show was a big hit with young people, which also seemed to be the target audience.
The show’s intensions were to start a dialogue about the consequences of bullying and teen suicide. But the show was heavily criticized for its handling and depiction of teen suicide and especially for the decision to show the act on camera. This sentiment seemed to have been shared when the American Psychiatric Association issued a statement warning parents and viewers about some of the issues they found with the series.
But the creators of the show held tight to their belief that they were starting a much-needed conversation in order to spread awareness on suicide prevention. But did their intentions ever actualize? An analysis of Google search data shows that there was little to no increase in searches for suicide prevention the day of the highest search volume for “13 Reasons Why,” suggesting that the show did little to prompt people to start a conversation or inquire about suicide prevention.
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