Pepsi pulls widely mocked Kendall Jenner ad

Pepsi is reportedly pulling the plug on a sharply criticized new ad featuring Kendall Jenner ending a street protest by handing a can of soda to a police officer.

The beverage giant said Wednesday it was “trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding,” with the commercial that had debuted a day earlier and immediately drew backlash and ridicule. “Clearly, we missed the mark, and we apologize,” Pepsi said, according to The Daily Beast.

“We did not intend to make light of any serious issue,” a Pepsi statement said. “We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.”

{mosads}In the ad, Jenner, a 21-year-old reality TV star and fashion model, is seen ditching a photo shoot to join crowds of young protesters.

Jenner then approaches a police officer standing guard at the protest and hands him a Pepsi. The crowd erupts in cheers as the officer smiles and takes a sip of the soft drink.

Critics argued Pepsi was exploiting the Black Lives Matter movement and civil unrest. In a mocking tweet, Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi.”

Top Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson said before Pepsi’s reversal Wednesday that the spot demeans social justice activists.

“The video in so many ways is offensive to all the people who’ve stood in the street for the past two years against police brutality and fighting injustice that the state has caused,” he told TMZ.

—Mark Hensch contributed.