UPDATED 5/1/2013): It should come as no surprise after all the controversy, next comes an apology for bad PR decisions. Today, Pepsi issued the following statement in regards to the racist Mountain Dew commercial produced by celebrity artist Tyler the Creator.
“We apologize for this video and take full responsibility,” the company said in an updated statement late Wednesday afternoon. “We have removed it from all Mountain Dew channels and Tyler is removing it from his channels as well.”
ORIGINAL POST (4/30/2013): It's one thing to have product placement in videos to promote certain brands. It's something quite a bit different to have certain brands create/approve of commercials that have nothing to do with its product. In this latest commercial, Mountain Dew has everybody confused.
In the third installment of Tyler the Creator's series of Mountain Dew videos, the main character, Felicia, portrays a rape victim (possibly) as the G.O.A.T. of the goat world intimidates her by saying: “You should have gave me some more. I'm nasty.”
In a Usual Suspects-style police lineup alongside Odd Future mates, the G.O.A.T. further intimidates the victim with the cardinal rule of the streets, “Snitches get stitches, fool,” indicating that she better not tell.
The problem here is all the suspects are African American and it raises the question of whether or not the commercial is intended to be racist by targeting a specific racial group in a criminal line-up. The bigger question is, “What does any of this have to do with Mountain Dew?”
[mashshare]
