Dive Summary:
- In its effort to appeal to a young, edgy audience, Mountain Dew tabbed controversial rap star Tyler, The Creator to create a commercial for them.
- Mountain Dew and parent company PepsiCo have since pulled the ad after it ignited an uproar over its portrayal of racial stereotypes and violence against women.
- In a post on Your Black World, social commentator Dr. Boyce Watkins claimed the video was "arguably the most racist commercial in history" and propagates the stereotype that black men are frightening and violent thugs.
- PepsiCo apologized for the commercial and said they understood how one could perceive the ad to be offensive; Tyler, The Creator released a statement saying he "absolutely never intended to spark a controversy about race" and that the video "was simply an, again, admittedly absurd story that was never meant to be taken seriously."
From the article:
"Someone at Mountain Dew thought it would be a good idea to let Tyler, The Creator direct some online commercials for them, and amazingly, that decision somehow blew up in their faces. Tyler’s series of ads revolves around a nefarious goat named Felicia who talks in Tyler’s voice and who wreaks annoying havoc on anyone around. In the ad in question, Felicia is part of a police lineup, one otherwise populated exclusively by black men, as a beat-up elderly white woman freaks out with fear about identifying her attacker. This is, of course, played for laughs. As Billboard reports, a Pepsi spokesperson apologized for the ad and “said [the company] understood how the ad could be offensive.” What’s still not clear is who the ad could’ve ever appealed to. ..."
