Model Behavior (PLEASE READ POST #1 BEFORE POSTING)

[fashionista-ta]

I don't think even the most popular models have the power we think they do, even the very celebrity ones.
Also, maybe she didn't think there was anything wrong with the concept. The same goes for Karlie in that geisha editorial and other famous girls in controversial eds/ads, maybe they didn't think anything was wrong in the first place so they didn't try to change anything.

And i say this as someone who really dislikes the instamodels. I think the blame should go toward Pepsi and their marketing team for appropriating something very serious to sell a drink. This isn't the first time a soda company went with the whole "world peace" angle, but it's been done more tastefully before.

Everyone but everyone has the power to say NO. Yes, most models probably don't have the credibility to get a concept changed (Lauren Hutton comes to mind as someone who might), but anyone has the power walk away from a project.

The commentary I've seen on the ad is focused on Pepsi rather than the model.

***

And agreed ... basically everyone can afford a Pepsi, including people on the street and everyone in the third world (huge market for this and other utterly useless and even harmful products).

 

[sore]

From what I can understand, the objection to this advertisement has less to with the actual advertisement itself and much more to do with the current political climate. Whether or not models have a responsibility seems very irrelevant to me, because the team who made the advertisement and approved the advertisement carries so much more of the blame.

The ad would have happened regardless of whether Kendall participated. A 21 year old misreading the political climate is understandable. The people we should be mad at is the advertisment crew. They really should have known better.

Hypothetically speaking: It wouldn't have happened the way it happened if they had had all of the requested models turn down the job because they disagreed with the concept.

Also, let's not forget that Kendall, of all people, probably doesn't really know much about the trouble normal people go through in their daily lives, let alone normal black people. Maybe other models would have been a bit more sensitive about the issue, and let's be honest, she doesn't exactly seem like the quickest bunny in the forest.

 

[Melancholybaby]

Whether or not models have a responsibility seems very irrelevant to me, because the team who made the advertisement and approved the advertisement carries so much more of the blame.

Of course Pepsi's executives, the ad agency, the creative directors etc. hold the most responsibility for this mess of a campaign, but Kendall, having the level of fame and following she has, should be held accountable for her participation in this too. After shooting the commercial, she posted on social media and expressed how "honoured" she was to have the opportunity to front Pepsi. Clearly, the thought that something might be wrong with this commercial never crossed her mind until the backlash hit her. She probably thought it was such a #woke concept and got paid millions for it.

Pepsi also apologised to her in their statement as if she was coerced into doing this. I mean, even their apologies are tone-deaf.

 

[Benn98]

Hypothetically speaking: It wouldn't have happened the way it happened if they had had all of the requested models turn down the job because they disagreed with the concept.

Also, let's not forget that Kendall, of all people, probably doesn't really know much about the trouble normal people go through in their daily lives, let alone normal black people. Maybe other models would have been a bit more sensitive about the issue, and let's be honest, she doesn't exactly seem like the quickest bunny in the forest.

Hhmm.....hypothetically, yes. But we all know if Kendall would've said no, Hailey Baldwin or someone similar would've agreed. There's no shortage of famehungry models in LA too, so there's that.

Re the out of touch comment, yes, that's disturbing. Unless you live in Monaco, there's simply no excuse for such ignorance, is there? Indeed, she needn't go to too far to educate herself about the experience of African Americans in the US. Not just Kanye (who we all know to be a delusional egomaniac), but also the mother is dealing with a non-famous guy. And her friends (that collective she's always seen with, not sure what it is they do for a living). At first I believed that she may not have seen the rushes or was blithely unaware of the finished product. But the mere fact that she posted it well.....

 

[eizhowa]

Maybe I feel differently than you guys because I am not shocked Kendall didn't understand why this was offensive

 

[Zposen]

Just a question, why isn't Kendall repped by a powerhouse agency like IMG? If ever she needed an incentive to ditch her agency, now is the time. While not entirely without blame in this case, she's now been put in the most invidious position. It was the duty of her agent to vet the client, the concept, the execution. She's a celebrity model, so it would be foolish to act like whatever she does will not attract media coverage.

But Kendall aside, Pepsi is the true culprit. Even if we had Joan Small instead of Kendall, this campaign would still have stank to high heaven. Truly disgusting. But I find it interesting that the public at large just shrugged at Dior's 'we should all be feminists' t-shirts, yet people are all up in arms over this (rightly so!).

Have you seen Kendall's agent . She travels everywhere with Kendall and usually makes sure Kendall gets to the clubs on time and there are enough posts on social media of Kendall's outings with her friends.

 

[dsamg]

Maybe I feel differently than you guys because I am not shocked Kendall didn't understand why this was offensive

I completely agree. Come on, if anyone on this Earth has the power to walk away from an ad it is a Kardashian/Jenner. She probably still doesn't understand what the issue was. Pepsi apologised TO HER publicly. Did you ever see Vogue or VS apologising to Karlie for cultural appropriation coverage?

 

[squilliam]

I somehow doubt she disliked the concept, maybe she thought it was a good idea. It seems like something an out of touch young person wouldnt find offensive. There have been so many protests lately for a lot of things, from racism to sexism to environmentalism, and people have gotten seriously abused in these protests. Pepsi got a bunch stereotypical airhead millenials dressed like they're about to go to Coachella diffuse a riot with a can of soda. I get the idea of togetherness but this was executed so poorly, and with someone from a rather disliked family. I feel like people like Kendall are so detached and oblivious to what's actually going on in the real world, the type of people who would support the DAPL protest simply because it's what's cool and not because they know what's actually going on. This is all speculation on my part since I've never actually met her. But it seems like the whole "they're starving and have no bread, so let them eat cake" type of thing. They put someone who's considered ignorant of the plight of the masses to show the plight of the masses. I wonder if she realizes why a lot of people are angry, she has yet to issue an apology or explanation to at least save face. But it's not like bad publicity has ever stopped this family before.

On a side note, the Pepsi ad is nowhere near as cringe worthy as a certain Nivea ad making rounds on the net

 

[dsamg]

Alice is just...worrying. No wonder she isn't getting booked. She should start focusing on her mental health, Im genuinely concerned for her.

Lol yep.

https://postimage.org/
AM Facebook

 

[dsamg]

Interesting that Cat posted this after Issa and then Natalie liked it, considering (asides from Issa) that they are all from the same agency. Surely the Society has something to answer for here.


Interesting article
http://www.wmagazine.com/story/kend...rcial-addresses-backlash?mbid=social_facebook

 

[Benn98]

So Kendall isnt the only 'out of touch' one here. That set extra saying 'I don't live in the US', meaning he didn't know about the protests? How lame, and a sad indication of how indifferent most millennials are nowadays. Also, there were loads of poc in that ad. They too didn't know or cared? Yikes! Someone should establish CNN or Sky in Thailand!

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ Hello ... they've been happening on every continent including Antarctica, not just in the US ... which rock has he been under?

Alice, we will need some proof of this wisdom you say you've achieved ...

 

[squilliam]

BLM has been mostly in US, a little was in UK and I think France. Having lived in two other countries (albeit before social media), they tend to care about their own problems first. The domestic problems of US and western Europe don't matter as much abroad, other countries have their own problems to deal with. I feel like there's this mentality that if the US or UK has some domestic problem then everyone should know and care, but the world doesn't evolve around them. Protests do happen everywhere and for various reasons, but I feel like the uproar is based more on events in the US. Also, other countries just don't really care about a misguided ad. Maybe that sounds mean, but I feel like some people are going overboard with this. Like there are even people who wanna boycott PepsiCo
I will say that Pepsi apologizing to Kendall does seem like she has power, why would they care about how she feels. They wanted her and probably will want her again, so it's like "sorry our bad concept may have slightly derailed your career, please come back and make us more money"

 

[kokobombon]

^I agree. The BLM movement -without social media- has little coverage in other countries. For the last three years, I´ve been living in Spain, Italy and Argentina and local media talks mostly about local problems.
And even though protests do happen around the world, not all police force reacts the same way as in the US as they don´t have that kind of power. Eg in Argentina, they do nothing because of our past history with repression.

 

[Benn98]

BLM has been mostly in US, a little was in UK and I think France. Having lived in two other countries (albeit before social media), they tend to care about their own problems first. The domestic problems of US and western Europe don't matter as much abroad, other countries have their own problems to deal with. I feel like there's this mentality that if the US or UK has some domestic problem then everyone should know and care, but the world doesn't evolve around them. Protests do happen everywhere and for various reasons, but I feel like the uproar is based more on events in the US. Also, other countries just don't really care about a misguided ad. Maybe that sounds mean, but I feel like some people are going overboard with this. Like there are even people who wanna boycott PepsiCo
I will say that Pepsi apologizing to Kendall does seem like she has power, why would they care about how she feels. They wanted her and probably will want her again, so it's like "sorry our bad concept may have slightly derailed your career, please come back and make us more money"

With all due respect, I think you're blanketing a global issue as US/UK-specific. So you know, the BLM movement may have been set off by police brutality, which was (is?) a US problem, but institusionalised racism (the core issue) is undoubtedly global. I've seen it myself, even in countries where the black people are the majority.

And when it comes to keeping up to date with foreign affairs, the only person I'm prepared to give a pass is a bedridden elderly, with no telly. For a 25yo to tell me that they don't know about Brexit, women's protesting against Trump, or BLM, well, that's just sad. Especially in the age of social media.

These issues may seem like they are domestic , but they actually affect or are relevant to a lot of other countries.

@Koko: Now that you mention Argentina, because I seem to recall we could count the amount of black people we encountered on one hand during our entire stay there. That's a 3-week holiday, stretching from BsAs, to Ushuaia, to Calafate! I know it depends on which parts we lived, but still.......

 

[tigerrouge]

People - young and old - have an endless capacity to be ignorant when it comes to knowing what's going on in the world, despite how much information you throw at them.

There are 25 year olds who don't know the basic geography of their own countries, and who get confused about where certain foods come from, because they've only ever bought stuff wrapped in plastic in the supermarket.

So for them to grasp socio-political concepts... they just want to be told who to like and who to hate.

And ignorance is on everyone's doorstep. In terms of Brexit, I'm in the part of the UK which shares a border with a European country. But the mainland isn't really interested. For us, Brexit is a reality in ways that will never affect a Londoner. But the media care more about Gibraltar.

 

[kokobombon]

@Koko: Now that you mention Argentina, because I seem to recall we could count the amount of black people we encountered on one hand during our entire stay there. That's a 3-week holiday, stretching from BsAs, to Ushuaia, to Calafate! I know it depends on which parts we lived, but still.......

We don´t have a large native black population (dark skin color, I think that it´s like 0,3%), in fact I never met a black argentinian. We also have a small black population consistent mostly of brazilians and african refugees. I live in the capital and depending which neighborhoods I visit, I could spend months without seeing one. So racial problems is not in the forefront of my mind. I had a discussion in another forum because of a tshirt a celeb was wearing that said something like Silence is consent that I inmediately associated with violence against women, people went crazy because I didn´t realize right away that it was about BLM...

I mentioned my country in the context of protests in general. Just the other day we had a national strike and protests demanding jobs and a better economic situation. How many of americans/europeans know about it? I don´t expect them to know my country´s socio-political situations as they expect me to know theirs...

 

[fashionista-ta]

With all due respect, I think you're blanketing a global issue as US/UK-specific. So you know, the BLM movement may have been set off by police brutality, which was (is?) a US problem, but institusionalised racism (the core issue) is undoubtedly global. I've seen it myself, even in countries where the black people are the majority.

And when it comes to keeping up to date with foreign affairs, the only person I'm prepared to give a pass is a bedridden elderly, with no telly. For a 25yo to tell me that they don't know about Brexit, women's protesting against Trump, or BLM, well, that's just sad. Especially in the age of social media.

These issues may seem like they are domestic , but they actually affect or are relevant to a lot of other countries.

@Koko: Now that you mention Argentina, because I seem to recall we could count the amount of black people we encountered on one hand during our entire stay there. That's a 3-week holiday, stretching from BsAs, to Ushuaia, to Calafate! I know it depends on which parts we lived, but still.......

Is ... it has not gone away.

Stephen Colbert figured out the theme of the Pepsi protest ... Attractive Lives Matter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDWlMi14quY

Have to say, it looks like no protest I've ever seen, because there is zero age diversity, not to mention the utterly bland signs, and ... everything else about it.

 

[Cute]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4367224/Maldivian-model-appeared-Vogue-commits-suicide.html

Reading up on the Maldives, I'm wondering if she was shamed/harrased by her puritanical countrymen

A follow up
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4386776/Dad-model-dead-room-says-MURDERED.html

 

[Benn98]

A follow up
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4386776/Dad-model-dead-room-says-MURDERED.html

Wow, what a shocking twist! I feel sorry for her family. Could it be the autopsy tried to cover up the fact that she was murdered? Makes no sense why they would lie if they didn't know why she was murdered. Very weird story.