Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi Ad Was Part of a Whole Woke Storyline
Although Kendall Jenner’s taken a stand numerous times to plug a high-end clothing line or an Estee Lauder face cream, she’s hardly known for taking a stand when it comes to politics.
Unless you count her disastrous Pepsi ad which even Pepsi is trying to forget ever happened when they deleted it just a day after it went live.
But while the decision to include Kendall in a “woke” Pepsi ad might have seemed like it came out of nowhere, Kendall’s been inching towards politicizing herself for a while now.
Every season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians is made up of multiple storylines which play out in real life as well as in front of the camera, and for the past year, one of Kendall’s more under the radar storylines has been her slow-burn journey toward wokeness.
A journey which now may be irrevocably over.
READ ALSO: Kendall’s Pepsi Ad Got Dragged So Hard They Deleted It
It all started out in July of 2016 with a flower crown and a double pair of peace signs.
Staring in a video made by the Independent Journal Review and Rock the Vote, Kendall stood there, trying on clothes and smiling while factoids about important voting milestones throughout history appeared around her.
And just like that, even though Kendall literally did nothing, her journey toward wokening had officially begun.
A few months later, fresh off the high of her first experiment with woke behavior, Kendall once again lent her famous name and face out to an “important” cause without having to actually say anything herself.
In September of 2016, the Black Eyed Peas decided the world needed an updated version of their classic track “Where Is the Love.” The new version would be called “#WhereIsTheLove.”
Featuring a large cast of celebrities you don’t usually think of as woke alongside the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two black men who lost their lives because of police brutality, the video also features a brief Kendall cameo.
Like literally, blink and you’ll miss it.
For approximately three seconds, Kendall can be seen on screen slowly raising her head while looking straight into the camera.
What a statement.
Then in October, Kendall was finally ready to speak up.
Joining a cast of mostly non-woke celebrities like Sarah Hyland and Bella Thorne, Kendall put on a striped crop top sweater and in a flat hurried tone, she urged her fellow millennials to get off their phones and vote:
“The millennials, not just you, me included, all of us, we have so much power, we’re the biggest generation there is and I think that we should use that power and really use it.”
And of course when it came time to vote, Kendall shared a photo which let her millions of followers know she voted for the only woke candidate on the ballet, “her her her her.”
Having taken these baby stands, in November Kris decided it was finally time to let Kendall’s wokening play out on an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
In the episode, Kim confronts Kendall about getting involved in a political cause.
“Khloe was telling me that you really wanted to get involved in something,” Kim — who’s actually woke — said. “I set up a lunch with some gun violence victims, some family members that have been affected that I think would really love to meet you.”
But Kendall was hesitant because she knew how controversial gun control is.
She told the cameras:
“It’s kind of difficult because I know we are public figures and seeing how controversial it could be to speak out about something you’re passionate about, I just think I don’t want the attention of somebody not agreeing with what I’m saying to take away from the fact that there’s actual gun issues that need to be handled. It might bring more harm than good.”
But in the long run, Kendall’s wokeness trumped her fear of saying the wrong thing, and she did tag along to the lunch, although she symbolically showed up hella late.
READ ALSO: Kendall Won’t Publicly Support Gun Control Cuz It’s Too Controversial
And then, Pepsi happened and we all know how that one turned out.
Kendall discovered wokeness and wokeness discovered it didn’t want Kendall representing the cause.
READ ALSO: Kendall Discovered Wokeness In New Pepsi Ad
Although looking back, it’s hardly surprising it played out the way it did.
For as much as this woke storyline was being thrust upon her, it never seemed like something Kendall was really that passionate about.
Sadly, Kendall seems to have a lot in common with Pepsi.
They both saw that wokeness was becoming the new hot thing and decided to start capitalizing on it without thinking too much about it. That’s one thing when you stay in your lane, but when you try and show the world how woke you are and the answer is “not at all,” you’re gonna have a Google Glass-level fail on your hands .
Although who knows, maybe this whole mess will make Kendall realize you have to do more than just pay lip service to whatever cause you’re supposed to be representing.
After all, she is only 21.
It’s theoretically not too late for her to learn.
