Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi Controversy Has Just Taken a Scary Turn at a Real Live Protest
Kendall Jenner may be trying to put the whole Pepsi #fail behind her by doing her best to totally ignore it, but it seems like the public isn’t willing to forgive and forget as easily. In fact, not only is the major ad disaster still fresh in people’s minds, but the controversy has just taken a super scary turn.
The heated situation sparked this time around when police showed up to a May Day march in Portland on the first of the month. Some protesters were apparently upset by the cops’ presence, and while things began peacefully, tensions soon rose.
Police took some shields from anarchists, anarchists grouped up toward cops. 1 tried to hand Pepsi to cop, unsuccessfully #Mayday #MayDayPDX pic.twitter.com/IV8nDzxLeP
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) May 1, 2017
When the police moved in, one civilian took a cue from Jenner’s ad and attempted to hand over a can of Pepsi in a friendly manner. Unfortunately, the IRL officer wasn’t nearly as grateful as the one in Kendall’s commercial.
Rocks, lead balls and full cans of @pepsi being launched at police. Officers will be donning personal protective equipment. #MayDay2017
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) May 1, 2017
From there, a few “anarchists” (as they were described by Portland PD) decided to take things up a notch by throwing lead balls AND FULL CANS OF PEPSI!
A @PDXFire medic was hit by a full @pepsi can thrown during #MayDayPDX protest march. Not injured.
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) May 1, 2017
The march was then declared a riot and police canceled its permit, a move which gave them permission to force the protestors to disperse. And while no one was reportedly hurt by the hurled soda cans, a medic was hit (though not injured).
While we can guarantee Pepsi didn’t predict the backlash they’re now facing when the ad was aired (and quickly pulled), they surely never expected events to take such a scary turn.
Are you shocked to hear that full cans of Pepsi are now being used in violent protests? Let us know @BritandCo!
(h/t Mashable; photo via Dia Dipasupil/Getty)