Picture this: The suits over at PepsiCo sitting around the boardroom and mulling over who to employ as director of their next series of Mountain Dew commercials and settling on the most misogynistic, outrageous, over-the-top rapper in modern music. A perfect fit, right? Surely nothing could go wrong here. Well actually, the shocking result is the most misogynistic, outrageous, over-the-top commercial ''in history'', and Pepsi have no one to blame but themselves.
I mean really, did these people expect a different outcome? The man behind hip-hop collective Odd Future, a group who proudly count rape among their favourite song subject matter, has delivered a hilariously controversial advertisement featuring a goat named Felicia who becomes obsessed with Mountain Dew, beats a waitress, goes on the run from the police and then threatens said waitress when she attempts to identify him amongst a line-up of OF members including Left Brain and L-Boy.
PepsiCo have pulled the 60 second clip after ''being alerted'' to the fact that it could be seen as offensive by its audience, while OF manager Christian Clancy has released a statement on the controversy which you can read below:
"It was never Tylers intention to offend however offense is personal and valid to anyone who is offended," the post reads. "Out of respect to those that were
offended and the ad was taken down. For those who know and respect Tyler he is known for pushing boundaries and challenging stereotypes thru humor. This is someone who grew up on David Chappelle. This situation is layered with context and is a discussion that Tyler would love to address in the right forum as he does have a point of view. As someone who hasn’t had the experience of being discriminated against i choose to respect the opinion of those who have.. what I can speak to is Tyler who represents much more than the current narrative this story suggests. Contrary to what many may discern from this Tyler is the embodiment of not judging others, his delivery may not be for everyone (which is true for anyone who pushes boundaries) but his voice is nonetheless impt to the conversation since his demographic understands what he ultimately stands for and sees the irony of it all. Context may or not help those who are offended and I wholly respect that but for those who are interested I can offer the following and leave the rest to Tyler.
1. This spot was part of an overall admittedly absurd storyline about a crazy goat who becomes obsessed with Mountain Dew
2. The lady in front of the lineup is the waitress from the first spot.
3. The lineup consists of Tylers friends and odd future members who were available that day. (LBoy, Leftbrain, Garret from Trash Talk and Errol)
4. He absolutely never intended to spark a controversy about race. it was simply an again admittedly absurd story that was never meant to be taken seriously.
Again we apologize if this was taken out of context and would never trivialize racism, especially now in America where voting and civil rights are being challenged at the highest level. I can however stand firmly by someone I have believed in since we met only because I know him and i know all of this was never his intent."
In spite of Clancy's apology though, I have to say this works out pretty well for Tyler. Apart from the ensuing publicity he's sure to get, he also stuck it to the idiots at Pepsi who were foolish enough to hire him in the first place, which will delight fans of the rapper. You can check out the third ad of the series here, which see's the battered woman attempting to identify Felicia in the line-up.
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