Even if your WiFi’s been out or the dog hid your phone, odds are you felt the earthquake earlier this week, loosed by twentysomething actress Sydney Sweeney’s coquettish ads for American Eagle—which didn’t get attention over Sweeney’s blue eyes, blond hair, and creamy white skin so much as her touting the “good genes” behind them.
Offended viewers charged the brand with everything from resurrecting the blond bimbo trope to espousing the tenets of eugenics. While AE scrapes the poop off its shoe, we decided to look back at a few other times that brands truly stepped in it with their advertising—and the lessons they hopefully learned from it.
Kendall and Pepsi Save America
The advertisement: In 2017, Pepsi launched an ad called “Jump in,” featuring a tense standoff between “peace” protestors (an obvious cutout for Black Lives Matter) and the police. Enter zillennial mother goddess Kendall Jenner, who hands a cop a Pepsi, instantly and singlehandedly diffusing all social tensions in America and achieving racial harmony for all. Viewers pounced. “Y’all can go somewhere with this tone-deaf, shallow, and over-produced ad,” said one on X. Martin Luther King’s daughter Bernice posted: “If only daddy would have known about the power of Pepsi.” Another called the ad “a perfect example of what happens when there’s no Black people in the room when decisions are being made.” Pepsi yanked the spot after a day, issuing an apology.
The Takeaway: Don’t co-opt a civil-rights movement to sell something.
Ending it All With General Motors
The advertisement: For its big ad buy in the 2007 Super Bowl, GM aired a spot starring a yellow robot building cars on an assembly line. When the robot accidentally drops a screw, he’s fired. Friendless, dejected, unable to even get a fast-food job, the poor robot (which emotes sad-dog sounds) jumps off a bridge. GM explained that the ad intended to demonstrate the automaker’s dedication to quality. Many didn’t see it that way. “I’m dumbfounded. It’s depressing,” wrote management blogger Mark Graban. “It was inappropriate to use depression and suicide as a way to sell cars,” said the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. GM eventually edited out the bridge part.
The Takeaway: Nearly 50,000 Americans take their own lives every year; pick another topic to joke about.