A comment left at the previous post highlighting PepsiCo’s alleged renewed interest in Latinos revealed that the soft drink company has a messed up way of wooing non-White audiences. In short, PepsiCo is full of shit—or caca, for Spanish-speaking blog visitors. Given that commercials starring Sofia Vergara and Nicki Minaj were created by White agency TBWA\Chiat\Day, and the latest “Latino” spot is actually a repackaged concept from CLM BBDO in France, it looks like PepsiCo’s definition of cross-cultural involves crossing out multicultural shops.
Sorry, were any of those listed examples meant to show Pepsi's understanding of and commitment to Latinos in the US? Or any people of color, period? I don't think they should be.
ReplyDeleteNicki Minaj's commercial was indeed created by TBWA Chiat Day. Chief Creative on it? Rob Schwartz (not Latino). Creative director? Xanthe Wells (not Latino). Art director? Chris MacNeil (not Latino). Copywriters? Brett Craig and Michelle Lewis (not Latino).
And who handled actually filming that big, big budget spot? Where did Pepsi drop a lot of cash? It was directed by Fredrik Bond (Swedish, not Latino), executive produced by Kate Leahy of MJZ (not Latino either), the production company was MJZ (not Latino) and DP'd by Roman Vasyanov (Russian, not Latino).
And that oh-so-Latino Sofia Vergara spot? Created, again, by TBWA Chiat Day and that same non-ethnic team listed above. Production company was Holmes: Defender of the Faith (not Latino), directed by McG (not Latino), DP'd by Ramsey Nichols (not Latino), etc. and so on and so forth.
Another example of Pepsi touting via press releases how interested they are in wooing Latino consumers, yet spending all their money on non-ethnic advertising companies and advertising professionals.
Seems that for Pepsi, Latinos are good enough to take money from, but not good enough to give money to.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteAll the examples were highlighted to show Pepsi thinks it can cover multicultural audiences by letting White agencies produce big-budget spots with Latino and Black celebrities. PepsiCo and Omnicom are culturally clueless corporations.
No offense to you intended, by any means! On the contrary, I am quite thankful that someone is a watchdog for these companies. You seem to be the only voice in a vast wilderness.
ReplyDelete