Following a litany of complaints, PepsiCo has pulled a :60 Mountain Dew commercial that social commentator Dr. Boyce Watkins dubbed, “arguably the most racist commercial in history.”
The ad, indeed, carries racist overtones with a white women — who appears to have been assaulted — attempting to identify her assailant from a lineup of black men…and a talking goat who urges her not to spill the beans with various threats.
The ad, created by Tyler The Creator of Odd Future, is part of a series of Mountain Dew ads which feature the wise-cracking goat.
This particular ad features the members of Odd Future and, we assume, was created to appeal to followers of the band and its style of music.
For its part, a Pepsi rep told AdWeek, “We understand how this video could be perceived by some as offensive, and we apologize to those who were offended. We have removed the video from all Mountain Dew channels and have been informed that Tyler is removing it from his channels as well.”
Good luck with that, Pepsi. The internet being, well, the internet…once something’s up, it’s up forever.
