People Actually Loved That Banned Kendall Jenner Pepsi Ad

Pepsi committed what may become the biggest advertising blunder of 2017 with a commercial starring Kendall Jenner placating police during a protest using a can of Pepsi. The commercial was pulled after it received swift and severe backlash for being "tone deaf" and "condescending" to the issues of peaceful protesting and police brutality. Pepsi responded immediately, saying, "[We] were trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize." But as it turns out, people might not have been that upset by the ad. Many even really identified with it.

A survey published by Morning Consult shows that more than half of the 2,200 young Americans surveyed viewed the ad positively and 44 percent of the survey respondents said that they viewed Pepsi "more favorably" after watching the commercial. When divided by ethnicity and political party, the survey found that Hispanics (75 percent) were most likely to give two thumbs up to the controversial content and that Republicans were more likely (29 percent) to view Pepsi in an unfavorable light than Democrats (23 percent).

So will the ad hurt Pepsi in the long run? If this survey is any indication, probably not. Only 20 percent of those surveyed said the commercial would make them less likely to purchase Pepsi products.