Mountain Dew Pulls 'Most Racist Commercial in History'

[brooklynite]

Source: AdWeek

PepsiCo says it's pulling an outrageous Mountain Dew commercial that has offended online viewers in recent days due to sensitivities in terms of racism and violence toward women. The 60-second spot, which is still live on a few individuals' YouTube channels, depicts a badly battered woman on crutches who is being pressed by a cop to pick a suspect out of a police lineup of five African-American males and a goat named Felicia.

The actors are members of the music group Odd Future in an unusual video series created by the alternative hip-hop ensemble's co-founder, Tyler, The Creator. In a spot that drew a ton of criticism this week, the goat Felicia—in a male voice—taunts the battered woman with phrases like "snitches get stitches, fool," "keep your mouth shut" and "I'm going to get out of here and do you up."

One social commentator, Dr. Boyce Watkins, called it "arguably the most racist commercial in history." After being asked about the spots yesterday, a PepsiCo spokesperson emailed Adweek this morning to state that the video is getting taken down.

"We understand how this video could be perceived by some as offensive, and we apologize to those who were offended," the rep said. "We have removed the video from all Mountain Dew channels and have been informed that Tyler is removing it from his channels as well."

Read more: http://www.adweek.com/news/television/mountain-dew-pulls-most-racist-commercial-history-149061?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=05-01-2013&utm_campaign=television_today

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Setting aside the racist stereotyping, I don't see how this sells soda.