What Pepsi's Tone-Deaf Commercial Can Teach Employers And Employees

Employment lawyer Beth Robinson's five key takeaways from Pepsi's ill-advised Kendall Jenner ad.

onApril 11, 2017 at 3:14 PMApril 11, 2017 at 2:20 PM

Kendall Jenner (via Kendall and Kylie/YouTube)

Last week, the internet stirred and (mostly) came together in agreement that Pepsi’s ad that sought to capitalize on the “hipness” of protest was ill-advised. There are many many think pieces on the topic now, particularly on how important it is to have diversity in the room where the green light decision was made, because with a little more self-reflection, this entire debacle could have been avoided. There are even think pieces saying this negative attention was just what Pepsi wanted. I doubt this is true, however, because all media attention is not good attention, no matter what some starlet said once.

But I’m not one to cry over spilled milk, and while I don’t agree with Pepsi’s response, I’m not a PR expert. Lack of real experts is what got Pepsi in this situation in the first place. No, I’m going to stay in my lane, and think about this from an employment lawyer’s perspective. I think there are many many lessons to take away from the Pepsi debacle. Here are my five key takeaways (there are many more), and how they can be applied to the employer-employee relationship.

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Don’t try too hard to be “hip.” Pepsi should have known better. I attended an event a while ago where a former Pepsi executive talked about how Pepsi ended up doing the Super Bowl half-time show. To create that (very good) brand opportunity, Pepsi asked itself a series of important questions about its brand, including where it was headed and what type of exposure would get it there. This approach obviously did not happen for the latest ad. And the reason is simple: every trend shouldn’t be related to your brand. Select only those trends that are, and be sure you understand them. Soft drinks and sports go together. Pepsi and protest do not. Some employers try to be ahead of the curve so hard, they jump on every new hiring trend. Some employees do the same, with many different versions of résumés, curious LinkedIn bios, and elaborate email signatures. Being too trendy is a waste of everyone’s time. And, as was apparent in Pepsi’s ad, just shows how poorly the trend is understood. Instead, know yourself well enough to know what works. And stick to it until it makes sense to do something differently.
Know the counsel you can trust, and be honest about the expertise you need. Again, Pepsi should have known better. This isn’t their first time at the bad-PR rodeo, because they are a soft drink company after all. Crystal Pepsi happened. Pepsi likely relied on an internal or third party to put this idea together, and then relied on a group of advisors to sign off on it. None of them should have been anywhere near this project. One of the most important things I think an employee needs to know is what they are good at, and what they are not good at. And while stretching is important, stretching shouldn’t be all you are doing. Furthermore, and most importantly, while you are stretching, you should have as a resource someone you can trust. Every job requires expertise, and to grow as an employee and to be good as an employer you need to know what you are good at, and who to seek out for the areas you are not. Pepsi is not good at social commentary.
Understand your history and brand. I almost feel bad for Pepsi because I understand the strange history of soft drinks in this country, Pepsi and Coke in particular, in relation to race. There was a time when Pepsi was considered a drink for Black people. So Pepsi, of all companies, should know better than to come close to a topic like protest. But, unfortunately, it appears that Pepsi has forgotten this dark period of soft drink history and decided to dredge up some bad feelings. As an employer, unless chaos and pointless problems is your brand, you don’t want to be this tone-deaf. Other than Amazon, I’ve never heard of an employer embracing being that type of place to work for. Most employers don’t delight in turnover; it’s expensive. And most employees want to spend time in the same place, and want to be in a pleasant working environment. So know your history, but most importantly, know yourself. If you are hired to sell widgets by a company that sells widgets, by all means learn all of the skills around selling and do what you must to increase your skill set, but sell widgets. Pepsi should be selling soft drinks, not upsetting the twitterverse.
All attention isn’t good attention. This one is mostly for employers, because I think that employees understand this intuitively for the most part. They see what unpleasant attention does to the careers of others. However, in case you need a reminder, bad press is bad for your job, employee. In fact, the only people bad press helps are people who are otherwise unknown. If you are unknown at your job, you are doing it all wrong. But some employers don’t seem to understand this, perhaps because they think they are too big for it to impact them. However, I would bet that after all of the press that UPS got following the Young v. UPS Supreme Court decision, the number of female applicants, and perhaps applicants overall, decreased for their company. I will bet that following the negative attention Uber got, the number of female engineers trying to join the company nearly disappeared. The few who didn’t know about Uber’s culture now do. As I said above, some employers don’t care. They have a “kill or be killed” culture, that’s who they are, and they are fine with it. Turnover for them is the cost of doing business. And perhaps some employees want a name on their résumé so badly, they will do anything to get it there. But not everyone feels that way. Turnover is very expensive. While Uber might not feel like it has to turn a profit just yet, most employers do. Bad press is bad for employers and employees.
Learn how to apologize. There is a real dearth these days of sincere apologies. People are sorry you are upset, but not sorry for what they did. People apologize to the wrong people (Kendall Jenner, I’m looking at you). There is, however, nothing like the power of a sincere apology. None of us is perfect, and we all make mistakes. Part of learning and growing as a professional is knowing you will mess up, and being gracious in your mistakes. Employers should learn that same lesson. I hope Pepsi does at some point. Apologizing to someone who was part of that commercial willingly isn’t the beginning of the needed conversation. When you make mistakes, apologize. I strongly caution people away from employers who have a business reputation of being unable to properly apologize. I think the failure by United Airlines is an example of this. Some people seem to see apologizing as a sign of weakness. I say don’t work with those people.

I’m sure the furor about Pepsi will die down soon, but for those who heard about it, they will think twice when picking a drink to bring to a summer picnic this year. Because bad press is bad for business, employers, and definitely employees.

beth-robinson Beth Robinson lives in Denver and is a business law attorney and employment law guru. She practices at Fortis Law Partners. You can reach her at employmentlawgurubr@gmail.com and follow her on Twitter at @HLSinDenver.