The One Winner from Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi Ad
By Hilary Weaver. Photos: Getty Images, Courtesy of Twitter.
Just last week (or eons ago if you measure in Sean Spicer and United Airlines gaffes), Kendall Jenner’s now infamous Pepsi ad premiered and was greeted by immediate backlash, resulting in Pepsi pulling it. It was a black mark for the soda company, Jenner, the extras, everyone—except, somehow, Skip Marley, whose song “Lions” was the soundtrack for the ad and has now leapt up the charts, according to Billboard.
The song that accompanied Jenner as she delivered Pepsi to a cop climbed a whopping 1,749 percent in streams and 383 percent in downloads. “Lions” also re-entered Billboard’s Reggae Digital Song Sales chart and shot from No. 35 to No. 11 on the Billboard + Twitter Emerging Artists list. Marley, a 20-year-old singer and Bob Marley’s grandson who, per Billboard, signed with Island Records to debut “Lions” in February, has yet to comment on the song’s surprising renaissance in the wake of such a major P.R. nightmare.
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When Pepsi pulled the ad last week, they released a public statement defending their intention, however bungled:
“Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace, and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark and apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue.”
Jenner also pulled all social-media posts about the ad, which S.N.L. nailed in a sketch over the weekend. Though it's since been eclipsed by Spicer, United Airlines, and probably whatever other brand has stumbled since this post was published, the ad continues to live on in Internet mockery—and, apparently, Skip Marley royalties.
This story originally appeared on Vanity Fair.
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