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SEPTEMBER 2018
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Flight Time
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IN APRIL LAST YEAR AN
advertisement for Pepsi
starring model Kendall
Jenner began appearing on
networks across the United
States. The ad sees Jenner
leave a photoshoot to join
a protest march flanked
by a line of armed police
officers. Miraculously, Jenner
manages to quell the tension
by handing an officer a can
of Pepsi. The message is clear:
Pepsi is a unifying force for
good in a divided world. Pepsi
has a higher purpose. Pepsi
means more.
Instantly derided on social
media, the ad was panned
for implying that the myriad
of factors that have led to
increased activism and unrest
can be sufficiently remedied
with a 330ml can of soft drink.
The spectacle of Jenner
approaching a line of police
bore a striking resemblance
to the iconic image of an
unarmed protester being
taken into custody by a
team of heavily-armed law
enforcement officials during
a Black Lives Matter protest in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
In the face of mounting
public outrage, Pepsi pulled
the Jenner ad within just 24
hours of its release. Pepsi’s
brief foray into the world of
civil rights makes plain the
complicated relationship
between business and
purpose. Business is often
accused of having eyes only
for the bottom line, with wider
questions about how you
MARKET I NG STRATEG I ST JAMES WALL I S EXPLA I NS
WHY CORPORAT IONS MUST EMBRACE THE POWER
OF THE PURPOSE - DR I VEN BUS I NESS MODEL
Creating
shared values
Business Lesson
create value in and for the
world left unanswered. When
businesses do try to delve
deeper into how they can
both change society for the
better and strengthen their
balance sheet, they are often
ridiculed and told to stick to
what they know.
Earlier this year marketing
professor Mark Ritson told a
conference of marketeers
that brand purpose amounts
to little more than ‘a load of
******* nonsense’. Ritson argues
that brands that spend time
poring over why they exist and
how they want to change the
world get side-tracked from
the real business of marketing.
Purpose, he claims, simply
doesn’t matter in business.
Ritson is partly correct.
“Business is
often accused of
having eyes only
for the bottom
line, with wider
questions about
how you create
value in and for
the world left
unanswered”