After Target, Bud Light, Adidas, and a host of other companies, it is Pepsi’s turn to be the victim of a culture war that has taken over the internet this year. An animated commercial from the beverage giant has surfaced on Twitter which is being decried by conservatives as it supposedly ‘makes America and its military trans.’
It shows Laverne Cox transform into an LGBTQ superwoman with a rainbow-colored cape and spread love everywhere, including a military base where two men look at each other, and then hold hands. The cartoon Cox also flew to the White House decorated with Pride flags before returning to her house where she used the Pepsi SodaStream machine, which was adorned with a rainbow on the side, to pour herself a refreshing drink.
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“Let’s change the world together,” she says in the ad. “One rainbow at a time.”
Ian Miles Cheong, who runs the Culture War Room on Telegram, was the first to post the ad on Twitter, captioning it, “Pepsi has released a new ad that makes America and the military trans.” Twitter flagged the tweet. “This is an advertisement by SodaStream from 2021 that is being presented as “new,” it added as context to the tweet.
At the time, the company launched a “Rainbow Story” limited edition sparkling water maker kit that “encourages consumers to do just that.” The kit featured a sleek matte black design. It came with six rainbow markers for consumers to personalize their machines with their personal pride stories. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to ILGA World, a global LGBTQI+ NGO.
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“What’s been so great about the SodaStream campaign is it’s gotten me thinking a lot about the little kid inside me,” Cox said at the time. “The little kid who’d like to dance, who was made fun out because of that, and who gets to live this life that I’m living now that is just really incredible and a dream come true. I hope when folks get their SodaStream, they will you know share their rainbow stories on the SodaStream have conversations with the people in their lives about being LGBTQ+, and just the possibilities that lie before us if we come from a place of acceptance and love.”