Jackson Lee: Pepsi Ad 'Demeaning'
The Hill reports:
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) took to the House floor Tuesday night to criticize what she called a "demeaning" strong>Pepsi ad< that aired during the Super Bowl.
In the ad for Pepsi Max, a black woman sitting on a park bench gets angry with her husband after an attractive, white female jogger sits down next to the couple and smiles and waves at the man.
After the man smiles back, his girlfriend or wife gets angry and whips her Pepsi Max can at him. The man ducks, and the can hits the attractive jogger in the head. The ad is titled "Love hurts."
"In this month of African-American history where we're trying to celebrate what is good and great, it certainly seems ridiculous that Pepsi would utilize this kind of humor," she said. "It was not humorous. It was demeaning — an African-American woman throwing something at an African-American male and winding up hitting a Caucasian woman."
Jackson Lee said she has a sense of humor and believes in the First Amendment. She also said the Super Bowl is a great time for "fellowship" with family members.
"That is why I'm so disappointed with the Pepsi advertisement that showed a demeaning role for African American women, in an ad that showed a can being thrown and being utilized to wound someone else or hit someone else," she said.
Jackson Lee said it was ridiculous for the soft drink maker to air the advertisement during African-American history month.
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