Mountain Dew is pulling an ad created by the founder of hip-hop group Odd Future, Tyler Gregory Okonma (better known as Tyler, the Creator) after it elicited cries of racism. A professor at Syracuse University even called it “arguably the most racist commercial in history.”

After watching the video ourselves, all we can say is…WOW. Racial profiling and violence against women all wrapped up in one extremely bizarre and undeniably offensive package.

Not only is it the most racially insensitive spot we’ve seen in recent memory, but it promotes so many dangerous and offensive stereotypes at once that it’s hard to know what to be angry about first. The ad features a white detective (holding a Mountain Dew) urging a bandaged-up white woman to pick her assailant out of a lineup of all African American men (and one extremely threatening goat, voiced by Tyler himself).

As the woman tries to pick out her attacker (the goat), he threatens her with phrases like “You shoulda gave me some more; I’m nasty” and “You better not snitch on a playa. Snitches get stitches.” When the woman is too intimidated to continue, the detective says takes a swig of his Mountain Dew and says, “She’s just gotta dew it.” Really? That was all leading up to a pun?

PepsiCo gave the following statement to AdWeek after the uproar: “We understand how this video could be perceived by some as offensive, and we apologize to those who were offended…We have removed the video from all Mountain Dew channels and have been informed that Tyler is removing it from his channels as well.”

While pulling the ad and apologizing were probably the right moves, we found the language of the apology a bit unimpressive. They don’t take responsibility for creating and releasing an ad that was very clearly in poor taste; instead, they apologize that it “could be perceived by some as offensive.” In other words, the responsibility really rests upon the hyper-critical audience. But maybe now we’re being hyper-critical? What do you think? Let us know in the comments section.

 UPDATE (5/3/13): Perhaps we weren’t being hyper-critical about PepsiCo’s halfhearted apology. The brand released a new (more apologetic) statement yesterday afternoon, saying: “We Apologize for this video and take full responsibility. We have removed it from all Mountain Dew Channels and Tyler is removing it from his channels as well.”

We’ve talked a lot recently about the PR wars over food labeling, but what happens when labels already offer complete transparency and customers don’t like what they see?

Aveyca Price of Georgia recently noticed that her bottle of Powerade contained brominated vegetable oil, a synthetic chemical used to prevent separation in soft drinks that, if consumed in high amounts over a long period of time, can build up in the body and cause serious toxic effects. Oh, and it’s also a flame retardant.

Surprised and concerned that her sports drink contained a chemical so controversial it has been banned in over 100 countries, Price decided to take action.

Because an online petition that received over 200,000 signatures recently helped prompt Pepsico to phase out BVO from its Gatorade sports drinks (although it’s still present in Mountain Dew), Price created a similar petition on Change.org asking Coca-Cola, makers of Powerade, to do the same. Within its first month, Price’s campaign gained over fifty thousand supporters. “Fifty thousand people (signing) within a month is amazing. I’m surprised and I’m glad I have that many people backing me up,” she said.

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Yesterday Coca-Cola finally addressed its nemesis PepsiCo by laying its promotional cards on the table and declaring: “We’ll see your Beyoncé and raise you a Taylor Swift.”

Like the Beyoncé deal, Swift/Diet Coke will be a “long-term” relationship between everyone’s favorite low-calorie soda and everyone’s favorite musical memoirist that will integrate Swift “into all key marketing efforts” for Diet Coke’s Stay Extraordinary campaign. Her latest album title, Red, even complements the brand. It’s almost like she knew this would happen…

We think we get Coca-Cola’s strategy here: Swift, despite being one of the world’s biggest pop stars, has a reputation for being close to her (overwhelmingly female) fan base. The video she released announcing the partnership and encouraging supporters to visit Diet Coke’s Facebook page is a good example of this personal branding aesthetic in action:

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The biggest story in the global branding game over the past few months was the innovative partnership between Pepsi and Beyoncé–a deal that gives an unprecedented degree of creative power to the world’s biggest pop star. Mark Bittman may not think it’s OK for celebrities to sell soda, but that won’t stop Pepsi’s new frontwoman from dominating America’s biggest PR stunt, The Super Bowl.*

One thing you almost certainly won’t hear Beyoncé discussing in 2013: the relationship between soft drinks and obesity. A certain other soda, on the other hand, just announced plans to address the issue directly.

This surprises us as much as anybody, but Pepsico‘s mortal enemy Coca-Cola just took a first step into the public health fray by creating a campaign designed to address America’s obesity epidemic–all in the company’s own best interests, of course.

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PepsiCo recently signed a sponsorship deal with Beyoncé worth a reported $50 million—but we’re not terribly concerned with news about a pop singer promoting a soda company.

We’re more interested in the nature of the relationship between the two parties, which seems to have broken new ground when it comes to sponsorships and invites the question: Who is promoting whom?

Pepsi calls the contract a “brand ambassador” deal, and the accompanying New York Times headline mentions Pepsi’s focus on “collaboration”. What do these terms mean, exactly? Well, Beyoncé won’t just appear on Pepsi products, star in commercials, and perform in next year’s Pepsi-sponsored Super Bowl: Her contract also includes “a multimillion-dollar fund to support the singer’s chosen creative projects.”

Correct us if we’re wrong, but this move is unprecedented—or at the very least extremely rare.

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Last week we reported on a great ad by SodaStream, the masters of DIY carbonation. While we find the concept of homemade soda fascinating, we were mostly concerned with UK ad regulatory body Clearcast‘s decision to take the ad off the air for potentially offending the hyper-sensitive small business owners Coca-Cola and Pepsico. Won’t someone think of the little guys?

Anyway, today brings encouraging news: Instead of admitting defeat and slinking off to pout in a corner, SodaStream’s communications team decided to make the most of the ongoing “debate” by airing a second spot called “Bubble Blackout” that consists of a black screen featuring the words “if you love the bubbles, set them free” atop the first ad’s audio. The video concludes with a link allowing viewers to defy the ban by viewing the offending spot on YouTube.

Click the screenshot to check out the new spot:

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If you’ve been watching TV in the US over the past several days, you may have seen this new ad for SodaStream, a device that allows bubble-lovers to create their own soft drinks at home, thereby saving both money and bottles.

Personally, we found the 30-second spot created by Alex Bogusky clever and visually appealing. Authorities in the UK pulled the commercial, however, citing their own opinion that it “could be seen to tell people not to go to supermarkets and buy soft drinks, [and] instead help to save the environment by buying a SodaStream”. This message, they determined, could be seen as “denigration of the bottled-drinks market”. Um…gee, a commercial that encourages customers to ditch the competition in favor of the product it’s pushing? Witchcraft!

OK…so what’s the problem?

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Fans of Cracker Jacks will soon find something other than temporary tattoos, cheap trinkets and miniature games hidden in their sweet and salty treat bags: a jolt of caffeine.

Not thrilled with the idea of your little tikes loading up on “jacked up” cracker jacks and bouncing off the walls? Fear not! PepsiCo (parent company of Cracker Jack makers Frito-Lay) assures us that it will only market the soon-to-be-released Cracker Jack’d Power Bites to adults. Not buying it? Neither is the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which charges that the planned snack violates federal food regulations.

In a letter to the Food and Drug Administration, CSPI argued that “Caffeine is generally recognized as safe only in cola-type beverages and only at concentrations of 0.02% or less (about 72 mg per 12 oz.).”

When asked about these allegations, a Frito-Lay spokesman told Ad Age that Power Bites will include “two flavors that will contain coffee, a natural source of caffeine, as an ingredient…We stand by the safety of all products in the Cracker Jack’d line, including those that contain coffee. It is worth pointing out the regulation referenced in CSPI’s letter to FDA speaks to caffeine–not coffee–and is not an exhaustive list of the safe uses of caffeine in foods and beverages.”

The FDA wasn’t the only organization to receive a strongly-worded note from CSPI.

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NYC-based WISE Public Relations appointed John McCartney to the newly created role of director of media relations. McCartney will be responsible for leading the media relations programs and providing strategic communications counsel to clients. Prior to WISE Public Relations, John served as US Account Director, Earned Media at Splendid Communications Group. (Revolving Door)

Dushka Zapata joined Ruder Finn to head the agency’s west coast operations. Dushka will become the agency’s Managing Director, Ruder Finn San Francisco, a newly created position. She was most recently Executive Vice President and Head of the San Francisco office for Ogilvy & Mather, where she oversaw the agency’s full offering in San Francisco. (Release)

Resolute Consulting hired John Cohen as executive vice president of its national security strategy and communications practice in Washington, D. C.. Cohen was formerly principal deputy coordinator for counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In his new role, John will work with Resolute Consulting clients to assess the public environment surrounding complex issues and develop strategic communications and outreach strategies to help solve them.  He will leverage his extensive experience working with the news media and preparing and implementing crisis communications plans for public and private sector entities. (Release)

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As PR professionals, we know that transparency is an important attribute for any marketing campaign or brand image. Embracing reality is a wise strategy–even if it means being candid with details that the public may find ugly, undesirable or disturbing.

A lack of transparency breeds doubt, suspicion and distrust. The public won’t remain loyal to any brand that greets challenges with obfuscation or employs evasive tactics when dealing with customers. Venerable soda brands Coke and Pepsi seem to understand these points, and they are now taking a big public relations step by offering calorie counts on vending machines that stock their beverages.

In the midst of a much-publicized obesity epidemic, Americans are prone to place blame–and hopefully reverse the circumstances that got us into this peculiar situation. This means the public is taking a closer look at what they put into their bodies and taking more responsibility for their dietary habits. In order to do this the public needs information to make educated decisions, and calories counts are a sensible place to start. Read more