At this point everyone knows about Kendall Jenner’s catastrophic Pepsi commercial, in which the soft drink giant attempted to capitalize on the increased news coverage of various protests across the country in order to sell more soda. It didn’t exactly work out that well, and was a pretty big speed bump in Kendall’s burgeoning public profile as a model and socialite outside of her elder sisters’ shadows. While she has mostly recovered from the mistake of agreeing to participate in such a commercial without thinking about potential blowback (thanks to her attendance major events like the Met Gala and Cannes Film Festival, as well as a direct apology from Pepsi) the short-lived spot will live on as shorthand for “awful marketing decision” for a long time to come.
This weekend, for the first time since the commercial premiered and unleashed vitriol from many of the thousands who watched it, Kim Kardashian spoke about her reaction to the commercial and her thoughts on the reaction. During a conversation with Bravo’s Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live!, Kim opened up the first time she saw the commercial. She said,
“I didn’t see it until it had already gotten the attention, so you obviously have a different perspective when everyone’s just saying something. I think I was traveling and I landed and I just saw all this stuff come up.”
While that is a mostly vague answer about her first thoughts on the spot, that’s about par for the course for Kim as she tends to phrase things very diplomatically unless it is being filmed for Keeping Up With The Kardashians, so as to keep the best footage for her own show of course. However, Kim then proffered up her thoughts about what Kendall thought about the situation saying she didn’t mean anything “negative” or have “bad intentions” by participating in the campaign, and that she is “so sensitive” and “she just wants to move on from it.”
While her answer about Kendall’s motivations and reactions is also vague and overly smoothing, it’s impossible to tell whether Kim knows what was going through her sister’s mind in advance of the commercial being released or whether her answer here is simply an effort to further rehabilitate her younger sibling’s reputation on behalf of the family.
Kim also revealed whether she has spoken with Taylor Swift since the infamous “Snapchat receipts” moment, and it sure seems like a friendly relationship is mostly out of the question for Kim, her husband Kanye, and Ms. Swift.
The Kardashian family is reticent to talk about anything that won’t benefit the clan in the long run — whether via sympathy or admiration — and this is the latest example of answers that could either be completely honest, crafted for the express purpose of good PR, or somewhere in between.
