‘Pepsi’ still a preferred brand despite controversial ad: Survey

London [UK], Apr 16 : Looks like, the quote 'any publicity is good publicity' held true for the brand 'Pepsi,' which recently hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

According to the Independent, a survey conducted by Morning consult, a media and survey research company found that 44 percent of people actually had a more favourable view of the soda company after watching the ad.

The survey asked 2000 Americans how their perceptions have changed for Pepsi, after watching their now-infamous ad and surprisingly only a quarter had a less favourable view.

The survey found the Republicans were more likely to not be fans of the ad than Democrats. 29 percent of the Republicans said it gave them a less favourable view of Pepsi compared to 23 percent of the Democrats.

But, the poll found that the controversial ad did not make people warm to its reality star-turned-model Kendall Jenner.

Only 28 percent of the people surveyed said it made them see Jenner more favourably. For the uninitiated, the global company's advert saw 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' star ditching her modeling shoot to join a mass of young protestors.

The 21-year-old-model hands a can of Pepsi to a riot officer, getting a prompting applause from the crowd and a grin from the police officer.

After facing a lot of backlash, the global corporation removed the video from their YouTube channel. Pepsi also issued a statement regarding the video which read, "Pepsi was trying to project a global a message of unity, peace and understanding.

Clearly, we missed the mark, and we apologise. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologise for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.".

Source: ANI