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Friday, April 14, 2017
Volume 57 Edition 24
from Pepsi commercial
Negative reactions began almost immediately after model Kendall Jenner handed off a can of Pepsi to a police officer in a Pepsi commercial.
Pepsi ad misses mark with student audience Pepsi’s recent advertising failure has been the hot popular culture topic for the past week. The ad proved to be completely tone deaf. The 2-minute 40-second advertisement, titled “Live For Now,” portrays a street protest, hinting at the Black Lives Matter movement. The protesters seem to be only young, attractive people, and their styles and ethnicities check all of the boxes of multiculturalism. As they march down the street, a woman photographer in a hijab and an Asian man playing a cello all hear the commotion and run to the street from their apartments. Then, Kendall Jenner, who happens to be standing in a doorway for a fashion photo shoot, also joins. Now the center of attention, Jenner grabs a Pepsi can and walks up to the line of stern cops. Jenner hands the Pepsi to one of the cops. The officer opens it, takes a sip and the crowd goes wild. Everything is solved by Jenner and a single can of Pepsi. The ad seems like a good idea if you skim over all of the stereotypes, but Pepsi failed to realize how offensive the stereotypes were. PepsiCo received an immense amount of backlash from the public and media only hours after it launched, including Martin Luther King’s daughter, Bernice King, who tweeted her response to the world: “Only if Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi.” The Late Show host Stephen Colbert called the whole premise of the ad an “Attractive People Matter” protest. On Saturday Night Live, Beck Bennett portrayed the writer-director of the ad who was completely clueless about the ad’s premise, and finds out only at the last minute when he explains the commercial to his sister on the phone. The viewer sees
Bennett’s excitement drain away from his face as he hears his sister’s response, and then replies “Kinda tone deaf?” On Late Night with Seth Meyers, the host reimagined the ad’s ending with an African American woman giving the white cop a Pepsi. It seems to go well until the cop drops his smile and then says, “We’re gonna need some backup.” The tag line was “Live … For Now.” Students at Cedar Fall High School also felt the ad hit the wrong notes. “I think Pepsi had good intentions, but it just didn’t work out, ” ninth grade student Sofia Munoz said. “It was not a good representation of historical events, but people just seemed very sensitive on the whole topic.” “I don’t think Kendall Jenner was the right fit for the actress they chose. A celebrity who hasn’t done much for the world was not a good idea,” ninth grade student Maitri Christensen said. PepsiCo has no one to blame but itself. The ad was created by Pepsi’s inhouse advertising group, called “Creators League Studio.” On last Wednesday, PepsiCo released a brief statement of apology that said in its entirety, “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are removing the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.” They pulled the advertisement. According to trade journal Advertising Age, last Wednesday, the day PepsiCo withdrew the ad. It drew “1.25 million mentions on on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, with 58.6 percent of them negative.” By Staff Writer Sabine
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Students take top spot in state physics contest CFHS physics students earned top spots in the state physics competition at the McLeod Center on Tuesday, April 11. Four teams competed in state physics after they advanced from regional competition on March 28, and senior Josh Timm and junior Jace Rea earned a scholarship for physics majors attending UNI with their entry in the toothpick bridge building competition at the state level. “The goal of the challenge was to build a bridge that was both sturdy and lightweight because we are judged on the ratio of weight held to weight of the bridge. We spent a lot of time designing our bridge for Regionals, but we changed it a bit before State; we changed it so that it weighed less.” Timm plans on majoring in engineering and attending Iowa State in the fall. Timm and Rae weren’t the only two bringing home medals on Tuesday. Seniors Sam Schillinger and Connor Shultz
won third place in the challenge problem. Every year UNI has teams compete in a challenge the judges create. This year the challenge was simple: time an event without using electronics, and apply a physics concept. Shultz said the atmosphere was competitive and fun. “Me and Sam built a pendulum to use as a timer for the challenge. We used the number of oscillations to calculate the total time. We placed third overall. Me and Sam wish we did better, but it was still fun to see people competing in something so different like this. I didn’t think I could get so competitive when it came to physics, but it was definitely a fun time.” Cedar Falls always does well at the state physics competition. Last year a team for Cedar Falls took home first for the same challenge problem.
The high school will be gaining a newly developed work and leisure area for students and teachers within the upcoming months. Engineering teacher Zeb Nicholson and his senior class have been constructing a plan for an outdoor patio and picnic area to provide teachers and students with work, study and leisure space. Nicholson said, “My students envision the area to be a large 24 foot by 36 foot patio made of either cement or a small red gravel material made from crushed granite. On this patio will be six large round tables made of rubber-coated metal. Each table should comfortably seat eight students for a total seating capacity of 48 people on the patio.” This installation will primarily be used by students for work and leisure purposes during power hour and release periods. Nicholson said, “The hope is that students use it to eat lunch every day when the weather permits. It will relieve some of the congestion within the school walls during power hour by allowing and encouraging students to eat outside without leaving the school campus. Students will also be able to use this area when they have a release period. Rather than leaving campus for one class period, they can hang out outside at the patio.” The outdoor area will provide students with an additional workspace as well as giving them a chance to revive with fresh air during school hours. Junior Alexandra Gudgeon said, “We definitely need more outdoor space for stu-
dents. I have seen that some students use the football area for picnicking during power hour while others use the sidewalk area for skateboarding. If we had more seating on the outsides of the school, a larger portion of the student body would be able to enjoy the weather and fresh air.” Sophomore Tyler Westerman said, “I usually sit in the hallway during lunch periods to avoid the chaos of the actual lunchroom. If we had an outdoor seating area, my friends and I would take advantage of it.” In addition to student benefits, teachers will be encouraged to use this area for teaching purposes and outdoor lessons. Nicholson said, “Another big hope for this project is for teachers to take their classes outside and do more lessons outdoors. Surveys given by our class this past fall showed overwhelming support that students and teachers both would use an outdoor classroom space such as the one my students have made.” Gudgeon said, “Having classes outdoor makes getting through some periods a lot easier than if they were in the same classroom as usual. It gives students a chance to breathe and enjoy the weather. However, it’s a rare occasion that this happens usually because there is no area for the class to go. With a new outdoor area designated for classroom purposes, I think teachers and students will be greatly benefited.” By Staff Writer Maddie
By Staff Writer Sam
PROPHET
Engineering students release details on upcoming patio project
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