Since her first Vogue spread, Kendall Jenner, as well as the rest of her “Insta-girl” peers, has been repeatedly compared to the legendary supermodels of the ‘90s, from Linda Evangelista to Naomi Campbell to Christy Turlington.
Crawford’s look — not to mention her seductive sipping — was so iconic that the commercial has been remade three times: once by Pepsi on the ad’s 10th anniversary, which sees Crawford reprising her role of sexy soda drinker; again by Pepsi in a commercial featuring an emoji-version of Crawford; and just last year in a parody for James Corden’s The Late Late Show, which sees the chubby host drinking Pepsi alongside Crawford.
The visual similarities between Jenner and Crawford’s ads are hard to miss. In the teaser for the new ad, we see the brunette Jenner wearing denim and a white tank top — the most distinctive hallmark of the 1992 look. But unlike the sexy, all-American girl-next-door vibe of the original, Jenner’s look is decidedly unsexy. She’s wearing cropped denim flares paired with a boxy denim jacket worn over a high-neck white tee. The 2017 ad, it would appear, is aiming for a message of social action more than sex appeal.
Jenner is seen marching down a street in the teaser, flanked by a group of youths who are carrying protest signs with ambiguous calls to action like “Join the Conversation” as well as other signs with Japanese characters and peace signs.
Social activism, particularly in the wake of the Women’s Marches and the immediate aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, has been a hot topic on social media as of late, and Pepsi isn’t the only company to attempt to capitalize on millennials’ propensity to protest. Fashion brands, too, have been promoting women’s rights on the runways and by selling tees and other merchandise with feminist-friendly slogans, with proceeds benefiting organizations like Planned Parenthood and the ACLU.
However, Pepsi’s ambivalent language, which takes neither side in the heated political climate, makes it more universally appealing to a broader American audience.
Jenner isn’t the only millennial to have channeled Crawford’s sun-kissed look for the sake of soda. Selena Gomez, too, posted a photo to Instagram which shows the pop star sipping a Coca-Cola. The post was the most liked Instagram of 2016. (It was surpassed by Beyonce’s pregnancy announcement posted earlier this year.)
According to Jenner’s Instagram, her Pepsi ad will be revealed in full next week.
