Pepsi Commercial Comes to Life (Sort of) at Portland City Council Meeting

PORTLAND, OR – As it turns out, Pepsi is not a great unifier after all.

A man at Wednesday’s Portland City Council meeting learned quickly that unless you’re Kendall Jenner and the world is fake, giving a Pepsi to a government official isn’t going to suddenly make you friends.

Following testimony on the condition of some Willamette River docks and the Multnomah County River Patrol’s handling of interactions with supposed “homeless boaters,” a man who identified himself as Carlos Enrique –– claiming to be a former Boston Herald reporter –– spoke to the mayor and council about the regularity of public protests at city council meetings.

“I recently moved here and I have to say I’m very surprised at, like, how there are so many people that show up to city council and just kind of, like, get angry at you and yell at you and stuff like that,” Enrique said. “It made me kind of wonder, like, how could someone just endure people coming and berating you every week and everyone gets mad and you say, ‘I’m signing the ordinance anyway.’

“What I realized is that the language of resistance has not been properly translated to you. So this is for you.”

Enrique then stood and approached the council dais, reaching into his jacket pocket.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa … not a good move,” Wheeler said as the council and audience tensed.

As Enrique pulled out a Pepsi and handed it to the mayor, the room cautiously relaxed.

“Thank you. Don’t do that again, OK?” Wheeler said. “Not a smart move. I do appreciate it, but don’t do that again. If this were the Boston City Council that would have ended differently.”

The move came on the same day Pepsi pulled its Kendall Jenner ad, which depicts Jenner inexplicably making light of a staged protest by handing a police officer a Pepsi.

In the commercial, which critics said trivialized the Black Lives Matter movement and the real dangers and consequences of public protests, Jenner’s act is rewarded with cheers and celebration from protesters and officers alike.

At the Portland council meeting, however, Enrique was rewarded with a security escort out of the room.

Patch has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment and is awaiting a reply.

Video and Video Still Courtesy: City of Portland