It turns out Kendall Jenner’s recently withdrawn Pepsi ad has had an effect after all, but probably not in a good way. Carlos Enrique attended a City Council meeting in Portland, Oregon Wednesday night, wishing to protest the way the city handles protesters.
Enrique spoke up during a debate about a proposal to amend the city’s parking codes and went a little off subject. He introduced himself to Mayor Ted Wheeler, saying he is a journalist who formerly worked for the Boston Herald. He then launched into a speech about how he had attended many city council meetings where people had objected to various stances being taken by the city management.
Enrique said that he had never seen quite so many objections as he has in the Portland City Council meetings. He added that despite objections, he always saw the mayor going ahead and signing the ordinance anyway.
Protester hands a Pepsi to the mayor
As the mayor tried to interrupt Enrique and called for order in the meeting, the protester continued to speak, finally telling Mayor Wheeler that he realized the language of resistance had not been properly translated to him. He then stood and walked up to the bench were the mayor was sitting with other city officials, saying, “So this is for you.” He then reached into his jacket and pulled out a can of Pepsi, handing it to the mayor.
Wheeler immediately admonished Enrique telling him this was not a smart move, before thanking him, as the security team removed the protester from the room.
Wheeler appeared to be a little shaken as he told the audience that for their own safety, people shouldn’t do that kind of thing. He did add that if that had been the Boston City Council, maybe it would have ended a little differently.
Young journalist not employed by the Boston Herald
However, despite Enrique’s claim that he was employed by the Boston Herald and covering many city council meetings, SFGate reports that the newspaper has no record of him being employed there.
That report also mentions that city council meetings in Portland often suffer from interruptions by the public and the city has reportedly brought in new regulations in an attempt to reduce incidents of this nature.
Man hands Portland mayor a Pepsi, police take him away, mayor tells him not to do that "for your own safety": https://t.co/v1m3nMPYkp
— Geoffrey Thomas (@geofft) April 6, 2017
Pepsi withdraws its controversial ad
As reported by CNN, this incident happened on the same day that Pepsi withdrew its controversial ad in which Kendall Jenner decided to skip a photo shoot to join in a street protest and ended up giving one of the cops on duty a can of Pepsi.
The ad instantly drew outrage, with some critics saying the company was using the Black Lives Matter movement and other human rights protests to sell their soda. The objections naturally spawned many memes.
The only good thing to the kendall jenner pepsi ad are the memes. Keep em comingggg pic.twitter.com/vSEUx21k2Q
— ryan nicole (@ryannicolem) April 7, 2017
After pulling the ad, Pepsi apologized, saying they were attempting to project a global message of peace, understanding and unity, adding that they didn’t mean to make light of serious issues. They said they had clearly missed their mark. However, it turns out one young “Boston journalist” may have made his mark in the process.
Readers can watch the incident in the video included below.
