Factbox: Companies face backlash over controversial products and advertisement campaigns

PepsiCo

25/08/2026 19:18

Aug 25 (Reuters) - Backlash over a Halloween costume sold by Target TGT.N spilled into the retailer's shares on Tuesday, drawing fresh attention to a string of similar controversies that have plagued global brands over cultural missteps.
     Here are some examples: 
Brand
Product or marketing campaign
Fallout
Target TGT.N 
Its "Kids' Glows Under ‌Blacklight Circus Clown Halloween Costume,"led some consumers to say it resembled a racist caricature.
Critics said it evoked Blackface and minstrel shows, prompting backlash on social media. The retailer apologized and pulled the product from stores.
Starbucks SBUX.O 
A marketing campaign in early 2026 that appeared to reference the brutal military crackdown on the student-led Gwangju Uprising of 1980.
The coffee chain's South Korean unit suffered what the company described as a "very significant" decline in sales, prompting the dismissal of the head of Starbucks Korea.
American Eagle AEO.N 
Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' ad campaign in 2025
The campaign drew backlash on social media over perceived racial undertones tied to genetic traits, though the company later called it a success, saying it had helped expand its customer base.
Target
The retailer's 2023 'Pride Collection'.
Customer backlash prompted the retailer to remove some LGBTQ-themed merchandise from stores, with the company saying the move was intended to protect employee safety.
Anheuser-Busch ABI.BR InBev's Bud Light
Social media promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in 2023.
A conservative backlash toppled Bud Light from its long-held perch as America's best-selling beer, handing the crown to Constellation Brands' Modelo Especial STZ.N.
Balenciaga
Two separate advertising campaigns in 2022:
Advertisement for a gift collection featuring a handbag in the form of a stuffed teddy bear in bondage-style straps, held by children.
A campaign for the label's spring 2023 collection, set in an office, included papers featuring text from a 2008 Supreme Court ruling relating to child pornography.
A backlash over the campaign prompted apologies from the French fashion house's creative director and chief executive officer.
Gucci
A black balaclava-style "Blackface" sweater with a mouth cut out and trimmed in red introduced in early 2019.
Critics said the design evoked blackface imagery, prompting the company to withdraw the product and apologise.
H&M
Advertisement in 2018 that featured a black child modelling a sweatshirt with the slogan "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle".
The advertisement was criticised as racist, drawing condemnation from Canadian pop star The Weeknd and basketball star LeBron James. The fashion group apologised and removed the product from all marketing materials.
Pepsi PEP.O 
A commercial from 2017 featuring model Kendall Jenner shows the celebrity in a photo shoot when she sees protesters marching. Removing her wig and makeup, Jenner joins the crowd and hands a baseball cap-wearing police officer a can of Pepsi, prompting him to smile while marchers cheer and hug.
The ad sparked outrage from critics who said it trivialised U.S. rights protests and civil unrest. The company scrapped the spot within 24 hours and issued a public apology.
Unilever's  ULVR.L Dove
A 2017 advertisement for Dove body wash showed a black woman removing her top to reveal a white woman.
The brand had previously faced uproar in 2011 over an advertisement which showed three women side by side in front of a before-and-after image of cracked and smooth skin, with the woman positioned on the "before" side being black while the "after" woman was white.
The incident quickly spiraled into a public-relations crisis. Dove pulled the ad and issued an apology, but the backlash persisted online, with many social-media users urging a boycott of the brand's products.
Zara
Striped children's top decorated with a large six-pointed star introduced in 2014.
Outrage erupted over the product's resemblance to the uniforms worn by Jewish concentration camp inmates in Nazi Germany. The company removed the item and issued an apology.
Pepsi's Mountain Dew
Online advertisement in 2013 for the beverage developed by African-American hip-hop artist Tyler the Creator featured a battered white woman on crutches trying to pick out her assailant from a police lineup featuring five African-American men and a goat.
Critics said the spot reinforced racial stereotypes and trivialized violence against women. The company later said it had removed the ad from its online channels.

 (Reporting by Arpan Daniel Varghese, Neil J Kanatt and Koyena Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
 ((Neil.JKanatt@thomsonreuters.com))