Pepsi's mentions on social media were up more than 7,000% the day the ad debuted, according to Brandwatch, a social media analytics company. First, it defended the ad; a few hours later, the brand had issued a statement apologizing and retracting the ad. "I think [Pepsi] played it the way they intended to," said Eric Schiffer, the chairman of Reputation Management Consultants, an online firm that does brand management. He estimated that Pepsi has gotten somewhere between $300 million and $400 million in free media coverage out of the controversy. "I don't think Pepsi is so naive to think that people wouldn't talk about this ad," Bragman said.

Source: Los Angeles Times April 06, 2017 18:45 UTC