GM and Mountain Dew Pull Ads After Criticism for Racial Insensitivity

Both General Motors and Mountain Dew pulled advertisements on Wednesday after receiving criticism that the ads were racially insensitive.

The General Motors ad was a promotion for the Chevrolet Trax, a small sports utility vehicle that is sold in countries including Canada, where the ad made its debut on television on March 4. The ad takes place in the 1930s and featured a modern remix of a song from that era that included references to Chinese people using of phrases like “ching, ching chop-suey”

Advertising Standards Canada questioned General Motors about the ad, prompting the company to change the ad by removing the lyrics from the song while keeping the melody. Even so, as word of the offensive lyrics spread within the company, General Motors decided to pull the ad altogether from Canadian television and on Web sites in Europe, where the vehicle is also sold. The vehicle is not sold or advertised in the United States.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, General Motors apologized for the ad and said, “We are conducting a full review of our advertising approval process to ensure this does not happen again in the future.”

The ad was created by Commonwealth, Chevrolet’s global advertising agency since 2012, and a part of the McCann Worldgroup of the Interpublic Group of Companies.

The second ad that was pulled on Wednesday promoted Mountain Dew, part of the PepsiCo Americas Beverages division of PepsiCo, which featured a battered woman, bandaged and on crutches trying to identify the person who hurt her; the lineup includes African-American men with names like LBoy, Tiny and Beyonte â€" and a goat.

The woman, who is white, is stricken with fear as she looks at the men and the goat. A voiceover for the animal says in a menacing tone: “It’s me. You should’ve gave me some more.”

“I don’t think I can do this,” the woman says, visibly frightened. Toward the end, the goat threatens the woman to “Keep your mouth shut.” The woman begins to yell repeatedly, “I can’t do this,” followed by a sequence of shrill “Nos” as she hops out of the room. The officer then takes a sip of the beverage.

The ad was created by Tyler Okonma, known as “Tyler, the Creator,” a hip-hop producer and rapper. In a statement released Wednesday morning, Mountain Dew apologized for the ad and said that it had been removed “from all Mountain Dew channels and Tyler is removing it from his channels as well.” News of the company’s decision was first reported by Adweek.

Mountain Dew has also come under pressure because of its relationship with another rapper, Lil’ Wayne. The company has an endorsement deal with Wayne, who has been criticized over obscene lyrics that refer to Emmett Till, the African-American teenager whose 1955 murder helped foment the civil rights movement. On Wednesday, the rapper issued an apology to Mr. Till’s family for his lyrics, adding, “I will not use or reference Emmett Till or the Till family in my music, especially in an inappropriate manner.”

Mountain Dew is the latest brand to deal with controversial hip-hop lyrics. In April, Reebok dropped the rapper Rick Ross after he performed lyrics on the Rocko song “U.O.E.N.O” that referred to drugging a woman and having sex with her.

Chevrolet is not alone in its ad woes, either. In March, the Ford Motor Company apologized for an online advertisement that it ran in India that featured three bound and gagged women in the rear of a vehicle driven by Silvio Berlusconi.