- - Kendall Jenner’s First Super Bowl Ad Arrives Years After Pepsi Backlash

Maggie EkbergJanuary 28, 2026 at 3:02 AM

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Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

It’s been nearly a decade since Kendall Jenner’s name became shorthand for that commercial — the 2017 Pepsi ad that sparked backlash, think-pieces, and a very public brand apology. Since then, Jenner has mostly kept her advertising work rooted in fashion and luxury, steering clear of mass-market TV moments that invite the entire internet into the group chat.

Until now.

On Tuesday, January 27, the 30-year-old supermodel officially returned to the biggest advertising stage in America, starring in her first-ever Super Bowl commercial as the face of Fanatics Sportsbook. Titled "Bet on Kendall," the campaign plays directly on one of the internet’s most persistent memes about her famous family: "the so-called Kardashian Kurse.”

According to the press release, the reality TV star "leans into the long-running internet joke that any basketball player who gets close to her is subject to ...consequences.” Built on viral moments, internet lore, and years of fan theories, the curse theory suggests that athletes who date Kardashian-Jenner women mysteriously suffer career declines.

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"Any basketball player who dates me kind of hits a rough patch," Jenner says in the commercial. "While the world's been talking about it, I've been betting on it. How else do you think I can afford all this... modeling!?"

From there, the commercial turns into a tongue-in-cheek victory lap. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum points out a backyard pool she claims came courtesy of a boyfriend who missed the playoffs. A vintage sports car? That one, she says, belongs to a boyfriend who flopped out of the league.

The final flex comes aboard a private jet. “Thanks, boyfriend number three,” Jenner says as she prepares to head to San Francisco for the Super Bowl. Then comes the pivot: after years of allegedly “cursing” basketball players, she’s ready to bet on something new. Football players.

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While the fashion icon never calls out any of her former partners by name, the references aren’t random. Over the years, she has publicly dated several NBA players, including Jordan Clarkson, Blake Griffin, Ben Simmons, and Devin Booker. Each relationship unfolded under intense scrutiny, often accompanied by online commentary linking on-court struggles to off-court romance.

Shortly after Jenner shared the ad on Instagram, the comments flooded in with laughs and praise from her inner circle and fans — a noticeably different reaction than the backlash that followed her Pepsi commercial.

Back in April 2017, Pepsi released a glossy protest-themed commercial starring Jenner that showed her stepping away from a photo shoot, joining a feel-good street march, and seemingly easing tension with police by handing an officer a can of Pepsi, a moment the ad framed as instantly unifying.

People are outraged by this @pepsi ad starring @KendallJenner — here's how the company responded pic.twitter.com/0eMxKljS0V

— Business Insider (@BusinessInsider) April 5, 2017

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Critics quickly slammed the spot as tone-deaf and exploitative, arguing it flattened real-world protest movements and police violence into a soda-commercial vibe. The backlash was swift, with widespread commentary pointing out how closely the imagery resembled real protest photos, and public figures like Bernice King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, openly mocking the concept online.

If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi. pic.twitter.com/FA6JPrY72V

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) April 5, 2017

Pepsi moved fast. Within about a day, the company pulled the ad and issued an apology saying it had “missed the mark,” adding that it never intended to make light of serious issues and was halting any further rollout. The brand also apologized for “putting Kendall Jenner in this position,” an unusually direct acknowledgment of how central she had become to the controversy.

This story was originally published by Parade on Jan 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”