Soda Pop-stars
There was the time that Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire during the shooting of this commercial.
...and the fire story.
Then there was the time that Pepsi thought Madonna could sell their soda.
On March 2, as planned, Madonna's Pepsi ad ran on the Number One TV program in America, "The Cosby Show." It worked smoothly with the sitcom's wholesome family image. Elaborately produced, the ad presented Madonna in a sentimental setting that somehow successfully mixed Catholic Church imagery and Pepsi-Cola into the same two-minute clip.
On the video screen, adult Madonna is shown dancing in the streets, while eight-year-old Madonna and thirty-year-old Madonna examine each other's worlds. The little girl is shown touring the house that she will one day grow up to live in, and the adult Madonna tours her past....
While the gospel sound of the song "Like A Prayer" plays, Madonna dances up the aisle of a black church and joins the choir. Cutting back to the present, the time-traveling little girl walks into her adult bedroom only to find the same doll that she received for her eighth birthday....Suddenly the time travel is over for both of them, and the eight-year-old is back on the screen -- holding a glass spiral-twist Pepsi bottle from the sixties, and thirty-year-old Madonna looks on in approval with her eighties can of Pepsi in her hand. Both images toast each other with a Pepsi, and the adult Madonna says to her childhood image on the screen, "Make a wish." With that, the little girl blows out the candles on the birthday cake, and the Pepsi logo comes up on the screen with the words A Generation Ahead below it.
It was a clever spot. However, it was only to be broadcast once.
When the commercial ran that night in March, it was shown in forty countries around the world, giving it an estimated viewership of 250 million people. Not only was it the first time a hit record had debuted in an advertisement, but it was the first time a TV commercial had been given a special around-the-world satellite premiere.
So far, everything was going according to plan. However, the very next day, when Madonna's own version of "Like A Prayer" made its "heavy rotation" debut on MTV, all hell broke loose.
In Madonna's video she witnesses a murder, runs into a church in a brown slip, kisses a statue of a saint, makes love with a black man on a church pew, dances in front of burning crosses, sings with a church choir, and shows bleeding stigmata on both palms as though she had survived a crucifixion. Only Madonna could pull this video off -- it is stormy, mysterious, tragic, violent, dark, and exciting.
Not so wonderful for Pepsi who wanted their tooth decay in a can to appeal to everyone.
This Pepsi spot was in direct retaliation to...
Cokes decision to have GEORGE "lemme see it" MICHAEL sell their version of the same old crappy tooth-rotting swill. Oh wait George was selling the Diet version so it was the gut bloating swill.
Then... the bitch is back. Elton John was paid to sell this crap.
There was also a time that American Idol judge Paula Abdul got paid to rub her face on this can...
She has found "better" cans to rub on her face since.
What I have learned from soda is I can grow up to be a whoring self righteous, sexually ambiguous, drug addicted diva who forces kids and undercover cops to have sex! WHOO HOOO!
...and the fire story.
Then there was the time that Pepsi thought Madonna could sell their soda.
On March 2, as planned, Madonna's Pepsi ad ran on the Number One TV program in America, "The Cosby Show." It worked smoothly with the sitcom's wholesome family image. Elaborately produced, the ad presented Madonna in a sentimental setting that somehow successfully mixed Catholic Church imagery and Pepsi-Cola into the same two-minute clip.
On the video screen, adult Madonna is shown dancing in the streets, while eight-year-old Madonna and thirty-year-old Madonna examine each other's worlds. The little girl is shown touring the house that she will one day grow up to live in, and the adult Madonna tours her past....
While the gospel sound of the song "Like A Prayer" plays, Madonna dances up the aisle of a black church and joins the choir. Cutting back to the present, the time-traveling little girl walks into her adult bedroom only to find the same doll that she received for her eighth birthday....Suddenly the time travel is over for both of them, and the eight-year-old is back on the screen -- holding a glass spiral-twist Pepsi bottle from the sixties, and thirty-year-old Madonna looks on in approval with her eighties can of Pepsi in her hand. Both images toast each other with a Pepsi, and the adult Madonna says to her childhood image on the screen, "Make a wish." With that, the little girl blows out the candles on the birthday cake, and the Pepsi logo comes up on the screen with the words A Generation Ahead below it.
It was a clever spot. However, it was only to be broadcast once.
When the commercial ran that night in March, it was shown in forty countries around the world, giving it an estimated viewership of 250 million people. Not only was it the first time a hit record had debuted in an advertisement, but it was the first time a TV commercial had been given a special around-the-world satellite premiere.
So far, everything was going according to plan. However, the very next day, when Madonna's own version of "Like A Prayer" made its "heavy rotation" debut on MTV, all hell broke loose.
In Madonna's video she witnesses a murder, runs into a church in a brown slip, kisses a statue of a saint, makes love with a black man on a church pew, dances in front of burning crosses, sings with a church choir, and shows bleeding stigmata on both palms as though she had survived a crucifixion. Only Madonna could pull this video off -- it is stormy, mysterious, tragic, violent, dark, and exciting.
Not so wonderful for Pepsi who wanted their tooth decay in a can to appeal to everyone.
This Pepsi spot was in direct retaliation to...
Cokes decision to have GEORGE "lemme see it" MICHAEL sell their version of the same old crappy tooth-rotting swill. Oh wait George was selling the Diet version so it was the gut bloating swill.
Then... the bitch is back. Elton John was paid to sell this crap.
There was also a time that American Idol judge Paula Abdul got paid to rub her face on this can...
She has found "better" cans to rub on her face since.
What I have learned from soda is I can grow up to be a whoring self righteous, sexually ambiguous, drug addicted diva who forces kids and undercover cops to have sex! WHOO HOOO!
posted by Gavin Elster at 9:41 PM
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