The year was 1986, and with a new album,
new videos, a worldwide tour, a Disney George Lucas movie and endless
merchandising deals, all in the works, the Michael Jackson publicity machine was
heating up for pop music's most anticipated return to the spotlight ever,
a thrilling prospect for Pepsi-Cola, whose 1984 Jackson's endorsement deal was
so successful for the brand, it became the stuff of marketing legends
and took the soda company to a whole new commercial heights,
with around 19 percent of the 25 billion dollar U.S. soda market they were gaining
on Coca-Cola, which had a 22 percent annual share.
And Pepsi's marketing wizards were sure Michael Jackson had a lot to do with that.
Not wanting to miss out on what would
undoubtedly be an extraordinary commercial opportunity.
And with Jackson's team threatening
to switch their alliances to their biggest competitor, Pepsi agreed to quote,
the biggest personality product endorsement deal in advertising history.
As duly noted by the Guinness Book of World Records at this time,
on May 6th, 1986, it was announced that the 27 year old
moonwalker signed a 15 million dollar deal to make just three commercials for Pepsi,
three times more of the five million dollar him and his brother secured three
years earlier with a personal fortune already in excess of 200 million dollars.
His fee for 90 seconds of TV time was five times that commanded by such stars as
Marlon Brando or Elizabeth Taylor for a full length feature.
In addition to Michael Jackson's fee,
Pepsi agreed to spend another 15 million dollars making the commercials,
plus around 20 million dollars was allocated for airtime,
making Pepsi's full investment totaling an unprecedented 50 million dollars.
Much like Pepsi's previous endorsement with the Jacksons.
The first commercial was due to debut during 1987 Grammy Awards.
But unlike before this time, the commercials are planned
for the United States as well as abroad, including one made in Spanish emphasizing
Pepsi Cola interests to take advantage of Michael Jackson's unique global appeal
and leverage it for their own commercial gains.
Quote, This new relationship will be
the most comprehensive, the most significant,
the most far reaching ever between a corporation and a performing artist,
said Pepsi President Roger Enrico at the dazzling show biz press announcement.
But Jackson's recognition factor had dropped since the victory tour with his
brothers wound up in Los Angeles two years previously.
In 1986, Jackson rated below rival idols such as Bruce Springsteen and Prince.
But Pepsi were still prepared to bank on a major comeback with his first musical
follow up to Thriller scheduled to be released late summer 1986.
Under the terms of the Pepsi contract, Jackson's first endorsement duty was
to have taken place in July, when he was scheduled to serve as a Pepsi
emissary to the Moscow Goodwill Games, in which Pepsi was one of the sponsors.
However, the Jackson team advised against the planned appearance after they became
aware of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster untrusting of the Soviet
government, who downplayed the extent of its environmental impact and went ahead
with the games despite risks to public health.
Jackson decided to opt out of the high
profile appearance and fear his voice would be affected by the potential
exposure to radiation when it came to the commercials.
It was decided that famed director
Joe Pytka would direct the commercial trilogy.
Bob Giraldi, who previously directed
the last Pepsi commercials as well as Jackson's music video for a beat.
It was not bought in as Michael largely
held him responsible for the injuries he suffered as a result of his hair catching
fire during the filming of one of the commercials he directed in 1984.
Shot like music videos.
Filming took place in Hollywood's layered
studios in Culver City during the second half of 1986.
Although completed and in the can
by the start of 1987, Pepsi decided to postpone the blockbuster
commercials so that Jackson's upcoming album, rather than the commercials,
would reintroduce him to the public after his self-imposed isolation.
Also, the ads were based on the song Bad,
which Pepsi expected to be the biggest hit of Jackson's new record.
So they decided to air the commercials in the spring in hopes
that Michael Jackson would be releasing his new album by this time.
However, the spring came and then summer,
with no sign of Michael Jackson or any new music,
Pepsi executives were then becoming increasingly concerned as they had already
missed their key marketing periods and they were at high risk of losing
the audience interest in this very expensive and much hyped campaign in order
to build excitement and keep the campaign's momentum going.
In June, Pepsi Cola decided to screen
a preview of the commercials at a Pepsi bottlers event.
However, according to Adweek, the reactions were decidedly downbeat.
Some observers were even more critical,
noting that there was a lack of polite applause.
And at one point the commercials were actually greeted with boos.
The Pepsi people were reportedly most disturbed by Jackson's new chin,
nose and image, quote, He's so totally effeminate they couldn't
handle it, said one Coke agency executive troubled by delays and nervous about
a possible negative public reaction to a new era of Michael Jackson.
Pepsi informed the Jackson team
that irrespective of any more delays to the album release,
their commercials will start airing in the U.S. from August 1987.
Luckily, with a solid deadline
on the commercials, as well as a world tour scheduled to start
in Asia that September, Jackson was pushed to release the records
for singles as well as the album Bad on August 31st, 1987.
The following Friday,
MTV was given permission to air the new 90 second Pepsi commercial titled Concert,
which captured the hysteria of a Jackson show.
The camera moves fast and spotlights
whipped through the audience, which is on its feet and roaring the entire time.
Jackson sings and slides to a version of that with, of course,
lyrics rewritten to incorporate Pepsi's theme The Choice of a New Generation.
On the Saturday night MTV then aired
backstage, a boy sneaks into Jackson's dressing room during a concert.
The ad cuts back and forth from Jackson, singing to the boy,
trying on the performers black sequined jacket and fedora.
It closes when the singer catches the boy and says with a smile, Looking for me.
By Monday, the two commercials are being
shown around the world in Japan, Britain, Canada and Australia in September 1987,
as Michael Jackson began his slick, much heralded tour of Japan.
He also gave Pepsi Cola a badly needed
boost in Japanese sales, who are also sponsoring Jackson's worldwide tour.
Pepsi sales jumped 100 percent with an ad
campaign offering free tickets to Jackson's concerts and 35000
Michael Jackson souvenirs, quote, It's done more than just boring us here.
It has helped put Pepsi well on the map,
said Erin Walton, associate marketing director for PepsiCo.
Quote, Michael Jackson is drawing people's attention to Pepsi.
Pepsi has been included in Japan as a minor brand,
but now people are recognizing it as a major international brand,
said Yasuo Sakamoto, marketing manager for PepsiCo, Japan.
However, the Jackson Pepsi Alliance wouldn't end here, as in March 1988,
Michael Jackson appeared as part of another high profile press conference
to introduce his new four part serialized Pepsi commercials.
Art imitates life, as Jackson is shown, being hounded by reporters.
The series depicts him leaping from a roof to a helicopter,
jumping from a Pepsi truck, sawing off a ski jump and taking other
dramatic actions to get away from the hordes of people chasing him.
The commercials hit terrestrial airwaves
during 1988 Grammy Awards, an event in which Jackson also performed
at Just in time for when Michael Jackson's Bad World tour reached
the United States, quote, This is a much more adult and masculine Michael Jackson.
Rebecca Madeira, a Pepsi spokeswoman, said upon their release.
These new commercials were said to portray Jackson as a macho action hero who fights
his way out of a number of harrowing situations.
Expanding into opening global markets, Pepsi also made a deal that bought
the singer to 150 million Soviet television viewers as Jackson's Pepsi
commercials became the first paid American commercials on Soviet television.
Pepsi had been selling soft drinks in Russia since 1974.
But Barry Holt, a spokesman for PepsiCo International,
said, quote, For the first time, Western companies will be able to reach
the 287 million people in the Soviet Union to promote their products,
demonstrating that Michael Jackson wasn't only able to break commercial convention.
But through doing so, he was able to cross borders and political
lines to promote capitalist interests through his global star power.
Jesse Myers, publisher of Beverage Digest
and the country's leading authority on the Cola Wars, said, quote,
Whatever added costs were incurred were worth their weight in market share points.
Michael is beyond being just an entertainer.
He is a global personality and his impact has been spectacular.