Popnography
Madonna Flawlessly Shades Pepsi's Controversial Ad
Kevork Djansezian/AP
Revisiting when Pepsi pulled the Queen of Pop's "Like a Prayer" commercial.
April 06 2017 6:24 AM EST
November 04 2024 10:41 AM EST
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Revisiting when Pepsi pulled the Queen of Pop's "Like a Prayer" commercial.
DGAF Queen Madonna has thrown some not so subtle shade at Pepsi's wildly controversial commercial, starring Kendall Jenner. The pop star posted to Instagram yesterday a photo of herself from the 1999 Grammy Awards holding a Coca-Cola can, with the gold medal emoji caption--flawless execution on her part.
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The ad being smoothly roasted by Madge sees Jenner dramatically abandoning her glitzy photoshoot to join a passing protest, before handing a police officer a Pepsi can and immediately achieving world peace. Pepsi's virally loathed commercial has since been pulled and the soda company released a public apology directed mostly at Jenner.
Madonna herself has experienced some Pepsi-related drama in the past, having worked with the soda company in 1989 on a $5 million deal that led to releasing a two-minute ad for her gospel-tinged track, "Like a Prayer." Their commercial, called "Make a Wish," was shown in 40 countries and received an estimated viewership of 250 million people.
All was a success until Madonna released her own "Like a Prayer" video, where the singer kisses a statue of a saint, has sex on a church pew and dances before burning crosses. With an immediate uproar from Christian groups around the world, including the Pope's decision to ban Madonna from appearing in Italy, Pepsi decided to discontinue broadcasting Madonna's ad, drop their sponsorship of her next tour and disallow the singer from retaining her entire $5 million advance.
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"When I think of controversy, I never really think people are going to be half as shocked as they are at what I do," Madonna told Interview Magazine in 1990, speaking to the Pepsi drama. "I really couldn't believe how out of control the whole Pepsi thing got."
Revisit Madonna's pulled Pepsi commercial, below.