Seven Times Pepsi Made You Hate Your Fave Artist

WORDS BY HAYDN HICKSON

It’s a weird tension that exists. On one hand, you can be extremely disappointed that your fave has sold out to a power-hungry, capitalist industry. But at the same time that artist probably needed that money to fund the art that made you fall in love in the first place. Regardless, let’s reflect on the most memorable times Pepsi made your favourite artist sell out.
 
1. The time Michael Jackson metamorphosed from the King of Pop to the King of Unsubtle Product-Placement with the “Pepsi Generation” version of Billie Jean. 

2. The time Beyoncé blended Hip-Hop and Opera to make every performance on the Broadway stage seem substandard somehow. Hamilton is shook!!

3. The time the Spice Girls literally turned feminism into a commodity. Red Bull may give you wings, but Pepsi gives you girl power!

4. The time Britney Spears put out a Pepsi commercial that was accidently the greatest single of 2001. The catch? you could only listen to it on your recorded VHS, fml.

5. The time One Direction ripped off Troy Bolton’s legacy by fusing football and boy-band culture together, as if it hadn’t been done 6 years before.

6. The time David Bowie and Tina Turner teased the concept of 3D printing before it was even invented.

7. The time we thought Justin Timberlake would fly to us if we had Pepsi. But he didn’t.