List of Pepsi spokespersons
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Pepsi, the carbonated beverage, has had many advertising spokespersons over the years. PepsiCo's other drink brands, including Mountain Dew and Gatorade, also have a variety of famous spokespersons.
[edit] History
Celebrities have been paid to advertise for Pepsi products: NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon who runs a Pepsi paint scheme at Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway.
In Europe and the UK celebrities such as footballer David Beckham and pop stars that include Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Chayanne, Janet Jackson, Shakira, The Corrs, Five, the Spice Girls, S Club 7, Gary Glitter, Beyoncé, Pink and most recently Christina Aguilera, have all been featured in campaigns for the drink.[citation needed] Other spokespersons have included Halle Berry, Jackie Chan, Diddy, Cindy Crawford, Fred Savage, Tyra Banks, a Polish footballer Euzebiusz Smolarek, and Jimmy Fallon.[citation needed] The most famous[citation needed] may be little Hallie Kate Eisenberg who started making commercials at age five.
For the 1988 and 1989 seasons, Pepsi was the title sponsor of Suzuki's effort in motorcycle road racing's premier class, Grand Prix 500cc. The Pepsi livery was a fresh addition to grand prix motorcycling, and a change from tobacco sponsors.
During 1988-9, Suzuki also produced a number of road going replicas of the GP bikes, emblazoned with the same Pepsi signage as the works bikes. Due to the livery's association with one of Suzuki's riders, the Texan, Kevin Schwantz, riders today are still producing their own replicas as tribute.
In Latin America, Colombian artists Shakira, Juanes, and Puerto Rican Daddy Yankee have promoted the soft drink. Jaci Velasquez did some commercials as well. As for Asia, celebrity and singers Leslie Cheung, Jay Chou, Aaron Kwok, Jolin Tsai, Rain, Louis Koo, Nicholas Tse, F4, Faye Wong, and Kelly Chan have appeared in several different advertisements. In India, Pepsi first used Aamir Khan, model turned actress Mahima Chaudhary and model and ex-Miss World Aishwariya Rai to promote its product.
Later it used Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Kajol,Rani Mukherjee, Saif Ali Khan, Fardeen Khan, Akshay Kumar, Shahid Kapur (before he entered the movie world), Preity Zinta,John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra, and Kareena Kapoor as well as the national cricket team. In Australia, the trend has been to use local Australian celebrities to promote Pepsi including Kylie Minogue, Jennifer Hawkins (Miss Universe 2004), Holly Valance, Harry Kewell, Sonny Bill Williams, Delta Goodrem, Mark Philippoussis and several others. In Pakistan, Pepsi sponsors the Pakistan cricket team and many Pakistani celebrities and personalities have been spokespersons for the brand includding, Junaid Jamshed, Shoaib Akhtar, Bob Woolmer, Younus Khan, Kamran Akmal, Annie, Imran Khan, Fawad Afzal Khan, Adnan Sami, Reema Khan, Call, Vital Signs, and Adeel Chaudhry.
In addition, Joan Crawford was married to PepsiCo president Alfred Steele, and was advertising executive and board of directors member for several years. Singer-songwriter Michael Jackson boosted the sales[citation needed] of Pepsi in the 1980s when he became spokesperson for the company. He was infamously burned during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in 1984.[citation needed]
During the 1960s, Joanie Sommers sang two popular commercial songs ("It's Pepsi, for those who think young" and "Now you see it, now you don't, oh, Diet Pepsi") for Pepsi-Cola that were run in commercials and for which she came to be often referred to as The Pepsi Girl.
During the 1989 Grammy Awards telecast, Pepsi and Puerto Rican singer Chayanne was featured in the first advertising spot in Spanish language to be broadcast on national television without dubbing or subtitles.
In the early 1990s, Ray Charles was the star of a Diet Pepsi campaign called "You Got the Right One, Baby," which was also known as "Uh-huh." In 1992, "Gotta Have it!" became a regular slogan for Pepsi, with celebrities such as Regis Philbin and John Tesh appearing on the same commercials simultaneously.[citation needed]
In 1997, the soft drink featured the Spice Girls' songs "Step To Me" and "Move Over" as part of their new-generation image.[citation needed]
In 1999, Britney Spears became a spokesperson for Pepsi. Spears' contract concluded with an advertisement with P!nk, Beyoncé and Enrique. Beyonce was dropped, in 2004, when Pepsi announced that they felt the people they had hired were overpowering the brand.[citation needed]
In 2005, Christina Aguilera was signed to promote the popular drink (she was previously promoting Coca-Cola in 2000). The campaign featuring Aguilera was released in 2006, but not in the United States. Some commercials featured singer Elissa, and some with Aguilera by herself. PepsiCo said in a recent interview that Christina Aguilera has that 'dare for more' approach. Aretha Franklin was also a spokesperson in 1998. And also in 1999 Janet Jackson signed on to the original "Ask For More" campaign which featured a song of the same name written and sung by Jackson. From 2005 till present Beyonce Knowles has been the spoke person for Pepsi both in the US and Japan.[citation needed]
More recently, PepsiCo has launched the "Cool Tones" campaign. It involves Mariah Carey, Mary J Blige and The All American Rejects writing and performing ringtones that can be won by purchasing a Pepsi bottle. Carey also recorded a commercial for the campaign in which she performs one of her original ringtones.
[edit] Troubled endorsers
Pepsi has had a notorious association with spokespersons, primarily popstars, over the last 25 years. The first international popstar to become a spokesperson for the drink was Michael Jackson, who along with his brothers (The Jackson 5) advertised Pepsi for "the new generation" in an advertisement featuring a reworking of his song "Billie Jean". However, when filming a second advertisement in 1984, a pyrotechnics stunt went wrong and badly burnt Jackson.
In 1987, David Bowie and Tina Turner joined forces to advertise the soft drink, in an advertisement featuring a reworking of Bowie's hit "Modern Love." The company also agreed to sponsor Bowie's 1987 Glass Spider World Tour. Bowie was accused of sexual assault shortly afterwards, and the company dropped the advertisements immediately. A year later Pepsi's attempts to make Madonna a new Pepsi spokesperson ended with the infamous "Like a Prayer" incident when Madonna's video brought charges of anti-Catholicism to the company.
According to allhiphop.com, in 2005, a rumor spread that the newest spokesperson for Pepsi, Kanye West, was dropped after a comment made against President George W. Bush. Nicole Bradley, public relations manager of Pepsi, clarified that the company's relationship with West had not changed and their marketing will continue as planned.
