13 years ago today, Pepsi’s Super Bowl commercial starring Beyoncé, BritneySpears, Pink & Enrique Iglesias was premiered. #PepsiGladiators
Damn these were simpler times
so lemme break this down
-lord caesar iglesias, who does not sing in this musical commercial, has captured britney spears, pink, and beyonce to battle it out gladiator style
-our trio decides instead of fighting, they will instead rock so hard that the audience forgets about their battle to the death
-their musical prowess is so damn powerful they rock the foundation of the earth and overthrow caesar iglesias along with his stash of ancient roman pepsi
-beyonce, britney spears, and pink drink pepsi while the audience cheers
-enrique iglesias is eaten by a lionTo really appreciate the significance of this commercial, it’s important to understand the cultural context surrounding it.
OK, so to some extent musicans have always been treated like competitors in modern culture (and perhaps to some extent they are) but this was especially pronounced in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.
It seemed like everyone had an opinion about whether Backstreet Boys or N’Sync was better, and for female pop singers, it was even more ridiculous. And it was all pushed HARD by entertainment news and media.
I first became aware of this as a young teenager when Christina Aguilera released her first hit single. You have to understand that just months before that, Brittany Spears had hit the Top 40 scene BIG. Nobody could even handle this young singer with her hypnotic voice, clean choreography, masterfully engineered and modern-sounding instrumentals, and flawless skin.
And then some OTHER singer with blonde hair has the nerve to think she can ALSO make pop music?! Obviously these two must be the bitterest of rivals!! (Ignoring the fact that it was the same people writing the music, and the two already knew each other from their days on the New Mickey Mouse Club.)
Magazines, radio shows, and television entertainment “news” all served up this narrative and ate it up like it was an all-you-can-eat-everyday buffet. And it extended beyond Brittany and Christina to practically any female pop “queen.” Because after all, there can only be ONE queen, right? RIGHT?!
OK, so now imagine this scenario where you’ve got an American audience who, for years now, has been fed the line that these singers are all bitter rivals. They just all HATE each other, y’all! In fact, if given the opportunity, they’d probably kill each other to finally get rid of the competition.
And then this commercial comes out, and we see the three most popular and polarizing female pop singers of the day, DRESSED IN
ACTUAL(totally unrealistic, impractical, and unhelpful) GLADIATOR GEAR, ARMED AND READY TO FINALLY BATTLE IT OUT ONCE AND FOR ALL!!…And of course they don’t. Because they were never each other’s enemies in the first place. It was the people pulling the strings who were driving that narrative and baying for blood. The singers just wanted to make awesome music, and most of the audience just wanted to listen to awesome music.
So Pepsi basically pays for this huge cinematic allegory music video that basically calls out the entertainment news industry for its crappy treatment of these women, and a lot of people GET IT! There’s this huge positive reaction to the video, not just because the music is great, but because it resonated with so many people who wanted to shout, “YEAH! WE’RE TIRED OF ALL THIS CRAP TOO!”
Now, did the people at Pepsi know that’s the message they were sending when they created this commercial? I honestly have no idea. But I have to believe the singers all knew exactly what they were doing, because you can see it in the smiles on their faces.
(Source: https://flavoracle.tumblr.com/)
