Billboard Women In Music 2016

A post shared by Madonna (@madonna) on Apr 5, 2017 at 4:25pm PDT

I was just a kid when Madonna’s controversy with Pepsi happened. I thought about Madonna’s Pepsi moment while I was writing about Kendall Jenner and that terrible Pepsi ad yesterday, but I didn’t mention it. I should have. I should have looked up the controversy, because I didn’t remember all of the details. What happened was that in 1989, Madonna signed an extremely lucrative deal with Pepsi. They sponsored her Like a Prayer Tour and they would use “Like a Prayer” in their ad campaigns, starring Madonna. Madonna debuted the video for “Like a Prayer” which involved her kissing a black man – representing a Jesus-y figure or saint – on the mouth. Once the video came out, religious groups went crazy and called the whole thing blasphemous. Pepsi ended up pulling their Madonna ads and they no longer sponsored her tour. But I also think Madge got to keep the initial ad-campaign money, if I remember correctly.

Anyway, Madonna wants you to know that she’s enjoying the Kendall Jenner-Pepsi controversy. She posted the Instagram above and she also posted a clip from the Kendall commercial, writing: “When you wake up and realize that Sh-t just really doesn’t make sense! ?#chosen ?Side Note: My Pepsi commercial was pulled 30 years ago because I was kissing a black saint! ?? #ironic.”

So now you know where Madonna stands: on Team Coke. As for the dueling controversies 28 years apart… I do think it’s interesting to think about the changes in our culture and how things are perceived. A few years ago, I watched the video for “Like a Prayer” and seeing it with fresh eyes after all this time… all I could think was “this is not controversial in the least.” But I remember the freak-outs from the religious groups back then. As for Pepsi’s current controversy… this thing was not as big as the Madonna issue whatsoever.

Photos courtesy of Instagram, WENN.
Billboard Women In Music 2016