Madonna Reacts After Pepsi Airs Her Long-Banned Commercial After 34 Years
Madonna's banned Pepsi commercial from the 1980s resurfaced at the 2023 VMAs.
Madonna is celebrating the re-release of her previously-banned Pepsi commercial during the 2023 MTV VMAs. The 65-year-old musical icon took to social media 34 years after the 1989 ad was pulled from the airwaves due to the controversy surrounding her "Like a Prayer" music video, thanking the soda brand for "finally realizing the genius of our collaboration."
Madonna and Pepsi's $5 million collaboration was short-lived, as the day after her commercial for the beverage company made its debut at the 31st Grammy Awards in February 1989, the full-length music video for the song dropped on MTV. Images of burning crosses and other religious iconography sparked backlash at the time, even earning the music video the condemnation of the Vatican, resulting in Pepsi pulling the commercial and canceling its contract with Madonna in April.
The commercial made a grand return Tuesday at the 2023 MTV VMAs in commemoration of Pepsi's 125th anniversary. In the re-released commercial, Madonna can be seen sitting in a chair, where she tells the camera to "go ahead, make a wish." Then, the commercial switches to her dancing and singing in the street to "Like a Prayer" before the scene pans back to Madonna in the chair watching herself perform on a screen, all while holding a can of Pepsi. In the new version of the ad, Pepsi celebrates Madonna's impact over four decades in the musical world, adding a graphic to the end of the commercial reading, "Celebrating 40 years of disrupting the status quo."
Madonna took to social media soon after the commercial aired to explain the impact of the ad's return and celebrate artists' ability to "disturb the peace." She began, "34 years ago I made a commercial with Pepsi to celebrate the release of my song Like a Prayer," adding a clip of the ad to her message. "The commercial was immediately canceled when I refused to change any scenes in the video where I was kissing a black saint or burning crosses." Madonna continued, "So began my illustrious career as an artist refusing to compromise my artistic integrity. Thank you @pepsi for finally realizing the genius of our collaboration. Artists are here to disturb the peace."
Madonna's message was met with praise by celebrities like Diplo, Andy Cohen, Michelle Visage and Donatella Versace. "This song changed my life," Diplo commented, as the Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen star called it "AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!" Visage praised Madonna as a "TRAIL. BLAZER. PERIODT," as Versace wrote simply, "The one and only, M."