Will people buy Pepsi because of Michael Jackson silhouette?

04 May, 2012

To catch up with its lost market, Pepsi is cashing in on the dead Michael Jackson. In less than a month you will be able to spot a Pepsi can with a silhouette of dead King of Pop as one billion cans..

AFTER GETTING a drubbing at the hands of rival Coke last year in its global market share, a desperate Pepsi is now breathing life into deceased King of Pop, Michael Jackson’s image – and in late May, one billion Pepsi cans are due to roll with Jackson’s silhouette, plastered on them.

This marketing announcement follows a global partnership between Pepsi and the estate of Michael Jackson, USA Today reported. The move, according to the paper, has received mixed response from marketing experts with some even expressing displeasure at the ‘ghastly’ move.

Watts Wacker, a pop culture guru told the paper: “This is very macabre and seems totally over-the-top to me. This will be a very polarizing promotion. They'll get lots of buzz, but most of it will be negative."Consultant Jonathan Salem Baskin said: "It's a stroke of utter and complete stupidity. Can you imagine Whitney Houston being on a can of pop?"

Last year, pepsi lost its global market to Coke and now to get it back, the company has given a go-ahead to the move with what it claims as a 25^th anniversary celebration of Jackson’s multiplatinum Bad album and tour – the promotion, besides cans will include live events, iconic music and digital opportunities for fans to get special-edition merchandise.

Certainly a live Michael Jackson wouldn’t have been that effective but a dead King of Pop with all negative image, after his death due to drug overdose could do the trick for Pepsi. Image consultant Laura Ries said: “A dead Michael Jackson is effective, a live Michael Jackson would not have been because of all the negativity."

Jackson has starred in his Pepsi campaign in 1983 and a year later his hair even caught fire while filming a Pepsi spot and now bringing him back after his death could revive Pepsi’s future.