i wouldn't be surprised if pepsi started running the old MJ ads (or some version of them) now that he's dead... unless, of course, they're contractually forbidden to do so.

on the other hand, as talented as he obviously was, he's also a very controversial figure (with the drug addiction and child abuse charges).

any thoughts?

I doubt if the folks at Pepsi would be willing to take that chance.

I also doubt that Pepsi would do that.
IMO, it would be in bad taste.

what about a "commemorative" can?

but, you could be right, it might be risky and in poor taste... on so many levels.

besides, i think he might've put his "jesus juice" into diet coke cans...

Originally Posted by popologist

what about a "commemorative" can?

but, you could be right, it might be risky and in poor taste... on so many levels.

besides, i think he might've put his "jesus juice" into diet coke cans...

Yeah, I agree with you.

I don't know about how the agreements made back in the day pertain now, but I seem to remember that in Pespi president Roger Enrico's Book "The Other Guy Blinked" about the cola wars in the 80s, the MJ commercials were only to air during a certain period of time. Michael was worried about over-exposure.

what about a conmemorative can remembering when Michael Jackson's hair gets on fire during a Pepsi commercial filming? also it would look that the Pepsi globe is laughing at him... J/K ...

Now seriously, I've never been a fan of Jacko, my only favorite song is "Smooth Criminal" but performed by Alien Ant Farm, but the only collectible we had of him was a set of conmemorative Michael Jackson Dangerous Tour plastic cups that a Pepsi guy gave to my dad... those were great, but I don't know where are they now...

Originally Posted by Android

... the MJ commercials were only to air during a certain period of time.

That is generally how this type of deal works, even for far lesser stars. Companies buy very detailed rights to particular images for a particular period of time. Often also in particular contries, media types, etc.

Its pretty certain Pepsi has no remaining rights to the endorcement.

If anything, look for PepsiCo to do some full page ad in a trade mag or something, in some kind of memorial.

Pepsi Thailand website is the only Pepsi site that made a memorial site for Jacko...

http://www.pepsithai.com/

Michael Jackson turned into such a weird-o in the years since Pepsi used him to advertise that they would probably not want to do it again. I mean would you want a guy who has become associated with child molestation (wether he was or wasn't is debateable) in the advertising for your products? Theres just too much wacko in the jacko. To be honest with you, I thought him and Janet Jackson were actually the same person for a few years. At least until they were in that video together. Then I thought they were twin sisters.