‘Pepsi embraces creativity and understands that artists evolve. As a businesswoman, this allows me to work with a lifestyle brand with no compromise and without sacrificing my creativity.’
Can someone explain to me this statement by Beyonce to justify her new $50 million deal with Pepsi? How is Pepsi embracing creativity? These are commercials, ads, photo shoots, they may be tantalizing to look at but they are not about art, they are about making more money, what a joke this is!
Beyonce just signed this huge multi-year deal with the soda brand – oh sorry the ‘lifestyle brand’, because, you know, drinking Pepsi is a lifestyle, like Martha Stewart lifestyle – that will include standard commercials and ads (such as her face on soda cans, or her fifth TV ad for the company) and a ‘fund to support the singer’s chosen creative projects’. And this could be about anything, but if riding a giant Pepsi bottle – or whatever other fantasy Beyonce may have about the popular soft drink – is what she calls a creative project, I guess we have a contract!
However, the NY Times is reporting that these multi-million projects might well have no direct connection to Pepsi products, and could be live events, videos, photo shoots, … err did Pepsi become a patron for all-Beyonce-arts now?
Brad Jakeman, president of PepsiCo’s global beverage group told The NY Times, ‘Consumers are seeking a much greater authenticity in marketing from the brands they love. It’s caused a shift in the way we think about deals with artists, from a transactional deal to a mutually beneficial collaboration.’
Ha yeah! There is this BS discourse about ‘authenticity’ ‘partnership’ and ‘artistic collaboration’, but we can’t be fooled, this is the same deal than before, just repackaged with more Christmas bows, at the end it just stays a commercial campaign.
Beyonce will sure benefit from it, but why? The multi-millionaire diva is the last person on earth that requires a patron and another $50 million! She just did a massive world tour, has an upcoming album and self-directed documentary on HBO, and will sing at the Superbowl half-time show,.. and $50 million for what? Buy another Lamborghini or private island for Jay-Z while promoting diabetes among youth? She is definitively at the top of this greedy world.