Pepsi cans: Michael Jackson dances on

The late singer will be seen on one billion Pepsi cans as part of an ad campaign.

LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson is dancing again — on Pepsi cans. The soft drink maker and the estate for the late pop star unveiled plans to put the singer’s silhouette on one billion soft drink cans in a global pop culture ad campaign.

The late King of Pop, who pitched Pepsi in 1980s commercials as “the choice of a new generation”, will appear in some of his iconic dance poses for the promotion, which will also coincide with the 25^th anniversary of the singer’s album Bad.

The limited edition Pepsi cans will go on sale first in China and then in the US later this month. They will be rolled out in Asia, South America and Europe later in 2012. Fans of the singer, who died in June 2009, will also be able to enter contests for tickets to the show “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour”.

Pepsi, Jackson’s estate, and his Sony Music record company are also teaming up to share new mixes of music from the Bad album as part of the campaign. “We are thrilled to bring Michael and Pepsi back together, as they were in 1988, to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the Bad album and tour and to put Michael on one billion Pepsi cans,” said John Branca and John McClain, the executors of Jackson’s estate.

The Jackson cans are part of Pepsi’s new “Live for Now” campaign, which seeks to harness pop culture to boost sales. Pepsi said earlier this week that rapper Nicki Minaj would feature in a commercial as part of the campaign.

Jackson, 50, died in Los Angeles from an overdose of the anaesthetic propofol and sedatives. His personal doctor is serving a four-year jail sentence in Los Angeles for involuntary manslaughter.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2012.