Before Beyoncé got her Pepsi deal it was Michael Jackson who was the biggest star to be seen swigging from the red, white and blue can in their commercials. The King of Pop appeared in their TV adverts from 1984 ’til around 1993 and found himself in a variety of different scenes. The most famous (or infamous), however, was the first in 1984. During the sixth take, a pyrotechnics malfunction caused Michael’s hair to catch fire and gave him second and third-degree burns.
However, the other commercials weren’t as dangerous and the next one featured Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton Banks from The Fresh Prince) followed by a four-part series of commercials showing Mike trying to escape the press. Now that sounds familiar. The last two were more sombre affairs, with one involving a mysterious dream-like chase and a sad look at Michael Jackson’s lost youth. *sigh* We miss you, dude.