Music

Beyoncé tricks Pepsi into 50 million dollar deal

by Tyler Munro

Pepsi’s sales aren’t doing so hot, and somehow they landed on paying Beyoncé a truckload of money to fix things. It’s the second time Bey’s signed with PepsiCo, with this latest deal earning her a reported $50 million. The catch? Only some of that’s an endorsement fee.

According to the New York Times, Pepsi has also agreed to partially fund an unspecified amount of Beyoncé’s future creative endeavours, which they say could include tours, videos or, according to Beyonce’s management company, “a cool photo shoot.”

Pepsi describes the deal as an attempt to legitimize its relationship with artists; to do more than pay to use their face on a pop can (which they’re also doing). But realistically, the deal seems more like Beyoncé tricked them into paying to hang out with her. She’ll do a commercial or two, certainly, but those will only help as she works towards a new album. She’s performing at Pepsi’s Super Bowl halftime show on February 3rd and new music is expected by then, so she’s essentially being paid to promote her own brand at one of the world’s most watched events with a few logos on the side of the stage.

Ask yourself this: do you remember who sponsored last year’s Super Bowl halftime show?, or do you just remember Nicki Minaj flipping off the cameras? What about when Janet Jackson’s nipple slipped in 2004? That show was sponsored by AOL TopSpeed, which we had to Google because what the hell is AOL TopSpeed? The sponsors don’t matter: the commercials do. And while hers will likely air during the game, its the halftime show people will focus in on.

In its interpretation of the deal, Forbes calls the contract archaic, pointing out that Beyoncé isn’t so much working for the brand as she’s managed to make them work for her. And with Pepsi now in third place behind Diet Coke, that hardly seems like a smart move. Fittingly, it reminds us of Jay-Z’s work with the Brooklyn Nets. It’s been widely publicized that he barely owns the team, with only about 1/50th of a one percent stake in the franchise. But in their move to Brooklyn he’s become a secondary mascot to the laughable Brooklyn Knight; he and his wife sit courtside at every game. When NBA 2K was working on its latest iteration, they hired HOVA to “produce it”. The result was abrasive: his songs are everywhere, he’s in the game and his name is on nearly every title card. His connection to the league is tangential at best, but he’s turned his hometown link into a way to over-saturate himself to the market. And now it looks like Beyoncé’s about to do the same right as she preps a new album fresh out of maternity leave.

Of course it if doesn’t work they can always light her hair on fire.