Pepsi: the cola brand behind the Jackson era

Overview

Pepsi is the flagship cola of PepsiCo — first sold as “Brad’s Drink” from a New Bern, North Carolina drugstore soda fountain in 1893, renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1898 (NC DNCR). It is the challenger half of the century-long “cola wars” with Coca-Cola, and the brand behind the most famous celebrity endorsement in history: Michael Jackson’s record-breaking 1983 partnership — during which a January 1984 commercial shoot left the singer with severe scalp burns (Adweek; Entertainment Weekly).

The incident has returned to the screen: the burns and the painkiller use that followed are part of Antoine Fuqua’s 2026 biopic Michael, and the 2026 TMZ documentary Michael Jackson: 30 Fatal Seconds — linking a 40-year-old advertising accident to the most scrutinized chapter of Jackson’s later life (Entertainment Weekly; PEOPLE).

Brad’s Drink becomes Pepsi-Cola

In 1893, New Bern pharmacist Caleb Bradham began serving a carbonated drink he called “Brad’s Drink” from the soda fountain of his pharmacy at Pollock and Middle Streets; on August 28, 1898, he renamed it Pepsi-Cola, and in 1902 he incorporated the Pepsi-Cola Company under North Carolina law (NC DNCR). Bradham, who had some medical training, believed the brew — originally made with the enzyme pepsin and the kola nut — aided digestion and energy; the name is thought to derive from those ingredients, though pepsin was later removed (NC DNCR). By 1910 more than 300 companies in 24 states bottled the drink, before post–World War I sugar-price swings and weak marketing forced Bradham to sell (NC DNCR). Per the company’s own history, Pepsi introduced its red, white and blue bottle cap in 1951 — the ancestor of the globe logo — and the 1965 merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company with Frito-Lay created PepsiCo (PepsiCo).

The cola wars: the Pepsi Challenge and New Coke

Pepsi’s century-long rivalry with Coca-Cola turned confrontational in the 1970s with the Pepsi Challenge, a blind taste test in which shoppers repeatedly preferred Pepsi’s flavor; the aggressive campaign gained market share through the 1970s and early 1980s while Coca-Cola’s slipped (HISTORY). Alarmed, Coca-Cola ran 190,000 of its own blind taste tests, concluded taste was the problem, and on April 23, 1985 launched New Coke — a sweeter formula that, the press noted, tasted “more like Pepsi” (HISTORY). The backlash was instant: 5,000 to 8,000 angry calls a day, protesters pouring New Coke into sewers; Pepsi gave its employees the day off and declared victory in ads boasting “the other guy just blinked” (HISTORY). Seventy-nine days later, Coca-Cola restored the original formula as Coca-Cola Classic, which quickly outsold New Coke (HISTORY) — a lesson, the company’s own executives conceded, in the emotional attachment that consumer research could not measure (HISTORY).

The Jackson partnership — and the 1984 fire

In November 1983, a year after Thriller, Michael Jackson and his brothers signed a $5 million partnership with PepsiCo — a celebrity-endorsement record brokered by Jay Coleman, who had first offered the deal to Coca-Cola (whose $1 million counteroffer was rejected) before PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico seized it to launch the youth-targeted “New Generation” campaign (Adweek). Jackson suggested using “Billie Jean” as the jingle, rewriting its chorus around the Pepsi generation (Adweek). On January 27, 1984, filming a commercial at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium before 3,000 fans, a pyrotechnics malfunction set Jackson’s heavily gelled hair ablaze; he kept dancing before crew members rushed in and tackled him to smother the flames (Entertainment Weekly; PEOPLE). He suffered severe second- and third-degree scalp burns, was treated at Cedars-Sinai and then Brotman Medical Center, and declined to sue, settling for $1.5 million, which he donated to establish the Michael Jackson Burn Center at Brotman (Entertainment Weekly; PEOPLE).

The Jackson–Pepsi deals at a glance

Deal / event	Year	Terms	Scope
First “New Generation” partnership	1983	$5 million — a record celebrity endorsement at the time	US-only campaign, tour sponsorship, in-store displays
Commercial fire at the Shrine Auditorium	1984-01-27	$1.5 million out-of-court settlement, donated to Brotman Medical Center	Second- and third-degree scalp burns; Jackson declined to sue
Second partnership for the Bad era	1987–88	$10 million	Global — 20+ countries, backing the Bad album and world tour
Sixth logo redesign	2023	First change in 15 years; wordmark restored inside the globe	North America fall 2023 (125th anniversary), global 2024

Pepsi posted $7.7 billion in sales in 1984, gaining market share while Coca-Cola’s dropped, according to the financial reports Adweek cites (Adweek) — which implies the $5 million Jackson partnership coincided with the brand’s strongest single-year commercial performance of the cola-wars era.

Frequently asked questions

What happened to Michael Jackson during the 1984 Pepsi commercial? On January 27, 1984, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Jackson was filming a Pepsi commercial before 3,000 fans when a pyrotechnics malfunction set his heavily gelled hair on fire during a “Billie Jean” take. He kept dancing briefly before crew members tackled him to smother the flames. He suffered severe scalp burns, was treated at Cedars-Sinai and Brotman Medical Center, and the accident is recreated in the 2026 biopic Michael.

How much was Michael Jackson’s Pepsi deal worth? The November 1983 partnership paid Jackson and his brothers $5 million — a record for a celebrity endorsement at the time. A second deal in 1987–88 was worth $10 million and was global, covering 20-plus countries in support of the Bad album and world tour. Both figures come from Adweek’s marketing-history account of the partnership.

When and where was Pepsi invented? Pharmacist Caleb Bradham created “Brad’s Drink” in 1893 at his drugstore soda fountain in New Bern, North Carolina. He renamed it Pepsi-Cola on August 28, 1898, and incorporated the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1902. By 1910 it was bottled by more than 300 companies across 24 states, per the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Why did Pepsi change its logo in 2023? The March 2023 redesign was the brand’s sixth since 1898 and its first change in 15 years (the previous logo dated to 2008). It restored the Pepsi wordmark inside the globe — evoking the 1990s look — and added black to the palette, tying the master brand to Pepsi Zero Sugar, which the company treats as its future growth focus.

Did the 2026 film Michael show the Pepsi accident? Yes. Entertainment Weekly’s fact-check of the film confirms the January 1984 commercial fire is recreated on screen, with Jaafar Jackson as Michael. The biopic’s production history — including material on the burns and the painkiller use that followed — is documented in this site’s profile of the film.

What this profile does not claim

• It does not resolve which take the 1984 fire occurred on — sources disagree between the third and sixth take of “Billie Jean” (see openItems).
• It does not assert the Guinness World Records recognition of the $5 million deal; that claim appeared only in material not read in full.
• It does not assert the 1951 bottle-cap date or the 1965 PepsiCo merger from independent sources — both rest on PepsiCo’s own history page and are attributed as such.
• It takes no position on the contested claim that the Pepsi burns caused Jackson’s later painkiller dependency; it reports only that contemporary and later sources (including ABC News, via PEOPLE) describe the injury and its treatment as the starting point of his prescription-painkiller use.
• It does not cover PepsiCo’s wider brand portfolio (Lay’s, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, Quaker); this profile is the Pepsi cola brand, not the parent company.

Timeline

• 1893 — Caleb Bradham begins serving “Brad’s Drink” in New Bern, North Carolina (NC DNCR).
• 1898-08-28 — renamed “Pepsi-Cola” (NC DNCR).
• 1902 — the Pepsi-Cola Company is incorporated (NC DNCR).
• 1910 — bottled by 300+ companies in 24 states (NC DNCR).
• 1951 — red, white and blue bottle cap introduced (per the company’s own history).
• 1965 — Pepsi-Cola merges with Frito-Lay to form PepsiCo (per the company’s own history).
• 1975 — the Pepsi Challenge launches the “cola wars” era (HISTORY; PepsiCo).
• 1983-11 — the record $5 million Michael Jackson partnership (Adweek).
• 1984-01-27 — the commercial fire at the Shrine Auditorium (Entertainment Weekly; PEOPLE).
• 1984 — $1.5 million settlement donated to Brotman Medical Center (Entertainment Weekly; PEOPLE).
• 1985-04-23 — New Coke launches; 1985-07-11 — Coca-Cola Classic returns (HISTORY).
• 1987–88 — the $10 million Bad-era Jackson deal (Adweek).
• 2023-03 — sixth logo redesign unveiled (The Economic Times).
• 2026 — the 1984 fire recreated in the biopic Michael (Entertainment Weekly).

What we could not verify

• The exact take during which Jackson’s hair caught fire: PEOPLE (citing the LA Times) says the third take of “Billie Jean”; other accounts say the sixth. The discrepancy was not resolved.
• The precise clinical severity of the burns: full-read sources agree on severe scalp burns requiring hospitalization and burn-center treatment, but phrase the degree classification differently.
• Whether Guinness World Records formally recognized the 1983 deal; whether Pepsi’s stated 2025 Pepsi Zero Sugar Challenge sweep (“won in 100% of national tour markets”) was independently measured — both are company or third-party claims not verified from a full-read independent source.
• PepsiCo-wide figures (total company revenue, country count for the parent) were not asserted; only brand-level facts verified here are claimed.

Sources

• North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources — “Brad’s Drink” Becomes Pepsi-Cola, 1898 (tier1; brand origins)
• Adweek — Michael Jackson, Pepsi Made Marketing History (tier2; Jackson deal history)
• Entertainment Weekly — “Michael” fact vs. fiction: Peter Pan, the Pepsi incident, and Michael Jackson’s relationship with his dad (tier2; the 1984 incident and its depiction in the 2026 film)
• PEOPLE — 3,000 Fans Witnessed Michael Jackson’s Hair Catch on Fire While Filming a Pepsi Commercial (tier2; the 1984 incident and aftermath)
• HISTORY — Why Coca-Cola’s ‘New Coke’ Flopped (tier1; the Pepsi Challenge and New Coke)
• The Economic Times — Pepsi debuts new logo after 15 years; Twitter reacts (tier1; the 2023 logo redesign)
• PepsiCo — Pepsi: From back-counter soda fountain to one of America’s most iconic brands (first-party; supporting corroboration only)