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Dig A Hole: Philip B. Dusenberry, Michael Jackson’s Flaming-Pepsi Connection

January 3rd, 2008 by Scott Marks



Remember that 1984 Billie Jean commercial that Michael Jackson did for Pepsi where sparks from some on-stage pyrotechnics set the King of Pop’s Jheri Curl ablaze? Philip B. Dusenberry, the advertising executive who oversaw the commercial died of lung cancer last Saturday in his Manhattan home. He was 71.Mr. Dusenberry oversaw the creative teams at BBDO, an advertising firm in the Omnicon Group. The agency was responsible for coining numerous famous taglines. In addition to dubbing Pepsi “The Choice of a New Generation,” BBDO informed America that Visa was “Everywhere You Want To Be” and that the nice folks at General Electric “Bring Good Things to Life.”

Mr. Dusenberry spent his career emphasizing entertainment in TV ad spots,. He championed attention-grabbing human stories over hammering product details. “I’m always going to be searching for emotion,” he said in an interview with the New York Times in 1986. “In an age when most products aren’t very different, the difference is often in the way people feel about the product.”

He was an early proponent of incorporating cinematic techniques and special effects in TV spots, and often cast celebrities in ads. PepsiCo was one of his longtime clients, and the ads starred celebrities, including Lionel Richie, Don Johnson, Madonna, Michael J. Fox and a side order of flaming Jacko Jubilee.

With cameras rolling, Jackson was sent to the hospital after the taping of the Pepsi commercial went drastically wrong, Special effects pots meant to produce smoke accidentally exploded. Three thousand fans saw a firework display erupt behind the superstar, showering him in sparks and setting light to his hair. Some studio audience members said he was so calm, they thought the incident was part of the act.

During the contract negotiation with Jackson, Mr. Dusenberry demanded that the singer not wear sunglasses in the spot, according to Mr. Dusenberry’s memoir, “One Great Insight Is Worth a Thousand Good Ideas,” which was originally called “Then We Set His Hair on Fire.”

Dusenberry had a brief encounter with cinema. He wrote screenplays for the unheard of 1973 political satire Hail to the Chief and Robert Redford’s instantly recognizable The Natural.

Mr. Dusenberry remained the chairman of BBDO North America until his retirement in 2002. Later that year he was inducted into Washington’s Advertising Hall of Fame.In October of 2007, he was inducted into the Creative Hall of Fame at the One Club, an organization in New York that promotes excellence in advertising.

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