Not to make everything about Madonna (it simply is) in terms of her controversy parallels with Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video, but the latest in the saga of scandal for the latter also very much applies to what happened between Madonna and Pepsi in 1989, when the “Like A Prayer” video was released after a deal had been struck between the purveyor of pop and the purveyor of soda pop. Although, in contrast to Lil Nas X, Madonna never incurred any legal action from Pepsi, the sense of corporate outrage has nonetheless been made quite apparent. And both corporations were sure to distance themselves as much as possible from the musician in question.
Nike’s beef with Lil Nas X comes less from the video depicting him giving Satan a lap dance and more from the unsanctioned collaboration X entered into with streetwear collective MSCHF (such an unholy union indeed to a corp just trying to hold on to every last dime it can make from its products and their prototypes). Nike’s lack of “authorization” for that collective to use its signature design and logo has prompted outrage from the company (though they didn’t mind when MSCHF made a “Jesus Shoe” back in 2019) reacting to, well, outrage from others toward Nike (particularly easily rattled sports types who live for God and country). Believing that, in a bid to seem “on-trend” with these “godless” times (news flash: Nietzsche already gave us the memo that “God is dead” a while ago), Nike sold its own soul (sole?) to collaborate with Lil Nas X, the company has arguably lost some clout with Bible Belt buyers. At least, that’s what it seems to think with a comment like how this affront has already caused “significant harm to [Nike’s] goodwill, including among consumers who believe that Nike is endorsing satanism.” Oh but darling, as soon as you promote America’s version of capitalism, that is precisely what you’re endorsing.
To make matters more provocative, “The design… features an Air Max 97 silhouette with a bronze pentagram, an inverted cross and a drop of real human blood.” Presumably one of the employees at MSCHF who entered into their own contract with the devil in order to secure a partnership with Lil Nas X for their David (in the David and Goliath scenario) of an enterprise. One that likely doesn’t stand a very favorable chance against the Goliath that is Nike. And while the Bible might have championed the underdog, this is the “real” world and it seems unlikely that even Lil Nas X swooping in to advocate for MSCHF would be helpful. Plus, why would he want to insert himself where his name isn’t on the docket for being sued? Regardless, as is every celebrity’s wont so as to seem “of the common people,” X was sure to post a meme of Squigward begging for money in a box with the caption, “Me after the Nike lawsuit.” Ah, but it will only aid Lil Nas’ cause–not hurt it. The more notoriety, the better.
After releasing the “wholesome” “Old Town Road” with Miley’s daddy (and Miley, by the way, was sure to plug the fact that she got her own pair of Satan shoes), many parents have acted as though they have witnessed an “angel’s” fall. Thus, it’s only right that Luke 10:18 is the verse name checked on the offending “kicks” (which apparently seemed a perfectly good reason to charge $1,018 for the shoes–how Christlike). Going by the King James edition of the Bible (always a good version to reference for its sheer fire and brimstone poetry), that verse reads, “And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” For just as Lil Nas X fell from heaven via stripper pole (much to “Cellophane” music video director Andrew Thomas Huang’s chagrin), so, too, did our Lucifer. Well, minus the pole part. But the point is, Lil Nas X wants to make that correlation clear. To ensure that the link between him and “Satan” (or what the moral majority views as Satan) is nice and solidified. Just as it was for Madonna back in the days of her Pepsi “faux pas.” Except she didn’t seem to need to work even half as hard to offend or brand herself as “the antichrist,” for Republicans and other assorted far-right religious zealots were even more easily scandalized back then. Though surely, the corporate-loving hogs (elephants?) that are the Repubs could secretly appreciate her gift for causing an economic boon for herself.
Just as Lil Nas X seems to, Madonna explained in an interview with Rolling Stone shortly before the video was released, “I like the challenge of merging art and commerce. As far as I’m concerned, making a video is also a commercial.” The pop singer is the product. “My face is the real shop front.” And as Madonna would go on to ominously forewarn, “But the treatment for the video is a lot more controversial. It’s probably going to touch a lot of nerves in a lot of people. And the treatment for the commercial is…I mean, it’s a commercial. It’s very, very sweet. It’s very sentimental. The Pepsi spot is a great and different way to expose the record. Record companies just don’t have the money to finance that kind of publicity.” Maybe with that in mind, this is also part of the reason Lil Nas X wanted to make his very own version of “Nike” Satan Shoes. The scandal is always the publicity. The bigger the outrage, the bigger the success.
Madonna knew (and knows) that more than anyone. As evidenced by still causing a commotion as recently as last year with her Madame X Tour (in addition to the video for “God Control” in 2019), which continued to touch on the theme that has defined her career, “Artists are here to disturb the peace.” But in the late twentieth century and beyond, they are also apparently here to merge art with the mass appeal of something like a Big Mac (Madonna, after all, has been goadingly called McDonna in the past). Or a pair of knockoff Nikes.
At the end of Madonna’s two-minute Pepsi commercial (marking the first time a musician had premiered a song on anything other than the radio or MTV), the Pepsi logo appears with the tagline, “A Taste of America.” And oh, how the real “Like A Prayer” video gave viewers a (true) taste of America the following day, when Sire Records decided it would be the perfect time to cash in on the “goodwill” of the commercial that was shown all of one time during, funnily enough, an episode of The Cosby Show. Millions of dollars down the drain, it would turn out–including the five paid to Madonna for her “trouble.”
In that sense, she got a fairer deal than Lil Nas X, who, if one multiplies 1,018 by 666 (the number of limited edition shoes made), probably only got back a small percentage of the $677,988 in “profits.” Any remaining of which will, of course, go to MSCHF’s legal fees. And therein lies the most key difference between product sponsorship (apart from Pepsi’s with Madonna being consensual) in these two instances: Madonna knew that, to court this kind of controversy, you already had to be as big of a product as Nike yourself. Lil Nas X, alas, isn’t quite there yet. Though, if he weathers this latest storm, he just might be afterward. Proving SOPHIE’s (God rest their soul) belief that beyond just plastic surgery, for celebrities, “My face is the real shop front.” It’s not about what’s being sold, but the celebrity-product backing it. Madonna, once again, being the progenitor of such a modern concept in pop culture.
