Lebanese singer Alissa is preparing to shoot television commercials for Pepsi Cola, owned by PepsiCo Inc., the world's No. 2 soft drink company, behind Coca-Cola Co. Earlier, Alissa had denied the news of signing an agreement with Pepsi wanting to keep it a secret until all the arrangement are complete, reported the London based Elaph.
Pepsi's previous Lebanese singer was Nawal Al Zughbi, who shot her last Pepsi commercial late last year in Australia, and from Egypt, Pepsi's main singer for its commercials is Amr Diab. The company has made it a point to carefully select singers for its commercials that enjoy huge popularity in the Arab world and abroad.
Last month, Alissa was personally invited by the Jordanian Royal Court to have the honor of singing at His Majesty King Abdullah II and Queen Rania’s wedding anniversary. The event was noted to have been an extraordinary one with the singer holding a very mesmerizing performance for their majesties. Alissa had expressed her joy at having such an opportunity and honor of singing for Royals.
Alissa has been officially banned from all Egyptian local and satellite TV stations after the release of her last hit single "Agmal Ihsas" (The Best Feeling). The Egyptian Censors have reached their decision after they felt that Alissa's latest video clip is unfit for Arab viewers due to the intimate scenes it contains.
Most Lebanese TV stations have also banned Alissa's clip from being aired saying that the singer has gone too far, and has requested that any station that does air her song should specify that the song is only to be viewed by adults.
A number of Lebanese newspapers have described Alissa, Nancy Ajram, and Haifa Wahbi as being overly undignified, in addition to giving the Lebanese song a bad image. It was added that these singers have drifted too far from the traditional Middle Eastern way, and blame was placed on the director Salim Turk who is the one behind producing such music videos. –Albawaba.com
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
