B&L is a brand of bitter lemon, produced by Calpis in Japan. Kim Wilde recorded a commercial for this soft drink in early 1982. The commercial was filmed by a camera crew from Japan at the RAK studios in London. In the commercial, Kim lipsynchs to the song Bitter Is Better (the song was released exclusively in Japan on a 7″ single unavailable elsewhere) and cools down with a bottle of B&L. The commercial first aired in Japan on 21 March 1982, which was also the release date of the single ‘Bitter Is Better’.
Besides a TV commercial there were also magazine adverts (shown here) in Japanese magazines.
Kim about B&L
“The good thing was that I didn’t have to do anything strange. I didn’t have to rise out of the water with a bottle of Bitter Lemon in my mouth or whatever. I just had to drink and record a few songs in the studio.” (1)
Interview source
(1) Paul Evers, Kim Wilde: Paul Evers’ bubblegum picture. Muziekkrant Oor (Netherlands), 7 April 1982.