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RE: ADVERTISING
> The reason I didn't ask about anything but exploiting African-Americans
> > is that those are the good quotes I've got... (There's even a term
> > called "bro-ing" in big ad firms, referring to how to use the growing
> > trends in the African-American community to increase sales.)
>
>So is this about selling things to the black community itself? ...Or is
>this about selling things to white people and dressing
>these things up in black cool? Either way, what's the problem?
It's about dressing up products as having "black cool" in order to sell
them to whites and blacks alike.
The question for me is not whether it is wholly bad or good; nothing
is. What strikes me is that companies like BMG (a major music distributor)
and some shoe/athletic apparel advertisers actually hire young blacks to
talk up products in inner cities--in an almost eerie, spy-like way. In
addition to that, Nike sponsors basketball courts in inner cities, as well
as basketball tournaments, with swooshes everywhere. They write most of
these "charity" courts and events off on their taxes, thereby getting VERY
cheap advertising.
There is also something disturbing about product tie-ins that march all
over music. In many ways, rap has become a slave to branding. I wonder
what mainstream rap would have become, if it were not simply a cash
magnet? Many "old school" rappers and rap fans bemoan the fact that rap as
a movement used to be about identity and community, and now it's mostly
about making a buck.
That's not to mention what branding may have done both for and against the
integrity of sport. But I'm not a sports fan, so I will stop there.
Sherry
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