“Pump it up, Pump it up”…and right of our community
For the past couple of days I have been thinking about my recent post on the claims from members of the Black press that they are being “fenced out of economic justice”. Unable to put this issue to the side, I decided to do some online research on advertising in the Black community. My first stop was to look at advertising in the world of Hip Hop. Here is a question I asked myself the other day:
“What other race do you know of that regularly advertises products (via music) that are not produced within its own race?”
With this in mind, I asked myself the next question:
If I was an advertiser whose product was already held in high regard (cultural icon status) by my target audience, why would I continue to pay top dollar to advertise within that group? Couldn’t I just get away with giving incentives to a few within that demographic who have heavy influence on the whole?
What started as a voice of the oppressed in the inner-cities of America has rapidly turned into a superhighway for Madison Ave. The following is part of a study by San Francisco-based pop-culture strategy firm Agenda Inc:
Hip-hop is rapidly becoming synonymous with youth culture – in a rapidly growing number of global markets. And hip-hop is now influencing the whole of luxury culture in ways that was unimaginable only a few years ago.
It was a lively year for the American Brandstand chart… Mercedes emerged as the top brand of the year, and 50 Cent outbranded the rest to become the top brand-dropping artist… Meanwhile, weapon brands surged…
• With 100 mentions, Mercedes takes back the top position that it enjoyed in 2003 before being eclipsed by Cadillac in 2004. It wins by a huge margin - 37% more mentions, than runner-up Nike at #2.
• 50 Cent dropped 19 brands this year, a big jump from the 5 he mentioned last year, and far ahead of runner-up artists Ludacris and The Game at #2 who both mentioned 13. Last year’s winner Kanye West drops to 5th place.
• In the post-bling environment of hip-hop 2005, the total brand count falls from 1215 to 1129, a drop of 6%. 35% of the 106 songs in the Billboard chart in 2005 contained brand references, compared to 40% in 2004.
• Runner up brands … 2nd Nike (63 mentions), 3rd Cadillac (62 mentions), 4th Bentley (51 mentions), and 5th Rolls Royce (46 mentions)
• Runner up artists… 2nd= Ludacris and The Game (13 brands)
• Fashion brands fell 9% from 230 to 211, automotive brands also dropped 5% from 448 to 425, while the fastest drop is in beverage brands sliding 36% from 227 to 145. The fastest growing category in 2005 was weaponry… The weapon count jumped 19% from 57 mentions in 2004 to 70 in 2005.
• The hottest new entry brand this year is pistol-brand Beretta mentioned by Dem Franchise Boys and The Game, which jumped into the Brandstand chart in 13th place. Surprisingly, some heavy-hitters from previous years dropped out of the Brandstand this year, including Gucci (5th in 2004), and Lexus (11th in 2004) neither of which were mentioned at all.
• Until this year, branded lyrics have been almost exclusively the domain of hip-hop lyrics. But in 2004, they spread over into R&B tracks, and this year moved into more pop-oriented tracks, such as Gwen Stefani’s Rich Girl and the various fashion brands in hip-hop-lite My Humps by The Black Eyed Peas.
• Overall the brands associated with lyrics this year have moved away from the ostentatious bling of 2004 towards brands with a more understated appeal.
• This year, rappers have been less guilty of plugging their own products; only Pharrell Williams in Drop It Like It’s Hot mentioned his own brand – Ice Cream Sneakers. (source) [emphasis added]
This link also has a complete list of products that were mentioned in hip hop music during 2005. Out of the over 60 products listed, I only recognize one of the products as being “Black produced”.
This problem goes far beyond Hip Hop artists that lack business savvy–so they are not to blame. I believe this points to deeper issues including how we value ourselves.
Something worth thinking about…
Related links and excerpts
“African-American/Black Teens spend 6 percent more per month than the average U.S. Teen â€â€about $428 monthly.
Yearly, they spend more on items such as clothing, jewelry, computer software, and athletic footwear in comparison with all U.S. Teens.” (Source–pdf)
