Holly Buchanan has a post that is a good follow up to the post that appeared here yesterday. She points us to the music business as another industry that has adopted product placement. Holly says:
“Movies and reality shows aren’t the only hotbeds for product placement – look at music. McDonalds is going for product placement in rap songs. Hmmmmm – ok – the urban youth culture is a prime target for McDonalds. Rap is what they listen to – so I guess it makes sense to try to get the Big Mac into a rap song. Are there any ethical issues? Well, hey - lots of other brands are doing it……
McDonald’s plan was to adopt the way rap artists have previously endorsed products in their songs -- from Run-DMC's "My Adidas" to Busta Rhymes's "Pass the Courvoisier." Missy Elliott and Ludacris have name-dropped Cadillac’s Escalade, while Gucci, Prada, Cartier, Bentley, Porsche, Gulfstream, Dom Perignon and Dolce & Gabbana have been heard in tracks from Nelly, Lil’ Kim, Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg, among others. Last year, Kanye West mentioned 19 brands, including Lexus, Versace, Cartier, Mercedes and Cadillac in four singles, according to American Brandstand, which tracks the number of brands music acts mention in their songs.”
Holly raises a critical point about the ethics of such an approach. She asks if it is ethical to place products / brand names in a song.
My opinion is that the brands are part of our culture. In the case of Rap, the brands symbolize a lifestyle. I would believe (maybe naively) that society has a way of weeding out information that has been thrust upon them vs. information that is describing a cultural movement.
If Tide or Pledge were placed in a Rap song it is highly unlikely that the brands would see any benefit. They do not symbolize the aspirations of today’s youth the way that the current “hot” cadre of brands featured in rap songs does.
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