Brands and Celebrities Part 2
I saw this ad/video from Tobacco Free Florida and had to post it. It hits home in so many ways and came at the perfect time.
On the heels of Monday's post on celebrities whoring products, also comes the flip-side and brands whoring celebrities, offering sponsorships for tours, videos, albums, movies, etc.
One tour that I remember was the Roots Tour, sponsored by Kool Cigarettes a few years back. The hip-hop purists in the Orlando community threw a concert in protest of the show, a "Hip-Hop is Not Kool" show. The point was that no rapper, artist or celebrity needs the money so bad that they should be promoting products that are dangerous, especially to the younger audience.
There are 2 sides to blame for this blatant attempt at promotion:
1. The artists/celebrities the see dollar signs
2. The brands that are willing to give money/products to anyone with a respectable audience
Neither side is better than the other and it is hard to say if the celebrity is the in the wrong for accepting money to continue to put food on their table and provide for their families, at least in the case of the Roots, who are not mega millionaires, but well off musicians.
On the heels of Monday's post on celebrities whoring products, also comes the flip-side and brands whoring celebrities, offering sponsorships for tours, videos, albums, movies, etc.
One tour that I remember was the Roots Tour, sponsored by Kool Cigarettes a few years back. The hip-hop purists in the Orlando community threw a concert in protest of the show, a "Hip-Hop is Not Kool" show. The point was that no rapper, artist or celebrity needs the money so bad that they should be promoting products that are dangerous, especially to the younger audience.
There are 2 sides to blame for this blatant attempt at promotion:
1. The artists/celebrities the see dollar signs
2. The brands that are willing to give money/products to anyone with a respectable audience
Neither side is better than the other and it is hard to say if the celebrity is the in the wrong for accepting money to continue to put food on their table and provide for their families, at least in the case of the Roots, who are not mega millionaires, but well off musicians.
Anyway...short post as I'm on the road to the Keys...hope the weather stays nice.
-Greg Rollett
1 comments:
An issue that bothers me regarding smoking. I'll admit that I am biased, because I smoked for many years and recently started again after a few years off. But the disparity between cigarettes and alcohol in terms of marketing is huge. Both can kill you. Both have long-term health implications. Yes, smoking causes more problems due to the over-use of many people. But the almost hatred of cigarettes, while at the same time embracing alcohol, seems a little off.
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