Hip-hop and Branding / Brand Marketing Stats 2005:American Brandstand publishes a detailed list about brands mentioned in rap songs. Quote: "Hip-hop is extremely good at using brands as metaphors in the same way that contemporary society does. Hip-hop has always been about defining your status. Aligning yourself with brands in lyrics are the best short-cuts to do that - especially if you want to be understood by a global audience; Gucci is the same whether you're in the USA, or anywhere else. And that works the same for anti-bling brands like K-Mart and Payless Shoes too. Similarly when 50 Cent talks about taking a woman he has just met back to the Ramada Inn, it's fairly clear that the focus of their evening is going to be different from the evening he would have evoked if he'd taken her to, say, the Four Seasons. Consumers are very sophisticated about the brands that feel appropriate for different artists. 50 Cent should be rapping about Mercedes and Gucci, however, if Missy Elliott starts rapping about Swiffers and AT&T, consumers are going to be suspicious..." (via FM4) Link (PDF)
monochrom is an art-technology-philosophy group having its seat in Vienna and Zeta Draconis. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science, context hacking and political activism. Our mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom has existed in this (and almost every other) form since 1993. [more]
