Promoting your brand through a music star can be a risky business. As reported in a recent Daily, Pepsi had to end its association with hip hop star Ludacris after Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly started a campaign against the drink claiming it was associated with a “thug rapper” who "espouses violence, intoxication, and degrading conduct toward women." But now the rapper is hitting back against his former backers.
He told reporters: "My message represents an ideology and a way of life that is true to me and the new generation to an extent that corporate and political forces can't touch ... At one time, I helped Pepsi to navigate their product through the inner-city communities that are vital to their sales. Over the past few days I have rethought my approach as to how I do business and retained a team to ... take the power back for the good of the hip-hop community. Oh, and one more thing: Players govern players. Spectators form opinions."
Some have said Pepsi’s knee jerk response to O’Reilly’s campaign was unwise. Research shows Ludacris was as, or more, popular as any other stars the brand have worked with amongst its target youth audience. Others have pointed out that the brand continue to sponsor Papa Roach even though they appeared in the 2000 film ‘Backstage Sluts 3’ and despite rumours that frontman Jacoby Shaddix urinated into a Gatorade bottle (a drink made by Pepsi-Cola) during a concert in Boston.