Monday
Apr142008
Proctor and Gamble Increases its Funding of the "Regime of B*tches, Bullets and Bling"
Monday, April 14, 2008 at 5:05AM The Blogmother Proctor & Gamble is starting up a new record hip hop record lable called "Pampers & Pimps". Okay that name part is not true but it might as well be.
Proctor & Gamble the largest advertiser in this country and already a major corporate enabler of the "Regime of B*tches, Bullets and Bling"TM has decided to cut away all pretense that it is funding the War on Black Women, promoting modern day minstrelsy, the stripper culture, and the devaluation of the lives of young black women and men through the glorification of domestic urban terrorism.
Not content to purchase the commercials that keep Viacom's most vile multimedia crack piping into the the living rooms of America, Proctor & Gamble has decided to start producing weapons and munitions in the War on Black Women, Men and Children directly. They are starting a record label with Island Def Jam. A "hip hop" record label named TAG records:
That means that all you people who buy Pampers, Tide and Always maxi pads are partnering with the record company who brought us "face down, @$ up, that's the way I like to cut." "Pampers & Pimps" TM what a combination!
Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble is getting into the hip-hop business by launching a record label with Island Def Jam Music Group.
The joint venture with be called Tag Records, a nod to Procter & Gamble's's Tag body sprays. It will be run by Island Urban president Jermaine Dupri, who helped produce the latest sales disappointment by his girlfriend, Janet Jackson.
Tag Records will unveil its first signing in May, and is promising a marketing budget 10 times the going rate of $1 million or so for most artists. MSNBC.-- First seen at Sandra Rose
The Misogyny Industrial Complex's oxygen is money. Of late the industry has been on life support, Proctor & Gamble just came in on a white charger to make sure that pro pimp, prop prison, pro drug, pro violence, anti education, anti woman, anti social behavior keeps getting pumped out to the exclusion of all others so that they can sell some male hygiene products.
I am going to let that marinate for a moment. Surely one person from the company that trotted out the My Black is Beautiful Campaign spoke up to say "Um this hip hop music label might be problematic from some of our customers." Or maybe not based on this analysis over at Racialicious. If this succeeds, I guarantee McDonalds and General Motors will be next.
Later in the week I will address this and a new study confirming what I already new. P&G is one of the biggest subsidizers of all those burning crosses on the lawns of Black women. Don't want for permission to be outraged.
Stop funding foolishness!
P.S. I GOT MY VOICE BACK!! After three months of a creative block I cranked out "Pampers & Pimps" and the "Regime of B*tches, Bullets & Bling" in one post. Thanks P&G!
PPS. I can't wait for the first album to see which music artist is willing to be known as P&G's corporate shill. TAG! You're it! You say what?
NOTEABLES
From Famous Beats:
"There are several reasons this partnership irritates me, but perhaps the most disturbing thing of all is that the reason this non-transparent advertising technique is being used is because basically speaking, Proctor and Gamble think that black people aren’t smart enough to realize that they’re being sold a bunch of sh*t through hip-hop, and they will associate “coolness” with deodorant. Which we all know is total racist bullsh*t."Read the rest.
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Reader Comments (20)
Uhhhhh...so this isn't a joke. Are these people perpetually high ?
Money is surely the worst evil.
I'll have to go to the P&G website to see what their products are. I don't use any named in the post, thank God, mostly because they are seriously over-priced.
I don't see the problem-yet. Yes the record company will be a hip hop label but we don't know what kind of hip hop will be put out yet. What if Jermaine Dupri actually signs some positive or at least non minstrel artists? I think it would be best to wait to see what they will put out.
And THIS is why I was distrusting of the My Black Is Beautiful campaign. It was never about love of black women or getting black women to love themselves. It's about the money, honey! P&G knows there is more money in denigrating black women than loving them.
Ahhh Gina! (sounding like Martin Laurence). I just went to P&G website and saw the list of products. I got the coffee, downy febreeze, tide, secret, dawn, Charmin,....I am ashamed that there products are pretty much in every room. Well, that's it for me. I just can't continue to overtly support a business whose objective is to get name recognition by paying a lil leprechaun money which he will just use to pimp out my community. Thanks for the heads up!
I am a P & G stockholder. After all of this I will still be a P & G stockholder. Why? You get a personal invitation to attend the annual stockholders meeting. This plan was probably developed at last year's meeting because it's not on any itinerary that I have gotten. I knew about the new hip-hop label.
I believe strong that black people should begin flexing their might as stockholders. A small percentage bottom-line consumers cannot mount an effective boycott that is nothing beyond symbolism. Case in point: Montgomery bus boycott worked because the bus company relied on the fares of black people, many who did not have cars but could afford the bus fare. Every year, board of directors get voted in by the stockholders. Just imagine them trying to advertise this with a group of black women in the crowd. Better yet, voting for the directors and attaching comments as to why you voted no for person X. The board is a very competitive position, these people claw their way into their positions and they have others waiting in the wings to tear them down (see GE shareholder meeting of 2006-opened my eyes to the evil souls of corporations). I'm saying fight the good fight smart and not hard. P&G's black is beautiful campaign is a good start for the company to put black women out there as viable consumers worthy of their brand of products designed with them in mind.
I will try my hardest to make it to the P&G stockholders meeting this year and share what I have learned about this. Also, like Naima said: do we know the content of this hip-hop? I have not heard any of the tracks that are in the works. Hip-hop has earned, rightfully so, a bad rap (no pun intended!). The bottom line for any company is the mighty dollar. Make this venture unprofitable and it too will fall by the wayside.
ITA with malacyne. I also believe that the 'Black is Beautiful' campaign was an attempt to obfuscate the fact that they have targeted black women for character assassination.
Remember the story of http://www.snopes.com/critters/malice/scorpion.asp" REL="nofollow">the scorpion and the turtle. We don't really need to wait to see what will happen, because we already know the nature of these entities.
We must become more proactive and less reactive. Thanks for the heads up, Gina.
I'm still digesting this... When I was in elementary school (private, Christian, white school), the leadership ran a "boycott" against P&G because they were non-christian, supported lgbt folks, or something, I can't remember, but it worked for awhile. Though I am not sure what I will do in response to P&G, I will definitely be evaluating the products that I use, and if I need to switch.
Hmmm...
I don't think P&G targeted black women for character assassination. I would dare say that very few large companies (and their subsidiaries) go out of their way to malign anyone. I think that would be financial suicide.
I think someone told somone in charge that lots of money could be made to target black males because as everyone knows black males love hip-hop. Enter for the board a sampling of modern hip hop and lil Jermaine. (Just in case no one catches it- the above was sarcasm).
When I think of character assassination, I think of the misogynistic (talkin' about you R. Kelly, Fiddy and Nelly) rappers and record labels that have made MILLIONS tearing down the image of black women and repackaging the that hot mess as a universal image seen 'round the world.
It still sounds like to me that anything with the label of hip-hop is instantly slammed as being misogynistic and outright vulgar. If that's the case, I will be the first to vote down the nine member board and tell folks why while at the meet and greet. I think alot of corporations get their demographic characteristics from the media at large. The media has never been kind to black folks and downright vicious to black women. It would be great if black male bloggers started a viral letter expressing their concerns of this new record label. Since vulgar hip-hop has been dying a slow death, it's a shame that P&G's name has been attached to a revival.
This feels like a disease. Everywhere I look, there's a new "bump" that needs some ointment.
Is there a cure?
It ain't instantly slammed. I mean y'all act as if we don't have a basis for being wary of the product put out by Def Jam, home of Slip and Slide records, Chingy, and Ludacris among others.
Sorry. I am not substituting your judgment for my own. No
I seriously doubt that when P&G was approached about starting up a hip hop label, they were envisioning thought provoking social commentary or a departure from the standard fare. P&G doesn't DO ground breaking.
The record buying public have spoken. They are tired of the same old crap. They have stopped buying the product and now P&G wants to ride in a prop this dying industry up. Let the business cycle work its magic and eventually something else will emerge and maybe THEN we'll get to hear something other then B*tches, Booty and Bling.
But y'all keep hope alive. Hopes a good think, but when you see a funnel cloud in the sky, you would be a dayum fool to wait until the tornado is on top of you to start to respond.
I'm not giving P&G and Def Jam the benefit of the doubt, they don't deserve it. That's not anti Hip Hop, that is a reasonable deduction from both of these companies' behavior in the past as it relates to the negative portrayal of African American Women in popular culture.
Notice I didn't call for a boycott. I am willing to allow this train wreck to unfold some more.
But wait! Why let the train wreck unfold?
Why not do another BWV number on it, like the sharpton incidence. Instead we can practice being proactive.
(1) We are aware of a monster coming out of the ground.
We can either wait from behind and hit it with a shoe once its "off the ground"
Or, perhaps we can play it into our hands??????? even as its getting off? Sufficient warnings may help, doing our own "survey" of how many BF buy P&G products just so they "know that we know" how much power we hold on them. hmmmm something.
I don't have a real strategy yet, but I'm trying to say pro-active rather than reactive. I'm running out of ointments here.
Miriam, no one needs my permission to start any campaign that they want to.
I have alerted you to the development. What folks do with that information is up to them and don't assume that because you don't see a strategy laid out that people aren't working behind the scenes.
If you are ready to start rocking and rolling on the TAG Records issue and are raring to go, then proceed without delay.
I have several strategies and yes, I'll let this percolate throughout the week.
But don't wait on me to get outraged. Take the lead! If you have an idea in mind for mobilization then get to it already and let us know.
PPS. Miriam, there are already plenty of studies about how much Black women spend. We control about half of 800 billion dollars so it is safe to say that we spend more money on P&G products than teen boys. so you already know that. Now what is your next step?
Not only that, but there are also plenty of studies that show that Black folks tend to be extremely brand loyal.
Do your research and read the Parents Television Councils latest report on P&G, they are notorious for funding the War on Black Women, Men, and Children.
And I can assure you that the first argument out of your opponent's mouth will be that you are "unfairly" targeting Hip Hop, so what is your response going to be and what steps are you going to take to make sure that you protect yourself from that charge?
Perhaps the first thing you could do is communicate to Proctor & Gamble your distress about these developments and ask them to clarify their position on the degradation of Black women and girls.
But again, if you want to move faster, get started immediately.However, the days of me laying out every thought, idea, and strategy in my blog posts and the comments section are over.
Now that I know better, I do better.
I wasn't asking you only, I was just trying to get some ideas out and hopefully ppl would pitch in.
um, Other ideas.
(1) it doesn't have to be "warning letters" but in praise form: ""I am so glad you guys are doing this, I am looking forward to positive images for my daughters to look into. I do notice your rival x's attempts at showing good points about women, but will wait with 'good faith' on this new product of yours. "" for example.
I'm not asking you to put out our exact solution and steps. just asking the gen. public.
Um thinking...
The most read bloggers according to the Villager are listed in his rank. Perhaps they can have influence?
If we are so loyal w/things. I wonder if we can manipulate that loyalty to our own good.
Just putting ideas out. For anyone. Not specifically you, Gina.
hoowee! let me get out of the kitchen!
I had heard about this and just shook my head because I figure it's going to be more crap. I didn't even think of the corporate parentage. Time to raise some hell!
Maybe I sounded harsher than I intended Miriam. You don't need to get out of the kitchen. I guess my point is more people need to get in the kitchen. It is clear from this comment thread that there are probably 10 different angles of attack or more. We all are not going to agree on strategy, timing or tactics and that is okay. My point is, if people are ready to raise hell right this minute, you need to start thinking about how you make the case.
Second, you aren't dealing with BET, AL Sharpton and the NAACP. You are dealing with the largest consumer goods company in this country, possibly the world with a 2.3 Billion dollar marketing budget.
Right now my position is to educate people about this to raise awareness. I will be speaking more this week about P&G's products and past business practices, but you can type in "Boycott P&G" into google and study the campaigns of all the folks who have run campaigns in the past.
If you want something to do initially, you can compile an alphabetical list of of all of their products so people know just how much money they are handing over each week to P&G
I agree that being pro-active is best, but I don't think Jermaine Dupri is one of those people known for the over the top sexism involved in hip hop.
I think before a boycott is started we need to point out specific songs or video's JD has done that are offensive. To a lot of people JD is just known as the man behind Bow Wow, Kris Kross Xscape and Mariah Carey-artists not known for being degrading at all.
the point for me is this 'steppin & fetchin' -- 'sharecropping' role that these rappers have taken on.
dupri and all of them are jackedup and p&g is out to stand on anybody's back to reach for and grab their holy dollar out of our pockets.
i don't care what anyone says about that noise they call music in which one is trying to find good with them.
this whole music industry (in this case rap) is full of smoke and mirrors and these rappers have been hoodwinked to do and say what makes the most dollars for the behind the scenes people.
they have been used to flush everyone else out of the brush.
it's all a game to use them so they use and demean us.
but they are not blind, deaf nor 'that stupid', they know what they are singing about and what they are living in..
money is not evil but the love of it is.
p&g knows exactly what they are doing--its greed at it highest form. these rappers are creating a new generation of women haters and killers. a new generation of women that think and believe the lies about themselves for image?!
*i read yesterday that a childs parents got to fighting (and arrested) in public over which gang the child will join??? the child i think was 2 or 3 yrs old!! ?? the mother belonged to one gang and the father another.
though these people are not rappers per se, it's all the same mind set...*
i see no good at all about p&g nor the rappers and anything that they are trying to do. it's all smoke and mirrors. i agree that this again is about how they portray us women as they go about making their money.
The company that funded 'My Black is Beautiful' only did so to make money. All advertising is manipulative and has the ultimate goal of telling people how to feel about themselves while making money for a corporation in the process.
P&G may be despicable, but what's even more despicable is that there is a market for the foul music they want to encourage. Otherwise, they wouldn't be entering that market.
Thanks for reporting on this issue.