No excuse for Pepsi's Ludacris PR blunder

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September 3, 2002

BY RICHARD ROEPER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST "There's a new Pepsi Generation. Our youth are colorblind and very diverse."-- Pepsi's director of multicultural marketing, quoted in an Aug. 27 New York Times article about an ad campaign featuring pop star Shakira and rapper Ludacris, in separate spots

"We've heard from a number of people that were uncomfortable with our association with this artist."--Pepsi statement, quoted in the Aug. 29 New York Times, as the company announced it was pulling the Ludacris ads because of the rapper's explicit lyrics

PARENTAL ADVISORY: THE FOLLOWING COLUMN CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT. Note to Pepsi: The next time you're thinking of hiring someone to be one of the primary faces of a whole new Pepsi Generation, you might want to do a little research.

And I do mean little. When I typed in the words "Ludacris lyrics" on Google, it took precisely 0.08 seconds for the search engine to uncover some 15,700 matches on the Web. Within another few seconds, I was knee-deep in the lyrical stylings of Ludacris.

Let's see, there's "Game Got Switched," which starts off like this:

I hate it when it's too many niggas, too many niggas

Not enough hoes, too many rookies, not enough pros

The game got switched on some Ludacris s---

So all y'all can suck my ---- bitch!

And there's "1st & 10," which celebrates pimping, crack dealing and the always entertaining gang-banging lifestyle:

I got six hoes distributing on six blocks

It's blistering from cops tryna stop these rocks from distributing

Six gunshots left

One pint of vodka before this pimp will hit

It's street justice, now it's six holes in your casket . . .

And then there's "Go 2 Sleep," a love story:

Bitch it's me again, kickin' in your f------ doors

I look for dividends, I ain't lookin' for you ho's!

So lay down bitch, gimme all that you dreamed for

Gimme fancy cars, gimme bling-bling-bling boy!

That director of multicultural marketing was right. This IS a new Pepsi Generation!

Street rap has been around for so long that I can't say I'm shocked by Ludacris, but I am shocked that a huge company such as Pepsi wouldn't do a rudimentary check on the guy's work before hiring him to star in a national ad campaign. I mean, it's hard to find a Ludacris song that ISN'T an obscenity-riddled glorification of the thug life. (Won't it be hilarious 30 years from now, when guys like Ludacris are paunchy and middle-aged, working the oldies circuit and shouting to the audience of fiftysomethings: "Here's a little something I did back in the day. It's called 'Ho,' and they just don't make 'em like this anymore!") Until Bill O'Reilly urged his viewers to boycott Pepsi, nobody at the company seemed to be aware that Ludacris might not be a good spokesguy.

Pepsi, please. What next, a "Football Heroes of the Past" spot featuring O.J. Simpson?

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2002

Answers

Isn't pepsi one of Michael jackson's holdings?

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2002

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