'Phone or Die' in Bed Stuy
If the Bed Stuy edition of the new locally-targeted ad campaign from Virgin Mobile is any indication, Branson et al should probably get back to the drawing board before the national roll-out. Here’s the text: When people close their eyes and think of Brooklyn, your legendary brownstones come to mind. That’s because everyone from rappers…
If the Bed Stuy edition of the new locally-targeted ad campaign from Virgin Mobile is any indication, Branson et al should probably get back to the drawing board before the national roll-out. Here’s the text:
When people close their eyes and think of Brooklyn, your legendary brownstones come to mind. That’s because everyone from rappers to directors have used you as the backdrop for stories about life in the neighborhood that has everything. Do or Die is more than a moniker. It speaks to the fact that you don’t take crap from anyone. Especially newcomers who want to change Bed-Stuy into some sort of yuppie strip mall. With us you only make changes if you want. That’s the beauty of our cell phone plans without annual contracts. Because Bed-Stuy, we know you call your own shots.
It’s a good thing Virgin Mobile has been so entrenched in the community for so long and isn’t trying to exploit it for commercial purposes! Check out another of the ads that up along the BQE on the jump.
Many of you said what I was thinking or about to say… The matter is not taking offense, yet questioning the brand’s motives and “what are they thinking”? It lacks authencity plain and simple. If you walk down certain streets in Bed Stuy that are burned out and lack resources, stores ARE needed and welcomed are you kidding? All I was doing was questioning the tonality as not being celebratory and pandering (ANYONE from Bed Stuy knows you cannot feasibly put a strip mall anywhere… the language is off kilter).
Incidentaly – I have written MANY brands demanding offensive ads get removed in my community… I also work in effecting the way people of color are portrayed in advertising. It’s my life. So I walk the walk – believe that.
Space Pirate said:
” think the ad is great. it stirs something up. it actually confronts a person moving to brookly from out of state with a pathetic sense of entitlment.”
Actually as Americans we ARE entitled to move anywhere we want in America. We don’t need permission from others. Strange you don’t think people can do this. It’s very sad your mind is trapped in the prison of believing nobody can change their lives or environment. That you believe where you come from is where you are stuck forever. Physically and mentally both. Please don’t spread that silly belief among young people. They really don’t need it.
sylvia – right on. you covered it right there. everyone else just keeps missing the point. the ad sucks. it celebrates tension, not difference. and it makes the assumption that if you’re from bed stuy, you believe in the violence inherent in the “do or die” phrase.
Disagree completely, Cochran Name. It’s just not true. Please name one specific ad that’s like this one.
I’ve never seen an ad that so directly insults an entire segment of the population, and at the same time panders so irresponsibly, encouraging the blame-whites-for-everything attitude. An attitude that is incredibly destructive and unhelpful for black youths.
jesus h. christ. were you people born yesterday? like this kind of shit has never happened before? it happens every single minute of every single day, everywhere.
this is laughable. practically all the products you buy are marketed with the same kind of “buying this product props up my belief that i am some kind of independent person and therefore – a rebel” minded marketing bullshit, from urban outfitters and american apparel to puma and adidas to the rapture and the yeah yeah yeahs to ford and chevrolet.
open your eyes and look around you, for once.
/\ since you obviously hate white people, space pirate, why not put up the Bensonhurst ad?
sylvia, you’re pretty much proving my point. just to because virgin might be the ruling class doesn’t mean it cannot offend the ruling class.
i think the ad is great. it stirs something up. it actually confronts a person moving to brookly from out of state with a pathetic sense of entitlment. but i think much of the reaction on this forum is an example of how the US poplution, despite meaningless catagories of class and race, would rather exist in a box than actually for once think critically about the world.
amen to that, Sylvia.
does njo one remember the very foul Joe Cool ads to sell Camel cigarettes in Black neighborhoods? The community protested so strongly that the ads came down and “Joe Cool” has been extremely uncool ever since. How about the community protests against the beer and liquor ads that made women of color all look like hookers and men of color like their pimps? Not sure if any of you recall the not too long ago ads for Captain Morgan rum on the subways- I’m white and I thought they were some of the most offensive, racist ads I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t buy that crap if you paid me. Eventually they did put in 1 or 2 white people but it doesn’t matter. What matters is whether or not the community is willing to let corporate greed use them to fill their own coffers. If Virgin really cared about Bed-Stuy they’d be doing things in the community, like reading programs for kids, or funding commmunity services. Instead they foster anger and reverse racism. Gee- yeah- I want to buy their phone cards.
common sense: jinx.