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September 8, 2006 > Arts & Entertainment > Consuming endorsements

Consuming endorsements

By Bryce Gray | Thresher Editorial Staff

I have a love-hate relationship with branding in the entertainment world. Ostensibly, I am against it. I complain incessantly about how brands are ruining today’s artistic media. I cannot watch a film without making a mental list of every product that is given screen time, and I shudder when I hear R-Kelly rhyme “party” with “Bacardi.”

However, I am a hypocrite. When a musician or movie star I respect endorses a beverage, mp3 player, athletic shoe, microwave or whatever it often influences my personal consumerism. It almost does not matter what the product is or whether or not I need it, I suddenly realize that I want it, and I know it is because a celebrity I respect believes in its value.

A young Tom Cruise in Risky Business convinced me to pay too much for a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses. John Lennon told me I wanted an Epiphone electric guitar, while Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo argued me into favoring a Fender Stratocaster.Perhaps most serious is my sneaker problem. RUN-D.M.C. goaded me into buying my first pair of Adidas Superstars, and it has been downhill ever since. I have bought four pairs of Nikes in the last month. I would appreciate an intervention.

I think pretty much every American makes choices based on similar criteria, either consciously or subconsciously. To an extent, unfortunately, people appear to be what they buy. In our world, purchase power can often be substituted for personality, and personality can also be augmented by owning the right things.

Radio rap has taken this twisted philosophy to its logical extreme. The formula for hip-hop success is simple and has barely changed in the last ten years. Most popular hip-hop lyrics resemble a slant-rhymed catalog of liquor and clothing companies. Perhaps most indicative of this trend is the hook from Yung Joc’s summer hit “It’s Goin Down.” The Georgia rapper asks that his listeners, “Meet [him] in the mall / It’s goin’ down.”

The mall, Yung Joc? For me, the mall evokes images of herds of middle school students idling outside Sbarro with greasy slices of pizza. It does not seem like a place where anything “goes down,” apart from conspicuous and copious consumption. But that is the point. For many, going to the mall or car dealership stands as a substitute for self esteem. Buying something can make you feel big and powerful, if only for a little while.

And whether or not we should care, we do notice the way in which our friends dress and the kind of cars that they drive. The most popular kids in my high school were not always the most engaging people or the most talented — they were often simply the most visibly wealthy.

In addition to the influence that entertainment has on our spending habits, music obsessed with products is also by nature disposable and shallow. Would Stevie Wonder be remembered if he would have sung about, “My cherie amour, lovely as a Heineken,” or if the Rolling Stones had included a shout out to Gucci in “Street Fighting Man?”

I want to be clear that I am not blaming contemporary music or movies for fueling irresponsible spending habits or making our culture more greedy and status-obsessed. As much as entertainment and art can influence the way we live, it is also a reflection of our own reality. If we are obsessed with products, then our entertainment will be too.

To be fair, product placement is not a new phenomenon. In the original Superman movie, released in 1978, Christopher Reeve devours a large bowl of Cheerios while mugging for the camera. Steven Spielberg’s loveable E.T. sold Reese’s Pieces to an entire generation of children.

We spend a huge fraction of our time thinking about brands, branding ourselves and judging others by their possessions. So if brands are conspicuously absent from entertainment, it can detract from the entertainment’s realism. The problem as I see it is that when commercial industries have too great an influence on production, consumables become the star of the show. There is a clear difference between the inclusion of a brand so that the audience is not distracted and the inclusion of a brand to sell a product.

The problem is not going to go away, so we must react simply by staying aware of the influence that entertainment has over our purchases. In the meantime I would appreciate it if someone confiscated my debit card before I overdraw buying more kicks.

Bryce Gray is a Jones College junior and assistant arts and entertainment editor.

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