musicNEWS:
Russell Simmons Calls For Boycott Over Osbournes Soda Ad.
02-05-03
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Rap music mogul Russell Simmons is upset with
soda giant Pepsi for using the bleeping Osbournes in their recent Pepsi
Twist ad. Simmons believes that the company used a double standard
when casting the foul mouthed family in the commercial only a few months
after pulling the plug on ads featuring rapper Ludacris due to the ranting
of TV commentator over the vulgar content of his music.
On Tuesday (Feb 4th), Simmons said that
this weekend he would announce a proposed boycott against Pepsi.
The Ludacris Pepsi ads were pulled after
Fox News talking head Bill OReilly called for a boycott of the company
due to their "immoral" decision to use the foul-mouthed rapper in their
television advertisements.
"The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN)
plans to announce and detail a proposed boycott of Pepsi during the NBA
All-Star Weekend in Atlanta," a spokeswoman for Simmons and the non-profit
hip-hop group he helped found, was quoted as saying in a Reuters report.
"The boycott is being called in response
to Pepsi dropping Ludacris as spokesman and subsequently picking up the
Osbournes, who are no less vulgar," she added. (That's
not exactly true, click here for a talking points memo on that claim.)
For their part, Pepsi is
backpedaling on their decision to pull the Ludacris ads.
A spokesman for PepsiCo Inc told Reuters
that the Ludacris controversy was an unfortunate experience.
"It was our mistake, we learned a lot from
it and we've moved on," the spokesman told Reuters.
"We respect Russell's interest in bringing
hip-hop talent to a larger audience and we have worked together to do just
that," he added.
In the end this may work to Pepsis advantage.
Just look at all of the free publicity they will receive over this boycott.
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