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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Sponsors and onstage vulgarity</SPAN>
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Tuesday, August 08, 2006
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>The practice by corporate entities of having celebrities or well-known individuals endorse their products is widely accepted as the norm in the business world.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Indeed, many companies will aggressively pursue celebrities and pay them massive sums of money in endorsement fees, particularly if that celebrity is hot, getting a lot of ink and airtime and is a respected voice.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The idea is that the product being pushed by the company will benefit in sales from the influential weight of the celebrity. More often than not it works, particularly in countries like the United States, Canada, England and some countries in continental Europe where starstruck members of the public yearn to live like the stars, and so will respond to their soft sell sales pitch.<P class=StoryText align=justify>A company like Nike, for instance, has, we are sure, made millions of dollars worldwide by virtue of having the current world number one golfer, Mr Tiger Woods, endorse its products.<P class=StoryText align=justify>That deal, we are told, is worth more than US$100 million. And so we never see Mr Woods on the golf course, or, for that matter, in advertisements for other sponsors, without Nike gear with the swoosh clearly visible.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The draw for Nike, we suspect, is that Mr Woods, apart from being the world's top golfer, is articulate, good-looking, clean-cut and, most important, scandal-free.<P class=StoryText align=justify>We raise this scenario against the backdrop of the profile of some of our local entertainers and the companies that utilise them as spokespersons.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Two weeks ago, in these columns, we expressed our disappointment at the vulgarity displayed on stage by some acts at Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest. We are still mystified by the continued silence and inaction of the police, the St James Parish Council and the title sponsors to the behaviour and explicit pronouncements of these acts. For we had thought that a serious effort was being made to cleanse stage performances of the filth that was ridiculously being labelled entertainment and foisted on the public.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The fact that nothing was done in Montego Bay to rein in these so-called entertainers has apparently led them to believe that they now have a licence to say whatever they feel on stage. That, therefore, could explain why Mr Rodney Pryce, who goes by the appellation Bounty Killer, saw it fit to introduce onto the Reggae Sunsplash stage last Thursday night, a young boy - not more than 10 years old - who, at such a tender age, has already been indoctrinated by the gun culture.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"Say hello to my little gun," Mr Pryce is reported to have said to the audience before calling out the boy who, in his contribution to trash being served to the audience under the guise of music, glorified the use of guns and the shooting of persons in their heads.<P class=StoryText align=justify>That was last Thursday night. Up to the time that this editorial was being written yesterday, the country has not heard a word of protest from the promoters of Reggae Sunsplash, nor the festival's title sponsors, bmobile which, incidentally, uses Mr Pryce to endorse its products.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Are we, therefore, to assume that this sort of behaviour has the full approval of the Reggae Sunsplash promoters and Cable and Wireless?<P class=StoryText align=justify>We had thought that Cable and Wireless and, indeed Red Stripe, were members of what was called the Coalition of Sponsors who had taken a refreshingly strong stand against the promotion of vulgarity and violence in our music industry.<P
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>The practice by corporate entities of having celebrities or well-known individuals endorse their products is widely accepted as the norm in the business world.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Indeed, many companies will aggressively pursue celebrities and pay them massive sums of money in endorsement fees, particularly if that celebrity is hot, getting a lot of ink and airtime and is a respected voice.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The idea is that the product being pushed by the company will benefit in sales from the influential weight of the celebrity. More often than not it works, particularly in countries like the United States, Canada, England and some countries in continental Europe where starstruck members of the public yearn to live like the stars, and so will respond to their soft sell sales pitch.<P class=StoryText align=justify>A company like Nike, for instance, has, we are sure, made millions of dollars worldwide by virtue of having the current world number one golfer, Mr Tiger Woods, endorse its products.<P class=StoryText align=justify>That deal, we are told, is worth more than US$100 million. And so we never see Mr Woods on the golf course, or, for that matter, in advertisements for other sponsors, without Nike gear with the swoosh clearly visible.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The draw for Nike, we suspect, is that Mr Woods, apart from being the world's top golfer, is articulate, good-looking, clean-cut and, most important, scandal-free.<P class=StoryText align=justify>We raise this scenario against the backdrop of the profile of some of our local entertainers and the companies that utilise them as spokespersons.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Two weeks ago, in these columns, we expressed our disappointment at the vulgarity displayed on stage by some acts at Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest. We are still mystified by the continued silence and inaction of the police, the St James Parish Council and the title sponsors to the behaviour and explicit pronouncements of these acts. For we had thought that a serious effort was being made to cleanse stage performances of the filth that was ridiculously being labelled entertainment and foisted on the public.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The fact that nothing was done in Montego Bay to rein in these so-called entertainers has apparently led them to believe that they now have a licence to say whatever they feel on stage. That, therefore, could explain why Mr Rodney Pryce, who goes by the appellation Bounty Killer, saw it fit to introduce onto the Reggae Sunsplash stage last Thursday night, a young boy - not more than 10 years old - who, at such a tender age, has already been indoctrinated by the gun culture.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"Say hello to my little gun," Mr Pryce is reported to have said to the audience before calling out the boy who, in his contribution to trash being served to the audience under the guise of music, glorified the use of guns and the shooting of persons in their heads.<P class=StoryText align=justify>That was last Thursday night. Up to the time that this editorial was being written yesterday, the country has not heard a word of protest from the promoters of Reggae Sunsplash, nor the festival's title sponsors, bmobile which, incidentally, uses Mr Pryce to endorse its products.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Are we, therefore, to assume that this sort of behaviour has the full approval of the Reggae Sunsplash promoters and Cable and Wireless?<P class=StoryText align=justify>We had thought that Cable and Wireless and, indeed Red Stripe, were members of what was called the Coalition of Sponsors who had taken a refreshingly strong stand against the promotion of vulgarity and violence in our music industry.<P
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