Beyond Urban Branding

When this commercial first came out, boy, did Hammer catch it from a lot of folks in the rap world. He did not care really, because he was on top of it. Really, there is nothing wrong with the ad culturally speaking. The thing is, at the time, there was a lot of rap groups confronting a lot of the race issues of the time. This KFC ad was seen by many within the Hip-Hop and the Black community as degrading. However, from a business perspective, Hammer never really got credit for being one of the first rappers to get endorsement deals of that size. I bet that check he cashed made history!! -Beyond Urban Branding

This is the first commercial I remember that incorporated Hip-Hop dance. Now, mind you, its Michael Jackson doing it...But, still, I don't remember seeing any national commercials with Hip-Hop dance in it until this. That kid in the red jacket was LARGE at the time. He went onto do Fresh Prince of Bel Air (playing Carlton) among other things. Lets take a look at how a lot of it began. Its funny now to think how much of an impact this ad had in getting more corporations to use Hip-Hop/urban themes in their campaigns. -Beyond Urban Branding

Hip-Hop DX did an editorial on the Christmas ad campaign ran by Nike. I thought this was interesting (though I don't fully agree with the author): http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/editorials/id.1480/title.get-your-mind-right-nba-puppets Be sure to check out the comments below. Just do it. In case you missed the ad itself, here it is: -Beyond Urban Branding