The highly articulate post outlines the continuing "downturn that Hip Hop has played in consumer marketing," including speculation that Hip Hop's un-fluence, if you will, is behind the souring of the Mercedes Benz Maybach. He concludes that, above everything, Hip Hop's influence is not only negative, but dying. YSL's rebrand is fiercely indicative of things to come, as nobody wants to be associated with the Hip Hop community and any members of its demographic, or it's "young, hopeful artists who are well-intentioned but macroeconomically naive (or otherwise ignorant of the larger economic picture) [as it relates] to their actions as popular influencers."
So Hip Hop marketing is washed up?
Nobody, I mean, nobody, wants their luxury brand to interact with Hip Hop culture?
I strongly beg to differ.
I wouldn't say that hip-hop's influence is waning in and of itself.
2 Chainz's demographic is that of the streets. Same with Rick Ross. Of course, affluent brands don't want their names coming out the mouth of the same rappers and musicians who frequently discuss illicit activities and questionable lifestyles to symbolize their success with verbal nods to luxury vehicles that market wants its audience to assume is affordable to the elite who "work hard" or built businesses full of employees who "work hard" to afford such prestige.
When you're building a brand, you're selling a story. Part of that story's development is the lifestyle and values of that brand, which lingers in the backdrop and is subliminally communicated to your audience. If 95% of your audience is white, affluent and regularly employed and/or business owners with a high level of disposable income who can travel wherever they want and mingle with nearly whomever they want - and then suddenly your audience is flooded with nods from an audience who is largely assumed to have lived in poverty - and perhaps in many ways, still does - then this speaks poorly on your brand.
The head of marketing and branding won't see a "trap" glorfying rapper as a positive boon to their sales. People may blow paychecks to purchase YSL and add Maybachs in the scenes of their urban novels, but at the end of the day, people reading glorified tales of drugs and lust and blowing their paychecks on their clothes as a positive thing. One, it's a poor habit to have (spending paychecks on things you can't afford). Two, well, the ideal market lives a pretty normal lifestyle - just a normal affluent lifestyle, so spending that amount isn't seen as flashy or braggadocious.
So when there is a flood of sales coming in from a demographic you didn't expect and don't market to, what happens? People freak out - especially the people in the marketing department. And the following conversation happens:
"Oh no, we're not exclusive anymore... and therefore our ability to be touted as casual affluence is in question. What can we do? Oh sh*t! I know - we have t rebrand ourselves to move away from that shift!"
As a result, a rebrand is announced, because it keeps the stockholders, desired brand ambassadors and those previously loyal to the lifestyle and value on standby to keep "white flight" from killing their business. (White flight, not so much because this is a race issue, but it is a cultural issue... and there's an intersectionality in race because the majority of influences and major players in Hip Hop are black, not white.)
YSL - and any affluent brand - wouldn't be so quick to evade the influence of Hip Hop on their popularity if more commercial names were brand-touting. Shawn Carter can tout a brand of affluence, as you said. So can Kanye West, B.O.B., Nicki Minaj, and everyone's favorite crossover Drake (or Wheelchair Jimmy, because nobody wants to let that go.) Furthermore, these brands would probably do well to include "legitimately" affluent faces of hip-hop in their branding, but that requires investment, money, and *gasp* actual paid and strategic sponsorship. So since they don't want to do that, they'll accept the cash flowing in from a poverty-stricken subcultural demographic that's so interested in displaying the small level of wealth they may or may not have acquired that they'll emulate and shop wherever their favorite artist drops a verse on.
Why - because if we don't, we'll ALWAYS have this problem... and we'll be blaming hip hop when truly it's more than just that.
Hip Hop's culture includes bragging and flossing... so dropping names will never stop. Affluent brands who ARE hip-hop friendly need to be sought out. Jay-Z created Armadale and Diddy created Ciroc after it was clear Cristal wasn't interested in their money. Don't run after the white brands that don't want hip hop... we need to find the brands that love us - regardless of who we are and our backgrounds and psycho- and demographic profiles - or create and leverage our own brands and buying power in our own communities!
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