Hip-Hop = Life..

Sprite: Obey Your Culture
written by JusHH

So I was reading XXL a few months ago and saw a Reebok sneaker ad that was selling Kool-Aide flavored-colored sneakers. Allow me to explain for those who thought that last statement was as ridiculous as it looked. Rather than having purple colored sneakers, you were getting Kool-Aide Grape kicks. Yes we know people in the hood love their sneakers and yes, we also love Kool-Aide but the two DON’T GO TOGETHER AT ALL. Over the past 30 years, Hip-Hop has become a billion dollar industry and corporations all over salivate at the chance to get a piece of that pie. That’s fine with me but I have a problem when these companies blatantly exploit the culture rather than create a marketing promotion that actually encompasses why Hip-Hop is so great. So with every commercial or advertisement we end up rating it on the “insulting” scale, and ask ourselves, “how much did that rapping Parrot selling insurance piss me off?” So for those advertising execs that read PTM, allow me to provide you with some free advice.

Copy Sprite.

I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life. I was watching TV and I saw CL Smooth start rapping about Sprite, “… keepin’ it tight, CL Smooth, sippin’ on Spr-id-ite”. It was real, it was organic. You can tell that it his words and not some suit’s cue cards. And then Pete Rock came in and started freestyling. It was so fun to follow and then when he messed up at the end it was great because true Hip-Hop fans know how often that happens when a guy is really freestyling. It was clear that they were selling soda to us but it was a part of their studio session, a part of their lifestyle. CL wasn’t rapping about lemons and lime and carbohydrates. I loved that commercial. It felt right. It felt legit – I could really get behind it and I watched every commercial in its entirety no matter how many times I saw it. Whether it was Grand Puba or KRS and Shan, I watched. A few years later, Sprite did it again with its Voltron themed commercial. They took the childhood cartoon and gave each of the 5 Lions rappers from each geographic region. They also did a great commercial with Missy Elliot. Sprite proves that you can make a successful ad campaign AND give Hip-Hop its proper respect. To some, they might not mind being insulted or exploited but not me… you can catch me drinking my Sprite… and wearing my Nikes.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth



KRS-ONE & MC Shan



Nas & AZ



Voltron