Reebok “Lame Campaign”

Sneaker giant Reebok has a new campaign dubbed “I am what I am”, starring hecklerspray’s favourite bullet-proof rapper 50 Cent.

And here’s a surprise: it’s received complaints from UK anti-gun charities. They accuse Reebok of glorifying gun crime. For the unaware, let us pop an information cap in yo’ ass…

The short commercial version features a concrete room, which then tracks in closer to show Fiddy sitting on some crates.

He then looks down at the camera, chuckles
with bling in his teeth and gently kicks his sneakers into the air.
Then cue the line - “I am what I am”.

Yeah, what exactly is that, anyway? Because we’re sure ‘vaguely inept rapper’, isn’t going to sell a lot of trainers.

Anyway, the anti-gun charities aren’t upset
about his monotonous delivery; what has gotten up their noses is that
the majority of audio on the commercial is a radio report about how
Fiddy was shot nine times in hometown Queens, back in April 2000.

Nine shots would clearly fell an elephant, according to scientific
reports, but not 5O Cent! He wore Reebok shoes and other relative
Reebok merchandising. And like Batfink’s wings, they protected him like a shield of steel.

All this happened, of course, before anyone really knew who he was. That came later, when Eminem signed him to Shady/G-Unit records in 2001.

This
is a truly bad mis-step from the sports brand, to try to target
impressionable adolescents who feel the need to look like a gangster.
Maybe it is not surprising to see these tactics being used by the
label, after the success of Jay-Z’s line of footwear.

You can bank your money on hip hop loving urban children to wear Reebok sneakers with a cap pointed backwards in 160 degrees.

As for hecklerspray, we’re still holding out until Dunlop starts to sponsor Chubby Checker And The Fat Boys.