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Teens Trash Spike Lee Over Absolut Brooklyn Vodka Marketing Presence In Neighborhood Tuesday, November 2nd 2010, 4:00 AM Krystal Chapman (r.), Shenel Gunnis (c.), and Amaya Santos pose in front of brownstones in Brooklyn. The teens are critical of Spike Lee's marketing of his vodka in their neighborhood.
Spike Lee put Bedford-Stuyvesant on the cinematic map, but some teens think he sold out the neighborhood with his Brooklyn-themed Absolut Vodka promo. The kids did a survey of alcohol advertising posters and billboards in the area and found the logo designed by Lee dominated. "I've seen his movies. I was a really big fan. But he lost respect from me," said Shenel Gunnis, 17. "You're not supposed to be promoting stuff like that in areas that can barely afford food." She's one of 10 teens who scoured Bed-Stuy this summer, mapping booze promos for the Children's Aid Society. They tallied 56 and were surprised that Lee's limited-edition label - featuring the stoop of a Brooklyn brownstone - was the one that popped up over and over. Frank Moore, 19, said he'd like to tell the "Do the Right Thing" helmsman that's just wrong. "I'd be like, 'Why? Do you understand what you're doing ... that you're putting up an ad for liquor and you know there's an alcoholism problem here?'" he said. "My thing with Spike Lee is you should use your prestige and position of power to help the problem, not add on to it." Lee did not return a call left at his office and hung up on a reporter who reached him on his cell phone. A spokeswoman for Absolut had no immediate comment. The limited-edition bottle rolled out last summer is emblazoned with the phrase "A Spike Lee Collaboration." In the ads, the bottle is superimposed on a photo of Brooklynites on stoops. The teens felt Lee was trying to capitalize on borough pride. "He was targeting us when normally he would make movies that would uplift our community," said Krystal Chapman, 17, a senior at the High School for Public Service in Crown Heights. "I think it is hypocritical." Amaya Santos, 17, of East Flatbush, counted 28 Absolut ads in the Utica Ave. subway station. "I thought, 'Spike Lee, What's going on here?' There's no reason why there should be 28 ads of the same thing in less than a mile," Santos said. Survey organizer Robert Cornegy was blown away by the teens' strong feelings about Lee's involvement in the campaign. "They're being inundated with alcohol advertising in this neighborhood," said Cornegy, 44, who heads prevention resources for the Children's Aid Society. "They recognized an icon to them was responsible for some of the ads." The bottle for Absolut Brooklyn, billed as 'a Spike Lee Collaboration.'
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Wait is this true? Spike is actually endorsing Vodka??? I will forever love and miss you...my sweet Prince. | |
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Straight Jacket Funk Affair
Album plays and love for vinyl records. | |
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Mmhmm..and you guys have good nerve to talk shit about Tyler Perry, look at this fool.
Word. | |
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Right. Because the people in that neighborhood are babes in the woods who can't be trusted to make sound decisions. We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves. | |
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Smart kids, I support their stand. Jeux Sans Frontiers | |
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Umm yeah, I'm expecting a statement to be released by him about this mess pretty soon. This is extremely hypocritical.
Too much of this shit going around recently...first Quincy Jones is crucifying MJ's PYT by remaking it with T-Pain of all people on the track, Public Enemy is relying on fan's donations in order to make their next album...yet they are on tour [Edited 11/3/10 11:21am] I will forever love and miss you...my sweet Prince. | |
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though in truth quincy been releasing a lot of crap for a hot min...
like a decade or two. lol | |
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Exactly.
Say what all of you will about Tyler "Madea" Perry. At least the MFer never sold his people out to a freaking Vodka compamy. | |
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MEMO: Spike Lee is.........
Boule.
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..and you''re an authority on this particular neighborhood because..? | |
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You's a mess Tony | |
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The neighborhood doesn't matter. Don't you find the idea that people have to be "protected from themselves" just a teeeeeeny bit insulting? We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves. | |
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Please with that..let's just say that you have to DRIVE to the liquor store in ...other suburban likeareas [Edited 11/3/10 14:11pm] Straight Jacket Funk Affair
Album plays and love for vinyl records. | |
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Please, yourself. I live in Wisconsin, where there's a liquor-selling grocery store or convenience store, a liquor store, or tavern within walking distance of just about anywhere you happen to be. For the entire state. We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves. | |
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Spike is being a total hypocrite. Is he going to call himself out on his own bullshit?
Oh and good on those girls. | |
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I live in Bed Stuy and we drink Hennessy! Vodka is soooo Brooklyn Heights!!! When  go 2 a Prince concert or related event it's all  up in the house but when log onto this site and the miasma of bitchiness is completely overwhelming! | |
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The bar rooms & pubs in Louisiana are opened 24/7. And mind you, they have plenty of liquor stores as well. Some are open during overnight hours.
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Prince, in you I found a kindred spirit...Rest In Paradise. | |
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I don't get what the problem is. Spike's not forcing vodka down anyone's throat. He's not telling those under 21 to drink til they puke or telling everyone in Bed-Stuy to drink themselves to death. It's up to each individual to act responsibly and to buy whatever they damn well please.
Now, if he stated earlier that he would never endorse alcohol, then yeah, he's being hypocritical. But top-shelf liquor, which is intended for everyone, is different than, say, malt liquor, which is targeted only to the black community. | |
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I wonder if John Singleton would sided with girls OR side with Spike in this debate.
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Your statement is true and I agree with it, but that's not where the source of my problem of this lies. My problem with this is throughout the years Spike has spoken up and called people out on this and that when he felt that they were doing wrong and that their actions weren't helping the black community. Well here we go, as has been mentioned before, alcohol can be found just as easy as finding a fast food chicken chain in a black neighborhood (hate to be sterotypical, but it is true...just sayin')...so does endorsing vodka with the ads all over the place in a black neighborhood help the black community? Hmmm nope.
Now if he was just a director and that's it, then came with this ad, then oh well to each his own. Who am I to complain. But when you open your mouth and point your fingers at other people, then you better make sure that you are practicing what you are preaching. What it looks like here is that he is doing the same exact thing he has been complaining about with others in the past. Just my two cents. I will forever love and miss you...my sweet Prince. | |
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missfee said:
Your statement is true and I agree with it, but that's not where the source of my problem of this lies. My problem with this is throughout the years Spike has spoken up and called people out on this and that when he felt that they were doing wrong and that their actions weren't helping the black community. Well here we go, as has been mentioned before, alcohol can be found just as easy as finding a fast food chicken chain in a black neighborhood (hate to be sterotypical, but it is true...just sayin')...so does endorsing vodka with the ads all over the place in a black neighborhood help the black community? Hmmm nope.
Now if he was just a director and that's it, then came with this ad, then oh well to each his own. Who am I to complain. But when you open your mouth and point your fingers at other people, then you better make sure that you are practicing what you are preaching. What it looks like here is that he is doing the same exact thing he has been complaining about with others in the past. Just my two cents. And there it is. | |
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TonyVanDam said:
The bar rooms & pubs in Louisiana are opened 24/7. And mind you, they have plenty of liquor stores as well. Some are open during overnight hours.
No don't try and give me that, we all know damn well that liquor store come full circle in the hood in urabn areas with easy access..I live in minneapolis and I BET that in any suburb I go to there will NOT be a liquor store within a mile radius, don't play me. Last but not least have any of you watched Bamboozled? Remember the commercial where he potrayed black people were guzzling some new type of Malt Liquor, pouring it all over some half naked chick (or something to that degree?) Or did you all just forget about that? He is a two faced filmmaker and somebody put him on blast point blank. Straight Jacket Funk Affair
Album plays and love for vinyl records. | |
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Oh settle down with THAT cup of coffee you're drinking! I know all too well about liquor stores in the hood.
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We can go back and forth for days because in a little area I know called Lake Of The Isles and Brooklyn Park in Minneapolis, I cant find a liquor store the first unless you go to the hood, or by the mall ...and I don't see no types of advertisements for beer over there...and never have. Straight Jacket Funk Affair
Album plays and love for vinyl records. | |
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Do you know if the liquor stores in MPLS are open 24/7 or just daytime hours? I'm only asking out of curiousity.
Either way, I agree with you. Too many liquor stores in the hood has conspiracy written all over it. | |
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TonyVanDam said:
Do you know if the liquor stores in MPLS are open 24/7 or just daytime hours? I'm only asking out of curiousity.
Either way, I agree with you. Too many liquor stores in the hood has conspiracy written all over it. No the liquor stores in mpls close by nine / ten o'clock I believe...and the weekends earlier...plus Sunday..no luck..you have to drive to wisconsin. Straight Jacket Funk Affair
Album plays and love for vinyl records. | |
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