How Did Mickey D's Get It So Twisted?
Chicago-born hip-hop superstar, Twista has been abruptly cut from a concert he was set to perform on August 7 by fast food conglomerate McDonalds. Mickey D’s kicked off the McDonald’s Live Tour in Los Angeles last Thursday in hopes of connecting with young consumers through music.
With this goal in mind, the “all beef” patty flippers were notified of some of the negative lyrics incorporated in Twista’s songs. He regularly referred to women as hos, spoke of street violence, and ushered in gratuitous use of the word nigger, well, nigga.
Since McDonalds didn’t seem to notice the negative undertones of Twista’s music when they first inked him in to perform, a local community billboard campaign, headed by Rev. Michael Pfleger dropped the dime on the rapper. Once they were told about the choice they made for the Chicago show, McDonald’s reps were heard saying, “oh, we booked Twista, not Twister??”
"Although we respect free speech and artistic expression, we do not condone or perpetuate derogatory language,” said spokesman William Whitman. "We want to ensure these free concerts are fun as well as appropriate for all of our customers," he added.
Now, let’s not get this story twisted, Twista. McDonalds isn’t concerned with protecting our children’s ears from the derogatory and violent language that is often included in rap music. They saw that the rapper’s recent immense popularity would have brought in loads of hungry fans to his hometown performance, where they could begin to associate cool music with Big Macs and Quarter Pounders.
They were just hoping to sneak this one by and benefit from a new alliance with mainstream hip-hop. The largest and most successful fast-food chain in the world definitely knows what they’re doing when it comes to hooking consumers. You probably want some fries right now.
A very disappointed Twista mentioned that he was planning on cleaning up his act for the McDonalds show like he does for all his mainstream performances. Certain people from the company told him that they were fans of his music and backed him.
"I was actually going to have a school with a choir come sing the song Hope with me. "So now McDonald's have to tell the kids that they can't perform," said the musician.
So let’s get this power struggle straightened out. McDonalds has the right to book a rapper with controversial lyrics to perform in a concert with their name on it. They seemed to agree on clean lyrics for the show, which nullifies the need to cover the kiddies’ ears and loudly sing the Smurfs song to drown out the song that they have in their iPod already.Score one point for the community billboard campaign for ridding their streets of music that they don’t want to hear. It just troubles me that their campaign is looking to make everyone in the country fit to the standards that they set for their kids.
Reverend Pfleger insists on this by saying, "They have to make wise decisions about the image they're going to use to reach young people and they have to be corporately responsible. If they're going to use entertainers who promote violence and demean women, that's irresponsible behavior. I hope other industries and corporations will take note and do the same."
If these people don’t like it, then don’t buy it. Cover your kids’ ears so that they will grow up correctly, but don’t label companies as irresponsible and negligent for making business decisions and not helping you raise your kids. McDonalds’ food is more damaging to our kids than Twista’s music is to their ears.
Protest that!
Keep talking, it’s the only way they’ll ever hear you.--JJJ