There's been a minor tizzy over the gratuitous and near-continuous product placement in BRITNEY SPEARS's new "Hold It Against Me" video, which crams in Sony, Make Up Forever, the dating site PlentyOfFish, and Spears's own Radiance fragrance. It might have bothered me years ago, but I'm so jaded by reading press releases that the concept of "selling out" has lost all meaning.
Watch the wire for just one day and you're guaranteed to see a major star submitting to comical levels of debasement for a buck. This just came in this morning: SNOOP DOGG is adding two extra G's to his name to hype the launch of a new Samsung 4G phone. The press release included a quote from Snoop that was so preposterous, I could hardly believe it was true. I had to email a friendly representative from PR firm GolinHarris to make sure:
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Hi Laura,
I had a quick question regarding a quote in the Samsung Galaxy Indulge press release. Is this quote from Snoop Dogg correct?
" 'It feels good to be working with MetroPCS and Samsung for the launch of the Galaxy Indulge. I'm stepping it up to 4G's so my phone can keep up with my demanding, always-connected lifestyle,' said Snoop Dogggg."
Just wanted to confirm it before it went to print. Thanks!
David
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Hi David,
That's what we have in the release and is correct! Thanks for the coverage!
Laura
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Laura,
Thanks so much for the quick reply! I was just making sure it was the stated position of GolinHarris that those specific words literally issued from Snoop Dogg's mouth. The phone looks like a great deal, by the way!
Best wishes,
David
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David,
You're welcome! Check out Snoop's Facebook and Twitter — he's written about it, too. You can't beat the value, for sure.
Thanks,
Laura
Well, that settles it! But for further comment, I turned to an old friend who once worked as a producer on a reality series in which Snoop Dogg(gg) appeared. "He doesn't say anything you ask him to, not because he's his own man, but because he's so fucking high. So I can personally guarantee he did not say that."
In other news: I could handle most of the weird stuff on The Drift, but SCOTT WALKER is losing me with this Wisconsin shit. Stripping public employees of collective-bargaining rights? I admit it's avant-garde, but maybe a little too much so for my taste.
Social media sites aren't just instigating revolutions abroad; they're also changing the face of domestic thuggery. Just a few years ago, it was a withering diss when the Game called Spider Loc a "MySpace gangster." Now, on the new RAEKWON track, RICK ROSS calls himself a "Twitter thug" and it somehow sounds kind of bosslike.
Headline of the week comes to us from billboard.com: "STING Troubled by Violence in Libya." Looks as if his brow were beginning to furrow over this one. Let's hope he monitors the situation closely and steps in if things get too out of hand.
After a few weeks of critical Bieber mass, I'll try to keep the BIEBERWATCH to a minimum. God knows I want to talk about the new haircut, or the grisly suicide-by-cop on CSI, but I'll spare you. However, I'd be derelict in my duties as a Bieber chronicler if I didn't mention the hilariously misguided interview perpetrated on the child by Rolling Stone. Thanks for digging deep, fellas; I'm glad I finally know how Justin Bieber feels about abortion in cases of rape. Is it even legal to ask a Canadian 16-year-old about shit like that?
DAVID THORPE | dthorpe@thephoenix.com
