When Social Media gets the power: "Social Media, Pushing Reebok To Drop a Rapper"

   This semester we have discussed in various ocasions with many of our lecturers about the increasing power of Social Media. We couldn't talk about this subject without many relevant examples which prove us that indeed, Social Media is a powerful instrument when it comes to influence public figures, institutions, brands and companies. The case presented below is precisely one of these examples and confirms what we already knew: ordinary people can't be neglected and underestimated anymore.

   The feminist group UltraViolet started a strong campaign against Rick Ross, a rapper known for his sexist  lyrics and offensive vocabulary, determining Reebok to end the endorsement contract with him. The biggest part of the campaign took place in online media and it gained a lot of supporters. The protest seemed so serious and the issue it raised was so important that Reebok didn't have many other options.
Below are some excerpts of the article:

    The groundswell of protests that has apparently forced Reebok to end its relationship with the rapper Rick Ross has focused attention on the feminist group UltraViolet, which harnessed social media and even placed ads on Facebook in a campaign against Mr. Ross after he rapped about drugging a woman and having sex with her without her knowledge.

    The campaign to get Reebok to cut ties with Mr. Ross began a few weeks ago when UltraViolet, a 13-month-old feminist group whose leaders are spread around the country, was wrapping up a campaign complaining aboutCNN’s coverage of the Steubenville, Ohio, rape trial. The group, whose mission is to call attention to what it sees as a culture that tolerates rape, accused CNN’s anchors of favoring the defendants in their coverage. Mr. Ross’s comments prompted their next campaign. “This is not a hip-hop problem, this is an American problem,” said Nita Chaudhary, a founder of UltraViolet, which she says has an e-mail database of 400,000 people. “For Reebok, you are rewarding financially a man who is glorifying rape — and not only do you market and influence young men and boys but invest a great deal of energy marketing to women and investing a lot in women’s athletics. And that’s wrong.”
     
      UltraViolet began circulating an online petition asking Reebok to end its endorsement deal with Mr. Ross. In the first 24 hours the petition received 50,000 signatures, Ms. Chaudhary said. A week later the group organized a protest at the Reebok flagship store, in Midtown Manhattan, in which about 100 people held signs denouncing rape and began sending Twitter messages to Reebok. That day members of UltraViolet also started a phone campaign, calling Reebok’s headquarters in Canton, Mass., to complain about Mr. Ross.

     As UltraViolet’s campaign gained momentum, other feminist bloggers and commentators weighed in, among them Rosa Clemente, an activist whose YouTube video responding to Mr. Ross’s lyrics was viewed almost 17,000 times.
    On Thursday members of the group were already plotting their next move — a protest at the Reebok headquarters — when they learned that the company had issued a statement that it was dropping Mr. Ross. “While we do not believe that Rick Ross condones sexual assault, we are very disappointed he has yet to display an understanding of the seriousness of this issue or an appropriate level of remorse,” the statement said. “At this time, it is in everyone’s best interest for Reebok to end its partnership with Mr. Ross.”
    On Friday afternoon UltraViolet circulated a digital card thanking Reebok for its decision. Forty minutes later, Ms. Chaudhary said, the card had been signed 10,000 times.

Source: New York Times, 12.04.2013

The entire article can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/13/arts/music/reebok-drops-rick-ross-after-social-media-protest.html?ref=advertisingandmarketing&_r=0
Raluca Apetrei