Is It Just the Music: A Content Analysis of Hip-Hop Magazine Advertisments

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

• Urban & Young Urban Market

• Hip-hop in Advertising

• Two Way Street of Name-Dropping

• Advertising Reflecting Society or Vice Versa

Research Questions

Methodology

Results & Discussion

Limitations & Future Research

References

Abstract

This content analysis of was used to determine if the top three product categories most frequently mentioned in hip-hop music was reflected in the advertisements found in hip-hop magazines. A sample of advertisements from VIBE was analyzed. The findings of this study suggest that urban advertising in magazines may mirror culture. With this is mind, the data revealed that a heavy presence of ads for the following product categories: clothing, cosmetics and automobiles (respectively). Furthermore, this study found that both hip-hop music and magazine advertisements most frequently mentioned clothing and automobiles.

Introduction

According Matt Diamond, CEO of Alloy Inc., “You can’t understand the youth market unless you understand hip-hop culture (VIBE Media Kit 2005). According to Business Week Online, there are an estimated 50 million hip-hop fans in the US and 100 million worldwide which are mostly under the age of thirty four. Some believe hip-hop is a well-suited method for advertising and promotion. Hip-hop-storian, Nelson George, recognizes hip-hop as “an incredibly flexible tool of communication, quite adaptable to any number of messages, which is “why is has been so easy to turn every element of the culture associated with (it) into a product” (James 2003). Russell Simmons reiterates this point in Life and Def (2001) by stating “the ideas of hip-hop are spread not just through music, but in fashion, movies, television, advertising, dancing, slang and attitude” (Simmons 2001).

An (2003) notes “Advertising is part of the changing social, economic, and cultural environment.” Cultural historians have described advertising as a mirror that reflects the ideals of a society or culture (cited by An 2003). With this in mind, should urban advertising reflect the culture? According to Packaged Facts (2003) “Hip-hop music is often cited as the tie that binds the urban mindset, with fashion and sports noted as other significant contributors.”Furthermore, one would expect hip-hop music & culture to impact advertising found in urban magazines. This study attempted to discover if there is a reflection of product categories frequently mentioned in hip-hop in the advertisements of urban magazines.

Literature Review

Urban and Young Urban Market

While the roots of the urban market stem from African-American culture, the existence of this group extends far beyond demographics (Packaged Facts 2003). “But to equate urban youth culture solely to African-American youth, or even Hispanic youth, would be a mistake” (Packaged Facts 2003). Not only do the young urban market include an ethnically eclectic group, its increasingly growing. For example, in 2003 there were enough multicultural youths in cities like Los Angeles and New York to populate a large stand alone city (Packaged Facts 2003).

Additionally, minority youth are expected to triple as fast and non-Hispanic White youth. While a growing population is always important to marketing, the buying power is even more important. According to Packaged Facts (2003), by 2007 the aggregate expenditure for urban youths ages 15-24 (in the 15 most concentrated multicultural youth areas) will have a cumulative grow of 26.7% Financially, this is a $203 billion dollar budget. Another important fact about this market is their trendiness. “In a word, they’re trendsetters – and the clothing, music, accessories, etc., that are introduced and popularized on the streets and in the clubs of Los Angeles, New York and Chicago soon find their way to suburban shopping centers and televisions advertising.” So how can advertisers reach this lucrative market?

According to the Lifelounge Urban Market Report 2005 , a qualitative study focused on the young urban market, the best way to relate to this market is throughout their lifestyle choices (Appel 2005). More specifically, the market is said to have five lifestyle pillars. They include: music, sport, fashion, entertainment and travel. The study also suggested that advertisers that seek to effectively reach the these trendsetters should first understand the market. In doing so, marketers must learn to “speak the language” by presenting effective communications and promotions (Appel 2005). Finally, the study revealed that the most significant feature of the ‘yurban’ (a name for the market coined by Burrell Communications) is their taste in music. “An understanding of the market's musical preferences provides brands with opportunities to effectively communicate with and be embraced by Australia’s young adults” (Appel 2005). According to Primus, these same attributes are shared by American urban youth and young adults as well. “Characteristics shared by the category include a penchant for Hip-hop and R&B music, a high level of monthly spending on beauty products and apparel and a marginal preference for Coke over Pepsi” (King 2001).

Hip-hop & Advertising

From black sileouttes grooving with an Ipod to a Superbowl ad featuring Diddy riding in Pepsi truck, hip-hop has definitely become apart of advertising to the young urban market. Furthermore, marketers have learned the importance of music to this group and have responded with a flood of hip-hop artist spokespersons in America and across the world. However, two types of responses exist in every advertising campaign: the planned and unplanned ones.

In most cases, companies that have appropriately employed a ‘yurban’ focus have been rewarded with sales; nonetheless, there are other factors that sometimes influence the market. By using rappers and hip-hop artists as spokespersons, corporations not only get the image and popularity of that artists but the negative publicity as well (Wasserman 2005). “Reebok’s UK ad featuring 50 taking an unapologetic stance for his past has been attacked for glorifying violence.” However, according to Dr. Clyde Smith, Pepsi was met with a protest when they dropped Ludacris, a hip-hop artist, from its campaign because of an incident between the artist and Bill O’Reilly (Smith 2005). The soft drink company later chose to pay a large donation to the non-profit Ludacris Foundation to make up for their decision. Because of the market potential and financial benefits, many corporations remain willing to use hip-hop artists in their campaigns.

However, artists, more recently, have changed positions. Not only do they serve as celebrity spokespersons but as creative entrepreneurs as well. Many hip-hop artists own and operate their own corporations that produce everything form urban energy drinks to urban clothing (Paoletta 2005). In most cases, the artist’s ‘hip-hop image’ is perpetuated in the product’s name, design and promotional tactics. For example, in an ad for 50 cent’s clothing line, a young attractive woman dressed in G-Unit attire is sitting a counter of what looks like a Candyshop (a song by 50 cent).

Some concern has been raised regarding the persuasiveness of hip-hop images. According to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (2003), African American youth were frequently exposed to alcohol ads. More specifically, African-American teens, in 2002, were among the most frequent magazine readers. Furthermore, it was found that these youths saw more alcohol ads in magazines than any other group. “ Alcohol advertisers concentrated the advertising that overexposed African-American youth in 13 magazines accounting for 80% of the exposure of African-American youth to alcohol advertising in 2002, including Sports Illustrated, Vibe, Cosmopolitan, ESPN The Magazine, Jet and Entertainment Weekly. Of these 13, all except Rolling Stone exposed African-American youth to alcohol ads more effectively than non-African-American youth” (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2003).

Two Way Street of Name-Dropping

According to Stanley (2004) “Eminem parties with Hennessy, Juvenile likes the fit of those Victoria's Secrets, R. Kelly pops Cristal in the stretch Lincoln Navigator and Kanye West sports his Air Jordans just like the drug dealers down the block, as his song goes.” Although artists have been giving “shout out” to brands since the early 80’s, name-dropping has become quite popular with hip-hop artists these days. In fact, according to Agenda Inc. (2003), in 2003 there were 82 brands names referenced in the Billboard Top Twenty. In 2004, James reported 105 brands.

Until now this name-dropping has been reportedly artistically motivated. Nevertheless, some artist are reaping the benefits of including brands in their craft. According to MTV News (2003), “Back in the day, artists would mention their favorite shoes, clothes or liquor for fun and floss, but it’s not secret now that well-placed hype land you a product endorsement deal, tour sponsorship or at the very least, a closet full of free gear.” Recently, however, artists have been paid to name-drop (Ferguson 2005). McDonald’s attempted this approach by offering artists money to write Big Mac into their songs (Graser 2005). Unfortunately, it was met with much skepticism. Nevertheless, the placement of Seagram’s Gin in Petey Pablo’s Billboard hit Freek a Leek was rewarded with a hefty increase in sales.

Name-dropping has become such a popular topic that Agenda Inc.’s own Lucian James tracked all the mentions of brands in the lyrics in 2003 and 2004 (Barton 2004). In 2004, the most frequently mentioned brands were Cadillac, Hennessey, Mercedes, Rolls Royce and Gucci (Williams 2005). The most mentioned categories were cars, fashion and alcoholic beverages (James 2004).

Reflection or Distorted Mirror?

According to Scremin (2003), “ Distorted or not, advertising images tell us something about who we are.” Much research has focused on advertising as the distorted mirror. In fact, it is said that advertising reinforces materialism, cynicism, irrationality, selfishness, anxiety, social competitiveness, sexual preoccupation, powerlessness, and/or a loss of self-respect” (Pollay 1986). Is advertising really a mirror of the values of the urban market or is a mere distortion. According to Holbrook (1987), the reflection of society through advertising is quite clear. Advertising…”functions as a mirror of prevailing culture values and norms” (cited in Scremin;).

Research Questions

As mentioned previously, the main goal of this research was to determine if the top three product categories most frequently mentioned in hip-hop music are reflected in the advertisements in hip-hop magazine. Therefore, this research is designed to answer the following questions:

• What product categories are most frequently found in hip-hop magazines?
• Are these categories consistent with those found in hip-hop music?

Based on the literature cited above, it is hypothesized that since clothing, cars and alcoholic beverages are the most frequently mentioned product categories hip-hop music then the frequency of these categories will be reflected in the advertisements in urban magazines.

Methodology

According to An (2003), “a quantitative content analysis can move beyond counting to deal with the meanings that advertising attaches to prevalent culture by including latent variables such as contextual and societal variables that are not physically present and countable.” Kolbe and Burnett (1991) also note that this form of analysis is unobtrusive and provides a basis for new research (cited by Tseng 2001) . Therefore, a content analysis was conducted in order to examine the parallels in the products advertised in urban magazines and music.

Figure 1 Vibe Cover Shots

Three issues included in the content analysis. Covers can be found at www.vibe.com.

VIBE Magazine

The goal was to select a magazine that represented the urban market in readership, psychographic and demographic categories. As noted in the Figure below, Vibe magazine, a monthly magazine, included a multicultural and youthful readership, both attributes of the urban market. Furthermore, 61% of African American teens read VIBE as well. Refer to Figure 2. The content was appropriate as well. “VIBE chronicles the celebrities, sounds, fashion, lifestyle, new media, and business born of urban music,” notes its mission statement. Additionally, Vibe has the highest readership, for the 18-24 age bracket for people of color which MRI identifies as Black, Asian, and other as they do not include Hispanic decent as a separate group. (Refer to Figure 3).

Figure 2 Audience Demographics

Figure 3 Readership

Charts were copied from http://www.vibe.com/about/

Six issues of VIBE were randomly selected from a pool of 12 issues dated from January to December 2005 and analyzed. A total of 361 advertisements were analyzed. Categories in this study consisted of the three product categories most frequently found in hip-hop music as well as other categories found in the initial analysis. Each ad was coded for the following major product categories: Alcohol, Clothes & Accessories (This category included watches, belts, jewelry, sunglasses, etc.), Automobiles, Music, Entertainment (not including music), Magazine Promotions (advertisements for VIBE), Food/Snacks/Beverages (This category included gums, candies, snacks, drinks other than alcoholic beverage.), Events, Non profit, Technology and Other (If a product did not fall in the other category, it was included in this group). Duplication was not removed from the data so that all occurrences of the categories analyzed could be considered. Statistical tests were performed in order to analyze the data collected. Frequencies and cross-tabulations were computed to identify the most advertised product categories as well as any similarities between the data and previous research findings on hip-hop music.

Results & Discussion

As Table 1 reflects, clothing ads account for about 21% of all advertised products in the magazines. Ads for luxury and urban clothing were most popular. The Ads of G-Unit, Akademics, and SouthPole were frequently found. The second most frequent product type was cosmetics. Considering the importance of image to the young urban market, the frequency of these products being advertised is understandable. Car ads were next on the list. These ads included luxury vehicles such as Jaguars as well as more practical automobile such as Pontiac Vibe.

According to Primus (2005), the ‘yurban’ market is very techno-savvy. This would explain the amount of ads for technological products. There was wide variety of technological items ranging from the newest model of cell phone to sunglasses with an earpiece that has the ability to play downloaded music. The music category appeared in the magazines a total of 30 times. While alcohol was not amongst the top three, it did make up approximately 7% of all the ads.

Table 1: Frequency of Product

Figure 4 Frequency of Product

To address the second research question, a comparison of the top three product categories advertised in VIBE and the categories most frequently mentioned in hip-hop was completed. There was some overlap found between the two. In general, cars and clothing were most frequently found in both. Therefore, the hypothesized reflection is partially accepted.

Visually, most of the ads used urban themes such as city skylines and trendy dressed models. Despite the multicultural nature of the young urban market, many of the models were of African-American descent. The copy, similar to the visual generally had a hip-hop tone. However, the Doritos copy was very urban in nature.

Limitations & Future Research

There were several limitations found in this study. Firstly, there was no intercoder reliability as the study only included one coder. Additionally, the study only included 6 issues of the magazine. While this included a moderate sample of ads (361 ads), this research should be replicated using more issues of the magazine. Another limitation was that all of the advertisements sampled for this study came from one single publication. While VIBE has a high circulation and national reach, the study could have been much more dependable with a variety of urban magazines such as The Source and XXL. Therefore, it is also recommended that more research on this topic include other publications.

VIBE also produces another magazine called VIBE ViIXEN. This magazine, like its parent counterpart, is an urban magazine that gear targeted to female consumers. According to the VIBE Media Kit (2005),

“ VIBE VIXEN is the first magazine exclusively for trendsetting women whose love for urban music and culture inspires her choices in beauty, fashion, and lifestyle. Debuting this spring, VIBE VIXEN will be a biannual beauty and fashion special issue that will turn heads at the newsstands.…and VIBE VIXEN was made to love her. In response to her demand, we have created VIBE VIXEN, where she can be celebrated exclusively. VIBE VIXEN will provide it all—from hundreds of sultry spring looks to flawless makeup tips to getting inside the beauty bags of celebrities like Beyoncé, Alicia, Ashanti, and Halle. Culturally relevant stories will keep our music-influenced readers—from the beauty salons to the boardrooms—in the know! VIBE VIXEN will reflect the true character of our female readers, giving them everything they need to be inspired, creative, and empowered in an environment all their own" (Media Kit 2005)

Therefore, it is suggested a content analysis explore the advertisements in this magazine as well.

The researcher also recommends completing a content analysis that explores the approaches used to target this group. With this in mind, an analysis of both the visuals and copy should be analyzed. While the Doritos ad was considered most memorable by the researcher because of its copy, is approach normally employed when targeting this group?

Considering the strong presence of this market, it is also recommended that a content analysis be conducted on the internet. This study found that technology is ranked 4 th in the product categories most frequently advertised in hip-hop magazines. Additionally, many of ads in the magazines listed website addresses. It may also be interesting to see if there is some congruency in the visual and textual approach in the advertisement in the magazines and the ones on the web.

Finally, because a content analysis is descriptive in nature, it is recommended that future research be done to explore how the target market processes these advertisements. .

The following is a summary of the major findings of this content analysis study. The most advertised product categories in the magazines were clothing, cosmetics, automotives and technology. Additionally, there is an overlap in the products that most frequently mentioned in hip-hip music and that are most frequently advertised in hip-hop magazines. Considering, one would propose that hip-hop culture is generally reflected in its advertising. Furthermore, advertisers must stay abreast of the changing urban market. With billions to spend and millions of products to spend it on, ‘yurbans’ should always remain in a vital target in advertising. The question remains, how will you target them?

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About the Author  

Nakeisha S. Ferguson, MA, is a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Advertising. Here research interests include urban marketing and the effects of hip-hop culture on promotions and advertising. Email: adv_phd@mail.utexas.edu