im sure you guys have seen this commercial:
the music being played is the saul williams track "list of demands". for those who know saul's music, its kind of surprising to hear one of his tracks on a nike commercial. for those who dont, just know he's one of those "socially conscious" artists who believe in and preach about all kinds of things that are completely opposite of what a corporation like nike is all about
here's saul williams' explanation for why he agreed to sign a contract with nike. its probably the most extensive explanation ive ever read from an artist responding to sell out accusations. just wondering your guys' thoughts on it. you think its legit or just an attempt to justify desire for more money and fame?:
"FYI guys Nike sales don’t actually fluctuate much based on their ad campaigns, they pretty much stay the same, based on actual sports figures. However, the amount of interest in the artists they feature does seem to raise. So, I repeat:
The question is not why is Saul Williams doing a Nike commercial, but rather, why is Nike doing a Saul Williams commercial? Could it somehow be related to why McDonalds is selling veggie burgers , car companies are creating hybrids, or Wal-Mart is going green? Is there any relation between the Niggy Tardust lyrics, “ …Paint him on your lunchbox or your thermos for a fee…side effects may include simply doing what you say..” and NikeResponsibility.com? Even if Nike is only making changes in their business tactics in response to the heat they”ve caught, they’ve actually gone to the point of now being a leader in getting foreign governments (and it’s the governments that have major changes to make) to stop child factory labor. Fact is, when I lived in Brasil, the city I lived in only offered high school classes at night because most kids my age had to work during the day (in their case, farms not factories). By day, many of them were picking fruit that we find in our grocery stores here. Now pose yourself this question: if you made veggie burgers for a living, filled with vitamins and all sorts of goodies intended to boost the immune system and support a healthy heart and Wendy’s contacted you and said, “Hey, we’d like to carry your veggie burgers in our store” would you become excited about all the people who might now experience the wonderful effects and health benefits of your veggie burger or would you say, “Fuck you! You and your cows are depleting the rain forest” and let them get their veggie burger from someone else (who uses egg whites in their mix)? { What if you could get them to start using biodegradable stuff to wrap them in? what if they decided to use it on all of their products? }
Ofcourse, you could also opt to open your own business and slowly begin to learn what it takes (and takes) to expand your vision. Or not.
The revolution is not eco-elitist. It involves leaving enough slack in the rope for the existing norm to change it’s ways, shift it’s patterns, and apply our growing concerns to new business models. There is certainly a time when a loud and emphatic NO! achieves the best result, but there are also times to invite those who have known no better into the broader realm of discussion and be a part of the paradigm shift.
I actually sat with the global director of Nike last week (yes, he got a chance to hang with Niggy for a day) and learned first hand about the history and the changes implemented in the corporation and it’s factories. A corporation, I might add, that ain’t going out of business anytime soon. What they hope to accomplish, factory-wise, by 2011 is pretty complex and if they are able to do it, it will effect many other brands and how they do business as well. I’m not trying to make them out to be the messiah or anything, I’m simply saying that if you think your cynical analysis as to why I would allow my song to play in that commercial is more their master plan than mine then maybe you’re giving too much power to the corporate entities and too little to the age and times we are living in. Maybe you don’t realize the power of artists and of art.
See, my activism has taken me from sticking my middle finger up at people who think differently than me to engaging in dialogue with those in position to make changes while realizing the power of my/our influence in these discussions. I didn’t go into business with Nike, they went into business with me and now begins the process of them putting their money where my mouth is. We talked about sports camps in inner cities, Africa, India, and Asia. We talked about scholarships. And as stated earlier, yes, we definitely talked about sweat shops and child labor.
I am with you in not trusting the media and the so-called powers that be, but if those powers have made us less than exuberant about being alive, less than imaginative about the change that we might create in our lifetime, less than aware of the fact that the powers of being will always prevail over the powers that be, then you’re already wearing the suit that you have rejected. The uniformity of cynicism that appeals to the intellectual elite, to the do-gooders, and the so-called rebels of our times is bad business for creative prosperity. We need to focus our energy on the creative upliftment of our times. Imagine the best possible results and begin manifesting them.
Measure the conceit of your choices. Are you defined by how much you’ve said No to or by the passion of your Yes? Your choices are your own. Your decisions are your own. Do not surrender the power of your perspective to cliché forms of analysis. We grow and learn, just like mega-corporations. We surrender our lesser practices for new and improved means of achieving our goals. As we raise our standards so does the world around us.
ps: Lose your cynicism. It’s way more powerful than ignorance, simply because it is pointed. If you are amongst us hoping and praying for change, do not invest in the negative “what if” conversations without realizing that you may be feeding that possibility by focused projection."
if youre interested he talks more about it here:
http://grandgood.com/2008/04/05/why-did-nike-do-a-saul-williams-commercial-video/
the music being played is the saul williams track "list of demands". for those who know saul's music, its kind of surprising to hear one of his tracks on a nike commercial. for those who dont, just know he's one of those "socially conscious" artists who believe in and preach about all kinds of things that are completely opposite of what a corporation like nike is all about
here's saul williams' explanation for why he agreed to sign a contract with nike. its probably the most extensive explanation ive ever read from an artist responding to sell out accusations. just wondering your guys' thoughts on it. you think its legit or just an attempt to justify desire for more money and fame?:
"FYI guys Nike sales don’t actually fluctuate much based on their ad campaigns, they pretty much stay the same, based on actual sports figures. However, the amount of interest in the artists they feature does seem to raise. So, I repeat:
The question is not why is Saul Williams doing a Nike commercial, but rather, why is Nike doing a Saul Williams commercial? Could it somehow be related to why McDonalds is selling veggie burgers , car companies are creating hybrids, or Wal-Mart is going green? Is there any relation between the Niggy Tardust lyrics, “ …Paint him on your lunchbox or your thermos for a fee…side effects may include simply doing what you say..” and NikeResponsibility.com? Even if Nike is only making changes in their business tactics in response to the heat they”ve caught, they’ve actually gone to the point of now being a leader in getting foreign governments (and it’s the governments that have major changes to make) to stop child factory labor. Fact is, when I lived in Brasil, the city I lived in only offered high school classes at night because most kids my age had to work during the day (in their case, farms not factories). By day, many of them were picking fruit that we find in our grocery stores here. Now pose yourself this question: if you made veggie burgers for a living, filled with vitamins and all sorts of goodies intended to boost the immune system and support a healthy heart and Wendy’s contacted you and said, “Hey, we’d like to carry your veggie burgers in our store” would you become excited about all the people who might now experience the wonderful effects and health benefits of your veggie burger or would you say, “Fuck you! You and your cows are depleting the rain forest” and let them get their veggie burger from someone else (who uses egg whites in their mix)? { What if you could get them to start using biodegradable stuff to wrap them in? what if they decided to use it on all of their products? }
Ofcourse, you could also opt to open your own business and slowly begin to learn what it takes (and takes) to expand your vision. Or not.
The revolution is not eco-elitist. It involves leaving enough slack in the rope for the existing norm to change it’s ways, shift it’s patterns, and apply our growing concerns to new business models. There is certainly a time when a loud and emphatic NO! achieves the best result, but there are also times to invite those who have known no better into the broader realm of discussion and be a part of the paradigm shift.
I actually sat with the global director of Nike last week (yes, he got a chance to hang with Niggy for a day) and learned first hand about the history and the changes implemented in the corporation and it’s factories. A corporation, I might add, that ain’t going out of business anytime soon. What they hope to accomplish, factory-wise, by 2011 is pretty complex and if they are able to do it, it will effect many other brands and how they do business as well. I’m not trying to make them out to be the messiah or anything, I’m simply saying that if you think your cynical analysis as to why I would allow my song to play in that commercial is more their master plan than mine then maybe you’re giving too much power to the corporate entities and too little to the age and times we are living in. Maybe you don’t realize the power of artists and of art.
See, my activism has taken me from sticking my middle finger up at people who think differently than me to engaging in dialogue with those in position to make changes while realizing the power of my/our influence in these discussions. I didn’t go into business with Nike, they went into business with me and now begins the process of them putting their money where my mouth is. We talked about sports camps in inner cities, Africa, India, and Asia. We talked about scholarships. And as stated earlier, yes, we definitely talked about sweat shops and child labor.
I am with you in not trusting the media and the so-called powers that be, but if those powers have made us less than exuberant about being alive, less than imaginative about the change that we might create in our lifetime, less than aware of the fact that the powers of being will always prevail over the powers that be, then you’re already wearing the suit that you have rejected. The uniformity of cynicism that appeals to the intellectual elite, to the do-gooders, and the so-called rebels of our times is bad business for creative prosperity. We need to focus our energy on the creative upliftment of our times. Imagine the best possible results and begin manifesting them.
Measure the conceit of your choices. Are you defined by how much you’ve said No to or by the passion of your Yes? Your choices are your own. Your decisions are your own. Do not surrender the power of your perspective to cliché forms of analysis. We grow and learn, just like mega-corporations. We surrender our lesser practices for new and improved means of achieving our goals. As we raise our standards so does the world around us.
ps: Lose your cynicism. It’s way more powerful than ignorance, simply because it is pointed. If you are amongst us hoping and praying for change, do not invest in the negative “what if” conversations without realizing that you may be feeding that possibility by focused projection."
if youre interested he talks more about it here:
http://grandgood.com/2008/04/05/why-did-nike-do-a-saul-williams-commercial-video/
