Kendrick Lamar‘s message-based marketing — or marketing-based messaging, take your pick — is admirable. The hip hop artist from Compton just released his latest collaboration with Reebok, a classic Reebok Ventilator that are slightly mismatched. One shoe has RED on the heel, the other has BLUE. Inside on the tongues, though, both shoes say NEUTRAL. It’s a statement about the Crips and the Bloods in his hometown, where wearing the wrong color in the wrong neighborhood can maybe get you killed.
“Me, I’m just a good kid trying to keep it neutral,” Lamar raps in “Compton State of Mind.” The only problem with the marketing is that gang members are asking: what the hell is Reebok?
Kendrick Lamar’s is looking to help unify gangs with new sneaker collaboration: http://t.co/pcgWn5PM3x via @LiveCivil pic.twitter.com/gKw5JHdmaR
— Karεn Ciѵil (@KarenCivil) July 8, 2015
