What's Up With... Spike Lee and Those Ads for the U.S. Navy?
You probably saw the ad in the June/July issue of Vibe-- right there with So So Def records and Dada footwear, in prime editorial space, between the article on Eightball and MJG, and the "Wipe Out" fashion spread. At first, you might think the ad is for a sexy sci-fi movie, since nine-tenths of it is a picture of a giant, hulking, grey metal vessel right out of Alien, complete with towering antennae and holes that look like air intakes or exhaust vents. But the other one-tenth is a picture of an idealistic-looking young recruit dressed in white, plus some text about developing honor, courage, and commitment.
"Let the journey begin," is the tagline. Now, with all due respect to the Navy's peace-keeping functions (and to the fact that it gave the nice folks at Vibe some bucks to run its ads), two questions should arise in the minds of readers whose favorite MCs are always stressing the importance of seeking truth: A) "Where is this journey to?" and B) "Is anybody gonna suffer once we get there, and why?" Right? 'Cause if we respond to the So So Def ad, all we do is buy the upcoming Jermaine Dupri album. If we respond to the Dada ad, we buy the sneakers and get to look supposedly dope. But if we respond to the Navy ad, we join an armed force and agree to support a military-industrial agenda that, given history, is probably always dangerous to some poor population, somewhere.
Maybe the manufacture of records and sneakers depends on this agenda, and maybe not. Maybe we want records and sneakers at any cost, and maybe not. But this is shit we're thinking about-- especially now that Spike Lee has agreed to use his formidable powers as director/producer/creative director to make a series of commercials for the U.S. Navy. We just read that he's signed up to make six-- and that he's "using hand-held cameras to give the commercials more of a documentary feel."
Um, we don't know about you, but we're feeling kinda mixed about the fact that the master of Malcolm X is working on pseudo-docu-mercials for the U.S. Government....
"Let the journey begin," is the tagline. Now, with all due respect to the Navy's peace-keeping functions (and to the fact that it gave the nice folks at Vibe some bucks to run its ads), two questions should arise in the minds of readers whose favorite MCs are always stressing the importance of seeking truth: A) "Where is this journey to?" and B) "Is anybody gonna suffer once we get there, and why?" Right? 'Cause if we respond to the So So Def ad, all we do is buy the upcoming Jermaine Dupri album. If we respond to the Dada ad, we buy the sneakers and get to look supposedly dope. But if we respond to the Navy ad, we join an armed force and agree to support a military-industrial agenda that, given history, is probably always dangerous to some poor population, somewhere.
Maybe the manufacture of records and sneakers depends on this agenda, and maybe not. Maybe we want records and sneakers at any cost, and maybe not. But this is shit we're thinking about-- especially now that Spike Lee has agreed to use his formidable powers as director/producer/creative director to make a series of commercials for the U.S. Navy. We just read that he's signed up to make six-- and that he's "using hand-held cameras to give the commercials more of a documentary feel."
Um, we don't know about you, but we're feeling kinda mixed about the fact that the master of Malcolm X is working on pseudo-docu-mercials for the U.S. Government....
posted by Lucia Toledo at 8:28 AM
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