Got My Vans On Banned: MTV Won't Play Current Pack Video

[Update: See The Pack's Vans Song Magically Unbanned]

Though MTV's probably still running Run-DMC's My Adidas when it suits their fancy, David Bell of SONY BMG who is apparently the Director of Digital Marketing for Zomba Label Group, has stated that MTV will not be running the Pack's video for Got My Vans On in its current form.

I was first alerted to the news by Henry Adaso aka Rizoh of The Rap Up (and 20 or 30 other blogs, I can't keep count), who forwarded an email distributed by Mr. Bell that included multiple links to the video, related pr material and the following statement:

That's right.  MTV asked Bay Area hip hop group The Pack to edit their video AND change the name of their song!  So the video as linked to below will NEVER be seen on MTV.

So I guess they're using the incident to publicize the Pack.

I wrote Mr. Bell asking why MTV didn't want to run the current video and he stated that "MTV said they feel the video is too much of an Ad for Vans sneakers" which seems to be the stock answer to that question.

I can't wait to see the replacement though I have a feeling that it's corporate time from here on out.  Since I've been told by folks I trust that the Pack just did their Vans song cause that's what they were feeling and nobody mentioned their being signed, I'm a little confused by the bio/press release distributed by Bell which states that the Pack's "national debut" album is coming out on Too $hort's Up All Nite Music label and that he found them last summer.

Lots of interesting timeline issues arising for those of us who thought that the Pack just appeared out of nowhere.  We've gone from folks suddenly discovering the Pack to a year long relationship and an unclear signing date with Too $hort.  Then again, there's almost no such thing as an overnight success!

The big issue for me is why didn't they send me a copy of the email?  It's not like I'm hard to find.  Grumble, grumble.

You can peep the video via one of my previous posts on the topic:
Got My Vans On: Summer Single Of The Year?

Update:
Don't miss the comments on this one.  Another great example of smart individuals sharing knowledge.  Plus, I get to participate!

Update 2:
TrendyNation pulled some screenshots from the Got My Vans On video for closer examination.

Comments

[obadiah Washington]

never heard the pack before but the song, "i got my Vans on" sound like the regular dribble that MTV has allowed ever since thier becoming, i mean whats the difference between them and Young Joc. i guess Vans Better sign a chec to MTV, amybe that would get it some air time, hmmm.............

[Rizoh]

"Got my Vans but they loo like sneakers/Got my vans on but they loo like sneakers"

[Rizoh]

Their publicity stunt worked on me. I quickly watched the video (for the first time) right after I heard that it had been banned. I feared that the viideo links might mysteriously disappear from my inbox.

[Clyde Smith]

You mean you didn't watch it on my site?

I'm crushed.

[Rizoh]

LOL! No I didn't. I only read the article. Honestly, I had been resisting the urge to watch the video or even listen to the song, because I suspected that it will tank.

That said, got my vans on but they loo like sneakers.

[Clyde Smith]

It's a catchy line but I think I'll hold out for the Starburys. I'm on a serious budget!

[Chris]

Maybe I'm just misinformed...but has MTV changed their ad policy since Busta's "Pass the Courvoisier," and Nelly's "Air Force One's?"

[Clyde Smith]

Chris, thanks. That point raises much more interesting questions than my reference to My Adidas.

Why didn't I think of that?

Because group mind is more powerful than any individual consciousness!

[Rizoh]

Yeah, my boy and I were talking about it and he brought up Nelly's "Air Force Ones"

Good point

[Clyde Smith]

Actually, Oliver Wang says that MTV had similar issues with Air Force Ones.

http://musicfilter.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!1E13828BC4057369!9028.entry

Did you actually see the vid on MTV? What about Busta's Pass the Courvoisier? [or however it's spelled]

Nelly had a deal with Nike and a shoe out, right? So it was pretty much an ad for him.

Of course, there's also the possiblity that they're establishing new standards.

Once again, the lack of investigative reporting in hip hop may leave us always having an incomplete impression of what the fuck these people are up to.

[Damn, now I'm updating my comments.]

Complex mag on Air Force Ones ban:
MTV refuses to play Nelly's "Air Force Ones" clip.
"Air Force Ones" were the three dirrty words Nelly couldn't say on Music Television. In early 2003, MTV, MTV2, and VH1 banned the "Air Force Ones" video due to excessive product placement. For those MTV die-hards who refused to watch BET, which did show the video, here's what you missed: Nelly and the St. Lunatics perform an impromptu concert after fans interrupt their shopping spree. How did you live without that?

http://www.complex.com/index.php?task=Articles&id=356&issue=1&section=1&PHPSESSID=3a5db7bbef8a3b3173eb02b81d056718

I don't know if they later added the video but it's available on the MTV website.

Also, according to an MTV news article, the song came before the shoe deal:
And Nelly must've known that his homage to Nike's Air Force Ones might land him a shoe deal, which of course it did, with a signature Nelly Nike shoe coming in the fall.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1472393/20030606/index.jhtml?headlines=true

But, it would be worth verifying all this info if someone's really wanting to dig in.

[Eric Arnold]

Wow... as corporate as MTV is, you'd think they'd jump at the chance to air the video. maybe it'll get play at ESPN, which hosts the skater-friendly XGames. Hate to speculate about possible conspiracies (ok, that's a lie; actually, i'll do just that) but if you listen to the song--which was produced independently without any input from Vans, who don't even officially sponsor the group, although i'm told the Pack recently bum-rushed Vans' SoCal offices and came out with boxes of kicks--it says something about "throwing Nikes out the window."

Maybe that's the real issue here; it's not too far-fetched to assume that just maybe Nike is a big MTV client and just maybe the swoosh suits wasn't feeling that line, or the one that touts Vans' low cost, especially since there's already a huge underground buzz on the song -- something like 400,000 hits on MySpace, which qualifies it as a phenomenon--and to give it the mainstream push might put a dent in Nike's bottom line. Anyway, I'm sure corporate America would rather have inner-city kids paying $150 for some plastic-ass Jordans than $35 for some all-canvas sneakers.

It's a bizarre situation, though, because here's a bunch of high school kids just talking about what they do and how they live, all quite innocuously. then when corporate america gets involved, suddenly it's controversial. that's a trip! Um, pass the... Snapple? Hyphy Juice? Kool-Aid?

As for the Too $hort tie-in, i recently spoke with both the Pack--look for the profile in an upcoming issue of Vibe(shameless self-promotion, i know, but somebody's gotta do it) -- and Too $hort.

Apparently, $hort first heard of the group a year and a half ago and helped them sign to Jive (their album is scheduled for October). He thinks they're the future of the hyphy movement (Too $heezy luh's the kids!); also, one of the Pack's fathers' happens to be an old running buddy of his, which he found out after tracking them down. But $hort says he had no input on their music whatsoever; they already had a bunch of songs done by the time he got involved.
-EA

[Clyde Smith]

Eric, thanks as always. I continue to hear really good things about Too $hort and I'm glad to hear additional confirmation of that.

I've been wondering about the Nike issue as well but I imagine most people who would know have stakes in keeping it secret.

"It's a bizarre situation, though, because here's a bunch of high school kids just talking about what they do and how they live, all quite innocuously. then when corporate america gets involved, suddenly it's controversial. that's a trip! Um, pass the... Snapple? Hyphy Juice? Kool-Aid?"

I think multiple forces are converging in this instance.

One is that kids today have grown up in a logo drenched environment to the point where it does seem quite natural to present one's loyalty to a brand in a song. Add that to hip hop's obsession with brands along with the songs that have been mentioned from Run-DMC, Busta & Nelly, and a song like this is pretty much an organic part of a young hip hop artist's life.

The repetition of the "got my vans on" line is partly a stylistic thing happening in hip hop, for example, "everyday i'm hustling" repeated ad infinitum. Since that's also the same kind of thing an advertiser might want to do, it starts to sound like an advertisement.

Corporate Amerika has been quite willing to take any everyday process and find a way to insert a marketing message while making it appear like it's everyday people spreading the word.

Viral ads, word of mouth, blog comments, Amazon reviews, etc. have all been poisoned by this behavior and have created a context where you're quite foolish to give anyone the benefit of the doubt when their artistic output has an obvious product placement, whether due to the artist's own inclinations or actual marketing activity.

Some of the reactions to the Ghetto Big Mac video revealed how deeply that perspective is becoming the norm and it's basically creating a cynical population who are rightly suspicious of more and more sources of information but who don't have any real education in evaluating information sources.

It's pretty fucked up.

[Eric Arnold]

Right. but what seems hypocritical to me is that it's okay for corporations to slam slogans down the throats of our collective consciousness all day e'ey day until we choke like JonBenet Ramsey (oops, sorry, that wasn't funny. my bad!), but when some kids do it on their own and people start feelin' it, all of a sudden it violates some standard.

The fucked up thing is that corporate america likes to bypass parents and go straight for the kids... Look at Micky D's, what if their slogan was "ba da ba ba ba, diabetes, i'm lovin it"?

by the same token, is it even possible these days to watch a major hollywood film without being inundated with hella-obvious product placement? just look at "Cars", which i haven't seen, but has been described as a "two-hour chevron commercial."

But when an independent entity like the Pack flips the script, all of a sudden they get censored?

that's wacker than the solo album by vanilla ice's hype man.
-EA

[Clyde Smith]

Yeah, the JonBenet Ramsey humor is kind of pushing it for this site but you've got a lot of leeway given your contributions!

Great points, um, you wouldn't happen to have a copy of that solo album you mention, would you?

Not that I'd enjoy something like that, it's for research purposes only, uh, cause I'm a researcher!

Yeah, a researcher, that's the ticket.

[jefe]

big deal... the song is catchy but the kids need work... they performed at my school a couple months ago, and they definitely still gotta go thru some artist management... that too short deal sounds iffy as well since my friend (who organized the event they performed at) contacted the group members by text messaging them while they were in their HS English class.

i did buy vans afterwards tho...
LOL

[Rizoh]

No vans for me, I'm going with Starburys.

[Lois]

I'm teeter-tottering on buying some Vans thanks to that video. They just looking like they're having so much fun in 'em! That's too funny about the text msg-ing. And btw, I know someone at Vans p.r. and while they know all about The PacK and have given them free shoes, there is definitely no sponsorship going on.

Note on Marbury's shoe: it's only going to be sold at one chain. Seriously though, if that shoe ever took off, there'd be some major negative consequences for anyone who works in an athletic footwear store. As in, they'd probably be out of a job.

[Eric Arnold]

well, well well... look slike someone's been getting their leg pulled. this just in, from young L of the pack: "its a rumur.. today we just got added to mtv's regular rotation"

so apparently there is no and never was an mtv ban on vans. my question now is, does the david bell email really exist or was this all just a hoax? interesting that neither you nor rizoh have a link to the alleged bell email anywhere.
-EA

[Clyde Smith]

Very funny, Eric, or someone posting as Eric!

No link to an email? I've never seen a link to an email though I can forward the one I received at another address. I'll do that right now. It will be coming from my hiphoplogic at netweed address.

I also wrote david.bell(at)sonybmg.com at the time and received a response.

[Clyde Smith]

Currently their site's still describing it as the "MTV-banned "Vans" video"
http://www.thepackonline.com/

[ninoybrown]

here's a legit update... after spending the most part of my day at work on the siccness forums, i was notified that "vans" was going to premiere on 106 & park. i get home, turn on the idiot box, and around 6:45pm they announce that they were going to premiere the new joint of the day after the commercial break (the song they play right before the break? none other than the "vans" song) so yes, they premiered it on 106 & park yesterday. its even up on their list of videos to vote for on the countdown.

[Clyde Smith]

I think BET played Air Force Ones when MTV wasn't. Maybe "L" got his networks confused.

I wrote Eric back, still haven't heard anything.

[Eric Arnold]

not trying to be funny, guys, just trying to get to the bottom of this situation -- columnists need material like shadow, turf talk and keak need freaks-- I had emailed Young L about the ban, trying to get a comment from him, and about a week later (yesterday) he emailed me back saying there is no ban, that's a rumor, and vans had been added to the mtv rotation. it is possible he got his networks confused and was actually talking about bet, i suppose. anyway, i'm also trying to get a response from david bell and some clarification on mtv's policy. in the meantime, if anyone actually sees the vans video on mtv, let a brotha know.

[Eric Arnold]

So now sony/bmg's david bell is saying mtv added the video and can't comment further because he's not allowed to. all's well that ends well, i suppose, although questions remain about mtv's censorship policy and exactly what its criteria are. hooray for the pack, who have triumphed over adversity and earned the right to tell america to buy $36 canvas sneakers instead of $80 coke white AF Ones. another victory for the little guy, in a way: although the behind-the-scenes corporate shenanagans are a little shady, bottom line semms to be that everyone wants to be down with a winner, and 'Got my vans on" is clearly that. if you have a problem with that, read jeff chang's most recent pbs blog on the subject, then go to payless and make a symbolic statement of protest by buying some cheaper shoes with no anthemic teen-phenom hit behind them.

This just in: common's latest single, "got my birkenstocks on (and they look like sandals)" was banned by BET for promoting "an image that doesn't reflect the bling-bling associated with the ig'nant african-american demographic we prefer to exploit," according to a statement the cable video network released today. In response, Common walked on water, taught a homeless man named Mr. Wendal how to fish, and was crucified by P(ontius) Diddy after being snitched on by Young Jeezy Iscariot for the reported price of 30 silver grill-pieces. No word on Common's resurrection as of yet, although rumors are all over the blogsphere. In a statement made just before vultures ate at his flesh, common said, "I will always love h.e.r." Controversy has arisen as to whether he was referring to hip-hop or alleged prostitute Lil' Mary Magdalen, who recently completed a one-year jail sentence for offering perjured testimony to a Roman tribunal. In related news, Lil' Mary avoided being thrown to the lions by plea-bargaining for a reduced sentence and agreeing to appear on "Project:Runway" during sweeps week.
-EA

I heard that song last night for the first time. I could have thrown up. It is so overly commercial and sound like a strategic move by the VaNS company to get a more hip hop generation buying thier product. ANd moreso the rappers were terrible. This is not real hip hop just a 3 minute long advertisment for ugly ass sneakers.

[tomas]

Of course it's all corporate crap, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is a private corporation, we ARE NOT stockholders and we have no say. ever wonder why your name is spelled in ALL CAPITAL letters on ALL your government documents.
you should.
tomas de san diego
rap is the black hole of music
long live jazz and blues

[yaya_07]

yea mtv just b hatin cuz i got mah vans on and dey lookin like sneakers

[nike shose]

Do you take donations via paypal?

[Clyde Smith]

Donations for what?

[nike dunk sb]

Do you know what is the meaning for ?

[Clyde Smith]

I'm closing the comments on this one.

Thanks for coming by!