Gang Culture

The moving speech made yesterday by the grieving Barbara Reid on the second day of the inquest into the death of her son Jessie James, touched me. Jessie was a boy who clearly did not want to get caught up with the local street gang culture, and it seems that he was murdered for rejecting the gangsters. Should all of us involved in promoting the panto style glamour of this type of street culture not reflect on our promotional tactics? Too many record labels fashion brands on this culture. Game developers blatantly play with elements of criminal activity highlighting a new wave of “gangster uber cool” to help surround a product with a sense of danger.  The yoof market is so difficult to reach these days that the tactics used to generate the oxygen of hype need to anger and outrage the moral majority.  Let’s face it, we have all tried to wind up a complicit religious figure or a reactionary do gooder, but this is an entirely different issue.  By associating this kind of culture with commercial brands that are aimed at young people, criminality and violence appear legitimized.  This is no longer pushing the boundaries, nor is it a plaything of those avant garde advertising creatives, it has become real. It has become the fashion.  Shouldn’t PRs and marketing consultants alike consider the all too frequent consequences of being a la mode?