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50 Cent Billboard Removed

After the success that Eminem had in his film 8 Mile, a thinly disguised biography of the Detroit rapper, the movie industry was happy to give rapper 50 cent a try. But the billboard for the movie had parents furious in gang-ridden Los Angeles. After numerous complaints, the distributor of Get Rich or Die Tryin' has pulled down the billboard. The billboards show 50 Cent holding a gun in his left hand and a microphone the other.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich wrote to Paramount Pictures urging them to take down the posters. The company said it had taken down one poster near a Los Angeles nursery school, and planned to remove more.

Mr Antonovich sent a letter to Paramount chairman Brad Grey asking him to remove the billboards, starting with one outside a school in Altadena, a suburb north of Los Angeles. "This billboard conveys to the students a disturbing message actively promoting gun violence, criminal behaviour and gang affiliation," he wrote.

Activists in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Hyde Park - an area affected by gang violence - staged a rally earlier in the week calling on Paramount to remove a billboard next to the pre-school. The sign was taken down the next day and a Paramount spokeswoman said more would follow.

Activists staged a rally calling for the billboards to be removed Najee Ali, who organised the protest, welcomed Paramount's response as a "David versus Goliath" victory. "We have a community group going up against a major studio, and they backed down," he said. "So everyone was happy with Paramount Pictures, and we commend them for showing corporate responsibility."

OK, perhaps this was not the most appropriate billboard to have hovering over a nursery school. We can see that. Which just begs the real question: who handed out crack to the marketing team at Paramount? Nursery school kids can't even get in to see the film -- that's just a waste of ad money. At least build a giant billboard that hovers over the target demographic for the film. Geez.

Posted on October 29, 2005

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