The Super Bowl, that global market punctuated by an American football game, is always a powerful talking point, especially thanks to the advertising with which companies compete for the attention of the 202 million viewers watching the event on television this year pursued. In this sea of actors, actresses and singers who pad their bank accounts by appearing in an advertising space for a few seconds (from Ben Affleck's commercial donuts to Beyoncé doing the same with cell phones), this opportunity becomes ever more controversial and increasingly controversial, the unpredictable Kanye West, now known as Ye. And he practically did it himself: with a video he recorded on his cell phone.
Captured in a moving vehicle and in very poor lighting, the American rapper and businessman addresses the public briefly and directly: “Hello everyone, I'm Ye and this is my advertising.” Since we spent all the money on the advertising space , we spent nothing on the ad itself.” The 30-second clip cost zero to record and $7 million to air during the Super Bowl commercial breaks. But if the strategy is surprising, more typical of what has been called guerrilla marketing, a euphemism for “there is no budget,” so is the aim of the video: to announce that all the clothes in the Yeezy clothing line were purchased from him can be accessed on the website for 18.95 euros. A ridiculous price considering one of these products, the Yeezy Pods boots, went on sale in December for $200.
From exclusivity to discounts
West had already announced weeks ago that he wanted to reduce his brand's clothing, statements that, like all his statements, aroused suspicion. We're talking about an artist known for announcing the release of his albums and then postponing them as many times as he wants. In this case, he kept his promise, which coincided with the release of his new album “Vultures,” which he signed with fellow rapper Ty Dolla Sign. But even if the decision is surprising, it is due to a paradigm shift in the strategy of Yeezy, the company that united him with Adidas from 2015 to 2022, the year in which the sports company decided to end the collaboration due to several dissenting votes -Semitic Statements by the artist in public.
Since its beginnings, Yeezy has relied on exclusivity and limited access to its products, especially the sneaker models with which West managed to become an icon of urban fashion, known as streetwear. Each launch became a challenge for those wanting to get their hands on their models, first with limited pairs in physical stores and later with raffles through websites and apps where one could choose to purchase a pair of sneakers. A strategy that, like other brands, fostered a resale market that investment bank TD Cowen estimated at $30 billion worldwide in 2023. A model that sought an almost unattainable status of exclusivity that has lost momentum in recent years due to a saturated market and inflated numbers.
West's decision comes at a time of crisis in the popularity of one of the most influential figures in world music of the last decade. And it may seem like another attempt by the artist to attract attention, or perhaps another example of an increasingly indecisive character. But also if we stick to the data published by him through Instagram, a commercial strategy that has generated 19.3 million dollars (almost 18 million euros) in a single day. In other words, it doesn't matter how removed from reality West seems to think his name is, which attracts attention that turns into money.
A series of disastrous scandals
October 2022 appeared to be the beginning of the end for Kanye West as the King Midas of music and fashion, although in reality his outbursts had begun much earlier. One half of one of the most powerful and influential entertainment couples in years, along with Kim Kardashian, her divorce, which became official that same year, seemed to usher in a never-ending slide in which each piece of news made her doubt even more about her ability to recover as a public figure. . Since then, he has turned the details of custody of his children with Kardashian into headlines and rants on social media. Also in attacks on various partners of his ex-wife, including comedian Pete Davidson, with whom he questioned West's mental health in a counter-statement in the media. But the point of no return seemed to come with the artist's comments on slavery, his questioning of the Black Lives Matter campaign and his anti-Semitic comments.
Two years later, West is still the talk of the town, sometimes portrayed by the media as a jerk of the age of constant attention, but always present in one form or another. This controversy-generating machine covers almost everything: his rudeness to his fans with his constant announcements of new songs that he almost never fulfills, his aesthetic choices (one of the last, a titanium cap for his teeth, which inspired the hoax he did had several teeth removed) or the relationship with his new wife Bianca Censori, over whom many believe he exerts an undue influence, choosing her outfits and allegedly modeling her at will. A spiral of scandals and chaos that, at the moment, may have destroyed Kanye West's credibility as an artist, but not with him as a brand.
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