New research shows that young people are losing trust in people like Jay Z, because they’re ‘not sure what he stands for’ any more. Fair point, kids.
Jay Z recently gave away a load of his music to Samsung mobile users, a move which turned out to be the second least popular celebrity deal of the year according to celeb brand expert Jeetendr Sehdevmillennials, who ran a survey with 1,000 millennials.
These younger consumers apparently prefer to buy products from celebs and brands they think are ‘honest’, and importantly, they also place a high precedent on the companies and A-listers that boast good social goals.
And poor old Jay Z? Well, they have no clue what the rapper stands for these days. So they ain’t buying his music.
World famous Mr Carter actually scored very low in the survey’s ‘trustworthiness’ and ‘honesty’ categories, due in part to the rapper’s apparent core principle being to earn as much money as possible.
Sehdev said: ”[Jay Z's] motivations to just make money can be viewed by this audience as self-centered, even if they may be business savvy. [ ...] We rarely see this true side of him. I believe Jay Z is going to need more exposure of his true self, meaningful partnerships, and true philanthropic efforts to get back into the good books of Millennials.”
Did the ball-busting Samsung contract make him enough money to make up for any damage caused to his image in the eyes of the socially conscious younger generations? Maybe in the short term. But if Jay Z is going to keep his mp3s on the headphones of generations to come, then he needs to realise how important being a real role model is.
While most people know this anyway, record companies and celebrities are slowly finding out the hard way that authenticity and ethics are worth quite a bit more than dollar bills.
See our pick of the top 5 celebrities who are doing some good – for their image, and the world. Jay Z, take note.
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Filed under: Culture, Mind
