Thursday, June 15, 2006

Cristal Champagne: idiots of the year award

It's already all over the Internets that the head of French champagne company Cristal, Frederic Rouzaud, blew off the hiphop community, which has endlessly promoted his product--for free--in many many rap songs and videos, by describing their love for his brand as "unwanted attention."

I'm gong to credit NahRight on the story, not cause Eskay necessarily had it first, but because according to him, he first floated the idea that Jay-Z should boycott the brand at Club4040. Well, yesterday, Jay sent out a press release stating just that.

Jay-Z Responds to Comments From Champagne Brand Director

NEW YORK, June 14 /PRNewswire/ — In response to comments made by Frederic Rouzaud, the managing director of Louis Roderer Cristal, Jay-Z and his upscale sports lounge, The 40/40 Club, have announced that they will no longer be serving Cristal Champagne and Jay-Z will further help lead the boycott against Cristal Champagne in the world of hip-hop.

Despite loyal patronage by Jay-Z, his clientele, and the entire hip-hop community, Rouzaud said in a special edition of The Economist magazine that the company observes its association with the rap world with "curiosity and serenity." Even though Jay and other rappers continually support the brand by including Cristal in their lyrics, as Jay did in his number 1 hit "Hard Knock Life," Rouzaud has labeled the name-checks as "unwelcome attention."

"It has come to my attention that the managing director of Cristal, Frederic Rouzaud views the ‘hip-hop’ culture as "unwelcome attention." I view his comments as racist and will no longer support any of his products through any of my various brands including The 40/40 Club nor in my personal life," said Jay-Z.


When I first read about this story, I immediately researched whether or not the company was publically traded cause if it was, I was going to enjoy following its sinking numbers. Stupid and arrogant Mr. Rouzand is about to find out that the hiphop world that he just flippantly dismissed is a lot more powerful than he ever could imagine.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

and how belittled did you feel when you found out that they are private and just dont give a fu(k?
poor victim you and all the others, so easy to be upset.

Lois said...

Ha! Like private companies don't care about how much money they make. Just because they're private doesn't mean they don't have investors and other interested parties who expect a certain level of return from the company. So in answer to your question, I didn't feel belittled in the slightest.