Paramount, MTV, Interscope
Records and 50 Cent are coming under fire by a coalition of Los Angeles community
leaders, activists and concerned parents over advertisements for 50 Cent’s
new movie, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’.”
Billboards, posters and other ads depict the best-selling rapper
brandishing two handguns as a promotion for the upcoming film, which is based
loosely around his rise from the streets of Queens, New York to the top of the
music industry.
The ads are also receiving major promotion on the internet,
as the campaign is being served through Google’s targeted affiliate advertising
program.
The boycott is being led by Project Islamic HOPE, The National
Action Network, Justice For Murdered Children, the local NAACP, Stop The Violence
Increase The Peace and Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson.
"Gun violence is one of the leading causes of death for
young black males in South Central Los Angeles and across urban America,”
Najee Ali of Project Islamic HOPE said in a statement. “It’s irresponsible
for Paramount Pictures to promote and market a movie that glorifies carrying
guns.”
According to recently released statistics, there were 379 homicides
in Los Angeles as of Oct. 8, 2005, down from the previous year. But according
to reports, guns were used in 71 percent of murders.
The group is demanding that the ads featuring the rapper brandishing
the weapons be immediately pulled from the marketplace.
“Guns are weapons of mass destruction that are used to
kill people,” Ali continued. “We demand that Paramount Pictures
remove these negative images of death and destruction, images that our young
children are influenced by.”
Representatives
for Paramount were not available at press time.
