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At the height of his feud, rapper Meek Mill did something interesting.
As we all waited for a reply to diss records issued by his rival Drake, Meek was busy at work. Being a product pitchman. Amount of new Followers music artists on Instagram have attracted over the past year! Image courtesy of NextBigSound.com
Meek took advantage of the attention and his rising follower count on social media, by promoting a tooth whitening product.
It is not a coincidence.
During the week of the battle, Billboard reported that Meek added an extra 377,000 followers to Instagram alone. His other extensions also saw gains in the hundreds of thousands.
Fans may have been disappointed with Meek Mill’s eventual response “Wanna Know” (so is the WWE which sent the rapper a cease-and-desist letter) but there is no way in hell Affordable Look Plus was not pleased with the promotion Meek provided.
Now, the rapper is busy sending traffic to Lids stores in malls around the country so his fans can purchase exclusive Dream Chasers hats.
Meek is not the only artist working hard to monetize his social media extensions. A report on Jezebel.com took a look at various pop icons and the products they are hawking.
Celebrities like Kim Kardashian West, Amber Rose, Blacc Chyna, Vanessa Simmons and Angela Simmons have proven remarkably adept at providing marketing services for various products. Kanye’s wife’s marketing power is so strong, that the FDA recently warned her over promoting a morning after pill.
The FDA warned Kim Kardashian and an associated marketing company, after she posted a favorable message about Diclegis to her 42 million Instagram followers in July. The FDA complained that the since deleted post for the morning sickness drug did not come with the familiar run-on sentences of side effects the drug can cause.
Fortunately, the dustup will only continue to add value to Kardashian and other artists who are looking to cash in on new sources of revenue. For the past year, savvy marketing companies have taken advantage of the millions of followers that various rap stars have amassed.
Teeth whitening products and companies producing the self-balanced scooters have definitely taken advantage of the opportunity. Rappers like Rich Homie Quan (1.9 million) Soulja Boy (1.7 million), Nick Cannon (960k), Lil Kim (857k) and Yung Joc (280k), have turned their Instagram pages into advertising real estate available for sale to marketing companies and brands.
We also did some digging and found that rappers are promoting a myriad of products. Everything from marijuana and liquor to fat burning herbal tea is being pushed by your favorite rap stars. Take a look:
Rich Homie Quan has been promoting Avion in his posts for quite some time.
Iggy has a deal with Bonds underwear Australia to promote their underwear. Dunno about her rap skills, but no one is complaining about this!
Wiz Khalifa stays promoting some Bombay Sapphire.
Ever wonder how the Queen Bee keeps her waist so tiny? Well now, the age-old mystery has been solved.
Riff Raff is catching a check from Monster. They also wrapped a bus for his tour.
Just a post is enough from Snoop Dogg.
Tyga putting in that work for L.A. Gear.
Soulja Boy has taken this a step further. He now has his own line, the Souljaboard.
Game has a new pair of socks. We can’t wait to rock ours when The Documentary 2 drops.
Images courtesy of Instagram
