How to kill a brand, Kanye style (with videos)

September 15, 2009
Posted by Ryan Graves

How to kill a brand, Kanye style (with videos)

Kanye Interupts Taylor Swift

You may be aware that a few nights ago Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift in her VMA victory speech to claim that Beyonce’s video should have one instead. It was one of the most obnoxious acts by a celebrity in recent memory and really seemed to show his true colors. I share these videos for a few reasons, one they are hilarious, but more over I want to show you that a brand can crash and burn in a matter of moments.

Microsoft recently had a huge PR fail when they ran the same ad in two different countries with the only difference being that one ad had a white male and the other had a photo shopped black male. This seems obvious that it was a bad idea but to someone it was a good call. You’re fired sir. Yes, even Microsoft can have a brand ruining moment.

Kanye has a very strong brand in the music industry. His music is revolutionary, his style is unorthodox, and his talent is raw, but he’s not invincible. Any brand can die, and this might be his over the cliff moment, only time will tell.

Later in the show, Beyonce wins an award and completely gives the time back to Taylor Swift to finish her acceptance speech, classy move. This actually makes Kanye look worse because it’s a public display that his actions were unacceptable. Even the person he meant to congratulate said, bad move bro.

Beyonce Helps out Taylor (and makes Kanye look worse)

MTV Shows

Fans obviously hated it

This little edit went up on Kanye’s wikipedia page shortly after the event. It’s obvious that he has enraged a few people with his gestures. (See first paragraph, click for larger view) The page has been since updated.

Kanye then publicly apologizes to Taylor Swift on Leno

The jury is definitely still out on the authenticity of this apology. Either way, his public apology to Taylor and even her mother will get him ‘back in the game’. Leno then asked a very tough question… “what would your mother (who has passed away) say about this?” I give credit to Leno for asking such a tough questions if in fact it wasn’t a staged question. Who knows it may just be a bit of clever ‘brand management’. What do you think?

Kanye Interupts Obama!

And of course people are going to have some fun with it. In this lovely mashup, Kanye interupts Obama during his healthcare reform speech. Well done, I love the web and user created treasures like this.