Wrigley Pops Chris Brown’s Bubble

noah | August 7, 2009 10:00 am
The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company—a.k.a. the people responsible for bringing you Big Red, Juicy Fruit, and other gummy confections—has announced that it’s severed its relationship with pop star Chris Brown, whose top-five song “Forever” was the result of a Doublemint-flavored partnership between the two parties. Wrigley had suspended the ads featuring Brown and the song (one example is above) after Brown was accused of assaulting Rihanna in February; his guilty plea in June was apparently enough for the company to say that it had terminated the relationship outright. Although doesn’t five weeks seem like an awfully long reaction time? Uh oh, I feel my conspiracy hat being placed upon my head! So I have to wonder if Brown was pushed, or if Wrigley just didn’t feel like re-upping his contract; after all, the pop star-bubble gum relationship was disclosed to the public just a little over a year ago. Brown recorded a jingle for the company, and the extended version that became “Forever,” back in February 2008. That’s 18 months! Was Wrigley really planning on dragging out this update of its classic jingles for this long? (And if it was, why haven’t I seen the other two ads in the campaign—the Ne-Yo ad that freshens the Big Red jingle and the Julianne Hough update of the Juicy Fruit song—on TV at all? I know my viewing habits have slacked off this summer, but come on.) And really, does it matter? After all, thanks to a couple from Minnesota, the ancient-by-pop-standards “Forever” is still kicking; it has held its No. 19 on the Hot Digital Tracks chart for the second straight week, and it’s No. 52 on the iTunes Music Store right now. The song’s certainly run its course, no? Wrigley drops Chris Brown after conviction [Reuters] Chris Brown Forever Wrigley Doublemint Commercial [YouTube]
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