Reminding us all of the disheartening (but also discouragingly true) fact that whites have rarely failed to do or say racist things in America, Advertising panel reports today that although radio by country music artist Morgan Wallen has dropped considerably after TMZ posted a video of him shouting racial slander that was recorded by his neighbors, sales of his music apparently more than quadrupled.
And while we vehemently reject the old adage that there is no negative publicity – and specifically categorize “being rightly punished by most right-minded people for shouting racial slanders” as a good example, it seems that “ineffective” advertising does not yet exist. Wallen’s music was quickly released out of iHeart stations and other radio stations shortly after the video was released on February 3, and his record label, Big Loud Records, announced that he was “indefinitely suspended”. But Advertising panel reports that sales of all Wallen’s songs jumped from 5,000 on February 2 to 22,000 after the video was released, suggesting that the incident did little more than raise its profile among certain parts of the country audience.
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Wallen apologized shortly after the video started circulating, raising a question about how long this “indefinite” suspension of the country music establishment is likely to last. On the one hand, both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association condemned Wallen for his comments. On the other hand, well … Music industry executives tend to really I like sales, you know? It’s, like, their whole thing.