Why Grey Poupon's advertising cuts the mustard for rappers
Grey Poupon's vintage ads have made the mustard brand an unlikely favourite among rappers, with everyone from Kanye West to Jay Z and Big Daddy Kane referencing it in their songs.
Until now the origins of the obsession with the Dijon spread have remained a mystery, but a new investigation from Vox media has charted the brand's rise as a pop-culture phenomenon – revealing how the launch of its 80s marketing campaign, 'Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?' contributed to its perception as a luxury brand.
An investigation for the website by Estelle Caswell and Sarah Frostenson details how the brand reportedly noted a 100 per cent jump in sales in some cities after the TV ads for the push, which centred around the affordability of the gourmet mustard. The campaign's tagline then found its way into the US lexicon, and for the first time into a song on the debut album of Brooklyn hip-hop duo Das EFX.
From then on, the rest is history. The report found that the song popped up in hits almost every year from 1992 to 2016 with the biggest spike in mentions occurring 10 years after the mustard's most famous campaign ended.
You can watch Caswell and Frostenson's report in full above.
Some artists have the magic touch when it comes to referencing brands in songs, earlier this year US food chain Red Lobster found itself mentioned in Beyonce's Formation and reported a 33 per cent spike in sales afterwards.