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Various news outlets are reporting today that Reebok has officially dropped Rick Ross, over the controversial "U.O.E.N.O" lyric in which Ross raps about drugging a woman's drink with Molly and having sex with her without knowledge. The severed ties—which you can read about in full from our sister site—appear to be a result (or at least definitely prompted by) a recent protest outside of the Reebok Fifth Avenue Fit Hub.
To refresh, the anti-sexism activist organization UltraViolet picketed the store, and attempted to deliver a petition of signatures but weren't allowed inside. Whether or not you agree with Reebok's decision to can Ross, it is worth noting that gathering up a crowd in New York City can often yield results—or at least garner a ton of publicity for whatever the cause.
Most recently, 27-year-old Allana Maiden and her mother Debbie, a breast cancer survivor, petitioned the Victoria's Secret headquarters in Midtown, asking the retailer to add a line of mastectomy bras to its lineup. Though that has yet to happen, the meeting with the VS head honchos did go pretty well: both women were invited to the Limited HQ in Ohio for meetings with additional employees, and the marketing staff agreed to go on a shopping trip with Allana and her mother to see how difficult buying mastectomy bras can be.
And back in May, ambitious teenager Julia Bluhm protested Seventeen Magazine in front of the Hearst Tower to try to get the magazine to stop airbrushing its models and promote a better body image for younger girls. Julia did meet with the editors of the magazine, and in the following July issue, Editor Ann Shoket acknowledged the concerns and announced the magazine had instituted a Body Peace Treaty.
However, Jezebel was quick to note that "the 'treaty' is basically an eight-point plan to maintain the retouching status quo. Shoket further claims that Seventeen's retouching has never in the past exceeded removing stray hairs or fixing errant folds in fabric—a claim that 84,000 people have already publicly questioned." So even though Julia (and the other 84,000 people who signed the petition) might not have reinvented the magazine's Photoshop policies by any means, they did garner a ton of national media attention to their cause.
And let's not forget when the environmentalist group Teens Turning Green protested the rampant use of cologne spraying at Abercrombie & FItch—a cause we can all probably get behind. To this day, though, those stores still reek.
· Reebok Drops Rick Ross for Rape Lyrics Scandal [Racked]
· Reebok Fit Hub Protested Over Controversial Rick Ross Lyric [Racked NY]
· Updated: Victoria's Secret HQ Petitioned for Mastectomy Bras [Racked NY]