Black Friday came and went a couple of days ago, and honestly, I’m not surprised at the videos I’ve been shown. They show people pushing and shoving to pay money for sale items, often cheaply made outside the United States. I guess that’s an American tradition. But what is a surprise is that among the most popular are the Dr. Dre Beats, which are $300 headphones.
These headphones are ones I see all around my school, Polytechnic High School, and I don’t understand the appeal. Yet there is a visual echo on the streets, at school and usually in photos of celebrities. These magical headphones are made by Dr. Dre.
Who is Dr. Dre? Dr. Dre is a rapper, music producer and now CEO of Beats Electronics. He started in a rap group called N.W.A (please don’t ask me what it stands for) and then branched off and made two albums before founding Aftermath Entertainment, which he is also CEO of.
Dr. Dre makes about $260 million dollars a year. Beats seem to be selling well. But are they any good? CNET gave the most popular headphones two of five stars, pretty shabby for $300 headphones. PCMag.com stated “Beats by Dr. Dre Wireless is a more-than-solid Bluetooth headphone pair for bass lovers, but its price, like its low frequency response, is a bit inflated.”
When compared to other less expensive headphones, the sounds quality seems to be the same or worse. But why do so many people want these so badly that they are willing to risk physical attacks on Black Friday? It must be their star power.
Beat pack the punch of many, many celebrity endorsements. These include Dr Dre, Akon, 50 Cent, The Game , P Diddy, Kanye West, Drake , Chris Brown Ice Cube, Gwen Stefani, Paris Hilton, Dj Khaled, Sean Kingston, OutKast, Young Money, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Trey Songz, Rihanna, Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, Diddy, Drake, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, T-Pain, Wale, Big Tymers, Drake, Nicki Minaj, T-Pain, Tyga, Lil Wayne, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. These are all celebrities that people look up to model after and become. People won’t care what they have to pay to have the same headphones as any of those people. If those headphones’ price rises to $500, sales would be the same. Watching Black Friday in a video and seeing those Beats on the Streets, make a guy wonder if it’s the sound or a celebrity.
