OG Nation's Thug Products

Have you heard of OG Nation?

OG Nation was formed to take advantage of the tremendous industry expertise and experience of a talented group of beverage industry professionals and create opportunities through the implementation of an exciting and innovative business plan. The Company aims to become a leader in the beverage industry through the creation, manufacture, distribution, and marketing of non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages as well as snacks under its signature brand. The primary product lines slated for release during the first year of operations are the Atomic Dogg Energy Drink®, OG Premium Malt Liquor™, King Pin Premium Lager Beer, and Thug Snacks.

Since the New York Post called attention to OG Nation's line of "Thug Snacks," the website has been altered, apparently to defuse the controversy. "Thug Snacks" are now harmlessly called "snacks."

Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-Queens) objected to OG Nation's plan to market "Thug Chips."

Former Knick Larry Johnson and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown are engaged in marketing the gang lifestyle to inner-city kids, a peeved Queens lawmaker charged yesterday.

The two are part of O.G. Nation, which markets beverages and snacks branded with names such as "Thug Chips" and "Atomic Dogg."

Council aides claim that in street parlance, "O.G." means "original gangster."

The company is preparing to unleash a wave of thug-themed products to supermarkets in urban areas.

Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-Queens), who has been crusading against the marketing of gang paraphernalia on city streets, today will call on investors to pull out and buyers to stay away.

"They are people trying to exploit our youth," Comrie said.

"It's even more insidious because these are people that work directly with gangs . . . enticing people into thug life and gang life. It makes no sense to me," the lawmaker told The Post.

He said Johnson and Brown's products will end up hurting "generations of people."

"Why would you harm an entire culture just to help a few people" make money? Comrie asked.

OG Nation reacted to the bad PR in The Post.

According to a Company spokesperson of InvestSource, speaking on behalf of OG Nation, "This is the most insidious kind of racism, because it masquerades as piety, when it's really just political grandstanding. Jim Brown has worked tirelessly for decades to give a voice to the disenfranchised, dispossessed and marginalized members of our society. Through his Amer-I-Can Foundation, Jim Brown has crusaded arduously against gang involvement, preaching self-empowerment through education. These people who are accusing him of 'marketing the gang lifestyle' demonstrate their complete ignorance of the cause that he has been championing for so long. What have they been doing to foster greater equality of opportunity in our society?"

"The logic behind these accusations is spurious and the premises are completely unfounded. To suggest that there is a connection between a soft drink can and gang violence is simply willful and deliberate ignorance of the deeper socio-economic divisions that are the root of the problem. OG Nation was formed specifically to contribute to greater equality of opportunity in the commercial arena, and the Company has chosen to market its products to an underserved and marginalized demographic. This article only illustrates some of the perfidious ways that these kinds of disingenuous remarks serve to mask ignorant and bigoted rhetoric, and the Company's commitment to its larger social programme is only reinforced as a consequence."

Wow. OG Nation whipped out that race card with lightning speed in response to being accused of marketing "thug food."

Maybe Atomic Dogg really is an effective product.

Atomic Dogg is a carefully designed and crafted Energy Drink in a huge 16-oz. can. No wings needed here! Atomic Dogg will help you keep your swagger at full capacity!

Give me a break!

I think OG Nation's response to The Post is pure crap.

Of course, it's marketing the thug lifestyle and all that entails.

Why name a product line "Thug Chips" if the intent isn't to capitalize on it? What are "Thug Chips" anyway? What's so "thug" about chips?

"Keep your swagger at full capacity."

Good grief.

In the end, that's racist, in my view. It's irresponsible, not empowering.

If the company's aim is really to "market its products to an underserved and marginalized demographic," maybe it would be a more positive move to name its energy drink "Atomic Taxpayer."

Its "Thug Snacks" could be called "Responsible, Law-abiding Citizen Snacks."

Its the thug appeal in OG Nation's marketing that comes off as bigoted to me, not the accusations of its exploitation and glorification of thug culture.