When do two wrongs make a right? When a huge soft drink corporation looks to obscene pop culture icons and then has to fire them due to angry consumer sentiment.

When Pepsi hired Southern rapper Ludacris as a spokesman in an attempt to appeal to the growing influence of hip-hop culture in mainstream America, public outcry ensued.

Conservative Fox News icon Bill O’Reilly rallied the right-wing masses in an attempt to remove the popular rapper from the soda campaign, and succeeded. Pepsi pulled the advertisements in August, one day after O’Reilly made his case on-air, claiming the company had received complaints from consumers about the rapper’s lyrics that “were deemed offensive and full of sexually profane nuances.”

A disgruntled hip-hop community remained relatively silent on the matter until January, when Pepsi hired the hugely popular and notably vulgar Osbourne family for its Pepsi Twist campaign.

Recognizing Pepsi’s actions as hypocritical, Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network called for a boycott of all Pepsi products, demanded an apology from the corporation and a reinstatement of the Ludacris ad campaign. Simmons also requested a donation by Pepsi of $5 million to The Ludacris Foundation, the rapper’s charity organization that sponsors grants and scholarships for urban renewal and outreach programs for inner-city youth.

The boycott was called off when the two sides reached a compromise Feb. 12. Pepsi agreed to donate $3 million to charities agreed upon by representatives of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, the Ludacris Foundation and Pepsi.

So everyone should be happy now, right?

Wrong.

All sides may be placated, but more attention should be called to the real issue here: The image of the hip-hop community that mainstream America is being fed is offensive, glorifying negative aspects of urban culture with the use of misogynistic and violent themes.

When an artist’s success is based upon songs like “Move Bitch” and “Dis Bitch, Dat Hoe”, it plays directly into the hands of media demagogues like O’Reilly, who judge all hip-hop by what they hear on Clear Channel radio and see on MTV.

Not all hip-hop is negative, obviously. I own two Ludacris albums and even a concert ticket stub from 2001, but his message is not one I personally embrace anymore. After discovering many introspective hip-hop artists with positive messages, Ludacris’ songs seem trite and hollow.

So I don’t blame O’Reilly for calling for the rapper’s removal as a Pepsi spokesman. If all he hears of hip-hop music in the mainstream music market includes Ludacris’ songs with lyrics like “All my women in the house if you chasin’ cash/ And you got some big titties with a matchin’ ass” — can one really blame him for pronouncing it “vile garbage” and “mind poison”?

Unfortunately, the African-American community and the hip-hop community are often looked at as one and the same, and Russell Simmons reinforces that ideal. By that rationale, is Ludacris a good representative of African-Americans as a whole? If one judges by financial success alone, then yes.

Ludacris grew up poor in Atlanta’s College Park area and is now a multi-millionaire, thanks to the embracing of his music by mainstream America. He has obviously overcome incredible odds to reach superstardom.

However, if one views Ludacris as representative of the African-American community based on the messages in his music, then he is an insult to those who have devoted their lives to improving the lives of black Americans.

While Ludacris is giving back to the community through charity, he has sold himself out by playing the thug rapper role in mainstream America. Pepsi’s donation to the Ludacris Foundation may be a handout, but what good will the financial support do for underprivileged children in urban America if their inspirational spokesman advocates violence and misogynism?

Don’t bother boycotting Pepsi. Boycott Ludacris instead.

Megan Hinds is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Leon. She is the arts and entertainment editor of the Daily.