 Cup-power obstruction to nonzero degree

Let $M,N$ be closed connected oriented manifolds of the same dimension, and suppose $a^r$ generates the top integral cohomology of $N$. If every class of degree $|a|$ on $M$ has zero rth cup power, every continuous map $f:M\to N$ has mapping degree zero. Indeed, $f^{\ast }(a^r)=(f^{\ast }a{)}^r=0$, and evaluation on the fundamental class gives $\mathrm{deg}f=0$. For $S^2\times S^4\to {\mathbb{CP}}^3$, the degree-two class is a multiple of the sphere class $u$, whose square vanishes.