7335: Homeowners Ad Targets Homeless…?

What’s with the photo in this online ad? Are they appealing to Charles Manson fans?

7334: Stock Stereotypes 1.

It’s Hard Out Here For A Chimp.

(Search Word: Pimp.)

7333: Seeking Suckers Volunteers.

Check out this actual craigslist ad.

Need pictures taken. Check.
Need logos designed. Check.
Need presentations organized. Check.
Need advertisements built. Check.
Need web site redesigned. Check.
What you’ll never see for your efforts: (pay)Check.

creative check list

Date: 2009-12-07, 1:03PM CST
Reply to: gigs-fwevn-1499196948@craigslist.org


Hello looking for ambitious graphic design intern who wants to knock out some killer resume builders in the next month or two. Prefer a student off from school who wants to work full time and contribute too and run some fantastic projects. Need pictures taken. Need logos designed. Need presentations organized. Need advertisements built. Need web site redesigned. Please send examples of your work. I have a great office in the loop if you want to get out of the house. All of the work can be done off site if you prefer to work from home.

• Location: loop
• Compensation: no pay

7332: Fiddy, Filibuster And F-Word.

Tuesday talk in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• 50 Cent said he wants to team up with Susan Boyle. “Susan Boyle is hot right now. I got to get her on a track, for real. We’d make a hit,” said Fiddy. “She’s got an amazing voice, and together we’d get everyone dancing.” The rapper even wants to hang out with Boyle. “I’d love to take her clubbing, show her around my world. She’d have a great time.” Just keep her away from Tiger Woods.

• Senate Majority Leader Henry Reid compared GOP leaders trying to halt President Obama’s health care plan to past politicians who sought to delay slavery and other movements for equality. “Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all Republicans have come up with is this, ‘Slow down, stop everything, let’s start over,’” said Reid. “You think you’ve heard these same excuses before? You’re right. When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said, ‘Slow down, it’s too early. Let’s wait. Things aren’t bad enough.’ When women spoke up for the right to speak up, they wanted to vote, some insisted, ‘Slow down, there will be a better day to do that. The day isn’t quite right.’ When this body was on the verge of guaranteeing equal civil rights to everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, some senators resorted to the same filibuster threats that we hear today.” Yeah, but the typical Madison Avenue executives make GOP leaders look like amateurs.

• A transgender teen in Florida is suing McDonald’s for allegedly refusing to interview her for a job. One manager even left the student a voicemail stating, “We do not hire faggots.” Nice. Shouldn’t the manager have added, “Would you like some fries with that?”

7331: Putting Diversity In The Game Plan.

From USA TODAY…

Minority coaches gaining traction in football

By Steve Wieberg, USA TODAY

College football is seeing some minority hiring gains.

Virginia on Monday became the third major school in a little more than a week to name an African American as head coach, giving Richmond coach and former UVa defensive coordinator Mike London a five-year contract for $1.7 million a year.

It brings to 12 the number of minority head coaches in the 120-school Football Bowl Subdivision. That’s a record, though the representation is low in a sport in which nearly two-thirds of all players are minorities. African Americans were named last month to lead programs at Western Kentucky (Willie Taggart) and Memphis (Larry Porter).

Ongoing searches could yield more. Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong has talked to Louisville. Buffalo head coach and ex-Nebraska quarterback Turner Gill, who already counts among the 12, is a Kansas target.

Floyd Keith, executive director of the Black Coaches and Administrators, said he’s hopeful of a turning point. “We’ll know at the end of this (hiring and firing) cycle,” he said. “But I don’t think I’ve ever seen the front end of the cycle be this productive.”

Ex-NFL coach Tony Dungy, who is working with the NCAA on the issue, expressed encouragement, though he’s tracking the location of hires as much as the numbers. Randy Shannon of Miami (Fla.) was the only one of 2009’s nine minority coaches in one of the six marquee conferences: Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10 and Southeastern.

Virginia’s London makes a second, and Louisville and/or Kansas could raise the count.

“I’m hoping this is a signal,” Dungy said. “But … the BCS schools, that’s the place we have to look, because that’s where you have a chance to win a national championship.”

7330: Head North.

Came across this Jehovah’s Witnesses pamphlet. Are they suggesting Blacks can end all their suffering by moving to Canada?

7329: Ad Age, Quit Looking Clueless.

Read the Advertising Age editorial below, followed by a MultiCultClassics perspective.

Quit Looking for Offense in Every Single Commercial
An Ad Age Editorial

While the words in this space are usually directed at marketers, we’d like to take an opportunity to talk to all of those out there who often find themselves so offended by ads that they feel a need to launch a crusade. To you we say: “Take a deep breath. Have some perspective.”

The latest March of the Offense Brigade was set into action by Method’s “Shiny Suds” spot. A clear spoof on the old “Scrubbing Bubbles” spot, it shows a woman entering her shower only to find some creepy, leering talking bubbles that have no intention of going away. Many of our readers viewed the spot. Many loved it. Little did they know that while they were getting the warm fuzzies laughing at a clever spot and considering taking civic action for better laws to disclose chemicals in household cleaners, they were actually condoning rape.

That’s right. A spot featuring animated talking bubbles, playing off human nature and making a point about disgusting chemical residue is evidence of “rape culture.”

Marketers are often chastised for being too conservative, for not taking risks in their advertising. But sometimes, it’s easy to see their point. Especially in an age when a blog post and 300 commenters can derail a campaign, maybe it makes sense to play it safe. A spot might upset the homophobic. It might upset men’s rights groups. Conversely, it might run afoul of gay-rights activists or ardent feminists. And God forbid a marketer crosses mommy bloggers.

Of course, there is the occasional marketing effort that is hopelessly clueless and offensive. Marketers, too, have to pay attention to such complaints, no matter how small. They don’t always need to react, but they do need to listen.

In this case, Method was probably right to just pull the spot. After all, rape and sexism aren’t, like gay marriage and sex on TV, issues that can be argued. And a feel-good brand such as Method probably has a large number of consumers who could get, shall we say, overly passionate about such a spot.

But there should be some responsibility on the part of the viewer as well. It’s easy to get upset. It’s easy to take offense. It’s easy to get whipped into a froth of righteous fury when reading topic-specific blogs.

Maybe it’s not so easy to let such perceived slights go. But perhaps if you’re the sort to start letter-writing campaigns and the kind who’s quick with a #fail hashtag on Twitter, you could try to stop spotting offense under every rock. They’re just commercials, after all. You can always change the channel.

There’s something inherently ignorant about this editorial. For those who missed it, first check out the viral video at YouTube.

MultiCultClassics has consistently argued that no one can decide if someone should or should not be offended by something—even in instances where we didn’t personally believe something was offensive. To dismiss the offended ultimately displays insensitivity and arrogance of the highest order.

This video actually plays like a Saturday Night Live commercial parody—or a poor man’s version of one. The frat boy humor is heavy throughout.

And that’s the problem.

For starters, it seems safe to guess that women are the intended targets for the advertiser, as moms make most of the purchase decisions on household cleaning products. So why would Method and Droga5 believe it’s cool to portray a naked young woman being ogled and sexually harassed by dirty bubbles? Um, because Method and Droga5 are comprised of frat boys…?

This remains an issue that our industry refuses to face. That is, practitioners continue to create communications through their personal viewpoints versus the audience’s viewpoint. If Method and Droga5 think it’s funny, the rest of society should respond with raucous guffaws. And if anyone takes offense, fuck you.

For Ad Age to defend the mess by declaring many of their readers loved the spot only demonstrates the publication’s stupidity. Hey, Ad Age editors, you know the industry is culturally clueless, as you continue to report on the lack of diversity. Doesn’t that lead to the possibility that your readers are culturally clueless too?

It’s also really dumb for Ad Age to write, “They’re just commercials, after all. You can always change the channel.” No, people can choose to change the channel when they’re insulted by the network or programming. Commercials are uninvited annoyances that invade our personal space. Viral videos are slightly different, as viewers are enticed to look. But that only makes matters more obscene, especially if your video is patently asinine or offensive.

The worst part is Ad Age thinking audiences should take some responsibility. Shouldn’t the responsibility start with the advertiser and its agency?

Method is lucky to simply remove its inappropriate message from the Web. God forbid the people offended by the video might take a closer look at the culturally clueless advertising executives responsible for its existence. They might discover an industry where disrespect and discrimination toward women and minorities are the norm.

7328: Truth In Advertising Classifieds…?

This actual job listing from Draftfcb is a joke. It opens by claiming the agency is looking for someone to “create memorable TV spots … a craftsman of brilliant, funny broadcast spots who also has a thorough understanding of color and type.” Are the candidates going to be handling their own transfers and supers? Also, when has Draftfcb ever produced memorable, brilliant and funny spots? Then the specifications continue, stating the need for experience with promotions. And print. And interactive. And OOH. And retail merchandising. And you must be fluent in CS. In other words, you’ll be working on broadcast between producing coupon flyers, direct response banners, sales billboards and shelf-talkers.

Senior/ACD Art Director

Description:
Draftfcb Irvine is looking for a Senior/ACD-level art director to create memorable TV spots for global brands. A good eye for detail is essential for this position. You should be someone who understands strategy as well as design, an art director who cares about copy, a properly put together storyboard, and the look of a simple client deck. We’re looking for a craftsman of brilliant, funny broadcast spots who also has a thorough understanding of color and type.

You should have at least eight years of agency experience, with a portfolio that features both good TV and a sharp design sensibility. A promotions/design background would come in handy for this position. You will be working in broadcast and print, as well as interactive, OOH and retail merchandising. Fluency in CS is a must. 



Interested parties should send us their resumes and portfolios.

We offer a competitive salary + a generous benefits package.


7327: Monday Morning Mulligans.

Keeping score with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• At this point, Tiger Woods needs a caddy to keep his scorecard straight. It’s a Who’s Who of Ho’s. If the scenario plays out in typical fashion, Woods will soon be admitted into a treatment center for sex addiction. Hopefully, he won’t have to drive himself to the facility.

• Oprah has invited Tiger Woods to visit her show and tell his side of the story. Then Oprah will confess to having slept with Tiger too.

7326: Seeking Pro-Bono Work From God.

Does God answer craigslist ads? Isn’t it more direct to simply pray for divine assistance—especially when you’re not planning to pay for it?

Sales god? Can you write my sales scripts and marketing lit?

Date: 2009-12-06, 11:27AM CST
Reply to: gigs-m372h-1497512873@craigslist.org

Service organization needs a marketing campaign. Can you write up the plan, scripts and perhaps marketing literature?


Please give me a number and a good time to call you. If you have a resume to share, please send that along. Thanks!

• Location: Chicago area
• It's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
• Compensation: no pay

7325: The White Tigresses.

From The New York Daily News…

Tiger Woods alienates black community with white lovers

The Associated Press

Amid all the headlines generated by Tiger Woods’ troubles — the puzzling car accident, the suggestions of marital turmoil and multiple mistresses — little attention has been given to the race of the women linked with the world’s greatest golfer.

Except in the black community.

When three white women were said to be romantically involved with Woods in addition to his blonde, Swedish wife, blogs, airwaves and barbershops started humming, and Woods’ already tenuous standing among many blacks took a beating.

On the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner radio show, Woods was the butt of jokes all week.

“Thankfully, Tiger, you didn’t marry a black woman. Because if a sister caught you running around with a bunch of white hoochie-mamas,” one parody suggests in song, she would have castrated him.

“The Grinch’s Theme Song” didn’t stop there: “The question everyone in America wants to ask you is, how many white women does one brother waaant?”

As one blogger, Robert Paul Reyes, wrote: “If Tiger Woods had cheated on his gorgeous white wife with black women, the golfing great’s accident would have been barely a blip in the blogosphere.”

The darts reflect blacks’ resistance to interracial romance. They also are a reflection of discomfort with a man who has smashed barriers in one of America’s whitest sports and assumed the mantle of the world’s most famous athlete, once worn by Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan.

But Woods has declined to identify himself as black, and famously chose the term “Cablinasian” (Caucasian, black, Indian and Asian) to describe the racial mixture he inherited from his African-American father and Thai mother.

This vexed some blacks, but it hasn’t stopped them from claiming Woods as one of their own. Or from disapproving of his marriage to Elin Nordegren, despite blacks’ historical fight against white racist opponents of mixed marriage.

On the one hand, Ebonie Johnson Cooper doesn’t care that Tiger Woods’ wife and alleged mistresses are white because Woods is “quote-unquote not really black.”

“But at the same time we still see him as a black man with a white woman, and it makes a difference,” said Johnson Cooper, a 26-year-old African-American from New York City. “There’s just this preservation thing we have among one another. We like to see each other with each other.”

Black women have long felt slighted by the tendency of famous black men to pair with white women, and many have a list of current transgressors at the ready.

“We’ve discussed this for years among black women,” said Denene Millner, author of several books on black relationships. “Why is it when they get to this level … they tend to go directly for the nearest blonde?”

This tendency may be more prominent due to a relative lack of interracial marriages among average blacks. Although a recent Pew poll showed that 94 percent of blacks say it’s all right for blacks and whites to date, a study published this year in Sociological Quarterly showed that blacks are less likely to actually date outside their race than are other groups.

“There is a call for loyalty that is stronger in some ways than in other racial communities,” said the author of the study, George Yancey, a sociology professor at the University of North Texas and author of the book “Just Don’t Marry One.”

The color of one’s companion has long been a major measure of “blackness” — which is a big reason why the biracial Barack Obama was able to fend off early questions about his black authenticity.

“Had Barack had a white wife, I would have thought twice about voting for him,” Johnson Cooper said.

So do Woods’ women say something about the intensely private golfer’s views on race?

“I would like to say no, but I think it garners a bit of a yes,” Johnson Cooper said.

Carmen Van Kerckhove, founder of the race-meets-pop-culture blog Racialicious, said there have been frequent discussions on her site about the fine line between preference and fetish.

“Is there any difference between a white guy with a thing for blondes, and a non-white guy with a thing for blondes?” asked Van Kerckhove, who has a Chinese mother, a Belgian father and a husband born in America to parents from Benin.

She claims that Asians don’t fully embrace Woods, either.

“There are two layers of suspicion toward him,” Van Kerkhove said. “One toward the apparent pattern in the race of his partners, and the second in the way he sees himself. … People have been giving him the side-eye for a while.”

There’s nothing wrong with wanting a mate who shares your culture, as long as it’s for the right reasons, the comedienne Sheryl Underwood said after unleashing a withering Woods monologue on Tom Joyner’s radio show.

“Would we question when a Jewish person wants to marry other Jewish people?” she said in an interview. “It’s not racist. It’s not bigotry. It’s cultural pride.”

“The issue comes in when you choose something white because you think it’s better,” Underwood said. “And then you never date a black woman or a woman of color or you never sample the greatness of the international buffet of human beings. If you never do that, we got a problem.”

7324: King Of Pop Art.

From The New York Post…

King of Pop’s creepy portraits revealed

By Ginger Adams Otis

Thank heaven for little boys.

In a 1999 painting he commissioned, Michael Jackson strikes the same pose as Michelangelo’s statue of David with rippling abs, bulging pecs and smooth, marble-white skin—surrounded by a bevy of male cherubs.

The work, by artist David Nordahl, is just one of hundreds of private portraits the Gloved One ordered up over the years that depict him in an idealized light. They were revealed last week in a book about Jackson’s life.

In the larger-than-life canvases, Jackson emerges as King Arthur, a superhero, even an angel—all drawn to his specifications.

“He thought it was great with a little ‘tongue-in-cheek’ flavor,” said Nordahl of the oil-on-canvas work “Michael.”

The artist painted hundreds of works for Jackson and reportedly earned $150,000 for the larger canvases. Jackson spent millions building up his private collection.

Nordahl made Jackson a Peter Pan-like figure in “The Storyteller” and added his sister Janet to the lower-left foreground in the shape of a fairy.

The paintings can be seen in “Michael Jackson Opus: The Ultimate Celebration of an Icon,” a 250-page tome published this week by Kraken Opus.

7323: More Big, Fat Liars.

Fibbing and falsehoods in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The news that Slim-Fast products have been recalled over contamination concerns made MultiCultClassics realize yet again the bullshit and corruption of manufacturer Unilever. After all, this is the company that tells women to accept themselves and reject the fashion model stereotypes in advertising via the inane Dove Real Beauty campaign. Meanwhile, Unilever encourages folks in India to lighten their skin tones via its Fair and Lovely products. And the hypocrisy comes full circle—and full figure—with the thin ideals glorified by Slim-Fast. The real contamination happens every time Unilever broadcasts more advertising.

• Mayor Russell Wiseman of Arlington, Texas, accused President Obama of being a Muslim, insisting the president’s speech on the war in Afghanistan was deliberately scheduled to block the Christian messages within The Charlie Brown Christmas Special, which was bumped to a later date to accommodate the televised political presentation. Good grief. For the last time, President Obama is not a Muslim. However, we can’t verify the spiritual beliefs of Franklin.

7322: This Is Not Disneyland.

From The Los Angeles Times

Giving tourists a look at gang culture
A group of civic activists is preparing to offer bus tours of some of the grittiest pockets of the city, with profits funneled back into the community. Some of the particulars are raising eyebrows.

By Scott Gold

A group of civic activists, united by faith and a belief that the poor economy in the interior of Los Angeles is a social injustice, is preparing to offer bus tours of some of the grittiest pockets of the city, including decayed public housing, sites of deadly shootouts and streets ravaged by racial unrest.

After a VIP preview last weekend, L.A. Gang Tours expects to open to the public in January, giving tourists a look at the cradle of the nation’s gang culture—the birthplace of many of the city’s gangs, including Crips and Bloods, Florencia 13 and 18th Street.

“This is ground zero for a lot of the bad in this city. It could be ground zero for a lot of the good too,” said Alfred Lomas, a former Florencia member who has become a leading gang intervention worker in South Los Angeles and is spearheading the tours. “This is true community empowerment.”

The nonprofit group plans to offer two-hour tours at an initial cost of $65 per adult, with profits funneled back into the community through jobs, “franchised” tours in new areas and micro-loans to inner-city entrepreneurs. Early routes will focus largely on South L.A., with forays through Watts and Florence-Firestone.

The concept appears to have no equal in L.A.—for good reason, some might argue. It seems to echo, more than anything, the “slum tours” of such sites as India’s Dharavi township and Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. Those operations have been lauded as innovative economic tools and mechanisms for humanizing poverty—and also attacked as exploitative and voyeuristic.

The L.A. tour comes after months of planning, and is offered in a spirit of education and public service. Lomas, who will lead tours at first, plans to talk about important chapters in the development of the city’s core, such as how racist housing restrictions shaped ethnic enclaves and the formation of gangs.

Other aspects may raise eyebrows. Selling shirts painted on the spot by a graffiti “tagger” is one thing. But one backer said he also hopes to stage dance-offs between locals; tourists would pick a winner and fork over a cash prize. It wasn’t long ago that organizers decided against a plan to have kids shoot tourists with water pistols, followed by the sale of T-shirts that read: “I Got Shot in South-Central.”

“It’s going to be fascinating—but really controversial,” said Francisco Ortega, a field staffer with the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission and a respected mediator and neighborhood advisor in South L.A. Ortega said there could be great value in “sensitizing people, connecting them to the reality of what’s on the ground.”

“But the other side is that it could come across like a zoo or something,” Ortega said. “You’re being carted about: ‘Look at that cholo over there!’ It could be perceived as demeaning for the people who are living in these conditions. I don’t know how they’re going to manage those perceptions.”

City Councilwoman Jan Perry said she has offered bus tours of South L.A. herself—but those were for real estate leaders she was trying to persuade to invest in the neighborhood. She said South L.A. could benefit from an effort to demonstrate “the potential of the community.” But she said some aspects of this kind of tourism could go too far.

“It’s not right to put people on display,” she said.

“It depends on their intent and how they balance it,” said Councilman Bernard C. Parks.

Organizers, however, say they’ve been careful to plan tours that are respectful and neither glorify gangs nor exploit the poor.

“What matters to me is that kids get fed and families get help,” Lomas said.

The organization is bolstered by business leaders and gang experts who are contributing start-up capital and advice.

Several are connected to the Dream Center, the L.A. church ministry where Lomas directs a food bank. Lomas credits the organization with helping him to turn his life around.

Kevin Malone, a former Dodgers general manager, sits on the board of the Dream Center’s charitable arm and has become one of Lomas’ chief supporters. Malone said he has become involved in human-rights causes, such as combating human trafficking. He said the possibility of introducing self-sustaining economic development into the city’s poorest neighborhoods is no less of a human rights issue.

“I believe in this,” he said.

Other backers include Ron Noblet, a leading gang expert and an early proponent of using gang intervention to augment traditional police tactics. Noblet dismissed any potential for criticism or controversy.

“There will be a lot of people who will be delighted if he fails,” Noblet said of Lomas. “But there is clarity in the dream.”

Another backer is Terry Jensen, an owner of Seattle-based Duninger Corp., which has subsidiaries in engineering and real estate investment. Jensen is the inventor of the “Jakpak,” a jacket that turns into a tent with a built-in sleeping bag. It was designed for the homeless and communities hit by natural disasters.

Jensen, also a minister, has allowed Lomas to use his accountants and marketers. The team, he said, believes the tours could generate $1 million in profit in the first year, and that it would compete for customers with operators of celebrity-home tours in Hollywood.

“I think this will be a destination tour,” Jensen said. “I think people will come to Los Angeles to take this tour.”

Jensen acknowledged that customers will have to sign a watertight legal waiver. He said that’s why it’s important to spread the word through affected neighborhoods that the tour is coming—and, eventually, generating jobs, grants and loans. For example, Jensen said he’d like to see some early profits send a graffiti “tagger” to art school.

“We all know that the day somebody gets hurt, it’s over,” he said. “We’re counting on the fact that the gangs aren’t going to mess in their own beds.”

There is another reason to spread the gospel: Lomas hopes to use the tours to foster peace on the streets.

In recent weeks, The Times was granted access to a series of “sit-downs”—meetings—seeking understandings between gangs that have historically warred: Florencia, 18th Street and Grape Street, the dominant gang in the Jordan Downs public housing development.

Other gangs are being added to the talks and will shape tour routes down the road. Lomas, for instance, hopes to include the South L.A. bus stop where five children and three adults were shot in gang crossfire last year, but needs the local gangs to sign off, giving him “safe passage.”

One “sit-down” took place in a Jordan Downs apartment that serves as the hub of the small nonprofit empire of Fred “Scorpio” Smith. The 38-year-old Smith said he joined Grape Street when he was 11 and recently completed a 13-year prison term on drug charges. Influential in Jordan Downs, he now runs a charitable organization, including a program for kids who have dropped out or have been kicked out of local schools.

A small group, led by Lomas, went to the apartment seeking approval to run the tour through Jordan Downs. At first, Smith sounded skeptical.

“A tour?” he asked incredulously. “Of the ‘hood?”

Lomas offered to hire two teens from the housing development as part-time tour employees.

“I’m not saying you have to stop shooting each other,” Lomas said. “Just allow me a certain time in the day. … Just let the bus go through.”

“Safe passage is a guarantee,” Smith said.

Lomas and Smith discussed a host of delicate issues: tension between African Americans and Latinos; a recent skirmish between Florencia and Grape Street. They discussed building a phone tree to open new lines of communication between their neighborhoods.

But the long-term goal, Lomas explained, is economic viability.

“People around the world have stereotyped us,” Lomas said. “I’m talking about sustainable change. But it won’t work unless we have unity.”

“The people on the ground doing the work,” Smith replied. “That’s cool. That’d be cool.”

7321: Ending A Tough Workweek.

Working the news with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Three Secret Service agents involved with the party-crashing Salahis have been taken off duty pending further investigation. Also being at least criticized is White House social secretary Desiree Rogers, whose staff traditionally works with the Secret Service to identify people at checkpoints. Apparently, Rogers did not instruct her staff to operate as usual. Let’s hope Rogers doesn’t pop up in yet another photo of the Salahis shaking hands with VIPs.

• General Motors Chairman Ed Whiteacre shifted around some of the honchos trying to lead the automaker towards profitability. Whitacre also challenged employees to take more risks. “We want you to step up. We don’t want any bureaucracy,” claimed Whitacre. “We’re not going to make it if you won’t take a risk and step up and be held accountable for it.” While commenting on the resignation of former CEO Fritz Henderson, Whitacre stated the company was not changing rapidly enough. Let’s see what happens when Whitacre meets the GM advertising agencies that have failed to change on diversity for over 70 years.

• A new study shows younger Americans are more angry than others. The three causes of anger for people under 30 are time pressures, economic hardship and interpersonal conflict at work. Sounds like these slackers should spend more time looking for a decent-paying job.

7320: Calling In A Professional.

The New York Post turned to an expert for input on Tiger Woods’ alleged mistresses: Ashley Dupre.

Ashley sounds off on Tiger sex scandal

By Brian Niemietz and Laura Italiano

Ashley Dupre is teed off at all those Tiger Woods mistresses coming out of the woodwork.

First of all, these gals are taking money and gifts while seeing a high-powered celeb, the infamous escort griped yesterday to The Post. Then, they’re blabbing all about it in exchange for money.

Hey, who’s ho-ing now?

“My case in point,” the call-girl-turned-singer/author/model wrote The Post in a text message yesterday.

“Here you have all these girls accepting gifts, money, trips from Tiger in exchange for sex—all the while knowing he is married.

“And now they all can’t wait to tell their stories in exchange for even more money from the tabloids?

“And I was the hooker? At least I kept my mouth shut.”

It’s not the first time Dupre—the high-priced call girl whose $4,300 tryst with “Client No. 9” led to the political downfall of Gov. Eliot Spitzer—has gone on such a rant.

In September, she also railed against all the women who passed judgment on her, despite their own mercenary relationships with monied men.

“I’m often referred to as the ‘woman who brought down the governor’—excuse me, people, I didn’t call the tabloids,” Dupre said then.

“I didn’t blow the whistle, and I didn’t save ‘the dress,’ “ she wrote, a reference to Monica Lewinsky. “I did nothing to shine a light on my indiscretions or to ‘out’ anyone else.”

Dupre also insisted she has not “cashed in” on the scandal. No reality show, no Playboy spread, no big money deals.

The beauty does say she’s working on a book—but not a tell-all, despite the pleadings of numerous book publishers.

7319: Coke’s Multicultural Vision Lacks Color.

Check out this Adweek report quickly—then read the MultiCultClassics perspective immediately following.

Coke Taps Mutt for Mello Yello
The shop was formed by ex-Wieden staffers

By Noreen O’Leary

Mutt, a Portland, Ore., startup launched by three ex-Wieden + Kennedy execs, has won Coca-Cola’s Mello Yello brand after a review. It could not be determined which other agencies participated in the pitch.

Mutt’s founders are former Wieden executive creative director Steve Luker; creative director Michael McCommon and director of planning and research Scott Cromer.

Mello Yello, a citrus-flavored soft drink, has not been advertised in 17 years. Mutt’s first work is expected in March.

Mutt, which opened its doors on Feb. 14, also works for Paciugo, a Dallas-based gelato chain, and a local architect, Skylab.

“We started in the middle of this recession but there are still so many opportunities in this economic landscape,” said Luker. “Clients are really up for change: Look at Mello Yello taking a chance with a startup. We’re very optimistic.”

At Wieden, Luker worked on Nike in the U.S. and Latin America, Coca Cola, Starbucks and Target; McCommon was on Nike and Electronic Arts; and Cromer led strategy in new business efforts, helping the agency win the Coke, Diet Coke, Heineken and CareerBuilder accounts.

Before Wieden, Luker and McCommon worked together at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, where they relaunched HP after its merger with Compaq. Prior to Goodby, the two teamed up at Hal Riney & Partners on clients like Discovery.com, HP, Sacramento Kings and Saturn.

As the Adweek scribe noted, “It could not be determined which other agencies participated in the pitch.” MultiCultClassics can’t help but wonder if any minority advertising agencies vied for the prize. Given Coca-Cola’s recent admission on the importance of multicultural audiences, you’d think a few Latino, Asian or Black firms would’ve at least received an invite to the pitch. Or maybe the minority shops are expected to play it like Tareq and Michaele Salahi, and simply crash the review.

The scenario also reflects a riddle in Hadji Williams’ post at The Big Tent entitled, “Why Can't Ethnic-Owned Shops Be Agencies of Record?” Williams wrote:

Quick: What do you call five White ad pros starting an agency? A boutique. What do you call five Black ad pros starting an agency? The boutique's Black subcontractor.

In this case, it only took three White ad pros to snag AOR status from Coca-Cola. And the soft drink company has yet to name the startup’s minority subcontractors.

Plus, the winning agency’s principals are alumni of Wieden + Kennedy, Coke’s White advertising agency. You’ll recall the iconic agency’s co-founder exclaimed this classic gem:

“[The issue of diversity] continues to gnaw at me because, like it or not, in this business I essentially hire a bunch of White, middle-class kids, pay them enormous, enormous sums of money to do what? To create messages to the inner-city kids who create the culture the White kids are trying like hell to emulate. But if you go into the inner city, odds are these kids aren’t even going to see advertising as a possibility, as an opportunity for them. Now that’s fucked up.”

Perhaps Coca-Cola did indeed stage a showdown featuring a diverse range of competitors. If so, please disregard the above—although Coke might have benefitted from positive press by publicly announcing such a deed.

On the flip side, if Coca-Cola did not consider a minority shop to lead the account, it certainly takes the fizz out of the company’s alleged commitment to inclusiveness.

7318: Reality Now More Unreal Than Reality TV.

What’s on TV in a MultiCultClassics Monologue.

• Ironically, Tareq and Michaele Salahi declined an invitation to appear at a congressional hearing to explain their uninvited attendance at the state dinner. The couple might soon receive a subpoena. Obviously, their desire to secure roles in a reality TV show is greater than their interest in dealing with reality.

• Speaking of reality TV, has anyone yet offered to create a series starring Tiger Woods’ girlfriends? Possible titles: 1) Tiger’s Kittens; 2) Cattyshack; 3) The Biggest Loser.

• Comcast and General Electric have created a deal that will give the cable operator control over NBC Universal, making Comcast the biggest entertainment company in the U.S. Or the biggest target for Bob Garfield to shoot at.

7317: Transformers Assemble!

The 4As launched a crowdsourcing contest for “transformational ideas” designed to completely change the advertising industry. The winners will receive an opportunity to make a five-minute presentation at the 4A’s Leadership and Media Conference being held February 28–March 3, 2010. MultiCultClassics would love to see someone generate a diversity-related submission. Although trying to deliver a solution in five minutes for something that has remained unsolved for over 70 years is a daunting task. Additionally, we’re presuming one must be able to execute the idea legally and without using weapons of mass destruction.

4A’s Opens Call for Industry “Transformers” to Present at Transformation 2010
Winners Receive Five Minutes on Conference Mainstage to Present Transformational Ideas

Nancy Hill, president-CEO, 4A’s, today announced an open call to the marketing-communications community—and beyond—to submit entries for a chance to present a transformational idea at Transformation 2010, the 4A’s combined Leadership and Media Conference, which will be held February 28–March 3, 2010, at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.

The 4A’s “Transformers” contest is open to anyone working within or outside the advertising industry, and gives winners the chance to offer a five minute presentation on how he or she would transform advertising as we know it. The final number of winners will be determined during judging.

“I’ve always believed that there are many great, transformational ideas out there—often from beyond the C-suite—and many of these ideas don’t see the light of day. I want Transformation 2010 to be a platform for new ideas that come from anyone, from anywhere,” said Hill.

Entries are currently being accepted until January 12, 2010, and may be submitted via any digital format (such as a blog post or YouTube video). Finalists will be judged by the 4A’s Board of Directors, and winners will be announced in February. There is no cost to submit an entry, and the 4A’s will pay roundtrip coach airfare and one-night hotel stay for winning Transformers.

» View program details or apply to be a Transformer

» View information or register for Transformation 2010