5062: Sex, Lies and Text Messages.

Liars and other suspicious characters in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Isuzu is getting out of the U.S. car market. Although the company will continue to focus on its truck line in the states, it could not compete in the car category. Additionally, Joe Isuzu could no longer compete in the liars category, as Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick appears to be assuming a dominant lead.

• Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick made a televised apology, although he technically did not specify what he was apologizing about. The mayor is embroiled in a scandal involving an alleged affair with a staffer and racy text messages. The messages contradict denials of extramarital wrongdoings delivered during a police whistle-blower trial in 2007. Investigators are probably now asking the mayor, “Who’s in your Fave 5?”

• Sears ex-CEO Aylwin Lewis will still get paid through March 2010. In addition to his $1 million annual salary, Lewis will collect health benefits, $1.8 million in restricted shares and more. Looks like Lewis won’t have to shop at Sears or Kmart anytime soon.

• Cable channel RFD-TV is closing in on returning shock jock Don Imus to television. RFD-TV hooked up with Comcast to begin offering televised simulcasts of Imus’ radio show to major cities. Guess it’s one more reason Bob Garfield hates Comcast.

5061: Australia Is Sorry, Mate.

From international news sources…

Australia to Apologize to Aborigines

MOUNT DRUITT, Australia - As a girl, Mari Melito Russell felt out of place. She was darker than the other kids at school, she felt more comfortable in the forest than her suburban home and she had vivid dreams of an Aboriginal woman beckoning her.

At age 24, she learned a shocking truth that helped explain her unease and set her on an agonizing search for an identity snatched away from her the day she was born.

Russell is among thousands of Australian Aborigines who were forcibly removed from their families under policies that lasted for decades until 1970, leaving deep scars on countless lives and the nation’s psyche.

Australia’s government said Wednesday it would formally apologize to the so-called “stolen generations” as the first item of business of the new Parliament, on Feb 13.

The issue has divided Australians for decades, and an apology would be a crucial step toward righting injustices many blame for the marginalized existence of Australia’s original inhabitants — its poorest and most deprived citizens.

“It’s not going to bring back my life,” Russell, 72, told The Associated Press Wednesday at her home on Sydney’s outskirts. “It’s not going to bring back my mum. It’s not going to take away the abuse that I had to endure when I was growing up.”

“But at least it’s a start.”

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, elected last November and whose pledge to apologize overturns a decade of refusals by his predecessor, has ruled out paying compensation. But he says he is determined to help all Aborigines achieve better health, education and living standards.

“This is about getting the symbolic covenant, if you like, between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia right and then moving on,” Rudd said this week.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said Wednesday the apology would “be made on behalf of the Australian government and does not attribute guilt to the current generation of Australian people.”

Her statement reflects the lingering concerns of many Australians that they should not be made responsible for mistakes by their forebears.

[Read the full story here.]

5060: Hello Hill.

Adverganza’s Catharine P. Taylor interviewed new 4As CEO Nancy Hill. Check it out if you haven’t already. Taylor is definitely among the top advertising writers in the blogosphere, so it’s not surprising Hill requested talking with her. Here’s an excerpt:

So anyway, we also touched on the industry’s sorry record when it comes to diversity and how the 4As could do more to make it, well, less white bread. (My words, not hers.) Hill feels many minorities have trouble picturing themselves in the ad industry, which is among the difficulties in making the industry more diverse. “How can we position the industry as attractive to all constituencies?” she asked. “I think that starts before somebody gets out of school.”

Um, that’s a pretty safe and obvious statement. But let’s give Hill a little time to really consider the issues and see if she initiates any legitimately progressive, meaningful and measurable efforts. Although it might be interesting and revealing to view Hill’s personal (and personnel) record on diversity, as she’s held leading roles at major agencies.

Also, someone might ask Hill why she thinks minorities have trouble picturing themselves in the ad industry—that is, what’s wrong with this picture? The school remark is cool for future generations. Yet as MultiCultClassics has repeatedly pointed out, the future generations—by virtue of being inherently more diverse than predecessors—will naturally add culture. The question is, how will the industry address the generations that have been grossly underrepresented?

Most importantly, who’s going to school the current majority on how to change?

5059: Stink Outside The Bun.

Adscam and Adrants have already panned this Taco Bell spot, and rightly so. Additionally, some folks have already noted the stereotypes. But let’s review and rehash it all anyway.

What’s most amazing—besides the realization that the commercial was produced in the 21st century—is the culturally clueless depiction of a mariachi band. The music track, incidentally, feels like it was scored by a monkey band. The cartoonish accents are a nice touch, especially the hollering of the tagline. You can almost picture the creative director at the recording session telling the voiceover talent, “Can you sound more Mexican?”

Taco Bell is constantly attempting to woo Latino customers. This is not the way to do it. In fact, the effort is downright shameful—it’s offensive on nearly every level imaginable.

Draftfcb is responsible for this mess. They should be beaten like a piñata, then fired. Pronto.

5058

5057: Thanks, Marian Salzman.*

The perfect Valentine’s Day gift for wiggers is here.

*Post title explanation is here.

5056: T-Shits.

It looks like Goodby & Silverstein is doing multicultural marketing.

5055: Late-Breaking News.

On Monday, The Washington Post Company’s Washingpost.Newsweek Interactive launched The Root, an online magazine targeting Blacks. The website’s creators are Post Chairman Donald Graham and Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

5054: Changing Lanes And Minds.

Collecting Garbage with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The San Diego Minutemen received a new section of road for cleaning up as part of the Adopt-A-Highway program. Members of the state Latino Legislative caucus worked with highway authorities to make the move, claiming the original designated road section posed safety concerns. The original spot, incidentally, was also near a Border Patrol checkpoint. Of course, the Minutemen are complaining that they shouldn’t have to move. “Caltrans could be violating their own rules of discrimination by revoking our permit,” said a Minuteman. “We’re not going to relinquish it voluntarily.” Guess they don’t like being deported.

• Mickey D’s has flipped its stance about banner ads appearing alongside scantily-clad women on a BET site. “When we learned about our placement there, we worked through our agency to express our concern about the placement of our advertisement on that page of the Web site,” said a McDonald’s spokeswoman. “It was not an appropriate representation for our brand.” Last week, the same spokeswoman originally defended the media placement and said, “We have a responsibility to market to young adults in areas and avenues that make the most sense.” Guess it’s a spokeswoman’s prerogative to change her mind—and media plan.

• British airliner Ryanair sparked controversy with a print ad featuring a scantily-clad schoolgirl hyping back-to-school fares. An advertising watchdog agency condemned the ad and demanded Ryanair never run it again, but the advertiser has indicated it won’t honor the ruling. Guess BET might have a replacement for Mickey D’s.

5053: Whassup.

Not sure what’s going on here. Explanations are welcome.

5052: Dentsuing With Dwyer And Denny.

Andrew Dwyer, Steve Biegel’s lawyer, is apparently not satisfied merely facing off with the Dentsu legal team. He’s also battling bloggers. It’ll be a long time before anyone confuses Dwyer with Denny Crane.

5051

5050: But Wait, There’s More…

We’ve come a long way since Ginsu® knives.

5049: Taxing Tidbits.

A Restful Defense In A MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Wesley Snipes’ defense rested in the tax-evasion trial on Monday, and lawyers are scheduled to deliver closing arguments on Tuesday. “We chose not to call witnesses because there was no need to. The government prosecutors have put on a case that simply does not come close to meeting the standard of its burden of proof,” said Snipes’ lawyer. “It was obvious after we went over the evidence the government presented that we could move on to closing arguments immediately and get a just acquittal for Wesley on all counts listed in the indictment.” Plus, they’ll probably need time to read Snipes’ 600-page closing argument.

• Foxy Brown lost in her bid for early release due to medical conditions involving loss of hearing. Guess the judge wasn’t hearing it.

5048

5047: Hey, Valentine’s Day Is Approaching…

Nice Assassin.

5046: 2nd Annual Job Fairs, 1st Class Efforts.

Adrants and the Business Development Institute are continuing their Diversity in Advertising efforts with two upcoming job fairs in San Francisco and New York. Learn more about the events here.

5045: Revenge Is A Dish At Cracker Barrel…?

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

Retaliation lawsuits under fire
RACE | Court may disallow claims under 1866 Civil Rights statute

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES

Four and a half years ago Matteson resident Hedrick Humphries sued Cracker Barrel restaurant, alleging he was fired from the company’s Bradley site in retaliation for complaints he made about race discrimination.

Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the race discrimination case to decide whether retaliation claims can continue to be brought under one of the country’s oldest federal civil rights laws -- statute 1981 under the 1866 Civil Rights Act.

If the Court disallows retaliation lawsuits, damages would be reduced to victims of racial discrimination, and others would be left without any recourse, contends Humphries’ attorney, Cynthia Hyndman and other civil rights experts.

“Broad protections would be taken away for people who are victims of racial discrimination and retaliation,” Hyndman said.

But Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores argues the statute doesn’t contain specific provisions prohibiting retaliation, so such claims, which have been made under the law for many years, shouldn’t be allowed.

“The case before the Supreme Court seeks clarity in the laws that provide equal protection against retaliation for both employees and employers,” Cracker Barrel said in a released statement.

Humphries, who had worked as an associate manager at Cracker Barrel for nearly three years, alleged he was fired after complaining that an acting general manager at the store was making racist remarks, including saying that a black cook at the restaurant “must be drunk or drugged” because that’s “how they all are.” He also alleged his firing came after he reported to management he was the victim of racially motivated discipline, and complained that the firing of another employee was racially motivated.

Cracker Barrel has denied wrongdoing in the case.

[Read the full story here.]

5044: You’ve Come A Long Way, Maybe.

Adweek published a column by McCann Erickson Chairman Nina DiSesa, which is actually closer to being hype for her soon-to-be-released book, Seducing the Boys Club. Regarding the progress of women in advertising, DiSesa wonders:

It’s 2008. How are we doing?

How many women are creative directors in the large New York agencies?

How many women are running advertising agencies that don’t have their name on the door?

How many women have P&L responsibilities that indicate real control and authority?

Um, you’re doing significantly better than minorities, girlfriend.

Read the column here.

5043: Fall And Rise.

Evolution of Dinosaurs in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• There’s excitement at Sears, as CEO Aylwin Lewis will step down and out on February 2. His interim replacement will be W. Bruce Johnson. “We are entering a new phase in Sears’ evolution as a multi-channel retailer, as reflected by the new operational structure we recently announced, and the board has determined that now is the right time to put in place new leadership to take the company forward,” said Chairman Edward S. Lampert. So far, Lampert could be labeled a multi-channel failure.

• Verizon announced 4Q 2007 earnings rose 3.9 percent. Guess we know where some of Sprint’s 683,000 former customers defected.

• Mickey D’s reported 4Q 2007 profits rose 3 percent. The average citizen’s waistline and blood pressure probably rose significantly higher.

5042: Stretching The Truth?

The choice of pro girls everywhere.

5041

5040: Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting.

Just what they need at hip-hop clubs: more violence.

5039: Works—And Offends—Every Time.

AdAge.com reported on new attempts to sell Colt 45 malt liquor to a young audience. It should be interesting to see the ultimate public responses. On the one hand, malt liquor gained notoriety when targeting low-income minorities—so expect condemnation from community activist groups. However, the true audience has always included young adults, particularly college students. Malt liquor continues to be a cheap, high-octane beverage. But this new campaign integrates comic-book style art, opening the door to accusations of deliberately appealing to under-age drinkers. The brown bag pushes the negative stereotypes associated with urban dwellers, which will undoubtedly fuel protests too. Looks like a no-win scenario for the advertiser and agency.

Challenge: Make Malt Liquor Look Good on Paper
Pabst Uses Icon From Controversial Brand’s Past to Reposition It as Edgy to New Generation of Drinkers

By Jeremy Mullman

CHICAGO -- Talk about a marketing conundrum: Revive Colt 45 malt liquor -- once seen as an exploitative product that preyed on the urban poor -- as an edgy choice for young hipsters.

But Pabst Brewing Co. is trying to do just that, with a campaign from Seattle boutique Cole & Weber. The push uses outdoor, digital and print ads to spread what it calls “The Tales of Colt 45,” graphic-novel-type strips that show young drinkers enjoying alcohol-fueled adventures. And in what might well elicit a wince from those familiar with the brand's history, all the creative appears to be drawn on brown paper bags.

“The brown bag was really the canvas these adventures write themselves on,” said Todd Grant, Cole & Weber’s executive creative director. “We’ve all had those cult adventures, and it’s fun to tell the tales.”

Legal pushback
Of course, the image of malt liquor being carted around in brown bags isn’t universally viewed as benign and fun. Activists and a congressman in Philadelphia successfully pushed for Colt 45 wraps to be taken off a pair of city buses last year, saying the marketing of malt liquor was irresponsible given the rising crime rate there.

“Given our rising epidemic of violence, your promotion of especially dangerous malt liquor is extraordinarily counterproductive,” Rep. Bob Brady (D-Pa.) said at the time. “Through these ads, [the transportation authority] is effectively condoning malt-liquor sales.”

In its late-1980s heyday, when sales topped 2 million barrels annually, Colt 45 was hardly bashful about marketing in poor neighborhoods, where the image of actor Billy Dee Williams and the slogan “Works every time” were often ubiquitous on billboards. Colt 45 contains 6.1% alcohol, making it boozier than most beers (Budweiser, for example, is 5%).

“We really wanted it to be a brand-new thing,” Mr. Grant said. “Whatever baggage they did have … doesn’t exist anymore.”

Neither, it seems, do a lot of the brand’s consumers. Sales have fallen by more than half since the late 1980s, and most of the remaining drinkers are aging.

Graphic libations
To appeal to younger drinkers, Cole & Weber tapped graphic novelist Jim Mahfood (author of the volume “Classic 40 Ounce: Tales From the Brown Bag” and a regular contributor to alternative newsweeklies) to create a series of scenes and stories of young adults enjoying themselves with Colt 45. Most of the creative shows 20-somethings flaunting their oversize cans in social settings such as rooftop parties and dance clubs.

The brand’s ad budget is centered on the New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Los Angeles markets, although it also made national print buys in magazines such as Vice, Fader and Juxtapose.

Mr. Williams is nowhere to be found (Mr. Grant said unsuccessful overtures were made to have him make a cameo in one of the strips), but his signature “Works every time” slogan does appear in most of the work, which some experts said could be problematic. “Anytime you call attention to the [alcoholic] strength of a brand, you’re taking a risk,” said Benj Steinman, editor and publisher of the newsletter Beer Marketer’s Insights. Federal regulations prohibit the use of strength as a selling point for alcoholic beverages.

5038: NASCAR and Race.

Make The Logo Bigger pointed out this latest story on NASCAR and its diversity issues. One thing to consider is the stereotyping associated with NASCAR fans; that is, there’s a perception that they are all a bunch of redneck yahoos. The fan base actually features a broad range of Whites, and most of them are upper- and middle-class suburban families. Not sure, however, if NASCAR has ever probed to see what percentage of its “diverse” White audience could be categorized as biased and racist.

Nascar’s Race Problem

by Melba Newsome

With growth stalled, a multibillion-dollar sports business looks to diversity for a jump start. But some Fortune 500 would-be sponsors fear that supporting minority drivers could set off a rebel yell.

Marc Davis was doing what Nascar drivers do all the time—getting even.

With 10 laps to go in a tight 200-lap race at Hickory Motor Speedway, Davis, then 16 years old, was fighting hard for the win when a rival tapped his rear bumper and sped around him as he tried to recover. On the next lap, Davis repaid the favor by thumping his competitor and causing him to spin out. Both ended up at the back of the pack. For the drivers, this was no big deal. Retaliation is part of the sideshow that gives Nascar its edge. But this episode had an extra element: Davis is black, and his rival, also a teenager, was white.

And Hickory, 50 miles northwest of Charlotte, North Carolina, is Nascar bedrock, America’s oldest continuously operating motor speedway and the hallowed minor-league track where such legends as Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty cut their teeth. It attracts a hardcore following, an overwhelmingly white crowd that was perfectly happy when Nascar was just a backwater redneck sport. So though Davis had already proved his Nascar mettle by winning six races at Hickory that year, his tangling with a white driver caused an uproar among about a hundred fans, who stormed a fence surrounding the track, some of them chanting, “Go home, nigger!” Several were ejected from the stands.

As for Davis? He walked away like a driver from a bad crash, determined not to let the episode dampen his ambition to become one of the best drivers in the history of America’s second-most-watched sport. He had already inked a six-year deal with Joe Gibbs Racing, the powerhouse established by the famed Redskins head coach and run by his son J.D., and home to Nextel Cup Series contenders Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. By the 2007 season, Davis had graduated from the Hickory farm club to the Busch East Series, an East Coast racing circuit known for developing young racers, and finished in the top 10 among more than 70 drivers. When he turns 18 this June, Davis, a daredevil since his elementary-school years, is expected to climb yet one more Nascar rung, bringing him closer to his goal of racing against the likes of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Of the racial incident, Davis’ father and manager, Harry, says, “It is what it is, but I will not allow it to be a roadblock. Our only purpose is to race.”

[Read the full story here.]

5037: Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

Not sure why anyone would find it comforting to have three old men hovering behind your bed. Plus, the doctor appears to be giving new meaning to the term headboard.

5036: Lil News Items.

A Lil MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Lil Wayne got into a lil trouble, as Arizona cops busted him for drug and gun felonies on Friday. After the artist’s tour bus was stopped, a search revealed a pistol, pot, cocaine and ecstasy. In most rapper buses, those features come standard.

• Sylvester Stallone admitted he’s not lil, thanks to human growth hormone usage. “HGH (human growth hormone) is nothing,” said Stallone. “Anyone who calls it a steroid is grossly misinformed. … Testosterone to me is so important for a sense of well-being when you get older. Everyone over 40 years old would be wise to investigate it because it increases the quality of your life. Mark my words. In 10 years it will be over the counter.” Look for Stallone to introduce a chain of Rambo Pharmacies.

• Ex-HarperCollins publisher Judith Regan picked up a lil cash, settling her $100 million defamation lawsuit against Harper’s parent company, News Corporation. Regan charged that her former employer fired her for making anti-Semitic remarks that she denied ever uttering. News Corporation released a statement that read, “After carefully considering the matter, we accept Ms. Regan’s position that she did not say anything that was anti-Semitic in nature, and further believe that Ms. Regan is not anti-Semitic.” While the final settlement was not disclosed, you can bet News Corporation lawyers exclaimed, “Oy Vey!”

5035: Jerry Della Femina Is Sorry.

The New York Post spotlighted a racist and sexist incident involving Madison Avenue icon Jerry Della Femina. Technically, Della Femina appears to be only indirectly responsible in the scenario. But it’s not the first time the man has demonstrated a certain cluelessness. Anyway, read the article below and decide for yourself.

LI NEWSPAPER SLURS BARACK

By SELIM ALGAR and MAGGIE HABERMAN

Adman and Hamptons publisher Jerry Della Femina apologized yesterday for a racist and sexist column in one of his newspapers that mocked Barack Obama with ugly stereotypes.

“It is a horrible column. It was a disaster,” Della Femina told The Post yesterday after one of the Hamptons free weekly papers he publishes, the Independent, offended the black community in the tony Long Island towns.

“There’s no excuse for it and it won’t happen again.”

Della Femina, who co-owns the paper, spoke after columnist Rick Murphy penned his “Low Tidings” humor column about the bitter battle between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, using some of the oldest stereotypes in the book — while accusing the Illinois senator of essentially not being black enough.

The column referred to Obama as “Yo Mama bin Barack” and describes his strategy, in a mocking first-person narrative, as planning to “deny I am black unless I am campaigning in Harlem,” adding, “The truth is I don’t know many black people.”

It said that he was told to “call everyone brother. Blacks, I am told, do this even if their real brothers are mostly in jail,” and said his advisers told him to “talk jive.”

The column also said his plan for beating Clinton was to “bitch-slap that ho … white women, I am told, like that.”

After several complaints to the paper, the column was pulled off the paper’s Web site.

Murphy printed an apology acknowledging that it was “ill-conceived and offense. The Independent, a multicultural employer with a 13-year history of diversity, apologizes for this lapse of judgment.”

Della Femina said he never saw the column before it ran.

He said that the paper had reached out to the local NAACP chapter “and offered them two pages in which they could … just say anything they wanted.”

The Obama campaign declined comment.

Della Femina said Murphy will not be fired.

“We can’t turn our back on the guy, he did something [wrong] … he’s apologizing for it. No one should want to work in a news organization with the thought that if they make a mistake, they’re going to get fired.”

5034: Biegel vs. Dentsu = Bias vs. Bias.

Copywrite, Ink. presented a thoughtful perspective on the Steve Biegel versus Dentsu case, drawing one response that reflects the racism festering in the fiasco.

Here’s the comment:

Anonymous said...

This is the [classic] example of blaming the accuser. Fact: Japanese businessmen go on these excursions regularly. Fact: This guy says he reported it to his boss. Fact: He has witnesses. Let’s see what Weitz says in court. And the employees who were coerced into the bath. Let’s see what they say in court. How many American companies are going to hire this Japanese company now? They are the ones whose credibility is questioned. And will always be questioned, even if they put their multi-million dollar legal machine to work and defeat him with pr spin. What specific claim did they deny anyway?

Let’s face it. The claims are not that unreasonable based on typical Japanese business practices, are they?

Let’s hope Anonymous is not closely associated with Biegel and his attorney. After all, Biegel charges he’s the victim of sexual harassment and discrimination rooted in anti-Semitism. It would be unfortunate to discover the Biegel crew is covertly fighting bias with bias.

Anonymous also compounds cultural cluelessness with corporate cluelessness. Surely the writer doesn’t naïvely believe Madison Avenue honchos have never solicited prostitutes with coworkers. Heaven forbid they might ever frequent Times Square gentlemen’s clubs with clients. No, that sort of perverted activity is exclusive to the mysterious and obscene Japanese businessmen.

As for Americans rejecting Japanese companies, well, let’s consider how Toyota is fast overtaking the U.S. automakers. Perhaps Anonymous is confusing anti-Chinese with anti-Japanese business sentiments. Then again, they probably all look alike to Anonymous.

5033: Politically Correct Advertising?

What’s with the staging for political candidates advertising their commitment to education?


The Black candidate shows up in a predominately White school…


The Indian American candidate meets with a predominately Black group of kids…


The Latino candidate opts not to appear at all, displaying a United Nations classroom…

What’s the lesson to be learned here?

5032: Steve Biegel, Ninja Assassin.

Adweek.com reported on Friday—along with a hardcore Biegel fan—that a judge nixed the Dentsu motion for a summary judgment, allowing the infamous lawsuit to proceed.

Does this mean Steve Biegel struck like a stealthy ninja to seriously wound his evil Japanese nemesis? Has Biegel Ninja aggressively seized the offensive? Will he now move in to deliver the final death blow?

Um, doubt it.

In the end, the judge’s action may actually prolong Biegel’s agony. The man will likely spend many months and major money to inevitably be told his case sucks.

According to Adweek, “Dentsu in court papers claimed Biegel signed a form when he was hired acknowledging the company’s policy against sexual harassment and only complained about alleged harassment one-and-a-half years after the incidents occurred.” Biegel apparently “does not recall” being schooled on Dentsu’s policy. Plus, he’s supposedly clueless about having received the company rulebook.

Yeah, right. A Madison Avenue veteran forgot his agency’s basic policies and procedures. And he didn’t even think to look for them while responding to sexual harassment and anti-Semitic discrimination. Did Biegel join the business yesterday? Was the ex-creative director ever in a managerial or hiring role? No way should a senior-level agency executive be so ignorant. If he was, well, maybe he deserved to be terminated.

Biegel’s starting to resemble Bill Clinton: “I did not have sexual relations with that Prague prostitute.”

Of course, Biegel still has to prove his charges. He’s presented nothing solid so far. Perhaps he’s holding it all back for the grand showdown.

Um, doubt it.

Sorry, Biegel fan. The judge’s decision does not translate to confirmation that your hero has a legitimate case. In fact, we’ll bet the man ultimately slinks off in silence like a ninja—after experiencing zero success battling Dentsu and its legal team.

5031: Sorry Statements.

Adding insult to injuries in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Sprint continues to sprint ahead with corporate restructuring, replacing three key executives—including the Chief Marketing Officer. “Permanent leaders will be named in conjunction with a review of overall strategy and an effort to streamline operations,” said chief executive Daniel Hesse. “I have no predetermined timeframe in filling these positions but plan to act as quickly as possible.” In some areas, the company is apparently not interested in moving at the speed of light.

• Golf Channel Anchor Kelly Tilghman returned to work after her suspension and opened with another formal apology. “I’m Kelly Tilghman. It’s an honor to be with you again,” said the woman. “In a recent live broadcast, I used an inappropriate word that was offensive to many. Over the last two weeks, I’ve taken this time to reflect and truly understand the impact of what I said. While I did not intend to offend anyone, I understand why those words were hurtful. I am terribly sorry for any hurt that I’ve caused. I would like to express my deepest apologies.” Tell it to the fired editor from Golfweek magazine.

• Don Imus is upsetting advertisers with his inappropriate remarks again. This time, the shock jock actually insulted paying sponsor FlatSigned Press, calling their products “cheesy.” The company now charges Imus with hurting their sales, and a $4 million lawsuit has been filed. Additionally, Green Bay cheeseheads are demanding an apology.

5030: Nutcase Closed.

Adweek.com scooped the latest droppings from the Steve Biegel versus Dentsu fiasco. It’s a complex, detailed story with a simple message: Biegel’s legal days are numbered—the clock is ticking like a quickie session with a Prague prostitute.

You don’t need Denny Crane to explain what’s happening here. Biegel’s problem is his arguments and charges are almost purely emotional and subjective. In contrast, Dentsu is building a tight defense, citing facts, legal precedents and hard-to-dispute truths.

Biegel spouts “Sharapova crotch shot” and “slavishly deferential.” Dentsu volleys with “Faragher-Ellerth” and “Policies & Procedures Employee Manual.” Yes, Biegel’s blustering might make for a more entertaining primetime courtroom drama. But real cases involve those nettlesome things called laws.

Right now, Biegel’s as lawless as Xena’s Lucy.

5029

5028: Enter The Dragon.

Not-So-Ancient Chinese Secret: U.S. advertisers will patronize for patrons.

5027: Coffee Breaks, Legal Breaks, Hit The Brakes.

Bitter grinding in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Starbucks is charging a buck and offering free refills in test markets to combat competition from value-driven rivals. The special price is roughly 50 cents less than the regular cost. Wonder if the wild animals in those lame Starbucks commercials will feel offended upon receiving a cheaper gift.

• Busta Rhymes got a sweet deal for pleading guilty to assaulting a former driver and a fan in separate punching incidents. The artist received three years’ probation and 10 days of community service. Plus, he’ll pay about $1,500 for driving while intoxicated with a suspended license. “I just wanted to say that I’m very grateful to the judge. I am very grateful to the system. I believe in the system,” said Rhymes. “It hasn’t failed me personally yet.” Seems like Rhymes beat two people and the system.

• Wesley Snipes may not fare as well as Busta Rhymes. The actor’s tax-evasion trial featured the reading of a letter Snipes sent the IRS in 2006. In the 600-page document, Snipes declared he was a “nonresident alien” and the IRS tricks folks to “terrorize, enslave, rape or pillage” taxpayers. Snipes also warned the government’s “illegal collection action” would lead to “significant personal liability” for the involved officials. Unless the actor can convince the court he actually accidentally sent the script for an upcoming Blade sequel, his next legal tactics are pretty clear: Immediately hire the attorneys for Busta Rhymes and R. Kelly—then use his vampire powers to resurrect the late Johnnie Cochran.

• NFL icon Jim Brown criticized Tiger Woods for not speaking out faster and more forcefully in response to the infamous Kelly Tilghman “lynch” remark. Brown said, “He waited until it was politically correct to come out and he should have come out right away.” Maybe Woods was waiting for Snipes to draft him a 600-page commentary.

• General Motors maintained its sales leadership over Toyota by a measly 3,000 cars in 2007. GM did, however, completely dominate Toyota in the “disrespecting-minority-advertising-agencies” category.

5026: Busting Loose with Busta.

From The New York Post…

BUSTA BUSTS OUT AGAIN

What is it about rapper Busta Rhymes that brings out the dumb in judges?

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Larry Steven yesterday gave Rhymes a no-jail deal in exchange for guilty pleas on a remarkable collections of charges amassed over the last several years—including two assault charges, DWI and driving with a suspended license.

Steven gave Rhymes three years probation and 10 days of community service.

Rhymes even gets to pick his own “community service.” (Wouldn’t celebrity-perp trash-picker-uppers Boy George and Naomi Campbell have loved that deal!)

If this were anyone else, leniency for a couple of misdemeanor assault charges might be understandable.

But this is Busta Rhymes.

• He previously got probation for a ‘99 illegal-weapons charge in New York and a 2004 assault charge in Massachusetts.

• He conspicuously refused to cooperate with Brooklyn DA Joe Hynes in the investigation into the 2006 slaying of Rhymes’ bodyguard, Israel Ramirez. The murder of the father of three remains unsolved.

In a city where the judiciary actually served justice, full cooperation with Hynes would be the minimum requirement for a no-jail plea bargain.

But Judge Steven handed down a sentence even lighter than the no-jail wrist-slap offered by his colleague, Judge Tanya Kennedy, last February.

Kennedy yanked that deal when Rhymes walked out of her court—and was picked up on the suspended-license charge less than 48 hours later. How’s that for respect?

Obviously, Steven learned nothing from the episode.

Still, justice may yet be done.

Rhymes is to be formally sentenced in March—and, under the deal, any violation over the three-year probation period could mean a year in jail for Rhymes on outstanding charges.

The rapper seems an even-money bet to be back in court—but what are the odds that New York’s mush-brained judiciary will do the right thing even then?

Pretty long, we’d guess.

Busta Rhymes is doubtless laughing at New York’s ridiculous bench today.

And who’s to blame him? It’s absurd.

5025: Ad Industry Ignores Diversity Again.

Last Monday in Chicago—while the majority enjoyed the MLK Holiday away from work—crowds braved the bitter cold to check out the PSI Diversity Job Fair at Navy Pier. The website hyped the event as “the first and only Diversity Job Fair selected by the National NAACP, the National Urban League and endorsed by leading national media.” Not sure about the final attendance figures, as this report is based on visiting around 1:00-3:00 pm (the fair officially opened at 10:00 am). But there appeared to be a healthy turnout of employment seekers.

The predominately Black audience, mostly ranging from 25-35 years old, sported formal business attire and hauled bags and briefcases filled with résumés. They stood in lines up to a dozen deep, patiently waiting for the chance to shake hands and briefly connect with representatives from various corporations and service groups. A special area was set up for interviews, and giveaway logo-emblazoned pens were plentiful. While the Marines garnered lukewarm interest, the other booths attracted decent gatherings. The participants included AT&T, Comcast, Aflac, bp, Microtrain and Best Buy.

Conspicuously absent were any advertising agencies. Granted, Chicago is not facing pressure from the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Plus, the local ad community might whine that recent downsizings prohibit active recruiting.

At the same time, it’s unlikely there’s a better and more convenient way to lure minority prospects. Can’t imagine the job fair organizers charged hefty fees to join the extravaganza. After all, admission was free.

On a date designated to celebrate diversity, the advertising industry literally took the day off.

How typical. And stereotypical.

5024

5023: Asian American Accessories.

The Magic of Macy’s Multiculturalism.

5022

5021: On the road to cultural clichés.

Driving along Oriental Avenue…?

5020: Not yet in Oprah’s Book Club.

Just picked up a copy of Madison Avenue and the Color Line: African Americans in the Advertising Industry by Jason Chambers. Will attempt to post a review in the coming weeks. The local Barnes & Noble stocked the title in the African American Studies section versus Marketing and Advertising. In the meantime, you may learn more about the book here and here.

5019: Yahoos in the News.

Punching in and out with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Chuck Norris, Texas Ranger and Mike Huckabee fan, sparked controversy by declaring Republican presidential candidate John McCain is too old to run the White House. Look at the photo above and try to explain why Norris should be taken seriously as a political analyst. Huckabee would be better off partnering with Steven Seagal.

• Various sources reported potential layoffs at Yahoo! One blog claimed the company is seeking to eliminate up to 2,500 jobs, while newspapers estimated figures in the hundreds. Wonder if employees are using Yahoo! hotjobs® or opting for the more popular Monster.com.

5018

5017: The Zen of Asian Advertising.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Concept.

5016: Black Presidents in U.S. History.

From The Los Angeles Times…

A black president? We’ve already had the pleasure

By Joel Stein

A lot of liberals say they’re not supporting Sen. Barack Obama in the presidential primaries because an African-American can’t carry the South in the general election -- which is a liberal’s clever way of saying that he won’t vote for a black person.

But, it seems, they’re wrong. Although Iowa and New Hampshire aren’t in the South, they are full of hicks, which is what rich liberals actually mean when they refer to “the South.”

You have to live among rich liberals to understand what they’re saying. You’ll never believe what they mean by “middle class.” They mean themselves.

America is ready for a black president because we’ve seen them before. Black presidents, in fact, have been our awesomest presidents ever: Morgan Freeman in “Deep Impact” and Dennis Haysbert in “24.” And their approval ratings -- box office grosses and Nielsen ratings, the only approval that matters in the U.S. -- have been huge. The Freeman and Haysbert administrations, which endured Carter-level challenges such as a comet headed toward Earth and working with Kiefer Sutherland, have specifically prepared us for Obama. Like him, they confront without being confrontational. They’re calm, earnest, utterly decent and way, way cooler than white presidents -- which is what I’m sure Joe Biden was trying to say when he called Obama “articulate” and “clean.” If only I had translated for him sooner.

If there is a choice between winning a culture war or a political war, take the cultural one. Sure, the blunt force of the law can make something happen quickly -- unless the law equivocates to make only three-fifths of something happen, or to just not ask and not tell -- but culture affects how people think, which is how real change occurs. You can only send the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Ark., so many times, but Norman Lear can make people see the absurdity of racism every week.

The creators of “24” were totally misguided in their reasoning for casting a black presidential candidate. They thought the threat of his assassination would up the stakes because it might spark a race war. But viewers didn’t care about his race. Haysbert knew by the second season that America was ready to elect a black president because white people would stop him on the street to say they wished he were the real president.

Obama is strikingly similar to Haysbert’s character, President David Palmer: Both were senators, both campaigned in their mid-40s and both deliver JFK-style speeches in a cool, jazz baritone. “I think we both have a similar approach to who and what we believe the president is. Barack doesn’t get angry. He’s pretty level. That’s how I portrayed President Palmer: as a man with control over his emotions and great intelligence,” Haysbert says.

In fact, it’s weird to imagine the two of them in the same room, as they were during a small fundraiser at which Obama pointed him out and said, “I see we have a former president in the room.”

Freeman, another Obama campaign contributor, was born in 1937 and grew up in Mississippi, never thinking we could possibly have a black president. But after 1998’s “Deep Impact,” Freeman says, white people told him, too, that they wished he were really president. “If you think of these roles and how the country reacted, you kind of get the notion that perhaps they could handle it,” he says. In fact, he started to sense that in 1984 -- when Jesse Jackson sought the Democratic nomination, and, more important, when Bill Cosby’s sitcom made him the highest paid entertainer in the country -- that we’d one day have a black president. Maybe one similar to the one he portrayed. “It remains to be seen if Barack Obama would be the same kind of president as Bob whatever-his-name-was,” Freeman says.

It’s not completely insane for America to have tested out, in fiction, the idea of a black commander in chief. Because, really, all presidents are fictional characters. Sure, the president has very tangible effects on some people: soldiers, Iraqis, welfare recipients, guys facing a prison sentence named Scooter.

But for the rest of us, the president primarily influences how we feel about the country. We love Ronald Reagan not just for helping end the Cold War but for smiling like a used-car salesman and convincing us that morning had broken. Haysbert, Freeman and Obama can do that without even smiling.

If you think about it, Barack Obama wouldn’t stand a chance if Geena Davis had been a little more compelling in “Commander in Chief.”

5015: McDisrespect and McMisogyny?

Female problems in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Mickey D’s is catching heat over its online banner ads that have been placed alongside scantily-clad Black women on a BET site. Activist blogger Gina McCauley is asking, “Why are McDonald’s, Nissan, the Army, and the Navy Whoring Out Our Daughters?” McCauley argues, “They’re running an ad for McDonald’s dollar menus next to these Black women sporting G-strings, and they would not be running these ads on … men’s sites featuring white women. … Any company that is running an ad on that site is helping to fund the dissemination of those images. I know that if these were white women, McDonald’s would not be running ads on this page.” Mickey D’s, however, doesn’t see a problem. A spokesperson said, “Different demographics and different audiences want to be communicated to in different ways, and we believe the content reaches the young adult audience that it is intended to reach.” Guess we can look for Ronald McDonald to make an appearance in the next Girls Gone Wild video.

• An online poll from Women’s Day magazine and AOL Body showed if given the choice between having Jennifer Aniston’s body or being a millionaire, three out of four American women would grab the loot. Mickey D’s probably hopes the majority of American women are fat-assed Dollar Menunaires.

5014: Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Ads.

MultiCultClassics has a dream that someday MLK ads will add more character to their content.


Celebrate the dream on a new mattress.


Delta covers Dr. King and diversity in a single message.


This ad snaps, crackles and pops with metaphors and symbolism.


bp: beyond patronizing.


Did GM work with a minority agency to produce this ad? Regardless, you can make a donation here now.

5013: A Man on the Street.

The New York Times presents A Man on the Street—a collection of public art images featuring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from across the nation, photographed by Camilo José Vergara. View the slideshow here.

5012: The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday.

From The King Center…

The Meaning of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

By Coretta Scott King

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday celebrates the life and legacy of a man who brought hope and healing to America. We commemorate as well the timeless values he taught us through his example -- the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service that so radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership. On this holiday, we commemorate the universal, unconditional love, forgiveness and nonviolence that empowered his revolutionary spirit.

We commemorate Dr. King’s inspiring words, because his voice and his vision filled a great void in our nation, and answered our collective longing to become a country that truly lived by its noblest principles. Yet, Dr. King knew that it wasn’t enough just to talk the talk, that he had to walk the walk for his words to be credible. And so we commemorate on this holiday the man of action, who put his life on the line for freedom and justice every day, the man who braved threats and jail and beatings and who ultimately paid the highest price to make democracy a reality for all Americans.

The King Holiday honors the life and contributions of America’s greatest champion of racial justice and equality, the leader who not only dreamed of a color-blind society, but who also led a movement that achieved historic reforms to help make it a reality.

On this day we commemorate Dr. King’s great dream of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace and reconciliation; a nation that has a place at the table for children of every race and room at the inn for every needy child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to honor, but to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance and interracial sister and brotherhood he so compellingly expressed in his great dream for America.

It is a day of interracial and intercultural cooperation and sharing. No other day of the year brings so many peoples from different cultural backgrounds together in such a vibrant spirit of brother and sisterhood. Whether you are African-American, Hispanic or Native American, whether you are Caucasian or Asian-American, you are part of the great dream Martin Luther King, Jr. had for America. This is not a black holiday; it is a peoples’ holiday. And it is the young people of all races and religions who hold the keys to the fulfillment of his dream.

We commemorate on this holiday the ecumenical leader and visionary who embraced the unity of all faiths in love and truth. And though we take patriotic pride that Dr. King was an American, on this holiday we must also commemorate the global leader who inspired nonviolent liberation movements around the world. Indeed, on this day, programs commemorating my husband’s birthday are being observed in more than 100 nations.

The King Holiday celebrates Dr. King’s global vision of the world house, a world whose people and nations had triumphed over poverty, racism, war and violence. The holiday celebrates his vision of ecumenical solidarity, his insistence that all faiths had something meaningful to contribute to building the beloved community.

The holiday commemorates America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence -- the man who taught by his example that nonviolent action is the most powerful, revolutionary force for social change available to oppressed people in their struggles for liberation.

This holiday honors the courage of a man who endured harassment, threats and beatings, and even bombings. We commemorate the man who went to jail 29 times to achieve freedom for others, and who knew he would pay the ultimate price for his leadership, but kept on marching and protesting and organizing anyway.

Every King Holiday has been a national “teach-in” on the values of nonviolence, including unconditional love, tolerance, forgiveness and reconciliation, which are so desperately-needed to unify America. It is a day of intensive education and training in Martin’s philosophy and methods of nonviolent social change and conflict-reconciliation. The holiday provides a unique opportunity to teach young people to fight evil, not people, to get in the habit of asking themselves, “what is the most loving way I can resolve this conflict?”

On the King Holiday, young people learn about the power of unconditional love even for one’s adversaries as a way to fight injustice and defuse violent disputes. It is a time to show them the power of forgiveness in the healing process at the interpersonal as well as international levels.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is not only for celebration and remembrance, education and tribute, but above all a day of service. All across America on the holiday, his followers perform service in hospitals and shelters and prisons and wherever people need some help. It is a day of volunteering to feed the hungry, rehabilitate housing, tutoring those who can’t read, mentoring at-risk youngsters, consoling the broken-hearted and a thousand other projects for building the beloved community of his dream.

Dr. King once said that we all have to decide whether we “will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.” Life’s most persistent and nagging question, he said, is “What are you doing for others?” He would quote Mark 9:35, the scripture in which Jesus of Nazareth tells James and John “…whosoever will be great among you shall be your servant; and whosoever among you will be the first shall be the servant of all.” And when Martin talked about the end of his mortal life in one of his last sermons, on February 4, 1968 in the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church, even then he lifted up the value of service as the hallmark of a full life. “I’d like somebody to mention on that day Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to give his life serving others,” he said. “I want you to say on that day, that I did try in my life…to love and serve humanity.”

We call you to commemorate this holiday by making your personal commitment to serve humanity with the vibrant spirit of unconditional love that was his greatest strength, and which empowered all of the great victories of his leadership. And with our hearts open to this spirit of unconditional love, we can indeed achieve the Beloved Community of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream.

May we who follow Martin now pledge to serve humanity, promote his teachings and carry forward his legacy into the 21st Century.

5011: Ad Age Multicultural Agency of the Year.

From AdAge.com…

Pop Culture With a Twist
Multicultural Agency of the Year: Grupo Gallegos

By Laurel Wentz

Grupo Gallegos figures out how to interpret popular-culture icons such as the pink Energizer Bunny, Fruit of the Loom’s fruit guys and “Got milk?” for Hispanic consumers who didn't grow up with them -- and wins creative awards doing it, along with more sales for its clients.

“The key thing is ensuring you keep the same personality and DNA as the general market and find ways you can make them part of Hispanic culture,” says Esther Soto-Schwartz, Grupo Gallegos director-planning and research.

That approach led to the award-winning Hispanic “Toma leche” (“Have some milk”) campaign that captures the quirky humor of “Got milk?” but reverses the English-language campaign’s concept of being deprived of milk in favor of rampant consumption in fictitious towns where people drink nothing but milk. They have bones so strong that they're unharmed in a place where gravity comes and goes, their fantasies are fulfilled in soporific milk-induced dreams, and their dazzling teeth are bared in happy smiles no matter what disaster strikes.

“We made the creative decision that milk deprivation is not humorous to the Hispanic consumer,” says Steve James, executive director of the California Milk Processor Board. “Grupo’s spots are quirky, witty and humorous. Before Grupo, [our ads] were very earnest. Now, the general market and Hispanic are more in alignment in tone.”

And milk sales to Hispanics have stopped sliding.

Contender from the start
In addition to generating the best creative in the U.S. Hispanic market, the agency is stepping into a challenging and strategic role as a change agent for marketers trying to succeed with Latino consumers, and its growth never dips below double digits. Superlative creative and exponential growth -- 25% in 2007 -- have made Grupo Gallegos a contender for Advertising Age Multicultural Agency of the Year almost since the independent agency opened in Long Beach, Calif., seven years ago.

[Read the full story here.]

5010: The Family That Plays Together…

Family Time ain’t what it used to be.

5009: Fat Rapper, Fat Company, Fat Lip.

Biggie and Small News in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Eminem has reportedly ballooned to 200 pounds, and Slim-Fast has offered to sign him up as a spokesman. “Slim-Fast would love to offer Eminem … assistance to help him become a potential success story,” said a company official. “Slim-Fast is a program that can really work for someone like Eminem.” The rapper will probably opt to use steroids instead.

• Sears announced plans to reorganize into a mess of independently run businesses, each with its own honchos and operating goals. “We are introducing an organizational structure that provides operating businesses with greater control, authority and autonomy,” said the retailer in a prepared statement. “Each operating business unit will have a designated leader and an advisory group comprised of senior Sears Holdings executives to provide direction and oversee the business unit’s performance.” So consumers will now have a greater selection of Sears businesses to ignore.

• Four witnesses are backing a man’s story that Diddy beat him up at a post-Oscars Hollywood party last year. Attorneys for Diddy insisted the lawsuit is “completely baseless” and filed court papers stating the artist is “in no way legally responsible for what happened to [the alleged victim].” We’ll likely see Oscar-worthy performances before this case is over.

5008: Diverse Results for Diversity Training.

From The Washington Post…

----------------------------------

Most Diversity Training Ineffective, Study Finds

By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer

Most diversity training efforts at American companies are ineffective and even counterproductive in increasing the number of women and minorities in managerial positions, according to an analysis that turns decades of conventional wisdom, government policy and court rulings on their head.

A comprehensive review of 31 years of data from 830 mid-size to large U.S. workplaces found that the kind of diversity training exercises offered at most firms were followed by a 7.5 percent drop in the number of women in management. The number of black, female managers fell by 10 percent, and the number of black men in top positions fell by 12 percent. Similar effects were seen for Latinos and Asians.

The analysis did not find that all diversity training is useless. Rather, it showed that mandatory programs -- often undertaken mainly with an eye to avoiding liability in discrimination lawsuits -- were the problem. When diversity training is voluntary and undertaken to advance a company’s business goals, it was associated with increased diversity in management.

The origins of diversity training trace back to the civil rights movement and the belief that education, sensitivity and awareness are key to reducing discrimination. While many companies have embraced such training as a way to make workplaces more inclusive and to cater to an increasingly diverse customer base, trainers and researchers note that other companies use “sensitivity training” superficially -- as a cosmetic response to complaints from internal and external critics.

Today, U.S. businesses spend from $200 million to $300 million a year on diversity training, but the new study is one of the first attempts to systematically analyze its impact. What it found is that programs work best when they are voluntary and focus on specific organizational skills, such as establishing mentoring relationships and giving women and minorities a chance to prove their worth in high-profile roles.

“When attendance is voluntary, diversity training is followed by an increase in managerial diversity,” said Alexandra Kalev, a sociologist at the University of Arizona, who led the research. “Most employers, however, force their managers and workers to go through training, and this is the least effective option in terms of increasing diversity. … Forcing people to go through training creates a backlash against diversity.”

[Read the full story here.]

5007: American Apparel on Immigration.

From the New York Times…

--------------------------

Politics Wrapped in a Clothing Ad

By LOUISE STORY

IT is not often that a clothing advertisement includes the words “apartheid” and “purgatory” along with a quote from President Bush, but American Apparel has always been different from other consumer brand companies.

The clothing company, known for its tight-fitting jersey T-shirts and brazen attitude, regularly runs advertisements showing scantily clad young people, photographed by the company’s founder and chief executive, Dov Charney, that some critics say border on the pornographic.

In a new series of ads, American Apparel is moving in a political direction. The cause is immigration reform, and the ads say in part that the status quo “amounts to an apartheid system” and should be overhauled to create a legal path for undocumented workers to gain citizenship in the United States.

The black-and-white quarter-page advertisements show American Apparel employees of Guatemalan origin — fully clothed. The ads have run in newspapers like The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times over the last month. Like the company’s usual sexually charged ads for T-shirts and leggings, the political ad bears the imprint of Mr. Charney, himself an immigrant from Canada.

“These people don’t have freedom of mobility, they’re living in the shadows,” he said in an interview. “This is at the core of my company, at the core of my soul.”

[Read the full story here.]

5006: Historic Calls and Hang-Ups.

Making the calls with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Super Bowl will mark another milestone as Mike Carey becomes the first Black head official in history. Carey has worked as an official for 18 years and has been a Super Bowl alternate, but was never named the referee. Refs are often accused of being blind. Looks like NFL officials are moving toward being colorblind too.

• Sprint officially announced plans to cut 4,000 workers and shut down 125 retail stores in response to customer defections. The cell phone company lost 683,000 customers in 4Q 2007. Wow, people were dropping Sprint at the speed of light.

5005: Hip Hop High.

From The Los Angeles Times…

----------------------------------

Students get a last chance – rap
Hip Hop High counters a neighborhood culture of extreme violence and poverty with respect, attention and the chance to make music.

By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Jennifer Murphy knows tough schools. She has been cursed at and threatened, has broken up fights and confiscated weapons. Still, she looks slightly queasy as she sits in her glass-walled principal’s office, staring at a huge flat-screen monitor.

A videotape is playing. It shows a teenage girl standing outside the main office of Murphy’s school. The girl glances around furtively, then hoists herself onto a counter and slides through a pass-through window, into the office.

Murphy freezes the image, then rewinds it. The girl goes through the motions in reverse, hopping down, backing away. Murphy does this repeatedly, forwarding, reversing, forwarding again, as if willing the sequence to change. It doesn’t. The girl makes the same bad decision each time.

It is not yet 10 a.m., the beginning of the school day at Media Arts Academy, a charter school in Hawthorne that calls itself Hip Hop High and exemplifies, in some ways, the promise and the challenges of the charter school movement.

It is a place where failing students get a second chance. Media Arts showers them with attention, treats them with respect, offers plenty of independence and, along the way, gives them the opportunity to lay down their own hip-hop beats and raps.

Some days, it all works beautifully. Today is not going to be one of those days.

Murphy minimizes the video image, which was recorded earlier that morning. She stands, a tall, striking woman whose long red hair glides down the back of a black leather jacket. An ankle tattoo is visible.

Behind her is a cabinet, which has been rifled. Cash has been taken. The girl on the surveillance tape is the sole suspect.

“I’m going to have to talk to her,” Murphy says.

I am really friendly

I wonder if I’ll make it to my 40s.

I hear gunshots

I see myself lying on the floor

I want world peace

-- Maria Olmedo

12th grade

Media Arts was founded in 2004 and endured a couple of years of dreadful academic performance before turning a corner last year under Murphy’s leadership. Its Academic Performance Index score shot in one year from 386 -- about as low as a school can go -- to 537.

That is still extremely low, more than 150 points below the state average and 15 points below nearby Leuzinger High School, a regular public school in Lawndale. Not a single student at Media Arts scored at the advanced level in any subject included in state standardized tests. In math, not one was even judged proficient.

On the plus side, few schools have achieved such strong growth in a single year.

This year, Media Arts formed an alliance with a Minnesota school, the High School for Recording Arts, founded in 1996 by rapper David “TC” Ellis, whose career was nurtured by the rock star Prince. The idea, he said, was to provide “experiential education” built around something that urban kids loved, hip-hop music. Now Media Arts is using some of Ellis’ ideas to motivate students through music.

“A lot of these kids wouldn’t even be in school if it wasn’t for a place like this,” Ellis said on a visit for the opening day of the school year. “Traditional schools are losing, like, half their kids. It works for some, but not for a lot of them.”

[Read the full story here.]

5004: Steve Biegel the Slave?

Advertising Age reported on the latest drama involving Steve Biegel versus Dentsu. Biegel had been ordered to present more support for his sexual harassment and discrimination charges (see Essay 4961). In the newest filing, Biegel blasted the Dentsu culture as “slavishly deferential” to agency leaders.

Ah yes, Evil Japanese Overlord Toyo Shigeta ruled with an iron fist, subjecting minions to excruciating cruelty.

Um, not buying it.

Sorry, Steve, but slaves don’t make six-figure salaries.

When two Indonesian housekeepers recently testified against their Long Island bosses—successfully arguing they were modern-day slaves—the women were not seeking million-dollar payments.

It’s possible the prostitutes working at the infamous Prague whorehouse were slaves.

New Jersey legislators are considering officially apologizing for slavery, but it’s unlikely Biegel will be included in the gesture.

No, lifetime Madison Avenue executives are not slaves. And they shouldn’t toss around the term to sensationalize court documents.

Then again, watching this case unfold is starting to feel like torture.

5003

There’s nothing original in this ad.

5002: Golfweek Magazine Is Sorry.

Golfweek magazine apologized for its cover featuring a noose (see Essay 4998). Plus, the publication replaced the editor responsible for running the image.

“We apologize for creating this graphic cover that received extreme negative reaction from consumers, subscribers and advertisers across the country,” said the Turnstile Publishing Company president. “We were trying to convey the controversial issues with a strong and provocative graphic image. It is now obvious that the overall reaction to our cover deeply offended many people. For that, we are deeply apologetic.”

It is now obvious? Wow, talk about reinforcing all the stereotypes regarding the exclusivity of golf.

The article posted at Essay 4998 certainly hinted at Golfweek’s cultural cluelessness. The dumped editor claimed “he checked with Black staff members before making the decision.” Now that was undoubtedly a pleasant exchange. It would be interesting to learn if the Black staffers were on the editorial board or mailroom personnel.

The magazine also originally wrote, “…the Golf Channel, Comcast and the PGA Tour expect a highly paid and high-profile personality such as [Kelly] Tilghman to have the presence of mind, experience and intellect to know the difference between clever and offensive. Tilghman didn’t.”

Apparently, neither did Golfweek.

Finally, if the publication decided it was appropriate to oust its editor, should anyone consider Rev. Al Sharpton’s contention that Tilghman should be terminated too?

5001: Mickey D’s Report Cards and Failing Ad Shops.

Flunking out with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Mickey D’s decided to drop its sponsorship of school report cards in Seminole County, Florida, following criticism from the public and advocacy groups. The fast feeder was part of a program that rewarded good grades with free Happy Meals. But protestors argued it was a really bad idea given the rise in child obesity. McDonald’s officials announced the company withdrew from the program “because we believe the focus should be on the importance of a good education. …McDonald’s, not the school district, will cover the cost to reprint the report-card jackets …[and] remove our trademarks.” The director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood expressed her happiness by saying, “In the absence of needed government regulation to protect schoolchildren from predatory companies like McDonald’s, the burden is on parents to be vigilant about exploitative marketing aimed at children.” Hey, most of the parents are probably too busy filling their faces with Big Macs and Fries.

• One of Mickey D’s advertising agencies, Leo Burnett, dumped 30 workers—approximately 2 percent of its staff—in a corporate restructuring. Restructuring seems to be the new code word for downsizing.

• Chicago Sun-Times advertising columnist Lewis Lazare speculated about the happenings at DDB, McDonald’s other ad agency. Lazare reported that the new CEO might be maneuvering to replace the current creative leader at the agency. DDB also let staffers go recently. Wonder if they’ll rename severance as “restructuring payment.”

Essay 5000

Essay 4999

Dupri, Diddy. Diddy, Dupri.

Essay 4998

From Newsday.com…

-------------------------

Golfweek’s noose cover re-sparks controversy

BY NEIL BEST

Just when it seemed as if the controversy over host Kelly Tilghman’s recent comments on the Golf Channel was fading, Golfweek magazine this week revived it with a cover that shocked the golf community and appalled much of it.

Beside the headline, “Caught in a Noose,” the magazine pictured a swinging noose, a reference to Tilghman’s joking suggestion that young golfers faced with the specter of Tiger Woods “lynch him in a back alley.”

Tilghman made that remark Jan. 4. Newsday reported it four days later, and one day after that, she was suspended for two weeks. She is due back next week for the Buick Invitational.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem harshly criticized the magazine Thursday in USA Today. He deemed “imagery of a swinging noose on its cover to be outrageous and irresponsible. It smacks of tabloid journalism. It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion.”

Bob Combs, the Tour’s senior VP of communications, and other staff members met with editors from Golfweek Thursday at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.

Combs said the meeting had been scheduled for weeks and was not arranged because of the cover. He said the subject did come up but would not characterize the discussion. He said Finchem’s comments in USA Today are “reflective of the PGA Tour view.”

Golfweek editor Dave Seanor did not return calls seeking comment. He told USA Today, “Was it an arresting image? Yes, it was. We chose it because it was an image we thought would draw attention to an issue we thought deserved some intelligent dialogue.”

Seanor told the Orlando Sentinel he checked with black staff members before making the decision. “For this story, that’s the image that comes to everybody’s mind is a noose,” he said.

The magazine devoted three articles to the topic, including an editorial asserting the newsworthiness of the story, writing that “the Golf Channel, Comcast and the PGA Tour expect a highly paid and high-profile personality such as Tilghman to have the presence of mind, experience and intellect to know the difference between clever and offensive. Tilghman didn’t.”

There were two articles on Tilghman in Golf World, Golfweek’s main competitor.

Golf World’s cover story this week? “The Tragedy of Bill Spiller: The story of one man’s battle to break the color line.”

NBCSports.com removed its link to Golfweek because of the controversial cover.

Dan Higgins, a spokesman for the Golf Channel, declined to comment on the cover but said e-mails from viewers generally have been more supportive for Tilghman since the suspension was announced.

Woods is a friend of Tilghman’s, and his agent last week declared the matter a “non-issue.”

Combs said of Tilghman, “A lot of the players and staff of the PGA Tour have gotten to know Kelly, and it was clear to us that although her comments were very unfortunate, they were in no way intentional or malicious.”

Essay 4997

A light MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The new CEO at Sprint announced his intention to fire thousands of employees for cost-cutting efficiencies. Talk about moving at the speed of light. Sprint ahead—to the unemployment office.

• Foxy Brown filed a request to be released from prison early “due to her emergency medical condition relating to her progressively deteriorating hearing loss.” Plus, the rapper insists she’s a reformed woman. Wonder if the judge will buy these declarations. Sounds like in addition to growing deaf, Foxy’s getting dumb too.

Essay 4996

From The New York Times…

-----------------------

Revising a Name, but Not a Familiar Slogan

By DOUGLAS QUENQUA

MORE than 35 years after its debut, the slogan for the United Negro College Fund, “A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste,” remains one of the most recognized in American advertising history.

The years, however, have not been as kind to the organization’s name, which has gradually become a source of alienation to the very people the group aims to serve. And while the fund is not prepared to drop the word “Negro” from its name, it plans to try to shift attention away from it.

A branding effort being introduced Thursday will seek to play down the full name and instead highlight the nonprofit’s initials, U.N.C.F. An updated logo will seek to communicate the changing direction of the group while putting renewed emphasis on the well-known slogan.

“Forty-plus years ago, when I started at Morehouse, I thought of myself as a Negro,” said Michael L. Lomax, U.N.C.F.’s president and chief executive, referring to the historically black college. “By the time I graduated in 1968, I was black. And then in the last 15 to 20 years I’ve become an African-American.”

The nomenclature issue is a decades-old predicament for U.N.C.F., which has long struggled to keep up with younger generations of African-Americans without abandoning nearly 70 years of hard-won brand equity.

“We want to hold on to our heritage, but we also want to find a way to say who we are that speaks directly and positively to a younger generation,” Mr. Lomax said. “I think we’ve found a happy medium.”

[Read the full story here.]

Essay 4995

On the cover of the February 2008 issue of VIBE magazine, Mary J. Blige asks, “What you know ‘bout me?”

Um, is that question directed at folks conducting the latest steroids investigation?

Essay 4994

Essay 4993

Yo hey, I’m a shitty ad.

Essay 4992

(Cartoon from The Chicago Sun-Times.)

Nutcase closed in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Senator Larry Craig received help from the ACLU, as the organization filed a brief citing a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that states folks having sex in closed public toilet stalls “have a reasonable expectation of privacy.” The 38-year-old ruling means prosecutors can’t prove the senator was inviting the cop to engage in public sex. The ACLU contends that even if Craig was initiating naughty behavior, his actions were not criminal. Look for Craig to celebrate with a private party at the nearest airport men’s room.

• O.J. Simpson watched his bail amount double as a judge reprimanded him for violating the terms of his original bail. “I don’t know, Mr. Simpson, what the heck you were thinking—or maybe that’s the problem—you weren’t,” declared the judge. “I don’t know if it’s just arrogance. I don’t know if it’s ignorance. But you’ve been locked up at the Clark County Detention Center since Friday because of arrogance or ignorance—or both.” It could have been worse for Simpson—he could have been locked up at the airport toilet stall with Senator Larry Craig.

Essay 4991

The good folks at Adrants reveal that at least one blog visitor believes the model in the Lenscrafters ad on the left bears a resemblance to Barack Obama. MultiCultClassics presents a crude Photoshop® rendering to clearly illustrate:

1. Our industry is far from being colorblind—but may be totally blind.

2. There are many people out there in dire need of the services of Lenscrafters.

To quote the advertiser’s tagline, open your eyes.

Essay 4990

Bill Green alerted MultiCultClassics that General Motors invested in Coskata, an Illinois company developing ethanol from “crop wastes, wood chips, scrap plastic, rubber and even municipal garbage.” The big news inspired another parody ad…

Essay 4989

Essay 4988

This ad is pretty whitebread.

Essay 4987

If Gerry Graf leaves TBWA\Chiat\Day and brings along his Grady Wilson banner, will Saatchi & Saatchi count it toward the agency’s minority hiring goals?

Essay 4986

Insanity pleas in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The latest celebrities being investigated for steroid use include Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and Wyclef Jean. The probe is taking place in upstate New York, and authorities have no evidence the celebrities violated any drug laws. Hey, it’s pretty rare when hip-hop stars haven’t violated any drug laws.

• Wesley Snipes presented the names of over 70 potential character witnesses during the first day of his tax fraud and conspiracy trial on Monday. He’s probably prepared to pay each of them for their support with all the loot he collected via tax evasion over the years.

• R. Kelly made a brief court appearance, listening to a judge deny the prosecution’s attempt to admit the testimony of a forensic and developmental pediatrician. The witness would have provided an opinion regarding the alleged victim’s denial of being a victim. The judge had previously nixed the witness’ testimony, but the prosecutors tried again. Not sure there will anything left to discuss when the trial actually takes place in May.

• O.J. Simpson is bragging he’ll be out of jail by midweek. Plus, when heading to prison last week, Simpson allegedly told pals, “It’s OK. I’ll spend five days in the slammer. Who cares?” Good question.

Essay 4985

Essay 4984

The creatives responsible for this ad aren’t even qualified to be clowns.

Essay 4983

Designing With Diapers, Part 2. (See Part 1 here.)

Essay 4982

Essay 4981

YARIS | bangin’ clubbin’ borin’

Essay 4980

From the January 14, 2008 issue of Newsweek.

Essay 4979

At Advertising Age’s The Big Tent, Alberto J. Ferrer commented on the recent Advertising Age story presented in Essay 4929. Check out Ferrer’s perspective here.

Essay 4978

Slow news day in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Can’t help but wonder what’s really going through President Bush’s head while dealing with foreign cultures. Then again, he often appears equally uncomfortable when coping with American culture.

• O.J. Simpson left a nasty voicemail message with a bail bondsman, which led to the man’s latest trip to jail. And the bail bondsman believes someone working for Ron Goldman learned about the message and ultimately prompted him to forward it to the Clark County D.A.’s Office. The bail bondsman said, “I believe [the person who called and threatened to tell authorities about the voicemail message is] working for the Goldman family. He was asking a lot of specific questions.” But Goldman insisted he knew nothing about it. “I’d like to tell you that is accurate but I don't think it’s true,” said Goldman. “I wish, but unfortunately, no.” Simpson probably wants to leave a nasty voicemail for Goldman. And vice versa.

Essay 4977

Great. Even cartoon animals diss the advertising business.

Essay 4976

Ciroc awarded Diddy the title of Brand Manager, with control over marketing, advertising, promotions and more. Based on this ad, the vodka maker should revoke Diddy’s creative director responsibilities.

Essay 4975

Taking out the trash in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Minutemen anti-illegal immigration group joined California’s Adopt-A-Road program, taking responsibility for cleaning a 2-mile stretch of highway. The deal comes with the right to post signs identifying themselves at two points on the road. “We’ll be out there in dorky-looking vests, hard hats and goggles, picking up trash,” said a group official. Don’t they realize it’ll be much easier to hire some undocumented workers to do the job for them?

• DMX has an IOU for $1.5 million. The rapper lost a defamation suit brought by the mother of his love child. The mess started when DMX told Sister 2 Sister magazine that he was sexually assaulted during a one-night stand in 2003 that led to the pregnancy. Looks like the woman wound up financially assaulting him.

• Toyota may beat General Motors as Earth’s biggest automaker, a title GM has owned for 76 years. GM has not yet released its international sales figures. The automaker has, however, released lots of employees in recent years.

Essay 4974

From The Politico via CBS News…

-------------------------------

Racial Tensions Roil Democratic Race
Comments From Clintons On Obama, MLK Jr., Have Infuriated Some African Americans

By Ben Smith

A series of comments from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, her husband, and her supporters are spurring a racial backlash and adding a divisive edge to the presidential primary as the candidates head south to heavily African-American South Carolina.

The comments, which ranged from the New York senator appearing to diminish the role of Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights movement - an aide later said she misspoke - to Bill Clinton dismissing Sen. Barack Obama’s image in the media as a “fairy tale” - generated outrage on black radio, black blogs and cable television. And now they've drawn the attention of prominent African-American politicians.

“A cross-section of voters are alarmed at the tenor of some of these statements,” said Obama spokeswoman Candice Tolliver, who said that Clinton would have to decide whether she owed anyone an apology.

“There’s a groundswell of reaction to these comments - and not just these latest comments but really a pattern, or a series of comments that we’ve heard for several months,” she said. “Folks are beginning to wonder: Is this really an isolated situation or is there something bigger behind all of this?”

Clinton supporters responded to that suggestion with their own outrage.

“To say that there is a pattern of racist comments coming out of the Hillary campaign is ridiculous,” said Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. “All of the world knows the commitment of President Clinton and Sen. Clinton to civil rights issues - and not only the commitment in terms of words but in terms of deeds.”

Referring to the King quote, Sheila Jackson Lee, another Clinton supporter, said Clinton was trying to contrast King and Obama, not to diminish King: “It really is a question of focusing on the suggestion that you can inspire without deeds - what is well known to the child who studies Dr. King in school is that yes, he spoke, but he also moved people to action.”

But other black Clinton supporters found themselves wincing at the Clintons’ words, if not questioning their intent.

[Read the full story here.]

Essay 4973

The talent in this ad probably want to talk with their agents.

Essay 4972

If you’re in downtown Indianapolis, check out the Eiteljorg Museum.

Essay 4971

Overreaction of the Week: Officials at the Tiergarten Nuernberg Zoo in Germany separated the baby polar bear pictured above from its mother because they feared she might harm the cub. Would the concern have been different if it was a Black bear?

Essay 4970

There’s a blog worth checking out: CultureLab.

The blog is the work of a research and ad agency based in Texas that specializes in youth and young adult audiences.

Essay 4969

Liars, liars in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The New York Knicks are taking heat for a commercial campaign depicting fans gushing over the team. Seems the “fans” are fake—they’re just actors. Not sure what the problem is. It’s not like the Knicks are real NBA players.

• Marion Jones was sentenced to six months in prison plus 800 hours of community service for lying about her steroid use. The Knicks will probably ask her to appear in their commercial campaign.

• The IRS claims Wesley Snipes owes taxes on $38 million. Additionally, the actor allegedly tried to get fraudulent refunds totaling $11.3 million. Have any of the newspaper reports run with the headline H&R Black? Just wondering.

• O.J. Simpson is back in jail for bail violation. Note to O.J.: Don’t ask Wesley Snipes to bail you out.

• A mid-level employee for Ace Hardware apparently made innocent-yet-incorrect ledger book entries leading to a $152 million accounting error. The employee is no longer with the company. He’s probably working as Wesley Snipes’ accountant.

Essay 4968

Hadji Williams putts a perspective on the Kellynch Tilghman fiasco. Check it out here.

Essay 4967

From The Associated Press…

------------------------------------

Anchorwoman Suspended For Lynching Comment
Al Sharpton Has Called On Golf Channel To Fire Tilghman

HONOLULU — Golf Channel suspended anchor Kelly Tilghman for two weeks on Wednesday for saying last week that young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should “lynch him in a back alley.”

Tilghman was laughing during the exchange Friday with analyst Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and Woods’ agent at IMG said he didn’t think there was any ill intent.

But the comments became prevalent on news shows Wednesday, and the Rev. Al Sharpton joined the fray by demanding she be fired immediately. Golf Channel didn’t know who would replace Tilghman in the booth this week at the Sony Open or next week at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

“There is simply no place on our network for offensive language like this,” Golf Channel said in a statement.

Tilghman became golf’s first female anchor last year when the PGA Tour signed a 15-year deal in which Golf Channel broadcasts the first three events of the year, weekday coverage of all tour events, and full coverage of the Fall Series and opposite-field events.

The suspension ends in time for the Buick Invitational on Jan. 24, when Woods will make his 2008 debut.

Faldo and Tilghman were discussing young players who could challenge the world's No. 1 player toward the end of Friday’s broadcast at Kapalua when Faldo suggested that “to take Tiger on, maybe they should just gang up for a while.”

“Lynch him in a back alley,” Tilghman replied.

“While we believe that Kelly’s choice of words was inadvertent and that she did not intend them in an offensive manner, the words were hurtful and grossly inappropriate,” Golf Channel said in its statement. “Consequently, we have decided to suspend Kelly for two weeks, effective immediately.”

Woods and Tilghman have known each other 12 years. She was picked to host a club demonstration with Woods in south Florida when he talked about new products from Nike Golf.

Tilghman was helped when Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at IMG, said it was a non-issue and considered the matter “case closed.”

“Tiger and Kelly are friends, and Tiger has a great deal of respect for Kelly,” Steinberg said Tuesday night in a statement released by Golf Channel. “Regardless of the choice of words used, we know unequivocally that there was no ill-intent in her comments.”

Tilghman had said in a previous statement she apologized directly to Woods, and the immediate support from Woods’ camp was critical.

After Woods won the 1997 Masters at age 21 to become its youngest champion, Fuzzy Zoeller referred to him as “that little boy,” and suggested that Woods not serve fried chicken or collard greens, “or whatever the hell they serve,” at the Champions Dinner.

Woods, who had a different management team in his first full season, did not respond for three days to Zoeller’s apology, and it took Zoeller years to recover from the fallout.

Tilghman’s comment made the rounds Wednesday on TV shows such as CNN’s Headline News, and it was prominently discussed on blogs and message boards on the Internet. It also was a topic on the practice range at the Sony Open.

“I’m sure Kelly wishes she never said that,” Jim Furyk said. “I haven’t spoken with Tiger, but I’ve been told that they’ve had their talk and they’ve discussed it. Anything I say is kind of just like pouring salt in the wound at this point. Obviously, she would love to not have said that and for it not to be news. I’m glad that her and Tiger spoke.”

Fred Funk only heard about the comment Wednesday morning.

“There was no ill intent at all,” he said. “I think it was just a slip, and they said that Tiger has already forgiven her. I think when you’re in the TV tower for that many hours, you’re going to wish you didn’t say some things probably, and that was one thing that slipped out. I think you’ve got to give them a little grace.

“Her integrity, how Kelly is respected out here, is pretty good. I think Tiger really likes Kelly, so that helped squash it. Because Tiger could have run off with that if he took it the wrong way. But he didn’t, so that was good.”

Before her suspension was announced, Sharpton spoke earlier on CNN’s “Prime News” and continued to push for her firing, saying he wanted to meet with Golf Channel because the comments were “an insult to all blacks.”

“Lynching is not murder in general, it’s not assault in general,” Sharpton said. “It’s a specific racial term that this women should be held accountable for. What she said is racist. Whether she’s a racist … is immaterial. She’s a broadcaster. The channel has to be accountable to the public.”

Essay 4966

Essay 4965

How to stay in the black. Belt.

Essay 4964

Creativity revealed the crazy kids at TBWA\Chiat\Day have a banner in the agency depicting Grady Wilson of Sanford and Son fame. It makes sense. After all, this is the shop that revamped Uncle Ben as a corporate chairman. Maybe they’ll integrate CEO Grady as the honcho of a waste management empire that he took over when his partner Fred joined Elizabeth following The Big One. Or perhaps they’ll position the image as a peace offering to the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Good goobly goop.

Essay 4963

Essay 4962

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Essay 4961

Dirty business in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Adweek reported the latest happenings regarding Steven Biegel and Dentsu. While the judge denied Dentsu’s motion to dismiss, Biegel was given until January 17 to offer greater details to support his charges. This could be categorized as calling his buff.

• Senator Larry Craig continues to fight his guilty conviction stemming from the infamous toilet stall incident. Craig’s lawyer’s argued in a brief that the act wasn’t illegal because it did not involve multiple victims, and the law “requires that the conduct at issue have a tendency to alarm or anger ‘others.’ … Appellant’s alleged conduct in this case affected only a single individual—[the arresting officer] Sergeant Karsnia. It did not—and could not affect ‘others’ as the disorderly conduct statute requires, and therefore, does not satisfy that element of the statute.” Um, what about alarming, angering and affecting Craig’s wife and about 99 percent of the American public?

Essay 4960

A few blogs have already picked up on the Whopper FREAKOUT! (Ghetto Version 2.0). Whatever. The creative force responsible, asathecomic, actually has a funnier bit with Obama here.

Essay 4959

The comments continue in response to the Bob on Barack Bullshit. In fact, a few folks called Garfield a racist. Funny, when MultiCultClassics questioned Garfield’s potential for bias, the man got all indignant. Maybe he needs to ponder a line from his own story: Even hardened racists feel the impulse to believe they are no such thing. In the event that Garfield’s multi-daily Technorati™ searches on himself lead the man here, he ought to check this (Hint: review passive bias).

Essay 4958

Essay 4957

Never attributed that quote to Bruce Lee.

Essay 4956

Going nowhere in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Wesley Snipes lost his bids to delay and relocate the upcoming federal tax-evasion case. His next move: replace his lawyers with the guys representing R. Kelly.

• Michael Vick was relocated from Virginia to a Kansas jail. Wesley Snipes will probably be inquiring about the availability of Vick’s lawyers.

• A new study showed girls who consider themselves unpopular are more prone to gaining weight. And once they do, they likely become even more unpopular.

• The new Starbucks CEO—who is actually the old Starbucks CEO—announced plans to close some stores. Shutting down a Starbucks would force customers to, well, walk across the street to the other Starbucks.

Essay 4955

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

-----------------------------

Obama’s success is making us all winners

By JESSE JACKSON

Barack Obama’s stunning victory in Iowa lifts our hearts, no matter whom we support. You can’t help but be touched by a brilliant, passionate African American with a message of hope winning the vote of Iowa’s presidential caucuses. Although it’s only a first step in a long race for Obama, it is surely a giant step for America.

Nearly 44 years ago, Fanny Lou Hamer led the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to the Democratic convention in Atlantic City, challenging a Mississippi delegation that had systematically excluded all blacks. Hamer had to kick open locked doors simply to gain a hearing. She was dismissed by President Lyndon Johnson as an “illiterate.” In the end, two delegates from the Freedom Democratic Party were seated, on condition that Hamer not be among them. Four years later, Democrats required equal representation. And now four decades later, an African-American leader can compete on a more level playing field.

On the stage of the Democratic debate Saturday night in New Hampshire were the leading candidates for the nomination -- a white woman, an African American, a white man and a Latino -- strong leaders all, contesting for the presidency. (Dennis Kucinich was unfairly excluded from the debate.) We have come a long way.

George Bush the First talked in New Hampshire’s primary about having the “Big Mo,” as in momentum. Obama enjoys far more than that. He’s got the “Big M’s”: magnetic personality, magic moment, message, money and momentum. And the preposterously short primary season – it’s all over essentially by Feb. 5 -- dramatically favors anyone who can win the early contests, in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. If Obama wins today in New Hampshire, he will be well on his way.

The media are into the horse race: Who’s up? Who’s down? Daily polls, focus groups, on-the-street interviews. Lost in all this are the issues Americans care most about.

Never was this more apparent than in the New Hampshire debate. Moderator Charles Gibson came with videos on various issues to set up discussions. The first, on nuclear weapons and terrorism, stimulated a serious discussion. The second was on the budget deficits, priorities and entitlements, but Gibson clearly was tired of substance. He turned to Clinton and asked her what positions of Obama she thought ought to be “vetted.” Rather than substantive differences on Social Security and spending -- of which there are many -- he teed up the tit-for-tat discussion that got the headlines the next day.

It is time to get real. This economy is probably already in recession. Last month, the private sector lost jobs. Millions are facing the loss of their homes. More and more students are getting priced out of college. Our infrastructure is crumbling, our cities being ignored; New Orleans has been abandoned. Oil is at $100 a barrel. The dollar is sinking. Catastrophic climate change is a real and present danger. We’ve squandered lives and resources on the war in Iraq, even as al-Qaida is consolidating and a nuclear-armed Pakistan is in turmoil. Kenya (the home of Obama's father), which is now disintegrating into violence, somehow was not part of the debate.

We need commentators to probe these issues with candidates. Not with “gotcha” questions – “Do you know the name of the interim Uzbekistan prime minister?” -- but in ways that are as sober as the moment.

Obama is now the Democratic front-runner, with Mike Huckabee and John McCain running strong on the Republican side. They will and should be scrutinized. But let’s put aside the opposition research and partisan jibes that magnify the petty. Let’s focus on their answers to real challenges.

Essay 4954

Dimetapp’s multicultural marketing tactic—shooting the same ad with different kids—is sick.

Essay 4953

Looks like Bob Garfield’s peculiar perspective on Barack Obama inspired a range of responses.

Garfield’s gone from being acceptably wack to acceptably hack.

Essay 4952

Essay 4951

This tool’s more amazing than a Ginsu knife.

Essay 4950

Monday Morning MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Wesley Snipes is not giving up efforts to have his upcoming federal tax evasion trial moved out of Ocala, Florida. The actor’s lawyer filed a motion to relocate and postpone the trial, currently scheduled for January 14. Snipes must think he’s R. Kelly.

• A study shows that Blacks still get inferior treatment for cancer versus Whites, a trend that has persisted since being revealed in the 1990s. Research indicated the problems were just as bad in 2002 as in 1992. Which is almost as long as the wait for the R. Kelly trial.

• The CEO of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts resigned, as the company continues to struggle. America runs on Dunkin’—and apparently runs away from Krispy Kreme.

Essay 4949

Essay 4948

Guess it’s better than using an actual head.

Essay 4947

Bob Garfield took a break from his Comcast jihad to pontificate on race, politics, Barack Obama and Halle Berry. As always, there’s a comedic clumsiness to his cultural commentary. Plus, Garfield’s contention that Obama “will win the racist vote” is pretty ridiculous. Perhaps it’s best to simply categorize the ad critic/curmudgeon as “acceptably wack.”

-------------------------------

Why Even Hardened Racists Will Vote for Barack Obama
In the Electoral Marketplace, He Had to Pass the Halle Berry Test

By Bob Garfield

A few years back, a relative was visiting from out of town and showed us a snapshot. It was his son posing with a new acquaintance. Big smiles all around. The acquaintance was a priest. And he was black.

Why carry around this otherwise unremarkable photo and make a show of it?

Because the son is a five-alarm racist, and so is his dad -- the guy proudly displaying the snapshot. The subtext here -- about one micron below the surface -- was: “See? A black friend!”

Why did these folks feel the need to show off this man as if he were a two-headed goat? Did they imagine it negated the decades of “nigger” talk? God knows. But the episode demonstrated two things for sure:

1) Even hardened racists feel the impulse to believe they are no such thing.

2) Hence, they are always in the market for someone “acceptably black.”

Yes, the market. And, yes, acceptably black. We used that term the other day on “Hardball with Chris Matthews” to talk about Sen. Barack Obama and watched the interviewer visibly flinch. “I’m gonna take some of the edge off of what you just said,” he said.

What edge? Acceptably black means being nonthreatening to white people inclined to feeling threatened by black people. It means standard English, clean-cut appearance (or, as Joe Biden fumbled, “clean”) and the most Caucasian features possible. These obviously are not objective measures of character or worth; just as obviously, they are measures of what sells to the vast, white audience. Halle Berry and Denzel Washington are acceptably black. Your local news anchors are acceptably black. Tupac was not.

Flip through a magazine and check out the ads. In any group of three or more models, one invariably will be black. (If there are six or more models, one will be Asian and one Hispanic.) Same on TV. In any commercial for beer or snack food, one of the guys on the sofa is always black. This probably misrepresents the incidence of interracial hanging out, but it isn’t just tokenism. It’s a harmony fantasy, buried deep in the collective conscience.

It’s the snapshot of the trophy priest, writ large.

The phenomenon has many social and cultural ramifications, one of which is opportunity -- including political opportunity.

The subject of the “Hardball” exchange was Obama’s latest commercial, “Unify,” which deftly trades on the presidential hopeful’s extraordinary ability to seduce and inspire his audiences with his messages of hope and uncompromising determination. “We have the chance to bring the nation together,” he says. “A nation healed, a world repaired.” He’s said it so often it sounds almost perfunctory -- but Obama’s version of perfunctory can still send a chill up your spine.

Matthews wanted to know if the Baptist-preacher cadences would “work with that white crowd out in Iowa.” Yet when we replied, “There’s a world of white people who would love to pull the lever for a black man” -- on the above-stated grounds -- and invoked the concept of acceptable blackness, that’s when he flinched and felt the need to point out Obama’s sterling political credentials.

Well, of course. The gentleman from Illinois does seem to be the real deal. (Disclosure here: He’s the first presidential candidate of any party to impress us in our lifetime.) But to have access to the electoral marketplace, he still had to pass the Halle Berry test -- whereupon the hitherto disqualifying racial factor suddenly conferred advantage. We have no idea what will become of Obama’s candidacy, but we’re pretty sure he will win the racist vote.

Essay 4946

The Sunday newspaper’s coupon collection hit the cultural trifecta: Rastus, Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben. Hey, where’s Post Honey Bunches of Oats laborer Diana?

Essay 4945

From AdAge.com…

----------------------------

Multicultural Players Make Social Networks, Mobile Their Priorities
ANA Survey Finds Clients Show More Movement, Interest in Areas Than General-Market Counterparts

By Laurel Wentz

NEW YORK -- Multicultural marketers are doing more mobile marketing and are more interested in using social networks than their general-market counterparts.

The Association of National Advertisers recently surveyed its members and found 38% of multicultural marketers are using mobile marketing, compared with just 28% of general-market advertisers.

A few more respondents in the general market (20%) said they already use social networks than respondents working in multicultural areas (16%), but the trend is clear: Twice as many multicultural marketers (36%) said they plan to start using social networking for the first time in the next year, compared with 19% in the general market.

It’s not surprising that multicultural marketers are moving fast into mobile marketing.

Beyond the basics
“Hispanics are much more likely to do advanced mobile activities,” said Tamara Barber, an analyst at Forrester Research. They are more likely than non-Hispanics to have cellphones with cameras (65% and 48%), video (41% and 17%), music (42% and 15%) and internet access (57% and 39%), according to Forrester’s phone survey of 3,000 Hispanic adults.

In social networking, Ms. Barber said a number of general-market sites have added Spanish-language pages, such as MySpace Latino and a bilingual LinkedIn. “There’s a ton of energy right now around Spanish and bilingual sites.”

MySpace, for instance, hired a former AOL Latino account director, Manny Miravete, in December 2007 as its first VP for U.S. Hispanic sales and strategy to develop advertisers for MySpace Latino, which has almost 9 million Hispanic profiles.

BlackPlanet
Multicultural sites are also active in social networking. Community Connect’s BlackPlanet worked with Coca-Cola during Black History month to celebrate black musicians. With a sponsored profile for Coke, a Coke mini site and a music area on BlackPlanet, Coke netted 250,000 friends, said Kay Madati, VP marketing at Community Connect.

Multicultural marketers trail the general market in other areas, such as use of search, blogs and websites. Almost all general-market companies surveyed -- 95% -- have websites, compared with 86% of respondents who said their companies have sites for the multicultural market. That gap is closing as more companies make multicultural consumers a priority. Best Buy, for instance, introduced a Spanish-language version of its website in November 2007.

The money multicultural marketers spend on new media was fairly evenly split between incremental dollars (35%); budgets shifted from traditional media (40%); and dollars taken from other marketing efforts such as PR, promotions and direct marketing (33%).

The ANA surveyed 326 marketers from the general market and 53 executives who do multicultural marketing.

Essay 4944

This column actually appeared in The Washington Post on August 8, 2006, but it’s worth reading still…

--------------------------------

The N.Y. Times’ Unwitting Racism

By Jabari Asim

WASHINGTON—You may not know Yvette Nicole Brown’s name, but it’s quite likely that you’ve seen her face. The actress has appeared in countless television commercials, sitcoms, dramatic episodes and feature films. She has cherubic cheekbones and a bright, winning smile. She’s also one of those performers who can do a lot with a little, making a brief line or two as meaningful as a long monologue.

Brown unwittingly played a supporting role in a recent New York Times article addressing the phenomenon of “sassy, overweight” black actresses in TV commercials. According to the article, some observers are troubled by the sight of these women, who are “200 pounds plus,” most of which is “pure attitude.” They are frequently cast in roles, the article said, “where their aggressiveness is a defining trait.” The pioneer in this regard is “the heavy black spokeswoman for Pine-Sol.”

Curiously, none of the black actresses discussed in the article was quoted. The story was accompanied by two photos, one of which showed Brown as a distressed airline passenger in a Dairy Queen commercial. I recognized her and decided to track her down.

“My agent called me at like 9 in the morning and said are you sitting down? The day started off bad,” Brown told me in recalling the morning the story appeared. She has worked in television commercials since 2001. In 2003 she broke into TV and movies. She’s a size 14, she said, and has never weighed 200 pounds. “I’m not just some chubby chick who makes faces in commercials,” she added.

Brown arrived in Los Angeles after graduating from the University of Akron. She’d had a taste of the bright lights before, having signed a singing contract with Motown while still a teen. After completing college, however, she decided to focus on acting. “I said I would try to be a commercial actor. I got a commercial agent, and praise God, the work started flowing in.” Appearances on shows such as “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Two and a Half Men” soon followed.

She said she’s not aware of producers specifically casting for a “heavy” or “sassy” black woman. “Most of the commercials that I book are not written for black people. At auditions I’m often the only black person in a sea of white people. I have been on sets before when a director says, ‘Can you make it more ethnic?’ I always say, ‘Can you demonstrate to me how you want it done?’ That usually ends it.’’

Brown disagreed strongly with the notion that performances such as hers perpetuate negative stereotypes. “I project strength without being threatening,” she said. In her view, she fits comfortably in the range of portrayals currently being seen. “I believe we’re blessed right now to see all types of black women in TV and commercials, everything from working women to college students. It’s the entire spectrum of our beauty.”

That spectrum includes Diane Amos, who has been Pine-Sol’s TV face for 13 years. She told me that people who see a link between her work and harmful images from the past are caught up in their own misconceptions. “Why does it have to be Aunt Jemima? Why can’t I be Etta James at home, or Ella Fitzgerald on her off time? Why do I have to be held up to what they’re still calling a stereotype?”

I asked her if black folks ever give her a hard time about her portrayal. “Not once,” she replied, “and I get recognized every day, everywhere I go. I have never heard a negative comment.”

Brown and Amos take strong exception to any suggestion that their appearances are a setback for African-Americans, and I heartily agree. If I wanted to find troubling images of black female performance, I’d turn first to hip-hop videos, which often feature young, barely clad women mindlessly gyrating while a crotch-fondling thug spits bad rhymes.

And I don’t get this “sass” thing either. Stubbornness, blunt expression and withering sarcasm are attributes of the collective American personality. Citizens from all levels of society dish out large quantities of sass, from the disgruntled burger-flipper at the corner drive-through to the leaders of the Western world. Take, for example, George W. Bush, who once challenged insurgents in Iraq to “bring it on.” Or Vice President Dick Cheney, who memorably brought vulgarity to the Senate floor.

That it becomes troublesome when black women “bring it on” is, well, troubling.

Essay 4943

The fun way to teach your kids how to deliver lethal blows.

Essay 4942

From the December 2007 / January 2008 issue of Audrey magazine.

Essay 4941

Be the life-taker of the party!

Essay 4940

What’s out in 2008 in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Coca-Cola is dumping Coke Blak. Sure, get rid of the Blaks first.

• Mickey D’s is dumping the McRib. Look for the BBQ Pork Breakfast Snack Wrap Burrito soon.

• Washington Mutual is closing 25 of its 146 local branches in Chicago, Illinois. Do banks hold going-out-of-business sales?

• Talbots will close 78 children’s and men’s clothing stores, as 4Q sales have fallen far below expectations. The move affects 800 employees. Hopefully, the employees didn’t bank at WaMu and enjoy lunching on McRibs and Coke Blak.

• Kraft might eliminate “several thousand jobs” as the food giant executes restructuring moves. Dumping jobs and reassigning employees supports Kraft’s “goal of creating a lean operating structure to provide funds for growth,” said a company spokesperson. “We have the chance to create a more effective and efficient structure.” Hopefully, the affected employees won’t get axed while wearing Talbots outfits, banking at WaMu and dining on McRibs and Coke Blak.

Essay 4939

From The New York Times…

---------------------------------

Firehouse Dispute Raises Racial Tension in St. Louis

By MALCOLM GAY

ST. LOUIS — An African-American firefighter’s complaint that he found a stuffed monkey hanging by its neck in his firehouse last month has become a stark reminder of this city’s troubled racial legacy.

Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation recently ruled out a hate crime in its inquiry into the complaint, the incident has pitted many of the city’s black firefighters, who say the toy was meant to evoke a lynching, against their white colleagues, who say the monkey was simply hung up to dry after being found at a fire scene.

That explanation has not satisfied Capt. Addington Stewart, chairman of the Firefighter’s Institute for Racial Equality, a fraternal organization that represents all but a few of the department’s more than 300 black employees. “What I know is what I saw,” Captain Stewart said, describing a strap wrapped around the neck of a stuffed monkey dangling from a coat hanger. “I take that to be unconscionable.”

The episode might have remained an internal squabble were it not for the recent demotion of the city’s first African-American fire chief, Sherman George, which came after Mr. George publicly refused demands by Mayor Francis G. Slay to promote a group of mainly white firefighters. Many of the city’s black leaders have lined up behind the former chief, who resigned soon after being demoted.

In demoting Mr. George, some of those leaders said, Mr. Slay brought St. Louis race relations to a new low. Some started a petition drive in support of a mayoral recall.

“Sherman George was an African-American in one of the highest positions in the mayor’s administration — he was an icon,” said Alderman Terry Kennedy, chairman of the Aldermanic Black Caucus. “To push him out like that? You’re not doing anything but causing trouble.”

The current controversy has its roots in a lawsuit filed in 2004 by a group of black firefighters who raised accusations of racial bias in the promotion examinations for firefighters.

[Read the full story here.]

Essay 4938

Rocking the vote in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Barack Obama was a big winner in Iowa. But so was Mike Huckabee. Guess it’s society’s way of balancing out signs of progress.

• A New Jersey legislative committee approved a measure that will lead to the state apologizing for slavery. Another vote takes place in the Assembly on Monday. Hey, if Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee can win in Iowa, anything’s possible.

• Toyota passed Ford Motor Company to become the No. 2 automaker in the U.S. No surprise at all in that contest.

• A northern state in India has a unique proposal for its unemployed youth: sterilizing wild monkeys that have been raiding farms. “It is a ridiculous idea and what is worse, it will do nothing to contain the problem and probably make it worse,” said an ecologist, referring to the monkeys versus the unemployment. “Can you imagine what having badly sterilized monkeys running around will do to the levels of aggression?” It will also make for really bizarre entries on résumés.

Essay 4937

With all the recent hoopla surrounding Native Americans as mascots, it seemed peculiar that Natural American Spirit cigarettes would use the puffing chief for a logo. The artsy packaging—with the bird and graphic patterns—pushes the cultural imagery pretty hard. It’s a wonder the manufacturer resisted naming the smokes Native American Spirit.

Despite being acquired by Reynolds American in 2002, the brand is produced by the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, which brags about actually donating portions of profit to Native American causes. Plus, the company appears to have strong commitments to eco-friendly endeavors. And they even boast honest and straightforward communication, insisting on responsible marketing. Or at least as responsible as one can be with a product designed to kill people.

It’s hard to criticize the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company’s sincerity. At the same time, it sure feels hypocritical when tobacco manufacturers hype philanthropy and humanitarianism.

Essay 4936

Essay 4935

The Ultimate Training Gloves product shot looks like a severed hand.

Essay 4934

From AdAge.com…

----------------------------

JC Penney Opens Review for $32 Million Hispanic Account
Splits With Dieste Harmel; Vidal and Conill to Participate

By Laurel Wentz

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- JC Penney Co. has started a review for its $32 million U.S. Hispanic account after splitting with Omnicom Group’s Dieste Harmel & Partners, Dallas, and the marketer expects to pick a new agency in March.

The retailer is putting together a list of three to five Hispanic shops for the pitch, said Olivia Vela. Ms. Vela was promoted to multicultural marketing director at JC Penney in October 2007 after her predecessor, Manny Fernandez, moved to a human resources post focusing on diversity at the company.

Saatchi connection
The review will include the Vidal Partnership, an independent Hispanic agency based in New York, and Conill, Saatchi & Saatchi’s Hispanic agency, she said. Saatchi, part of Publicis Groupe, is JC Penney’s general-market agency, and the retailer moved its account for Puerto Rico to Badillo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, San Juan, in December 2007.

Dieste issued a press release yesterday saying the agency had decided in December to resign the account. Ms. Vela said JC Penney had informed Dieste that the agency’s contract would not be renewed.

“The plan is to over the next six weeks have a few agencies come and do a presentation and we’ll award the business in March,” she said. “It’s not going to be a long, drawn out process. We’ve done our homework on who the up-and-coming agencies are.”

Account includes media
She said JC Penney is looking at the “overall agency and what it has to offer” and will not necessarily require retail experience. The account includes Hispanic media. No consultant is being used for the agency search.

Retail is the second-biggest ad category in the Hispanic market after automotive, accounting for almost $600 million in ad spending in 2006, according to TNS Media Intelligence. JC Penney ranked No. 31 among the top Hispanic advertisers, spending $32.5 million in 2006, up 29% from the previous year. In 2007, the retailer spent $15.5 million during the first half of the year, up from $11.8 million for the same period the previous year. Sears Holdings Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores are also bigger spenders, at $83 million and $66 million, respectively, in 2006.

Essay 4933

Adweek once again permits self-proclaimed futurist huckster Marian Salzman to dazzle us with her amazing grasp of the obvious. Salzman and co-moron Ann Mack recently brainstormed “80 Things to Watch in 2008,” and Agency Spy actually posted the nonsense. The list included British Actress Keira Knightley, Mobile Technology Explosion, U.S. Presidential Election and Weak Dollar/Strong Euro. Wow, the gals must have Googled™ an entire afternoon for those gems. If there’s a legitimate trend to spot, it’s that Salzman is a world-class windbag whose predictions don’t ever seem to positively affect her agency’s work. Hence, MultiCultClassics is only posting the first two paragraphs of the Adweek drivel.

----------------------------

Art & Commerce: That’s So Next Year

By Marian Salzman and Ann Mack

With more companies, brands, products, messages, media outlets, content purveyors and platforms out there than ever before, people are locked in constant decision-making mode. What’s worthy of my time? What exactly should I pay attention to? And what should I buy into?

As trendspotters, it’s our job to make sense of the chaos, to connect seemingly disconnected details and put them into context, all with an eye toward what it means for the future. Our job is also about recognizing patterns from the past that are emerging in new but eerily predictable ways.

[It’s really not worthy of your time, not exactly worth paying attention to, and you shouldn’t buy into it, but you can read the complete eerily predictable bullshit here.]

Essay 4932

Essay 4931

To gain 10 pounds in 10 days, use QUICKMASS. Or, just hang out with Kirstie Alley and Rosie O’Donnell.

Essay 4930

From The Washington Post…

--------------------------------

For Cheyenne Woman, It Still Hurts to Hail the Home Team

By Courtland Milloy

These are the times that try Suzan Harjo’s Cheyenne soul.

Her lawsuit claiming that the name “Redskins” denigrates Native Americans appears to have stalled in the courts. Several tribal elders who were among her staunchest allies recently died. And everywhere she looks, the dreaded name and logo of Washington’s professional football team are in full bloom.

“It’s sad because I’m outside the fellowship of good feeling,” Harjo, a District resident and president of a Native American advocacy organization, told me recently. “I want to support the home team. But it’s very hard when they are carrying a racist name.”

Fans, it seems, couldn’t care less. They are on the “warpath,” all but drowning out Harjo’s concerns with cheers for a team that’s headed for the National Football Conference playoffs. Owner Dan Snyder says the name is an honorific, not a slur, and has vowed not to change it.

But what Snyder won’t do, Harjo is hoping the courts will.

In 1992, she and six other Native Americans petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel federal trademark protections of the Redskins name. Expert witnesses testified that the use of Indians as sports mascots adversely affected the self-esteem of Native American children. It was bad enough, they argued, that the Indian population had been targeted for genocide. To now caricature and stereotype the survivors only added insult to injury.

“Regardless of what non-Native people claim the word means, for us it refers to Indian scalps taken by European bounty hunters,” Harjo said. “It’s the effect of the word on those who see and hear it that matters, not the intention of those who use it.”

A three-judge panel of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board agreed and ruled in Harjo’s favor. But a federal judge later reversed the decision, siding with claims by Pro-Football Inc. that there was no proof that Native Americans are offended by the name and saying that even if they were, they should have complained in 1967, when the federal trademark was granted.

Harjo appealed. And now, with the case in its 16th year, she must try hard to keep the faith. Another plaintiff in the case, Vine Deloria Jr., a Lakota and intellectual force behind the movement against Indian mascots, died last year. His 1969 book, “Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto,” addressed Indian stereotypes and challenged white audiences to take a closer look at the underhanded ways the West was really won.

Vernon Bellecourt, a Lakota and president of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media, died in October. A fiery activist and eloquent spokesman for Indian rights, he didn’t mince words when referring to Washington’s home team: “Start playing football and stop playing Indian,” he’d say.

Harjo’s spirits were lifted in 2006, when six young Native Americans filed a lawsuit against the Redskins that was similar to hers. The plaintiffs were ages 18 to 24 -- which meant they could not have complained about the trademark in 1967 because they were not yet born.

“The younger generation understands that this is no minor issue,” Harjo said. “When people can be racist in public and target your kids with derogatory stereotypes, all responsible people must take a stand.”

Harjo founded the Morningstar Institute in 1987. Through her advocacy, she has helped Native Americans recover hundreds of thousands of acres of land and numerous sacred sites. She is also a poet and columnist for Indian Country Today and served as a founding trustee for the National Museum of the American Indian.

When she began speaking out against negative stereotypes of Native Americans in the 1970s, there were more than 3,000 Native American sports mascots. Today, there are fewer than 1,000.

The Redskins are likely to be the last to go. But all has not been lost for Harjo.

In the 1980s, the football team gave the District thousands of large decals bearing the Indian head logo; the city in turn decorated residential trash cans with them. After Harjo filed the lawsuit and others began speaking out against the name, the city removed the decals.

“If anything, we got the Indians off the trash cans,” Harjo said.

And there’s one other thing: The team has not been to the Super Bowl since the suit was filed. We’ll soon find out whether the curse lives on.

Essay 4929

The story below appeared at AdAge.com. Scroll through it quickly to read the brief MultiCultClassics commentary immediately following…

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When Targeting Multicultural Audiences, Be Relevant
OMD Study: Doing It Wrong Is Worse Than Not Doing It at All

By Megan McIlroy

NEW YORK -- Warning: When it comes to making ads relevant for multicultural audiences, doing it wrong is worse than not doing it all.

A new study from OMD Worldwide found that ethnic groups are turned off by ads that rely on stereotypes and caricatures rather than meaningful cultural cues.

“The respondents were saying, ‘We want to see ourselves represented in ads, but not in a stereotypical matter,’” said Pamela Marsh, group director-primary research and insights at the Omnicom media agency.

Consumer behavior
The OMD study, a telephone survey of 1,453 respondents 18 and older, sought to understand how ethnicity affects consumer behavior and advertising receptivity. Four different groups were represented: blacks, Asian-Americans, Hispanics and the general market (which was about 76% Caucasian in the study).

The ethnic groups agreed that messages should be culturally relevant, but they responded more positively to ads with multicultural cues, such as ethnic characters, phrases, expressions and values, than ads that were simply translations of general-market ads.

“Ad relevancy is more about communicating in kind than speaking in a language,” Ms. Marsh said.

Cultural relevance is also important for media placement, the study said, noting that ad models created on the basis of general population statistics, such as channel planning, are likely to fall short if they do not take relevant ethnic differences into account.

How to reach them
Though all segments in the survey gravitated toward the same top four media -- TV, radio, internet and mobile -- different ethnic groups spent different amounts of time with each of them. Blacks, for instance, spent the most time with TV; Hispanics spent more time with radio; and Asians used the internet at significantly higher rates.

The study also found that black consumers place a higher premium on word-of-mouth information before making buying decisions -- particularly when seeking feedback about a product. Asian-Americans also rely heavily on word-of-mouth because they are less receptive to ads than other segments of the population, according to the study.

Marketers have a significant opportunity to influence the purchases of blacks and Hispanics, the study said, because they are more open to advertising than other groups but feel as though most marketing messages are not relevant to them.

------------------------

It’s 2008, people. How many more times does some (usually) non-multicultural marketing company have to conduct a survey to gather consumer reactions to multicultural marketing? There is not a single new point in this Ad Age report. And it’s unlikely there’s a single new insight in the OMD Worldwide study. If a client paid for the research, they should absolutely demand a refund. If OMD financed the exercise, the internal accountants should stroll into Pamela Marsh’s cubicle and slap her upside the head.

Is it any wonder that Omnicom needed to assemble a special committee for dealing with diversity in the advertising industry?

Essay 4928

We are sorry to present this MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• New Jersey lawmakers will soon consider a measure to become the fifth state to apologize for slavery. “This is not too much to ask of the state of New Jersey,” said the bill’s sponsor. “All that is being requested … is to say three simple words: ‘We are sorry.’” No word if there will also be an apology for the New Jersey Nets.

• Retailers are extending the shopping season with Latino customers by promoting Three Kings Day—the day in Christian tradition when the three wise men visited the baby Jesus. Wal-Mart began heavily promoting the January 6 celebration last year, and it intends to expand the sales. Guess you’ll be able to pick up your gold, frankincense and myrrh at always low prices.

• Eddie Murphy married film producer Tracey Edmonds. No word if Murphy immediately left the wedding ceremony after learning he didn’t win an Oscar for his performance in Dreamgirls.

Essay 4927

As more states legalize civil unions, expect a veritable rainbow of targeted advertising for the special events.


Customize your own jewelry. Or your own jingle.


Accommodations are spectacular. Why, Hilton will even create a rainbow over the hotel.


Find the perfect—or purrfect—getaway. Atlantic City lets you paint the town red. And orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.


Not sure why you’d settle for The Three Waiters. After all, the Village People are available for private affairs.

Essay 4926

Essay 4925

Pimp My Fight Club.

Essay 4924

An all-new 2008 MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• New Hampshire gay and lesbian couples rang in the New Year with wedding bells, as a new state law legalizing the civil unions went into effect at midnight. “We’ve been together 20 years; we’ve been waiting for this moment for 20 years; finally the state will recognize us as we are,” remarked one woman about her partnership. The ceremonies expected to take place this year could help ignite the Village People’s career.

• Class pictures have a different meaning for schools in Calexico, California, where a photographer snaps Mexican kids illegally attending the public schools. School board officials hired the photographer two years ago. “The community asked us to do this, and we responded,” explained the school board president. “Once it starts to affect you personally, when your daughter gets bumped to another school, then our residents start complaining.” Wonder if they’ll publish a special yearbook.

• A 12-year study funded by the Department of Health and Human Services found ER doctors are less likely to give narcotics to Blacks and Latinos to relieve pain. The study suggested racial or ethnic bias contributed to the doctors’ decisions. Guess discrimination hurts more than one might realize.

Essay 4923

From The New York Times…

---------------------------

Consumed | Edward F. Boyd b. 1914
Sales Leader

By ROB WALKER

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, a certain unease could be detected about the American drift toward a culture of selling, marketing and consumerism. Even Fortune magazine opined in 1947 that “the American citizen lives in a state of siege from dawn till bedtime,” seeming to echo the sentiments raised in the best-selling novel “The Hucksters” and the celebrated play “Death of a Salesman.” One sales executive at the time, a man named Edward Boyd, later recalled leaving a performance of Arthur Miller’s famous play in tears. “I related to it,” he said. Even so, Boyd stuck with his job, possibly because his own role in the machinery of American selling was a bit more complex: He was a black man building an African-American sales force within the Pepsi-Cola Company when corporate America was anything but integrated.

Boyd was hired by Pepsi, which was based in New York, in 1947, when he was 33; he grew up in California and graduated from U.C.L.A. His story is a key element of the recent book “The Real Pepsi Challenge,” from which the above anecdote is taken and in which Stephanie Capparell argues that Boyd and those he hired helped break the color barrier in big business.

In the post-World War II economy, black Americans were still marginalized in two ways: in their access to better professional jobs and also as consumers. The latter point was not trivial, if you consider that lunch-counter sit-ins, lawsuits against hotels and other key tactics in the civil rights struggle were fundamentally about marketplace access. According to Capparell, “Unlike the mainstream media, the African-American press didn’t join the chorus of criticism of business.” Instead, black newspaper publishers informed the marketing trade about the untapped potential of black consumers. No doubt they wanted advertising dollars from the big companies that had previously ignored them, but the implicit message was that in a market-driven economy, consumer equality matters. Ebony went so far as to call the African-American embrace of the Cadillac, and G.M.’s supposed discomfort about that embrace, part of the “war for racial equality.” And indeed, part of what Boyd had to contend with was a perception that brands adopted by blacks might be rejected by whites.

Other companies were using black entertainers and athletes in ads, but Boyd wanted to move in a different direction, with a series of ads called “Leaders in Their Fields,” highlighting black professionals, including Ralph Bunche, the diplomat and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. While these were clearly Pepsi ads, schools and universities ordered up copies. For store promotions, Capparell writes, “he wanted to show a black family in the same kind of idealized setting as those used in mainstream ads.” And while the “Leaders” campaign was extended twice, increasingly the African-Americans in Pepsi’s ads tended to be happy, young, bourgeois consumers, and inspirational copy gave way to more familiar (and banal) sales pitches: “So Much More Fun! So Much More Zest!”

His job was not easy: Boyd was thrown out of hotels and had to confront his white boss about using an offensive racial epithet. But from today’s perspective, what seems remarkable isn’t the pervasiveness of ignorance and racism but the degree to which these things trumped even the profit motive. Pepsi seemed enlightened by the mere act of openly courting black consumers. Its dominant rival, the Coca-Cola Company, did not advertise in the black press at all until 1951 — and its ads did not depict black faces until the mid-1950s.

Boyd’s career at Pepsi ended in 1951. In the years after a management change at the company, he and much of the team he assembled left. After stints at an ad agency, the humanitarian organization CARE and in consulting, he retired in 1981 and started raising alpacas upstate. Meanwhile, the commercial-culture “state of siege” that Fortune bemoaned 60 years ago never let up, though today the world depicted in mainstream advertising has become a harmonious place, where buddies of all races happily pursue consumer dreams together. In his comments to Capparell, Boyd seemed proud of his contribution. Perhaps the world depicted in advertising, then and now, was a fantasy, but part of Boyd’s thinking seems to be that it’s a fantasy that black consumers wanted to be part of — and would respond to.

Essay 4922

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

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The Rev. King’s message still leads us toward true justice

By JESSE JACKSON

A new year beckons. A fresh start. A new direction. After the calamities of the past months -- from Iraq to the mortgage crisis, from Katrina’s stain to our prisons’ shame -- we take hope from the new day. In 2008, we will elect a new president and a new Congress. Hope cometh in the morning.

This year also marks the 40th year after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King. King’s words will be heard in commemorations from Shanghai to Soweto.

Why is he so honored? He held no political office. He amassed no great financial wealth. He led neither military forces nor global corporations. In his life, he was arrested, reviled, denounced and investigated. He disrupted not simply the segregationists such as Bull Connor but also the liberals such as Kennedy and Johnson.

We remember King because he helped to lead a great movement. His armies were committed but unarmed, engaged but dedicated to nonviolence. King’s greatness came from his faith: “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” His faith in the Maker gave him immense hope for the better angels of God’s creation.

King understood that great leaders do not forge change, that oppressors, even the most enlightened of them, do not give the oppressed their freedom. Only people in motion can force real change. The oppressed must demand their freedom, struggle for it, sweat for it, sacrifice for it -- and force the oppressor to react.

King labored during the presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson. Kennedy’s election in 1960 sparked great anticipation. But Kennedy’s grace and Johnson’s forceful brilliance were not enough to drive real change. Conservatives opposed change forcefully. Liberals wanted change, but in all deliberate speed, slowly, without disruption. King was a liberator, not a liberal; he understood the “fierce urgency of now.”

If you try to start a fire with green wood by lighting paper on top of it, you’ll get a small flame and some smoke, but the fire won’t catch. Fires grow hot only when built from the bottom up, with the match igniting the dry kindling beneath the dense logs. King understood that. Kennedy and Johnson might provide light at the top, but change would come only if the movement he helped lead could ignite the kindling at the bottom.

The civil rights movement pushed Kennedy and Johnson to go further and faster than they had ever imagined -- the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the end of legal apartheid. But King understood that equal opportunity was not enough: “Despite new laws, little has changed. … The Negro is still the poorest American -- walled in by color and poverty. The law pronounces him equal -- abstractly -- but his conditions of life are still far from equal.”

So he kept extending the argument. In his final months, he was organizing a poor people’s campaign, bringing people together across lines of race, region and religion, to march on Washington for basic economic rights. As part of this struggle, he went to Memphis to march with sanitation workers striking for a decent wage. King gave his life in the struggle to empower working people -- an agenda even more pressing in this day.

Now, we feel the same anticipation. Change is coming. But let us remember what King taught us. Change will come only if it is built from the bottom up, only when people of conscience join those in need and mobilize to drive that change. That is the great hope for the New Year. Happy New Year, everybody.

Essay 4921

Essay 4920

Apparently, there are sports where anabolic steroids are cool. Murder too.