6300: 2008—A MultiCultClassics Odyssey.

The past year featured a cornucopia of cultural cluelessness.

Studies showed most adpeople have never studied what multicultural marketing experts have been studying forever. OMD Worldwide conducted a study concluding it’s important to be culturally relevant when targeting multicultural audiences, which warrants the response, “OMG OMD WTF.” Starcom MediaVest discovered Blacks, unveiling a segmentation study that essentially regurgitated everything every Black advertising agency has realized since at least 1930. Brandiosity ran a study for recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles, learning marketers still admit to lots of confusion about multicultural marketing. A study from the Association of National Advertisers revealed multicultural marketing receives insufficient funding, inadequate commitment and inferior performance measurement resources—insights that could have been acquired by simply asking any multicultural shop. Somebody should launch a study to determine what the typical adperson actually does know.

Cultural cluelessness continued in creative communications. SalesGenie was super offensive on the Super Bowl. The New York State Lottery faced mobs of angry Italian Americans for its “Ba Da Bling” campaign. Absolut vodka started a border war with a Mexican print ad. Hanes aired dirty laundry in India. Media-watchdog group Fathers and Husbands blasted Madison Avenue’s disparaging portrayals of fathers and husbands. Pit Bull-watchdog groups barked at Verizon. Bob Garfield wrote a “Dear John” letter to Omnicom’s CEO over homophobic commercials. Six Flags deserved penalty flags for the hollering Asian guy. Quiznos got a mouthful of complaints after broadcasting an Asian Laundromat owner eating a $5 bill. Subway went the wrong way by animating a $5 bill. Rachael Ray and Dunkin’ Donuts were accused of promoting terrorism and iced lattes. L’Oréal was charged with whitewashing Beyoncé. Unilever advertised whitewashing with pride. Protestors gave the evil eye to Spain’s Olympic Men’s Basketball Team and Argentina’s Olympic Women’s Soccer Team. Burger King sacrificed sensitivity with Whopper Virgins. Mommy bloggers spanked Motrin. And suicidal Pepsi Max cans were killed in Germany.

The Madison Avenue Diversity Drama dragged on. Advertising Age initially described the progress as cloudy, despite most of the agencies making good on their promises. However, Omnicom shops recorded the worst results, with Merkley + Partners scoring a fat zero. The 4As Leadership Conference unveiled a “major new initiative” and strong words from President-CEO Nancy Hill. MultiCultClassics followed through with an Open Letter to Nancy Hill, who ultimately elaborated on the press releases. Next came the infamous July 7 meeting. Ad Age editor Ken Wheaton blew a gasket, reprimanding the no-show agency representatives. Bill Green of Make The Logo Bigger attended the event, adding his two cents. But the VIP visitor was famed civil-rights attorney Cyrus Mehri, a man expected to ignite serious moves. The September hearing in New York City blossomed into a love fest, starring Patricia Gatling of the New York City Commission on Human Rights, Councilman Larry Seabrook and numerous industry figures. Yet questions and concerns linger. And Omnicom is still having a devil of a time.

A crop of cultural clueless cases defied categorization. Bob Garfield predicted Barack Obama would win the hardened racist vote. Drawing on its aging staff, Adweek examined ageism. Then Adweek printed “The Minority Report,” essentially repeating reports from Advertising Age. Nina DiSesa hustled her book, and tangled with Knock The Hustle’s Hadji Williams. DiSesa later attempted to praise Millennials, yet wound up looking outdated. Marian Salzman wrote on Millennials too, and the trendspotter spouted information that the rest of us spotted generations ago. Bob Jeffrey pushed his idea racism concept. The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies argued Arbitron would miscount minority audiences. Marketing y Medios said adios to existence. Steve Biegel appeared to break his settlement agreement with Dentsu via verbal judo in an Ad Age interview. The ageism discrimination lawsuit against Universal McCann grew older. Another McCann unit announced plans to profit from the poor. An Ad Age fluff piece hyping General Motors’ commitment to multicultural marketing disclosed the automaker dumped its Asian American agency—plus, GM seemingly lied about handing Black assignments to White shops. Mercedes-Benz took a peculiar route with its minority partners. Nissan took a familiar route with its multicultural marketing review. All of which drove MultiCultClassics to publish a recommendation.

MultiCultClassics had a little fun with the happenings. The Madison Avenue Mea Culpa was one sorry act. Blog Action Day pinpointed the poverty in our industry. A fresh batch of diversity ad parodies supplemented the 2007 series, and included a Diversity Job Fair version. Tired excuses were highlighted with the Diversity Best Protestations collection. The 15-part Tagging Diversity Ads slammed advertisers. When Adweek wondered about ageism, MultiCultClassics pondered racism. And the Madison Avenue Diversity Best Practices Webinar delivered a final click.

The year certainly had bright moments, both definite and dubious. Steve Stoute and Jay-Z kicked off a new agency. Jermaine Dupri was tagged by Procter & Gamble. The High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media opened in Brooklyn. David Brown schooled students in Philadelphia. The One Club introduced Adversity. Arnold hired a Multicultural Marketing Chief. DDB hired a Diversity Chief. Enfatico hired Chief Executive Officer Torrence Boone. Jason Chambers wrote the book on Blacks and Madison Avenue. Hadji Williams said, “We Want Our Kids Back, Too.” Craig Brimm said, “Kiss My Black Ads.” Renetta McCann said, “I’m taking a break.” Advergirl had her say on sexism. Sociological Images kept saying lots of provocative stuff. The hardest-working man in Black advertising remained employed. And oh yeah, a Black dude was elected President of the United States, utilizing compelling communications strategies that inspired the industry—and nabbed Marketer of the Year honors.

6299: A New Way.

Feeling good in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The block behind the Apollo Theater in Harlem will be officially co-named “James Brown Way,” honoring the iconic Godfather of Soul. Here’s what Brown would probably say about it.

• Freakonomics author Steven Levitt disputed the recent study by James Alan Fox claiming murder rates are rising among Black teens. Noting Fox called for more crime control and prevention funding, Levitt wrote, “While I suspect that directing federal money toward crime control would be a better use of funds than continued bailouts, I would argue that it is time to experiment with something more radical that would actually save the government an enormous amount of money: ending the war on drugs.” The bailed-out banks and automakers will probably accuse Levitt of being on drugs.

• A new study shows the height gap between Black women and White women is expanding, as Black women are getting shorter. “The only reasonable explanation we can come up with is diet and the obesity epidemic among Black women,” said an economist and historian researching human height. No word yet from Freakonomics author Levitt.

6298: All Durapon 70 Is Not Created Equal.

There is no equal or known alternative. How the hell did that get past the legal department?

6297: Free Rides.

Driving along with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• P. Diddy and Ciroc premium vodka are joining the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission to give away free cab rides on New Year’s Eve. “New York is the world’s most iconic New Year’s Eve city, so let’s lead by example and show everyone that a sophisticated holiday celebration doesn’t just end when the ball drops, but when everyone gets home safely,” said Diddy. This is actually another indicator of the slumping economy, as past years might have seen Diddy offering limo or jet rides.

• Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is reportedly planning to name former state Comptroller and Attorney General Roland Burris to take Barack Obama’s vacant Senate position. No word as to how much reporters will be charged for seats at the press conference scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

6296: The Courage Of Kitt.

From The Chicago Tribune…

Eartha Kitt: The patriot who was right all along

By John Nichols

Forty years ago, America’s cultural icons expressed the frustration of the American people with the failure of President Lyndon Johnson to end this country’s undeclared war in Vietnam by boldly demanding peace.

The nation’s most respected newsman, CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, explained to a national television audience after the Tet Offensive that the war had gone horribly awry.

Singer Johnny Cash, whose music and style had made him a hero of blue-collar Americans, described himself as “a dove with claws” and began singing the anti-war song “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream.”

But the most direct and powerful anti-war statement of the period was delivered by singer Eartha Kitt at the height of her celebrity.

Kitt, the sultry singer of hits such as “Santa Baby” who died at 81 on Christmas, was, in 1968, an internationally acclaimed music star who had begun making major stage and screen appearances.

So it came as no great surprise when she was invited to a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson. But the first lady was surprised when she asked Kitt about the Vietnam War. “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed,” the singer told the first lady and the 50 other women at the luncheon. “They rebel in the street. They don’t want to go to school because they’re going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam.”

The first lady reportedly burst into tears. The president was furious. Kitt was blacklisted. She was investigated by the FBI and the CIA and ended up on the “enemies list” of Johnson’s successor, Richard Nixon.

Kitt spent the next decade performing mostly in Europe until, in 1978—after a triumphal return to Broadway in the musical “Timbuktu!”—she was invited back to the White House by the great healing executive of the postwar era, Jimmy Carter.

Years later, Kitt recalled her White House visit in an interview with Esquire magazine, saying, “The thing that hurts, that became anger, was when I realized that if you tell the truth—in a country that says you’re entitled to tell the truth—you get your face slapped and you get put out of work.”

It was a painful lesson.

But we remember Kitt as one of those remarkable Americans who was patriotic enough to speak truth to power. And she spoke in such a remarkable voice that it will linger far longer in our memory than those foolish politicians and misguided media moguls who were wrong about Vietnam—and wrong about Kitt.

John Nichols is Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine.

6295: Study Shows Another Need For Change.

From The New York Times…

Murders by Black Teenagers Rise, Bucking a Trend

By Erik Eckholm

The murder rate among black teenagers has climbed since 2000 even as murders by young whites have scarcely grown or declined in some places, according to a new report.

The celebrated reduction in murder rates nationally has concealed a “worrisome divergence,” said James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University who wrote the report, to be released Monday, with Marc L. Swatt. And there are signs, they said, that the racial gap will grow without countermeasures like restoring police officers in the streets and creating social programs for poor youths.

The main racial difference involves juveniles ages 14 to 17. In 2000, 539 white and 851 black juveniles committed murder, according to an analysis of federal data by the authors. In 2007, the number for whites, 547, had barely changed, while that for blacks was 1,142, up 34 percent.

The increase coincided with a rise in the number of murders involving guns, Dr. Fox said. The number of young blacks who were victims of murder also rose in this period.

Murder rates around the country are far below the record highs of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when a crack epidemic spawned violent turf battles.

“Regrettably, as the nation celebrated the successful fight against violent crime in the 1990s, we grew complacent and eased up on our crime-fighting efforts,” the authors said.

The report primarily blames cutbacks in federal support for community policing and juvenile crime prevention, reduced support for after-school and other social programs, and a weakening of gun laws. Cuts in these areas have been felt most deeply in poor, black urban areas, helping to explain the growing racial disparity in violent crime, Dr. Fox said.

But Bruce Western, a sociologist at Harvard, cautioned that the change in murder rates was not large and did not yet show a clear trend. Dr. Western also said that the impact of the reduction in government spending on crime control would have to be studied on a city-by-city basis, and that many other changes, including a sagging economy, could have affected murder rates.

Conservative criminologists place greater emphasis on the breakdown of black families, rather than cuts in government programs, in explaining the travails of black youths.

Much of the increase, experts say, is a product of gang activity, in midsize and large cities.

“The aggregate national murder rate since 2000 has been impressively flat — not to say there haven’t been fluctuations in individual cities,” said Alfred Blumstein, a criminologist at Carnegie Mellon University. “But when you see a spike in a city,” he said, as in Chicago recently, “it very often involves young black males shooting other young black males.”

Dr. Blumstein said that while federal cuts might have contributed to the rise in murders by black teenagers, “I think there are much more endemic problems going on.”

“In the inner city, you have large numbers of kids with no future, hanging out together with a great emphasis on their street credibility,” he said. “They’ll go to great lengths to avenge an insult.” Many of these teenagers do not stay in school, let alone join the Boys Clubs or other after-school programs.

The heightened attention to security after the 9/11 attacks might, paradoxically, have contributed to a decline in crime-fighting.

“One problem we faced was a disinvestment in policing in the post-2001 environment,” said Chief Edward A. Flynn of the Milwaukee police, who served from 2003 to 2006 as secretary of public safety in Massachusetts. “I witnessed homeland security become the monster that ate criminal justice,” Chief Flynn said, as money went to security equipment and communications and the number of police officers fell.

To fight violent crime, Chief Flynn said, the police must be a visible presence in neighborhoods with high crime rates.

From 2000 to 2007, according to the report, murders in Milwaukee by whites ages 14 to 24 rose by 4 percent, while those by blacks rose by 62 percent.

This year, Chief Flynn’s first leading the department, he deployed new teams of officers to the most violent neighborhoods, having them patrol on foot and bicycles, while federal agencies helped bring down some large gangs. The number of murders this year — 70 as of last Friday — is down one-third from last year and is the lowest since 1985.

Still, Chief Flynn said, “any improvements will be temporary unless there’s more investment in the futures of our young people.”

6294: Wipe Tripe.

Help wipe away holiday debt with 75 cents worth of coupons? Hey, you can save even more by simply using this ad to wipe your ass.

6293: Movies And Music Review.

Quick shots in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• A Philadelphia theatre turned into an action drama when a man was shot for making too much noise during the movie. The shooter will probably be hailed as a hero.

• Republican National Committee Chairman Robert M. Duncan proclaimed he was “shocked and appalled” that a potential successor gave fellow members a CD this Christmas including the parody song “Barack the Magic Negro.” Duncan is probably pissed off because he wasn’t on the recipients list.

6292: Cheap Ghostwriters Are Scary.

This actual craigslist ad shows why the quality of writing in the blogosphere continues to suck. Why, you can earn up to $35 per day—$7 per post!—as a blog ghostwriter. Spooky.

Ghostwriters Needed For Blog

Reply to: gigs-971012412@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-12-27, 10:19AM CST

I need a couple of freelance writers to ghostwrite blog posts. Blog posts can range from 200 words to 400 words per post. You must be able to write on any topic. Please note that these are ghost written blogs so we have full rights to all blog articles. We’re looking for someone who can write many articles on a weekly basis (5 or more articles per day). We pay $7 per blog post. We pay through PayPal promptly every 15th of the month.

6291: Slim Pickings.

Lee seems to have a slim view on multicultural casting.

6290: Wrong Planet, Wrong Answer.

Hairy situations in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich continues to insist he’s innocent, disputing the charges that he sought to exchange Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat for money and political favors. Blagojevich argued he was hired to fight for Illinois citizens, and that’s what he’ll continue to do. “If somehow that’s impeachable,” said Blagojevich, “then I’m on the wrong planet and I’m living in the wrong place.” Um, that hairdo is pretty alien.

• History fanatics are protesting Walmart for planning to build a new store near the Wilderness Battlefield in Virginia, where an historic Civil War skirmish took place. “The Wilderness is an indelible part of our history, its very ground hallowed by the American blood spilled there, and it cannot be moved,” read a protest letter. “Surely Walmart can identify a site that would meet its needs without changing the very character of the battlefield.” But once the Civil War buffs realize Walmart sells firearms at everyday low prices, they’ll probably change their minds.

• The Washington Post reported the U.S. has wooed warlords in Afghanistan with goods and services including Viagra. “You’re trying to bridge a gap between people living in the 18th Century and people coming in from the 21st Century,” said a CIA veteran. “So you look for those common things in the form of material aid that motivate people everywhere.” Can hardly wait to see the Viva Viagra! commercial inspired by this scenario.

• BET and TV One plan to offer extensive coverage of the presidential inauguration, with TV One slated to follow the action for 21 hours straight. Then both networks will immediately return to airing nonstop reruns of Girlfriends and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

6289: The King Of Lies.

These kinds of efforts ultimately sabotage the Web 2.0 revolution. Bait-and-switch tactics. Shrouded intentions. Hidden creators. The advertisers backing this stuff are king-sized assholes too.

6288: Any Given Sundae.

A new flavor from Baskin-Robbins…?

6287: O Christmas Tree Sale.

Only 364 tree-shopping days until Christmas.

6286: Comedic Recalls.

Foreign affairs in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Jewish groups blasted a Belgian public broadcaster for airing a show featuring a comedian joking about the persecution of Jews and the Holocaust. It was actually the third time in two months that Jewish groups protested against the broadcaster for its apparent insensitivity. Last October, the broadcaster scrapped a show about Adolf Hitler’s supposed favorite dish in a series on famous people’s favorite foods. In the latest scenario, a comedian criticized Jews in Belgium for overreacting to the Hitler food show. “What are they going to do if there is a big gas leak in Antwerp?” asked the comedian, in reference to the Belgian port city, which has a large Jewish community. “Take the city to court for provocation? Preemptively file charges against anyone who dares joke about that?” The comic also insisted the Holocaust could not occur again because “Jews are much smarter now. … They have spread across the world. Try rounding them up! Most are in America so you cannot send them by train to Germany” to die in gas chambers. Um, Belgium is clearly not known for its comedy. Or tolerance.

• Toyota recalled over 120,000 vehicles in China, citing a steering defect as the cause. Looks like the Big 3 aren’t the only automakers veering out of control.

6285: Eartha Kitt (1927-2008).

From The New York Times…

Eartha Kitt, a Seducer of Audiences, Dies at 81

By Rob Hoerberger

Eartha Kitt, who purred and pounced her way across Broadway stages, recording studios and movie and television screens in a show-business career that lasted more than six decades, died on Thursday. She was 81 and lived in Connecticut.

The cause was colon cancer, said her longtime publicist, Andrew E. Freedman.

Ms. Kitt, who began performing in the late ’40s as a dancer in New York, went on to achieve success and acclaim in a variety of mediums long before other entertainment multitaskers like Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler.

With her curvaceous frame and unabashed vocal come-ons, she was also, along with Lena Horne, among the first widely known African-American sex symbols. Orson Welles famously proclaimed her “the most exciting woman alive” in the early ’50s, apparently just after that excitement prompted him to bite her onstage during a performance of “Time Runs,” an adaptation of “Faust” in which Ms. Kitt played Helen of Troy.

Ms. Kitt’s career-long persona, that of the seen-it-all sybarite, was set when she performed in Paris cabarets in her early 20s, singing songs that became her signatures, like “C’est Si Bon” and “Love for Sale.”

Returning to New York, she was cast on Broadway in “New Faces of 1952” and added another jewel to her vocal crown, “Monotonous” (“Traffic has been known to stop for me/Prices even rise and drop for me/Harry S. Truman plays bop for me/Monotonous, monotone-ous”). Brooks Atkinson wrote in The New York Times in May 1952, “Eartha Kitt not only looks incendiary, but she can make a song burst into flame.”

Shortly after that run, Ms. Kitt had her first best-selling albums and recorded her biggest hit, “Santa Baby,” whose precise, come-hither diction and vaguely foreign inflections (Ms. Kitt, a native of South Carolina, spoke four languages and sang in seven) proved that a vocal sizzle could be just as powerful as a bonfire. Though her record sales fell after the rise of rhythm and blues and rock ’n’ roll in the mid- and late ’50s, her singing style would later be the template for other singers with pillow-talky voices like Diana Ross (who has said she patterned her Supremes sound and look largely after Ms. Kitt), Janet Jackson and Madonna (who recorded a cover version of “Santa Baby” in 1987).

Ms. Kitt would later call herself “the original material girl,” a reference not only to her stage creation and to Madonna but also to her string of romances with rich or famous men, including Welles, the cosmetics magnate Charles Revson and the banking heir John Barry Ryan 3rd. She was married to her one husband, Bill McDonald, a real-estate developer, from 1960 to 1965; their daughter, Kitt Shapiro, survives her, as do two grandchildren.

From practically the beginning of her career, as critics gushed over Ms. Kitt, they also began to describe her in every feline term imaginable: her voice “purred” or “was like catnip”; she was a “sex kitten” who “slinked” or was “on the prowl” across the stage, sometimes “flashing her claws.” Her career has often been said to have had “nine lives.” Appropriately, she was tapped to play Catwoman in the 1960s TV series “Batman,” taking over the role from the leggier, lynxlike Julie Newmar and bringing to it a more feral, compact energy.

Yet for all the camp appeal and sexually charged hauteur of Ms. Kitt’s cabaret act, she also played serious roles, appearing in the films “The Mark of the Hawk” with Sidney Poitier (1957) and “Anna Lucasta” (1959) with Sammy Davis Jr. She made numerous television appearances, including a guest spot on “I Spy” in 1965, which brought her her first Emmy nomination.

For these performances Ms. Kitt likely drew on the hardship of her early life. She was born Eartha Mae Keith in North, S.C., on Jan. 17, 1927, a date she did not know until about 10 years ago, when she challenged students at Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., to find her birth certificate, and they did. She was the illegitimate child of a black Cherokee sharecropper mother and a white man about whom Ms. Kitt knew little. She worked in cotton fields and lived with a black family who, she said, abused her because she looked too white. “They called me yella gal,” Ms. Kitt said.

At 8 she was sent to live in Harlem with an aunt, Marnie Kitt, who Ms. Kitt came to believe was really her biological mother. Though she was given piano and dance lessons, a pattern of abuse developed there as well: Ms. Kitt would be beaten, she would run away and then she would return. By her early teenage years she was working in a factory and sleeping in subways and on the roofs of unlocked buildings. (She would later become an advocate, through Unicef, on behalf of homeless children.)

Her show-business break came on a lark, when a friend dared her to audition for the Katherine Dunham Dance Company. She passed the audition and permanently escaped the cycle of poverty and abuse that defined her life till then.

But she took the steeliness with her, in a willful, outspoken manner that mostly served her career, except once. In 1968 she was invited to a White House luncheon and was asked by Lady Bird Johnson about the Vietnam War. She replied: “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. No wonder the kids rebel and take pot.” The remark reportedly caused Mrs. Johnson to burst into tears and led to a derailment in Ms. Kitt’s career.

As bookings dried up, she was exiled in Europe for almost a decade. But President Jimmy Carter invited her back to the White House in 1978, and that year she earned her first Tony nomination for her work in “Timbuktu!,” an all-black remake of “Kismet.”

By now a diva and legend, Ms. Kitt did what many other divas and legends — Shirley Bassey and Ethel Merman among them — did: she dabbled in dance music, scoring her biggest hit in 30 years with “Where Is My Man” in 1984, the same year she was roundly criticized for touring South Africa. Ms. Kitt was typically unapologetic; the tour, she said, played to integrated audiences and helped build schools for black children.

The third of her three autobiographies, “I’m Still Here: Confessions of a Sex Kitten,” was published in 1989, and she earned a Grammy nomination for “Back in Business,” a collection of cabaret songs released in 1994.

As Ms. Kitt began the sixth decade of her career, she was still active. In 2000 she received her second Tony nomination, for best featured actress in a musical in “The Wild Party.” Branching out into children’s programming, she won two Daytime Emmy Awards, this year and in 2007, as outstanding performer in an animated program for her role as the scheming empress-wannabe Yzma in “The Emperor’s New School.”

All the while she remained a fixture on the cabaret circuit, having maintained her voice and shapely figure through a vigorous fitness regimen that included daily running and weight lifting. Even after discovering in 2006 that she had colon cancer, she triumphantly opened the newly renovated Café Carlyle in New York in September 2007. Stephen Holden, writing in The Times, said that Ms. Kitt’s voice was “in full growl.”

But though Ms. Kitt still seemed to have men of all ages wrapped around her finger (she would often toy with younger worshipers at her shows by suggesting they introduce her to their fathers), the years had given her perspective. “I’m a dirt person,” she told Ebony magazine in 1993. “I trust the dirt. I don’t trust diamonds and gold.”

6284: Merry MultiCultClassics Holidays.

6283: Message Not Pure + Clear.

These ads always make you wonder what the hell is in the regular version.

6282: Stripping Branches Of The Family Tree.

Is this really the best way to attract genealogy enthusiasts?

6281: Mobilize The Troops.

Credo Mobile presents a revolutionary twist, positioning itself as a green enterprise holding strong political views. It’s an intriguing proposition, yet one wonders if the offering is really relevant to the category and customers. After all, most people are primarily focused on reliable, affordable service and cool phones. It’s not about social change, but social exchange. Plus, cheap family plans and unlimited text messages.

6280: Buy Now, Immigrants!

From The Los Angeles Times…

Retailers catch on to the buying power of immigrants
With sales wilting, big-box stores are starting to cater to shoppers whose primary language is not English.

By Tiffany Hsu

Delfino Turan remembers his first trip to a Best Buy store, but not very fondly. Turan, at the time a recent immigrant from Mexico, said he could barely understand what salespeople were saying. What’s more, he couldn’t afford to pay for the purchases he wanted upfront, and the store didn’t offer to extend credit. So Turan now shops for electronics at the La Curacao department store near downtown, where he went the other day to replace the broken TV in the lunch truck he operates. “Here they understand Spanish, and they understand people like us,” he said after signing off on a down payment. “They treat you really well, they give easy credit, and they don’t ever say no.” Catering to immigrant customers has long been the stock in trade of ethnic-focused stores such as La Curacao Famsa, which caters to Spanish-speaking customers, and Kim’s Home Center, a favorite of Korean immigrants. But as electronics sales wilt in the tough market and immigrants’ buying power blooms, major big-box retailers such as Best Buy Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are catching on and catching up.

Many are using bilingual websites to turn online browsers into in-store clients, while others are hiring staffers with language skills and updating in-store signs and displays to appeal to immigrants.

“The Famsas and La Curacaos of this country have had those clients to themselves for a long time,” said Juan Tornoe, an independent consultant who has worked with companies such as Domino’s Pizza and Budweiser on Latino-targeted advertising. “Stores are looking for customers, and the wise ones are reaching out to immigrants through multiple channels.”

Wal-Mart activated its Spanish-language website in September to coincide with Hispanic Heritage month and has special holiday sites in Chinese and Vietnamese.

Last year Best Buy launched a bilingual website with a Spanish-language option after some customers complained that they couldn’t research products. Activity on the Spanish site has since far exceeded that of the original site, executives said. The company also recently signed Mexican soccer star Cuauhtemoc Blanco as a brand ambassador and has put up bilingual signage at 350 of its more than 1,000 stores, said Jeff Weness, director of Hispanic initiatives.

One reason for the initiatives is buying power. Latinos alone spend more than $870 billion on consumer products. By 2015, the amount is expected to boom to $1.3 trillion, or 12% of total U.S. purchasing power, according to Hispanic Business Inc. At the entrance to the Best Buy in West Hollywood, a sign boasts that employees speak 15 languages (including Russian, Bengali and the Nigerian languages Ibo and Ogba). In the last six years, the store has hired a burst of young, second-generation immigrants, said manager Margie Kenney.

And when staff run into translation problems during a complex sale, they just hop on the new website and consult one of the bilingual videos posted there.

“When you’re making big purchases, you need to ask intricate questions, and you feel more comfortable doing it in your own language,” Kenney said. “Having employees that are a mixture of all the communities makes shopping a more comfortable experience.”

At one point, only two Korean speakers worked at the store, just a few miles from Koreatown. Korean immigrants were avoiding the Best Buy, Kenney said, so she tripled the number of Korean speakers and put a coupon in a Korean-language newspaper.

Employees also noticed that on weekends, Latino customers made shopping a family event. So Kenney offered special deals on weekends and brought in popcorn, balloons and actors dressed as SpongeBob SquarePants to occupy children while their parents shopped.

Retailers who cater to immigrant populations say they are well aware of the rising competition, and they are adding to their arsenal of tactics to lure customers.

Kim’s Home Center in Koreatown, for example, stocks its electronics department with products from Korean companies such as Samsung and LG. Also, “we have an advantage over other dealers because we mainly speak Korean in our store,” said Si Youn, vice president of the 20,000-square-foot store.

At La Curacao, the 10 stores operate under the motto “Un poco de su país” (A little bit of your country), hoping that aisles hung with Brazilian and Spanish soccer jerseys and walls drenched in Mayan and Aztec symbolism can draw customers through the sheer force of nostalgia and homesickness.

Still, with the economy in a rut, immigrants are penny-pinching like any other consumer, shopping and spending less, defaulting on their store credit cards.

“It hasn’t been easy,” said Mauricio Fux, executive vice president of La Curacao, whose headquarters are in Los Angeles.

To stay competitive with the big chains, La Curacao tries to demystify the electronics it sells to its customers.

For example, La Curacao offers to send staffers to the homes of first-time computer buyers for two hours of in-home training in Spanish if they buy a warranty package. (Prices on these vary, but an optional four-year warranty on an $800 Sony Vaio laptop costs about $200.)

In stores, signs in Spanish—such as one hawking a remote control that reads “No se complique la vida—Todo en un solo control universal” (Don’t complicate your life—everything in one universal control) -- are scattered across the sales floor.

They also recognize that many of their customers don’t have established credit or hefty checking accounts, and will work with them on payment terms.

La Curacao can’t always compete on prices with the chain stores, but that kind of flexibility on payments helps the store compete, Fux said.

When buying his TV, Turan opted to pay $99 each month over nine months instead of $77 each month for 12 months. To be approved for the loan, he was required to produce only an ID from the Mexican consulate, not a California driver’s license.

That flexibility makes buying expensive electronics more appealing to immigrants in tough times, said Turan, who has gone to La Curacao in the past to buy an Xbox for his son, a laptop and a computer that he sent to his sister in Mexico.

“We try to offer things that are relevant,” Fux said. “If we did not evolve and just provided the same tired thing, people would stop coming.”

6279: Plush And Flush.

What’s the message here—Quilted Northern is the preferred alternative to wiping your ass with a towel?

6278: Unclear On The Media Choice.

Um, if your vision falls into the blurry/wavy and blind spot categories, are you really going to be able to read this print ad? Or the magazine where it ran?

6277: Let Them Beat Cake.

No holiday would be complete without a few obligatory fruitcake insults.

6276: Instant Gratification Is Grating.

Here’s another classic spot for Ritz Camera. Is this asshole into instant gratification—or just into himself?

6275: Falling Profits, Pop Stars & Presidents.

Failing health in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• A federal judge gave Circuit City final approval for $1.1 billion in financing while the retailer is under protection from bankruptcy. Does it seem like corporations get more money while failing versus succeeding?

• Walgreen reported its fiscal 1Q profits dropped over 10 percent, citing the costs of opening new stores. Maybe things will even out if Walgreen accountants and shareholders visit the new stores to fill their Cymbalta® prescriptions.

• Michael Jackson’s biographer says the star is dying, claiming the King of Pop thinks he won’t live another six months. But another Jackson associate disputes the statements and says, “He’s in great spirits. He seems very normal.” When Jacko seems “very normal,” it’s time for the rest of us to leave this life.

• President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, delivered coats for the needy, encouraging people to volunteer during the holiday season. No word if anyone threw galoshes at them.

6274: Pure Gold Or Pure Bullshit?

Check out the detail in this JCPenney ad. Given the state of the economy—as well as the true spirit of the holiday season—it seems pretty insensitive to declare, “Only Gold Demands Worship.”

6273: (Inter)National Basketball Association.

East meets West—at least in terms of NBA Conferences—with this multicultural promotion from the New Jersey Nets.

6272: Please Show The Average 98.2 Degrees.

Today is the first day of winter, with the nation recording unusually frigid conditions. Things are equally chilly in the advertising industry. Shops are cutting employees during the holidays. Holding companies are predicting more layoffs—and demanding more hours from workers. Blogs are digitally documenting the downsizings. And jobseekers are discovering discourtesy to be common from HR, headhunters, placement firms and others.

We could all benefit from reducing corporate coldness, and displaying a little human warmth.

6271: Perfessional Wanted By Amichur.

This actual craigslist ad seeks a perfessional agent-lawyer to work with a budding screenwriter. Given that the person can’t even spell author or possible, it’s a safe bet the screenplay won’t be landing in Steven Spielberg’s lap anytime soon. Oh, and the compensation is no pay—otherwise, you would be a professional.

looking for a perfessional agent

Reply to: littlemike38@yahoo.com
Date: 2008-12-19, 1:19PM CST

I am looking for a perfessional AGENT and ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER that is skilled and licensed to do the job. I am in the process of writing the screenplay for an arthur who is putting production to his book. Please email as soon as possibile. Thank you.

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

6270: Not A Big Idea.

The size of your idea does matter. This spot doesn’t measure up.

6269: Out On Bail.

Advertising Age reported President Bush approved the automaker bailout. So far, no car czar. Plus, Chrysler dumped its CMO star. And the CEOs can smoke a cigar. With caviar. Although they have to raise the bar. While workers stash money in a jar. How bizarre.

Bush OKs $17.4B Detroit Rescue Plan
Bailout Funds Contingent on Big 3 Making Big Changes

By Jean Halliday

DETROIT -- Declaring that an auto-industry collapse would “deal an unacceptably painful blow to hardworking Americans far beyond the auto industry,” President Bush this morning announced a rescue plan for automakers. The president said the federal government will dip into the Troubled Assets Relief Program to grant Detroit’s three car makers an immediate $13.4 billion in loans.

At a press conference, the president said “meaningful concessions” would have to come from many parties, including labor, dealers and bond holders. The government will make an additional $4 billion available to the car makers in a couple of months if they develop viable plans for survival. The plan is similar to one approved by the House but rejected by the Senate.

‘Much work in front of us’
If the car companies don’t come up with viable plans by March 31, they will be required to pay back the loans. Mr. Bush said, “The financial crisis brought the auto companies to the brink of bankruptcy much faster than they could have anticipated. And they have not made the legal and financial preparations necessary to carry out an orderly bankruptcy proceeding that could lead to a successful restructuring.” He said it was “too great a risk” not to help the domestic automakers, which, if they landed in bankruptcy, “could send our economy into a deeper and longer recession.” He added, “Letting them collapse is not a responsible course of action.”

Ford Motor Co. has said it doesn’t need a federal bridge loan, but General Motors Corp. and Chrysler wasted no time issuing statements thanking the administration. GM said: “We know we have much work in front of us to accomplish our plan. It is our intention to continue to be transparent as we execute our plan, and we will provide regular updates on our progress.”

No car czar
Chrysler Chairman-CEO Bob Nardelli said the automaker “would remain focused on its challenge, and this initial injection of working capital would help bridge the liquidity crisis the industry is facing and assist in helping return Chrysler to profitability.”

Now the automakers must make the tough moves to meet the requirements of the funding. GM CEO Rick Wagoner told Congress earlier this month the automaker would focus on just four of its eight vehicle brands as part of its restructuring plan.

The Bush plan at least for the moment abandons the creation of an auto czar. Instead, during the Bush administration, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will be in charge of overseeing the rescue. Joel Kaplan, deputy White House chief of staff for policy, said that with the coming change in administrations it didn’t seem logical to create a separate post.

Contributing: Ira Teinowitz

6268: Slaving In The Kitchen.

Has Aunt Jemima really evolved much over the years—or is she merely less prominent in the messaging?

6267: HDTV = Hardly Diverse TV.

From The Associated Press…

NAACP report find TV networks lagging in diversity

By Lynn Elber

LOS ANGELES – Nearly a decade after the NAACP condemned a “virtual whiteout” in broadcast TV, the civil rights group said major networks have stalled in their efforts to further ethnic diversity on-screen and off.

Television shows of the future could be even less inclusive because of a failure to cultivate young minority stars and to bring minorities into decision-making positions, NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said.

The effect on the country could be profound, Jealous said.

“This is America: So goes TV, so goes reality. We don’t think it’s any accident that before we had a black president in reality, we had a black president on TV,” he said, referring to the chief executive portrayed by Dennis Haysbert on Fox’s “24.”

A “critical lack of programming by, for or about people of color” can be traced in part to the lack of minorities who have the power to approve new series or make final creative decisions, said Vicangelo Bulluck, executive director of NAACP’s Hollywood bureau.

In a report due to be released Thursday, the NAACP calls on networks to revisit a 2000 agreement to diversify the ranks of actors, writers, directors and executives. It also seeks to establish a task force with network executives, the NAACP and other civil rights groups.

The report raises the possibility of political action if progress is lacking, including a boycott against an unspecified network and its major advertisers or class-action litigation against the networks and parent companies.

Particularly disturbing, Jealous said, is the course charted by the CW, born of the defunct UPN and WB networks that had featured a number of black-oriented series including “Moesha” and “The Steve Harvey Show.”

“Those two networks provided an opportunity for young talent of color in this town. ... They merged into a network which appears to have systematically cut programming targeted to communities of color,” Jealous said.

CW’s lineup includes white-oriented shows “Gossip Girl” and “90210,” although it also airs the black sitcoms “Everybody Hates Chris” and “The Game.”

A movie star such as Will Smith emerged because he could gain early exposure in the TV comedy “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Jealous said.

CW declined comment on the report, as did ABC, NBC and Fox. CBS received a request for comment late Wednesday and did not immediately respond.

On the heels of the 1999-2000 fall lineup of new shows that lacked any minority actors in lead roles — then-NAACP head Kweisi Mfume called it a “virtual whiteout” — the NAACP and Asian-American, Hispanic and Indian civil rights groups formed a coalition to lobby networks.

Broadcasters agreed to create minority recruitment and training programs and to chart minority hiring among actors, writers, directors and managers.

The coalition groups have charted their progress with annual reports, although the NAACP has not always participated, often finding sharp underrepresentation of minorities in front of and behind the camera.

The four major broadcast networks have made “important strides” in increasing diversity, the new NAACP report said, including filling lead roles with actors such as Haysbert, starring in CBS’ “The Unit,” and Laurence Fishburne, now on CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

However, using figures compiled by the networks and industry guilds, the NAACP found a less rosy picture overall.

The number of minority actors in prime-time shows has remained flat or even dipped in recent years, decreasing from 333 in the 2002-03 season to 307 in 2006-07, according to the report. The number of minority writers working during the 2006-07 season was 173, a drop from the 206 employed during the previous season, the report said.

Reality programming has dampened employment prospects for minority actors and writers, as it has for whites, but shows like “Survivor” and “American Idol” do offer a benefit: They are likely to be more diverse in casting than most scripted series, the NAACP noted, providing a truer national portrait.

6266: Plants And Vegetables.

Shut down and shut up with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Chrysler announced plans to shut down all North American plants for at least a month. Ford will shut down 10 North American plants for an extra week in January. General Motors put the brakes on plans to create a new plant. At this point, the automakers can't be relied on to keep houseplants.

• Advertising Age reported Omnicom is poised to cut 3,500 jobs, speculating ad agency BBDO could be in trouble because of its ties to an ailing Chrysler. Wonder if agencies would ever consider shutting down for a month. Would anyone even notice?

• Senator Arlen Specter said he was sorry for telling Polish jokes while recently addressing a GOP group. Specter apparently asked if anyone in the audience was Polish, but when about ten people responded they were, the senator proceeded with his schtick anyway. Talk about being a dumb Pola… um, Politician.

6265: Patriotic Or Patronizing?

Budweiser ties its Great Kings and Queens of Africa campaign to Barack Obama’s historic achievement. Wish the beer company would have simply said, “Barack, this Bud’s for you.”

6264: Adland Shows Who Rules The Land.

Adland by Mark Tungate touts itself as being the first book to present a global history of advertising; in fact, the subtitle says exactly that.

It’s an ambitious goal, especially to cover with less than 270 pages.

WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell labeled the work, “Immensely readable.” Sir Alan Parker gushed, “A terrific book: intelligently written and thoroughly researched. A must read for anyone interested in advertising.” Meanwhile, Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide CEO Kevin Roberts called it, “A great story: full of character, fun and life.” And W/Brasil President Washington Olivetto swooned, “The story of the best advertising, told with the accuracy of the best journalism and with the style of the best literature.”

That’s pretty impressive praise from prominent figures in the field. Although it should be noted the four men were interviewed for Adland. Guess Tungate picked up a few basics on hype and promotion over the course of his studies.

Dust jacket puffery aside, Tungate does deliver lots of information in an “immensely readable” style. Adland is almost a Reader’s Digest version of every advertising classic ever published—a mashup of the best books on the business. Just scan the list of references at the back, and you’ll see. Indeed, true ad aficionados will already be familiar with nearly 90 percent of the content in Adland.

The disturbing part about Adland, whether deliberate or not, is the absolute supremacy of White men. In many respects, it’s certainly an accurate depiction of the dearth of diversity in our industry. But aside from an obligatory nod to Mary Wells Lawrence, Tungate presents a total, international, color-free Boys Club.

To be fair, multiculturalism and racism do appear in a brief examination of Oliviero Toscani’s iconic Benetton campaign. And culture is discussed in the areas involving mergers, albeit from a corporate perspective.

Sure, there’s an entire chapter devoted to Dentsu and a handful of other Japanese shops. Yet you can’t help but notice Dentsu the Gigantor agency is segregated on infinite levels. Tungate also touches on Spanish advertising, with a mostly South America-Barcelona-Madrid flavor. And Adland offers a few pages on a TBWA satellite agency in South Africa. Toward the end, the author ponders the emerging Asian markets too. But overall, the Adland spotlight shines on the White Mad Men.

Adland by Mark Tungate is a global history of advertising—plus a snapshot of White male global dominance.

6263: It’s Not Sonic Good®

How come Sonic TV spots are pretty funny, but the print ads are so… sensible?

6262: Happy Belated Birthday, Mein Führer!

Having cake and eating it too in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Controversy erupted when a New Jersey ShopRite refused to customize a birthday cake with a two-year-old kid’s name. The name? Adolf Hitler Campbell. The child’s father, an admitted Nazi fan, argues his son is being subjected to discrimination. “I think people need to take their heads out of the cloud they’ve been in and start focusing on the future and not on the past,” said the father. “There’s a new president and he says it’s time for a change. Well, then it’s time for a change. They need to accept a name. A name’s a name. The kid isn’t going to grow up and do what [Hitler] did.” Forget the cake. Somebody needs to shove a pie in dad’s face.

• Newly released census data shows the number of two-parent Black families continues to grow, currently at about 40 percent. The increase may be partly attributed to an expanding Black middle class. No word regarding the number of Black parents naming their children Adolf Hitler.

• Cooper Tire & Rubber Company announced plans to close a factory in Georgia, cutting 1,400 workers. Executives should expect to get their tires slashed in the company parking lot.

6261: Your Guess Is As Good As Ours.

Jessica never would have guessed popcorn this good could be 94% fat free. The rest of us never would have guessed why anyone thought this ad was a good idea.

6260: Delivering Bad News. Sometimes.

Holiday reductions in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Fiat shut down most of its Italian plants for a month, effectively putting over 48,000 people out of work during the holidays. So Lexus won’t be the only car company talking about a December To Remember.

• Two daily newspapers in Detroit, seeking to cut costs and survive, are dropping home delivery to 3 days per week. The papers hope people will opt to read the online editions. However, if your paperboy drives a Fiat, you’re really screwed.

6259: Madison Avenue vs. Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Associated Press reported that Barack Obama renewed a commitment to diversity in his administration. Technically, President George W. Bush also created a diverse staff, as did most presidents in recent history. Funny, these scenarios never inspire reactions or excuses like the ones produced by Madison Avenue whenever the topic surfaces. No President ever whined about having to lower their standards. No Commander-In-Chief complained about a lack of qualified candidates. No Leader of the Free World was accused of being too politically correct. Guess Madison Avenue honchos view themselves as being above the highest office in the nation.

Obama Renews Pledge of Diversity

By The Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) -- President-elect Barack Obama says he still plans to lead an administration that’s diverse not just ethnically, but also politically.

He was asked at a Chicago news conference about his pledge to include Republicans among his Cabinet appointments.

Obama said there are still more appointments to make -- and that in the end, he believes people will feel he’s followed through on his commitment to a diverse administration. He says that will include diversity in the life experience of the people he appoints.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is the only known Republican in Obama’s Cabinet, though there are members of his foreign policy team who have not publicly declared their party affiliation.

6258: Partnership For Prosperity…?

Wonder how the communities will prosper now that Wachovia has failed to prosper.

6257: King-Sized Clichés.

What’s with the kingdom of kings for appealing to Black audiences? Budweiser has hyped the Kings of Africa for decades. Crown Royal and Paul Masson talk about being kings—and Crown Royal even extends the message with a contrived jazz musician spot. Diddy’s latest campaign and fragrance proclaims, “I Am King.” Wonder what these fools will do for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Probably launch a promotion with B.B. King.

6256: Have Your Brain Trust Examined.

Adweek presented a study that claims clients’ top reason for choosing an advertising agency involves “having an understanding of their marketplace.” Well, if the targeted marketplace is exclusively comprised of White men, it’s all good. Otherwise, the typical agency is as clueless as can be.

New Study Reveals What a Client Wants in an Agency
A thorough understanding of the marketplace leads the wish list

By Andrew McMains

NEW YORK Clients said “having an understanding of their marketplace” was the most important criteria for selecting an agency, according to a new survey that probes how clients view agencies from consultancy Reardon Smith Whittaker.

Grasping the company’s strategic direction as well as the creative work presented were tied for the second-most important factors cited in the report titled, “A Client’s View of Agency Performance.” This was followed by “offering something fresh and new.”

This year the Cincinnati-based company polled 184 client marketing and brand executives from the likes of AT&T, Dunkin’ Brands, Merck, MetLife and Revlon via an online questionnaire that was distributed in November.

“Simply popping out the monthly newsletter or the fun, quirky e-mail blast isn’t going to work anymore,” said Mark Schneider, managing director at Reardon Smith Whittaker. “Given the challenges clients are facing in light of the economy, they need agencies that can get up to speed quickly, add smart value-added thinking and are a trustworthy lot.”

As in past years, Reardon Smith Whittaker, a consultancy that coaches agencies on new business development, focused on why clients seek new agencies, what they look for and how satisfied they are with the results.

The top-ranked reasons the respondents cited for launching reviews were unhappiness with their agency’s thinking (46 percent), followed by dissatisfaction with creative work (40 percent) and not being proactive enough (38 percent).

The execs had mixed feelings about agency searches. They find the process to be time-consuming (42 percent) and 28 percent agree that “you’re told so many things that you’re not sure what to believe,” yet 37 percent said reviews were “exciting” and 22 percent “look forward to it.”

As for the tactics they’re most interested in, the respondents pointed to online marketing (69 percent), buzz marketing (58 percent), experiential efforts (53 percent), search engine marketing (52 percent) and mobile marketing (25 percent).

6255: Impaired Visions.

Political commentary in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• New York Governor David Paterson took offense to a Saturday Night Live skit that made light of his blindness. “I can take a joke,” said Paterson to reporters. But he called the piece a “third-grade depiction of people and the way they look” that could lead people to think that “disability goes hand-in-hand with an inability to run a government or business.” Oh, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich seem to demonstrate quite clearly that an inability to run a government rarely stems from disability.

• A Georgia state senator ignited controversy by introducing a plan to merge historically Black colleges with predominately White institutions. Senator Seth Harp initially suggested the move for financial reasons, but added, “We really need to close the chapter of segregated schools and create a unified system.” Wonder how this guy would respond to the segregated agencies in the advertising industry.

6254: Madison Avenue Diversity Best Practices.

DiversityInc is presenting a webinar on best practices from the top U.S. and global companies for diversity. You’d think attendance would be mandatory for every advertising agency in the nation. Then again, Madison Avenue has been highly consistent with its diversity-related schemes and tactics over the years. In fact, they could hold their own webinar on the subject. The promotional messaging for the event would probably look like the image above. (Click on the image to enlarge)

6253: Political Scandals And Sandals.

Dropping the other shoe in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• It’s always easy to get cheap laughs from a President Bush antic, but how the hell did the Secret Service allow some dimwit to hurl two shoes at Dubya without taking the guy down hard—or even putting a bullet in his head? In Iraq, of all places! Should be interesting to see what Kenneth Cole does with this.

• Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, facing heat over allegedly trying to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat for political favors and loot, has been meeting with top-flight lawyers. The defense attorneys include Edward Genson, who led R. Kelly’s team to victory. Sorry, it’s unlikely the Blagojevich recordings will beat the R. Kelly video.

6252: Gin Crummy.

Liquid cool. Concept not so cool.

6251: ¡Ay, Caramba, Ave Maria!

Playboy honored the Virgin Mary in its Mexican holiday edition. Catch the details and comments at Mi blog es tu blog.

6250: Only 12 Blogging Days Until Christmas.

Holiday shopping in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• An early present for paparazzi: Michael Jackson was spotted shopping in Beverly Hills (pictured above in his holiday splendor).

• An early lump of coal for General Motors employees: The automaker announced plans to temporarily shut down 20 North American factories, for at least 30 percent of the first quarter.

• An early regift: A judge ordered a former O.J. Simpson pal to hand over the star’s Pro Football Hall of Fame ring to help relieve the amount owed from the $33.5 million civil-court judgment.

6249: Mission Accomplished…?

From The Washington Post…

‘We’ve Completed Our Mission’
Little Rock Nine, Tuskegee Airmen Receive Invitations to Witness the Fruits of Their Struggle

By Avis Thomas-Lester and Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writers

In their youth, they helped build the road to freedom, through white mobs at a segregated high school in Little Rock and across the deadly skies above war-torn Europe.

Next month, the now-aging civil-rights pioneers of the Little Rock Nine and the Tuskegee Airmen will have the opportunity to stand at a high place on that road: the swearing-in of Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States and the country’s first black commander in chief.

Officials said yesterday that invitations were being extended to the nine people who as teenagers desegregated Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957. Invitations to the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed African American pilots and crews who fought during World War II, were announced earlier in the week.

“That we would be invited is only natural because of the pivotal role we played in starting the integration movement,” retired Lt. William Broadwater, 82, of Upper Marlboro said of his fellow black pilots and support personnel, who pushed for military integration a decade before public schools and transportation were desegregated.

“The culmination of our efforts and others’ was this great prize we were given on Nov. 4,” he said. “Now we feel like we’ve completed our mission. This inauguration will be the ultimate result.”

The invitations were offered by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which is coordinating the swearing-in at the west front of the Capitol. U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), who suggested the Little Rock invitation, said: “The Little Rock Nine changed the course of American history. … They should be here, front and center.”

But not all the invitees will be able to attend. Little Rock Nine member Elizabeth Eckford, 67, who still lives in the house where she grew up, said she can’t afford the trip.

“I never thought I’d see it, because racism is so much a part of America,” she said. “That will continue to live as long as racism is taught at home.”

Many of the airmen are infirm. Lt. Col. Hiram Mann, 87, of Titusville, Fla., who uses a wheelchair, said he won’t be able to come to the inauguration but will be rooted in front of his television.

“The last two times I have come to Washington, D.C., for events, it has been difficult,” he said. “I’d rather watch it at home where I can be comfortable, but I’m so proud that we were invited.”

Eckford was one of the nine black teenagers who braved enraged white mobs, the National Guard and the hostile governor of Arkansas to attend the then-all white high school three years after the Supreme Court declared segregated schools illegal.

The black students were harassed and hounded by white students and parents, and their struggle made headlines around the world. Minnijean Brown-Trickey, 67, of Little Rock. “I was scared to death,” she said yesterday. “We didn’t cry. Not a single one of us cried. Publicly.”

The invitation is “an indication that [there is] a sense of what came before and how the preparation was made for [Obama], half a century ago or even longer,” she said. “It’s been a centuries-old struggle, and we’re still doing it in some ways.

“This is about a struggle since before the beginning of the nation,” she added. “Whether this is the end of the struggle or the beginning of other struggles” is not clear, she said.

Brown-Trickey said that in the past she “never had any interest in any inauguration, ever. It didn’t seem as if it had anything to do with me.” But Obama’s election is “very powerful stuff,” she said. “We’ve got a black woman who’s going to be first lady. … It’s fabulous.”
She was already planning to attend the inauguration, she said, but “I’d love a better seat.”

Carlotta Walls LaNier, another member of the Little Rock Nine, said: “This is such a wonderful, historical event. … We’ve come a long way in 51 years.”

The Tuskegee Airmen were made up of the 900 black fighter and bomber pilots who trained at the segregated Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama from 1942 through 1946. More than 400 served overseas, flying patrol and strafing missions and serving as bomber escorts from bases in North Africa and Italy.

Ground and support crews, also part of the group, were trained at Tuskegee and elsewhere, and all were assigned to exclusively black aviation units that went overseas to fight, despite harsh discrimination.

In a previous interview, retired Lt. Col. Charles McGee of Bethesda summed up what several members of the Tuskegee Airmen said was their goal: “to be measured by our abilities rather than the happenstance of birth.”

Accomplishing that, Mann, Broadwater and others said, paved the way for Obama.

“I believe the record shows you don’t have to change the standards, you don’t have to do something special. You just have to give everybody opportunity,” McGee said previously. “If we have the chance, we prove ourselves.”

Tuskegee Airman and retired Lt. Col. Lee A. Archer Jr., 89, of New Rochelle, N.Y., said, “This whole thing has given me faith in the young, including the young whites, who seem to have put race aside … to vote for the man who will really bring the change that we need.

“I knew it would happen someday,” said Archer, who flew 169 combat missions and was the only African American designated an ace during the war. “But I thought it might still be 100 years away.”

6248: Flipping For Frozen Foods.

Not convinced most kids would perform cartwheels for these meals.

6247: Picture Imperfect.

Note to Nikon: Don’t sell state-of-the-art photography gear with bad photography.

6246: Word To The Wise.

Adweek published another ridiculous rambling from Lowe creative leader Mark Wnek. The man appears to be making an argument for the value of age and wisdom in our industry. Whatever. While praising advertising agency mcgarrybowen, Wnek cracked one comment that sorta demonstrates age has not blessed him with wisdom:

Like anybody with their head down plugging away and doing a great job in this business, mcgarry has its detractors. And its detractors have a single-minded bent: The agency is too old. CEO John McGarry is 66, CCO Gordon Bowen is 58 and chief strategy officer Stewart Owen is 57. “I hear you’re pitching against the Cocoon agency,” a reporter chortled to me once. It’s like old is the new gay, something to make snide jokes about around the watercooler.

Old is the new gay? What the hell does that even mean? Is the man admitting Madison Avenue also routinely shows disrespect and bigotry to gays? And here we thought it was just Omnicom. At a time when the ad biz faces increased scrutiny over its discriminatory ways, these types of remarks don’t seem very wise.

P.S., Wnek has been criticized for insensitivity to gays in the past.

6245: No Nuts, No Glory.

no nuts. no gluten. no dairy. no worries. no concept. looks like no art director too.

6244: Not-So-Funny Money.

Playing around in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• KB toys filed for bankruptcy protection, probably blaming it on the doll housing crisis. Maybe Washington will offer them a bailout—with play money.

• Bank of America announced plans to cut up to 35,000 jobs over the next three years. Seems like a good time for bank employees to bail out of the business.

6243: It’s The Least Cheesiest.

Guess this is the anti-Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

6242: The Name Is Bond. Julian Bond.

From The Associated Press…

Bond to seek new term as NAACP board chairman

By Ben Nuckols

BALTIMORE (AP) — Three weeks after announcing he would not seek another term as chairman of the NAACP’s national board, veteran civil rights activist Julian Bond said Tuesday that he has changed his mind.

Bond told The Associated Press Tuesday night he was flattered and pressured “in a positive way” by his board members to stay on. He first said he was interested in returning during an interview on “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” earlier in the day.

Bond said he had always wanted to be the board chairman during its centennial next year.

“You get to be 100 years old and you can’t wait for it to come around again. I want to spend more of my efforts celebrating,” he told the AP, adding that he had the support of most of the organization’s 64 board members.

In addition to the centennial festivities planned next year, Bond said he wanted to focus his efforts on raising funds for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which he acknowledged would be difficult in the troubled economy.

However, he said, “we survived the depression and this is not a depression year. If we survived that, we can survive this.”

Bond also said that even with the election of Barack Obama as president, the civil rights group has much work to in this country.

“We’re not the national association for the advancement of one person,” Bond said. “Obama has reached the mountaintop; we want to help others reach the mountaintop. That’s the unfinished work.”

Bond, 68, has been board chairman since 1998. He said three weeks ago that the time was right to let younger leaders take over the NAACP.

With Bond’s backing, Benjamin T. Jealous, 35, was chosen in May as president and CEO of the NAACP, becoming the youngest president in its history.

Jealous supports Bond’s decision to remain as chairman “100 percent,” said Carla Sims, an NAACP spokeswoman.

Bond provided stability and a respected national voice to the NAACP, which has been roiled in recent years by infighting and financial difficulties. He acknowledged clashing with Jealous’ predecessor, Bruce Gordon, who resigned abruptly in March 2007.

Bond helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee while a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1960 and participated in protests and registration campaigns throughout the South.

In 1965, he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, which refused to seat him until the Supreme Court intervened the following year. He served for 20 years in the Georgia legislature before an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 1986.

Associated Press writer Kasey Jones in Baltimore contributed to this story.

6241: Powder To The People.

This actual craigslist ad seeks an Albino for a sci-fi flick. Guess the cinematic geniuses can’t afford talcum powder.

Albino needed for independent film (Chicago)
Reply to: gigs-952711878@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-12-10, 12:52PM CST

Male or female any age Albino for a co-starring position for a sci-fi film. For Film Feast Fest.

6240: Let’s Make A Deal.

Dealing with the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Office Depot will close down 112 stores. Better make sure the disgruntled ex-employees don’t try to steal office supplies on the way out.

• The four O.J. Simpson pals who participated in the infamous kidnapping and robbery won’t face jail time, as they were sentenced to varying ranges of probation. Which means they got a better deal than Office Depot employees.

• Congratulations to Jack in the Box. The burger joint was recognized for featuring the unhealthiest “value menu” item among fast feeders. The bacon junior cheeseburger beat out Taco Bell’s Cheesy Double Beef Burrito, Burger King’s breakfast sausage biscuit and Mickey D’s McDouble cheeseburger. So O.J.’s pals still got a better deal than customers at Mickey D’s, Burger King, Taco Bell and Jack in the Box.

• Senator Larry Craig lost the latest attempt to appeal his infamous airport toilet stall plea. Sorry, but this moron definitely won’t get a better deal than O.J.’s pals.

6239: Tuskegee Airmen Fly To Inauguration.

From The New York Times…

Inauguration Is a Culmination for Black Airmen

By Katharine Q. Seelye

When the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black force of elite pilots, emerged from combat in World War II, they faced as much discrimination as they had before the war. It was not until six decades later that their valor was recognized and they received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor Congress can give.

Now, the roughly 330 pilots and members of the ground crew who are left from about 16,000 who served are receiving another honor that has surpassed their dreams: They are being invited to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama as the country’s first black president.

“I didn’t believe I’d live long enough to see something like this,” said Lt. Col. Charles A. Lane Jr., 83, of Omaha, a retired Tuskegee fighter pilot who flew missions over Italy.

“I would love to be there, I would love to be able to see it with my own eyes,” he said, chuckling on the phone as he heard about the invitation. But, he said, he had a “physical limitation” and was not sure he would be able to attend.

Thousands of people who participated in the fight for civil rights over several decades helped pave the way for Mr. Obama’s triumph. But the Tuskegee Airmen have a special place in history. Their bravery during the war — on behalf of a country that actively discriminated against them — helped persuade President Harry S. Truman to desegregate the military in 1948.

“The election of Barack Obama was like a culmination of a struggle that we were going through, wanting to be pilots,” said William M. Wheeler, 85, a retired Tuskegee combat fighter pilot who lives in Hempstead, N.Y. He tried to become a commercial pilot after the war but was offered a job cleaning planes instead.

Mr. Obama has acknowledged his debt to the airmen, issuing a statement in 2007, when they received the Congressional Gold Medal. It said in part: “My career in public service was made possible by the path heroes like the Tuskegee Airmen trail-blazed.”

The invitation to his swearing-in was extended Tuesday by Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who is chairwoman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

Howard Gantman, staff director for the committee, said of the decision to invite them: “They served honorably on behalf of our country, helped fight the battle to overcome racial barriers and because of the historic nature of this election, we thought they deserved to be there.”

Tickets to the Jan. 20 inauguration are the most sought-after commodity, with more than 1.5 million people expected in Washington. Of the 240,000 tickets, the airmen would have seats among the 30,000 on the terrace below the podium, along with former members of Congress and others.

For logistical reasons, the actual invitation ended up with Robert D. Rose, a retired Air Force captain in Bellevue, Neb., who was not a Tuskegee airman but is the first vice president of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc., an association of the original airmen and their supporters.

The onus is on the association to extend the invitation to the airmen, who must respond by Dec. 19. Each can bring one guest. The tickets are not transferable, so if an airman cannot make it, he cannot give his ticket away.

“We’ll have a lot of happy fellows and ladies,” said Mr. Rose, who predicted that many would try to attend.

He said that before the invitation was made Tuesday, he had already been trying to get word to higher ups that the airmen would like to be invited. “I thought if the name ‘Tuskegee’ surfaced at a high enough level, someone would recognize it and it would make sense to invite them,” he said.

There is no firm handle on how many are still alive. More than 300 came forward in March 2007 to collect their bronze replicas of the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony at the Capitol. The actual Gold Medal itself was given to the Smithsonian Institution.

In all, 994 pilots and about 15,000 ground personnel collectively known as the Tuskegee Airmen were trained at the segregated Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama from 1942 to 1946.

About 119 pilots and 211 ground personnel are still alive, according to Tuskegee Airmen Inc. They are in their 80s and 90s, many are frail, and it is unclear how many will be able to make the trip to Washington. And those who make it will face various challenges: they will most likely have to walk some distance, the weather could be harsh, the crowds will be huge and accommodations are scarce.

Still, these are some of the airmen who flew more than 150,000 sorties over Europe and North Africa during World War II, escorting Allied bombers and destroying hundreds of enemy aircraft. Some were taken prisoner. And most faced fierce discrimination during and after the war.

“Even the Nazis asked why they would fight for a country that treated them unfairly,” President Bush said in awarding the medals.

Mr. Rose, of the airmen’s association, said he saw a direct connection between the Tuskegee experience and Mr. Obama’s election.

“The Tuskegee Airmen preceded Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, and if they hadn’t helped generate a climate of tolerance by integration of the military, we might not have progressed through the civil rights era,” he said. ”We would have seen a different civil rights movement, if we would have seen one at all.”

6238: Designated Damsel In Distress.

What’s the message here—make the hot chick drive the drunken men home? Friends don’t let girlfriends drive drunks.

6237: The ABCs Of Cerebral Wellness.

Helps support brain health? With a flying cow?

6236: Calling All Car Czars.

Advertising Age reported on the proposal from Congress to name a “car czar” to oversee expenses for the Big Three automakers as part of the bailout stipulations. Wonder what a government-appointed executive will think upon discovering the dearth of diversity at the car companies’ advertising agencies. Or heaven forbid the “car czar” turns out to be a person of color. All “car czar” candidates are cordially invited to read a MultiCultClassics perspective.

Car Czar Would Control $7.3 Billion Ad Budget
Rescue Plan From Congress Would Create World’s Most Powerful Marketing Exec

By Judann Pollack

NEW YORK—The world’s most powerful marketing executive is now the car czar.

The draft rescue plan for Detroit sent to the White House by Congress yesterday calls for the appointment of a “car czar” who will oversee the Big Three automakers’ expenses over $25 million—which, by extension, would include media buys. Based on Advertising Age’s estimates of spending by General Motors Corp., Chrysler and Ford Motor Co., that would give the as-yet-unnamed car czar control over some $7.3 billion in marketing spending in the U.S. alone.

The marketing money controlled by the car czar would handily top that of Procter & Gamble, the country’s leading advertiser, which spends some $5.2 billion, and shove P&G’s global marketing officer Marc Pritchard off his perch as the most influential man in marketing.

Clout with media and agencies

The car czar would wield a budget more than double those of AT&T, Verizon, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson, which round out the nation’s top five marketing spenders, and give the car czar more clout with media and agencies than such famed names in marketing as Walmart Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Quinn and Anheuser-Busch VP-Marketing Dave Peacock.

The question is: Who might ascend to marketing’s top slot? The two names being bandied about are former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker, suggested by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who ran the federal Sept. 11 victims fund and has been cited in some media reports.

But whoever is chosen, this much is fairly certain: If the bailout goes through, agencies that work for the Big Three will essentially be toiling on a government account, with all the associated red tape and strictures that involves.

6235: Style Without Substance—Or Style.

This actual job listing is for the most stylish corporation in Chicago, with highly stylized products that stylistically demand styling. Hey, you ought to hire The Stylistics. Also, please work on your fucking writing style.

Position: Senior Interactive Designer
Location: Northbrook
Status: Full-time
Rate: $100,000 range

Job Description:
Our Client is the most stylish corporation in Chicagoland. This company has established themselves in providing highly stylized product and in turn, have stringent design standards that need to be applied to their identity and marketing efforts.

Stylistically, you should be current with trends—competitive and non-industry trends. Your design should be ahead of the trend but should in general reflect clean, photo-centric and strong branded design work.

6234: Adpologies And Other Sorry Affairs.

Running on empty in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• General Motors ran a full-page ad in Automotive News (depicted above), essentially admitting to business bungles. Wonder which soon-to-be-downsized GM ad agency produced the gem.

• Sony announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs, including 8,000 regular employees and an equal amount of temp and contract workers. So that means 16,000 more people will be unable to afford Sony PSP stuff.

• The protesting workers at the Republic Windows & Doors factory can go home now, as Bank of America agreed to extend credit to the company. The workers had been fired with only three days’ notice, but they refused to leave without receiving severance and accrued vacation pay. Bank of America took heat for initially cutting off the company’s credit while accepting federal bailout loot. Only in America—or Bank of America.

• Wednesday is A Day Without A Gay, where people are encouraged to show support for same-sex unions by taking the day off from work and avoiding any purchases. The protest will not likely affect the workforces at Mars and Omnicom.

6233: Contextual Car Wreck.

General Motors released a letter admitting to messing up over the years—alongside banner ads for Suzuki and Hyundai sales drives.

6232: PB&J OK.

Contrary to the arguments of bologna and bagel pizza, it looks like peanut butter isn’t so bad after all.

6231: Another Poor Idea From McCann.

Advertising Age weighed in on a new enterprise from McCann Worldgroup called Barrio, an agency dedicated to targeting the poor in Latin America. The author of the piece ponders the ethical and moral questions behind the move. Hey, it’s hardly unprecedented. U.S. advertisers have pushed products on low-income minorities for generations—from cigarettes to liquor to lottery tickets. Gary Coleman ain’t talking to Philip Drummond in those CashCall commercials. At the same time, McCann has not exactly demonstrated sensitivity with its efforts involving dads, pit bulls and Beyoncé. Or its own veteran employees. Oh, there’s cultural hijinks and hilarity ahead.

New McCann Latin Unit Broaches a Question: Is It Right to Target the Poor?
Agency Called Barrio Established Just in Time for Global Recession

By Matthew Creamer

For many obvious reasons, marketers don’t openly talk much about segmenting their consumers by economic class unless, of course, they’re talking about the affluent. Identifying a person as rich isn’t a particularly touchy matter. Not like when you’re calling someone poor and then trying to figure how best to shove more product his or her way. But that’s exactly what McCann Worldgroup is doing with a new unit called Barrio, whose mission will be to help massive marketers like Nestle and SABMiller understand the poor in Latin America.

The announcement of the new unit comes on the heels of a large research project that’s already yielded a couple of insights that have been translated into programs. For SABMiller’s Panamanian beer brand Atlas, McCann is running a contest that will allow winners to guest broadcast during a baseball game. The contest reflects the Warholian insight that Panamanians want a few minutes of fame.

Because this is the advertising business, there has to be a bit of corporate playacting and Barrio can do that, apparently. Among its offerings is the ability to ghetto up otherwise cushy environs so suits can see how the other half lives. In an article today, the Wall Street Journal describes how in McCann’s Bogota outpost chickens have been let loose to peck around the feet of clients. Clients in Mexico City ate tacos off of plastic mats in a room designed to look like a bodega. Ah, the desperation … you can almost smell it.

As to the ethical dilemma, the article is generally free of critical wrestling with the issue, noting only that the approach may “raise some eyebrows.” The piece pretty much nets out where Luca Lindner, head of McCann’s Latin American operations, does, which is with the conclusion that bringing deodorant and packaged food to the poor will help them both in physical and psychological terms. As Mr. Linder was quoted, “We do not pretend to be Mother Teresa.”

No doubt, but how Barrio weighs in on the moral scale is sure to be determined by whether it actually helps marketers create products that increase that well-being. Market research on the poor is lacking. But good research and compassionate thinking about product development, which doesn’t necessarily involve rich executives partaking in incredibly contrived exercises in acting like the poor, should be used to create affordable, necessary things. That will help increase the well-being Mr. Lindner mentions, rather than just help big companies pad their margins by finding ways to squeeze a few extra pesos out of their consumers—something that will be especially tempting now that the era of mass affluence seems to have come to a crashing end.

6230: Celebrate Good Times—Come On!

Another “Celebrate” would have called for a cameo from Kool & The Gang.

6229: Wish You Were Here…?

The creative team responsible for this ad should be asked to pack their bags.

6228: Nutty Claims.

Made in a dedicated nut-free facility? Wonder if the same can be said for the responsible advertising agency.

6227: Bound And Gagged.

Tying up the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• A New York seventh-grade teacher ignited controversy during a social studies lesson on slavery by binding the hands and feet of two Black students to simulate the real experience. One student’s mother and the local chapter of the NAACP protested the matter. So far, it appears that the teacher has not been reprimanded. “I think the teacher should have gotten some discipline,” argued the student’s mother. Or maybe this is turning out to be a completely accurate history lesson.

• 3M announced plans to cut 1,800 jobs in the last quarter—unless there is a dramatic rise in teachers needing tape to bind the hands and feet of Black students for history lessons.

• Around 200 laid-off employees refused to leave the factory of former employer Republic Windows & Doors, demanding that they receive vacation and severance pay owed to them. Looks like there are few windows of opportunity and the doors are closing on them.

6226: Soul Food With A Side Of Civil Rights.

From The New York Times…

Remembering a Soul Food Legend Who Nurtured Civil Rights Leaders

By Robbie Brown

ATLANTA — The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. loved the vegetable soup. Representative John Lewis always ordered the peas. And Andrew Young, as mayor of Atlanta, would not tolerate anyone else’s fried chicken.

But the aging lions of the civil rights movement who hobbled into the funeral on Friday of James V. Paschal, the co-founder of a legendary soul food cafe in Atlanta, only briefly mentioned the cooking. Instead, they spoke of the entrepreneur, and the role he played by providing nourishment and a sense of place to a fledgling movement that changed the nation.

Mr. Paschal, with his older brother Robert, orchestrated the meteoric rise of Paschal’s Restaurant from a red-brick chicken shack into a defining symbol of food and politics in black Atlanta. He was 88 when he died Nov. 28 of complications from heart surgery.

“Lord, I tell you, it’s hard to even imagine black politics in Georgia without the Paschal brothers,” said Tyrone Brooks, a state representative from Warrenton. “You can’t hardly find one elected official from the ’60s to today who hasn’t been touched by that restaurant and that family.”

For 61 years, Mr. Paschal quietly shepherded a generation of black politicians from protest to power. Drawn by the flaky, ungreasy chicken and fast-melting peach cobbler, they planned marches in Selma and Birmingham over lunches and breakfast. They mourned Dr. King’s death in the main dining room. And in 1984 and 1988, they began the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s campaigns for the presidency from a connecting hotel owned by Paschal’s.

“I used to say that all the decisions in Atlanta were made between 6:30 and 8 in the morning, and they were made at Paschal’s,” Mr. Young said. “Any politician in Atlanta who wanted to get elected needed the black vote, and the best place to get it was Paschal’s.”

Over the years, Paschal’s expanded and evolved, to the perpetual concern of loyalists. The speakeasy atmosphere yielded to an upscale, white-linen setting. Its signature elbow-to-elbow seating was replaced with spacious but less conversation-friendly tables. And in 2002, the restaurant changed locations, abandoning the one at 530 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, which became part of Clark Atlanta University, for a vaulted building several blocks away. (It also has two outposts at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for travelers needing a soul food fix.)

“It used to be the kind of place where everybody talked,” said Curtis Paschal, the son of Mr. Paschal and an executive at the company that owns the restaurant. “A politician could sit and have a coffee with a local artist. A Ph.D. in physics could sit down with the local numbers guy and discuss theoretical physics.”

Mr. Lewis ate his first meal in Atlanta at Paschal’s, in 1963, but feels less attachment to the new location. “The new place just doesn’t have the same feeling,” he said. “It’s much more sophisticated and contemporary.”

On a recent afternoon, Charles Releford Jr., a chief of staff in the Fulton County government, returned to Paschal’s for the food he has been having for the last 40 years: fried chicken, collard greens and macaroni and cheese. “When you come here, you always see everyone you know,” Mr. Releford said. “It’s not just people from Atlanta either. When friends from New York come to town, they always just say, ‘I’ll meet you at Paschal’s.’ ”

The restaurant’s clientele once included members of the King family, Julian Bond, the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery and Maynard Jackson. An adjacent jazz club, La Carrousel, also run by the Paschals, drew performances by Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, Ramsey Lewis, Lena Horne, Cannonball Adderley and Joe Williams.

Even in the 1950s, the restaurant seated white and black patrons together, a daring violation of segregation laws in Atlanta. At La Carrousel, Connie Curry, the first white woman on the executive committee of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, enjoyed her first dance with a black man.

Mr. Paschal’s funeral service, at Morehouse University’s chapel, attracted more than 500 people. Overlooking a coffin draped in red roses and lined with poinsettias, a parade of civil rights veterans paid effusive tributes to the restaurant.

To shouts of “Amen” and “Oh, yes,” they told how Mr. Paschal, the son of a sharecropper, became a millionaire without forgetting his roots or his community. They described his patience, the little bow of his head that he gave every customer as he went table to table asking about the service.

“He provided the place where we could meet, strategize and plan to go to jail,” said the Rev. Timothy McDonald, the former president of the Concerned Black Clergy.

The restaurant was also a place to calm frayed nerves after arrests, death threats and beatings. “You’d leave the front lines of the movement, in South Georgia or Alabama,” Mr. Lewis said, “and when you made it to Paschal’s you were safe.”

But Mr. Paschal was also a businessman, interested in profit as well as social progress.

“He’d always say, ‘I don’t just want y’all to meet in here,’” Mr. McDonald recalled. “‘I want y’all to eat in here, too.’”

6225: Judging Creative Talent Is Not Subjective.

This actual ad appeared at craigslist. If this guy’s legit, you can bet places like Draftfcb and Enfatico will be beating down his door.

MRI/PET SCANS IDENTIFY CREATIVE MARKETERS

Reply to: job-945933305@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-12-05, 9:17AM CST

If you think the following is fun – if you’re currently reading this – then I’ve captured your attention. Just think what I can do for your company!

Brain MRI/PET scans reveal that the best creative thinkers have highlighted areas of brain activity in their cerebrum, temporal and occipital lobes. Research was conducted at the Neurobiology Division of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Participants were presented with market data and asked to create 3-5 new products and innovative positioning ideas to increase company sales by $5 million. All participants received the same data. One hour later, those participants were placed in a MRI/PET scan and brain activity was measured.

Since MRI/PET scans can image the alterations of biochemical processes, true creative thinkers can be identified. One participant, Lisa Radin of Highland Park, IL had what researchers called ‘supernatural’ creativity. Additional research will be conducted on Radin to determine impact of these findings.

This new medical equipment application is being marketed as a business tool to companies seeking the best creative talent as it applies to strategic marketing, new product development and having a significant impact on sales growth.

General Electric, the leader in scanning technology, can envision tabletop models in every Fortune 1000 human resource department. According to Reuters, GE stock skyrocketed on the news.

Times are difficult; recessionary markets need new creative thinking – and I’m here if you’re strong enough to take the necessary step to move forward. Now, if you email and I don’t answer right away – don’t worry, as I might be in the scanner and will return message shortly.

6224: Run What America Runs On.

Time to make the coffee. Dunkin’ Donuts doesn’t even try to sell donuts to potential franchisees.

6223: O.J. Simpson Scores 33.

A judge declared that O.J. Simpson will serve 33 years in prison, with eligibility for parole in nine years. All for holding up a few sleazy memorabilia dealers? Gee, you’d think the guy had murdered somebody.

6222: Would You Like Fries With That?

Dollar Menu dilemmas in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• A McMoron in Florida was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend with a McDonald’s cheeseburger. An argument led to the man smashing the sandwich into the victim's face. He was released on $1,000 bond. The amount would have been higher if it were a Big Mac Attack.

• Solo Cup Corporation cut 100 workers, who will probably soon be standing on street corners asking people to drop donations in their Solo cups.

• General Motors announced plans to fire 2,000 more workers. Wonder if they’ll also fly to Washington and request a bailout.

6221: Having A Senior Moment.

Like your great-grandma, this headline just babbles on and on…

6220: Barbie Bitch Slaps Bratz.

From The Boston Herald…

Judge bans Mattel rival MGA from making, selling Bratz

By Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Shares of Mattel are soaring today after a big court victory for the toy giant that could leave a lot of young girls upset.

Yesterday, a federal judge banned rival toy maker MGA from making and selling its hugely popular Bratz dolls.

The pouty-lipped dolls with almond-shaped eyes appeared in 2001 and were an instant hit. MGA took the original four dolls developed by designer Carter Bryant, and spun them into a line of more than 40 characters, complete with accessories and related lines, including Bratz Boys, Bratz Petz and Baby Bratz.

MGA has made millions in profits, while sales of Mattel’s Barbie have slid.

But yesterday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson ordered MGA to stop making Bratz after a jury found that Bryant developed the concept while working for Mattel.

The toy maker will also have to get the dolls out of stores, but not until the holiday season is over.

6219: Omnicom, You’re Killing Us.

A Pepsi Max print advertising campaign has been pulled after complaints over its insensitive and offensive theme. Apparently playing off the product benefit of one lonely calorie per serving, the layouts depicted animated calories committing suicide. It’s no surprise the work was yanked. It’s also not surprising the responsible ad agency is BBDO Düsseldorf. BBDO is part of the Omnicom network—those wonderful folks who gave you homophobic TV spots, racist websites, suspicious minority agency scheming and the worst diversity hiring record on Madison Avenue. What will these guys think of next?

6218: Cutting Remarks.

Pink slips and slides in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• AT&T plans to cut 12,000 jobs. But chances are, most of the workers won’t know it, because they didn’t get the firing call since they don’t have more bars on their cell phone service.

• United Airlines plans to wait until after the holiday rush before firing 1,200 workers. Gee, that should make for some cheery customer service during the busy flying period.

• DuPont announced plans to cut 2,500 jobs, as well as 4,000 contractors. Um, does anyone even know what DuPont does?

6217: I Have A Dreamsicle.

Live the Dream of Franchising a 7-Eleven Store? Um, don’t recall Dr. King making any references to Big Gulps and Slurpees…

6216: Mamma Mia! Diversity In Advertising!

Spotted these posters at the awesome Kiss My Black Ads and was ready to blast the responsible advertising agency for blatant hypocrisy, but later learned the work originated in Sweden. So are Swedish citizens more open-minded? You be the judge.

6215: Walmart’s Tragedy, Irony And Obscenity.

The family of the Walmart employee trampled to death by sales-crazed customers filed a lawsuit charging the retailer’s advertising led to the tragedy. Walmart’s slogan? Save money. Live better. Plus, check out the contextual advertising at the FOX News website.

6214: Selling Your Soul.

This real job listing immediately seeking a Creative Writer with promotional skills actually reads like a promo ad: 1 DAY ONLY! For the LOW, LOW rate of $30 per hour! ACT NOW!!!

TOMORROW – 1 DAY ONLY! Creative Writer

Position: Creative Writer
Location: City of Chicago
Status: Freelance
Estimated Duration: 1 day
Starts: Tomorrow
Rate: $30/hour DOE

Job Description:
Our client is seeking a Creative Writer to work on a quick one-day project for our client.

Will be writing copy themes that would go along with art for a promo marketing campaign.

This campaign will be for a liquor client.

Looking for someone with liquor experience and/or store merchandising experience.

6213: Health And Financial Fitness.

A Midweek MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Bally Total Fitness is not very healthy. The Chicago-based health club chain filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years. Meanwhile, Chicago suburb-based McDonald’s Corporation continues to watch its profits skyrocket. Maybe Bally should install a Mickey D’s in each of its clubs.

• Looking for the perfect gift for that special someone? Indiana residents can get gift certificates from Planned Parenthood—which can even be used for abortions. Um, wouldn’t you just rather just give a copy of Juno on DVD?

• Gary Coleman pleaded no contest to a reckless driving charge stemming from an encounter with a fan earlier this year. Coleman hit the fan with his truck after a scuffle in a bowling alley parking lot. A judge ordered Coleman to pay a $100 fine. Wonder if Coleman dialed CashCall.

• O.J. Simpson will be sentenced on Friday for kidnapping and armed robbery. He could serve up to 18 years in jail. Although you know Simpson is delusional enough to believe he’ll only have to pay a $100 fine.

6212: Windy City Women Need Windex.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

Glass ceiling endures at Chicago firms
Study | A third of biggest companies here have no female top execs

By Francine Knowles

While women make up 15 percent of directors at Chicago’s 50 largest publicly traded companies, the highest percentage ever in an annual report, one-third of companies still have no women executive officers.

That’s according to the 2008 Chicago Network Census, which tracks women’s progress in moving into the highest ranks of Chicago’s biggest corporations.

It found that women directors increased to 15 percent from 14.3 percent in 2007, but that was due primarily to shrinking board sizes. Meanwhile, the percentage of board members who are women of color slipped to 3.1 percent from 3.5 percent, while the number of executive officers edged up to 1.6 percent from 1.3 percent.

The report, based on fiscal 2007 proxy filings, also found:

• Six companies have no women directors, up from four.

• The percentage of women executive officers rose to 14.4 percent from 14 percent after falling for two straight years.

• The number of companies with no women executive officers grew by 4 to 16.

• The number of companies with no women among the top earners rose to 36 from 31.

Hewitt Associates Inc., Kraft Foods Inc. and Sara Lee Corp. were recognized as companies where women made up 25 percent or more of the board members.

Also cited were firms where more than 25 percent of the executive officers were women: Baxter International Inc., Corn Products International Inc., Discover Financial Services, Hewitt, Kraft, NiSource Inc., Northern Trust Corp. and UAL Corp.

The worst-performing companies were U.S Cellular Corp., Metal Management Inc. and CNA Financial Corp., which had no women directors, executive officers or top earners. Also making that list was Unitrin Inc. and Old Republic International Corp., which each had only one women director, comprising 8.3 percent of each of their boards.

Studies have shown that companies with the highest levels of diversity are the strongest financial performers, said Eva Losacco, census chair and president of Tecsolv, a Lake Forest-based technology consulting company.

6211: Jungle Gym Fever.

Is David Barton the Dov Charney of gyms?

6210: What Women Want.

Every Woman Needs A Max Muscle Franchise. Right.

6209: Driving For Dollars.

Driving through the news with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Big 3 auto executives are rethinking their travel plans to beg for bailouts in Washington. After taking heat for using private jets during their last trips, the honchos are now creating PR ploys. Ford CEO Alan Mulally will drive Ford hybrid vehicles, and sources indicate the other two will follow suit. The executives should be forced to buy the cars first—hey, Mulally can take advantage of the Ford Employee Discount Plan!

• Staples reported 3Q profits dropped 43 percent. That was probably not easy.

• Sears reported 3Q losses, partly blaming poor sales at Kmart stores. Can anyone explain why either dinosaur/dinostore is even still in business?

6208: Hold The Pickle, Hold The Sensitivity.

From The New York Daily News…

Using poor villagers in Burger King TV spot is outrageous, critics say

By Matt Townsend and Stephanie Gaskell
Daily News Writers

It’s a taste test of global proportions, but many critics think Burger King’s new ad campaign is just bad taste.

The burger chain has launched a new, documentary-style ad campaign in which remote villagers in poor nations such as Thailand, Romania and Greenland pick between the twin titans of American fast food, the Whopper and the Big Mac. The name of the campaign: “Whopper Virgins.”

“If you want a real opinion about a burger, ask someone who doesn’t even have a word for burger,” boasts the campaign’s Web site, whoppervirgins.com.

Burger King declined repeated requests for comment Monday. Critics had plenty to say, though.

“It’s outrageous,” said Sharon Akabas of the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University. “What’s next? Are we going to start taking guns out to some of these remote places and ask them which one they like better?”

“It’s insulting,” she said, adding that the money used to make the documentary would have been better spent trying to end hunger — not create it.

Marilyn Borchardt, development director for Food First, called the campaign insensitive. “The ad’s not even acknowledging that there’s even hunger in any of these places,” she said.

At a Burger King in Times Square, New Yorkers had mixed opinions.

“That’s a stupid commercial, because when you’re hungry, anything tastes good,” said Irvin Gatone, 42, of the Bronx.

Jacqueline Renee, 35, of Manhattan, said it’s a good idea.
“Not everyone is as fortunate as us to be able to pull up and get a burger,” she said.

6207: I’m Dreaming Of A Whiteface Christmas.

What’s with the glow on the kid’s face? Looks like he’s been misusing Fair And Handsome.

6206: Act Now, Franchisee!

Even franchise advertising features promotional offers. Papa John’s will probably throw in a free pizza too.

6205: eHarmony’s Out Of The eCloset.

From The Chicago Tribune…

They’re just not into you

As a gay man, Eric McKinley felt disenfranchised by online dating service eHarmony’s policy of matching only heterosexual couples. Founded in 2000 by an evangelical Christian psychologist who says he’s counseled thousands of couples, every one of them straight, eHarmony is famous for its 400-question application, which seeks to pair like-minded singles for marriage—and to weed out the ones who aren’t ready to walk that path.

Though originally targeted at Christians, eHarmony now places more emphasis on values than on faith. The site boasts that it serves “a vast array of ethnicities, ages and religions.” But you have to get past the first screen, which requires you to register as either “man seeking a woman” or “woman seeking a man.”

That left out McKinley, who found the experience “hurtful.” So he sued. In a settlement announced last week, eHarmony agreed to set up a separate site for gay matches. It will also pay McKinley $5,000 and provide free six-month subscriptions for the first 10,000 gay members.

Talk about hollow triumphs. Would you want to put your love life in the hands of an organization that thinks your lifestyle is icky? eHarmony has said it excludes gays because it doesn’t know what makes them tick. “I don’t know what the dynamics are there,” founder Neil Clark Warren said in a 2005 interview. “We think the principles probably are different.”

eHarmony’s notoriously thorough screening process, based on research on heterosexual couples, matches members according to 29 “dimensions,” such as autonomy, communications style and conflict resolution. eHarmony says 236 marriages a day can be traced to connections made on the site.

It’s not surprising that gays as well as straights would find eHarmony’s pitch appealing. Heterosexuals aren’t the only ones who aspire to committed, compatible relationships. But since when do Americans have the right to force a company to do business their way? Should restaurants be required to cater to vegan and kosher diets? Should department stores have to stock petite sizes?

When it comes to online dating services, the pool of choices is vast. There are sites for gays, for straights, for both. There are sites that target smokers, Ivy Leaguers, nerds, plus-size women, dwarfs and men with mullets. There are sites for those who want to skip the romance/compatibility step and go straight to marriage (or sex). It appears there’s a site for everyone. Maybe several.

Three years ago, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing rejected a similar lawsuit for that very reason, saying eHarmony wasn’t required to provide services that are available elsewhere. It also said the state’s civil rights act “does not mandate a result whereby a business offers the same services to every customer.”

New Jersey’s attorney general saw things differently, finding probable cause that eHarmony had violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws. The company caved, though its settlement acknowledges no wrongdoing.

Whether the folks at eHarmony don’t know enough about same-sex relationships to broker good matches or just don’t want to know, McKinley is now free to sign up. But why would he want to?

6204: Downsizings, Detentions And Disorders.

Monday Night MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. declared it will cut 9,200 Washington Mutual jobs. No word if they’ll also change the “Whoo hoo!” tagline to WTF.

• The ex-aide / ex-girlfriend to ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will serve 4 months in prison after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice. She also received five years of probation and must pay restitution to the city. No word if the restitution includes text message cell phone charges.

• A new study showed 1 in 5 young adults has a personality disorder. Yet none of them are as screwed up as JPMorgan Chase & Co. honchos or ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

6203: The Ignorance At Adweek, Part 2.

Just wanted to add a quick follow-up to the previous essay about Adweek’s rehash/report on Madison Avenue’s dearth of diversity.

First, let’s take a stroll back to Essay Fourteen, where MultiCultClassics noted that DiversityInc.com called out Adweek and Advertising Age for the publications’ lack of diverse content. The post is dated March 21, 2005. Since then, Advertising Age has made significant strides. In fact, Ad Age originally covered most of the highlights Adweek regurgitated in its story—plus, Ad Age reporters and editors physically attended meetings with attorney Cyrus Mehri and activist Sanford Moore. As for Adweek, well, the magazine “currently does not employ a single person of color among the 16 members of its editorial and design staffs.” It’s more than a little ironic for the diversity dilemma to suddenly be presented by an enterprise apparently intent on emulating the industry’s pathetic progress.

Second, Mehri said, “[Madison Avenue] has a history of purposeful discrimination. They’ve been on notice a long time, but they just go through the motions and allow a discriminatory climate to continue. They’re real laggards, and it’s hard to understand why.” If Mehri wants an explanation, he need only view the comments posted at Adweek.com in response to the report. He’ll find the stereotypical collection of remarks clearly shows our ranks are filled with plenty of culturally clueless and hardcore racist individuals.

6202: Adweek’s Long Report On The Obvious.

Adweek presented a lengthy story titled, “The Minority Report,” detailing the dismal state of diversity affairs on Madison Avenue. Overall, there’s not much news—the piece essentially regurgitates information already discussed in publications like Advertising Age and assorted newspapers. In fact, the writer behind the piece isn’t even an Adweek staffer. The story also admitted, “Adweek currently does not employ a single person of color among the 16 members of its editorial and design staffs.” Hey, no news there. The threat of a class-action lawsuit by Cyrus Mehri is highlighted, along with this juicy quote from the prominent civil rights attorney: “I’ve yet to see an industry that has such a consistent record of indifference to minority involvement. … It has a history of purposeful discrimination. They’ve been on notice a long time, but they just go through the motions and allow a discriminatory climate to continue. They’re real laggards, and it’s hard to understand why.”

6201: Seeking Hot And Juicy Women.

It’s pretty odd that this advertisement appeared in a magazine targeting businesswomen, particularly given Carl Jr.’s style of advertising.