10739: Sorry, Charlie, Blacks Do Vote.

The New York Daily News reported Maine GOP boss Charlie Webster claims hundreds of mysterious Black voters appeared on Election Day and may have cast fraudulent ballots. Webster said, “Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody in town knows anyone who’s Black. How did that happen? I don’t know. We’re going to find out.” In the meantime, Webster ought to ask Tanner Colby to reroute his book tour for a few stops in Maine.

Maine GOP boss claims ‘hundreds’ of unfamiliar black voters flooded rural polls on Election Day

Charlie Webster, the outgoing chairman of the state Republican Party, said he plans to mail thank-you postcards to new voters to make sure they are delivered to valid addresses.

By Kristen A. Lee / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The head of the Maine Republican Party claims that “hundreds” of unfamiliar black voters may have cast fraudulent ballots in his state on Election Day.

“In some parts of rural Maine, there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted on Election Day,” Charlie Webster told Portland’s NBC affiliate WCSH-TV on Wednesday.

“Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody in town knows anyone who’s black,” Webster said. “How did that happen? I don’t know. We’re going to find out.”

Webster later doubled down on that claim in an interview with The Portland Press Herald, although he declined to provide details about when and where the alleged fraud occurred.

“I’m not talking about 15 or 20. I’m talking hundreds,” he said Wednesday. “I’m not politically correct, and maybe I shouldn’t have said these voters were black, but anyone who suggests I have a bias toward any race or group, frankly, that’s sleazy.”

Webster, the outgoing chairman of the state GOP, said he plans to mail thank-you postcards to new voters to make sure they are delivered to valid addresses.

A spokesperson for Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers, however, denied that there were problems at the polls.

“Our office has not heard any complaints about Election Day,” Megan Sanborn told the Press Herald.

Webster has previously sounded alarms about voter fraud, the Press Herald reported.

The newspaper said last year he claimed that more than 200 college students had voted in recent elections without establishing the correct residency.

10703: The Day After.

Returning to the 1%—and sneering at the 47%.

Four more years of birther conspiracy theories.

Next stop: The Celebrity Apprentice or Dancing With The Stars.

How can I leverage this into more book sales?

10628: Tanner Colby, Multicultural Marketer…?

Multicultural Health National is scheduled to take place November 15-16, 2012, in Orlando, Florida, bringing together health marketers targeting multicultural audiences. Program creators hope to enlighten and educate attendees on multicultural marketing best practices. It’s all good until realizing the exciting lineup of keynote speakers includes Tanner Colby. Did anyone involved with the event catch Colby’s performance at “Where Are All The Black People?”—or actually read his book? The man is neither an expert nor supporter of multicultural marketing. Yet Colby will receive 45 minutes to hype his work, while the majority of minority professionals only get half an hour. White privilege at a multicultural marketing convention…?

10623: The Power Of WE On Madison Avenue.

The theme for Blog Action Day 2012: The Power of We.

The advertising industry has always been driven by The Power of WE.

On Madison Avenue, however, WE stands for White Exclusivity.

The Power of WE is an openly acknowledged reality. AMC series Mad Men has glamorized the phenomenon, making it downright sexy. AMC series The Pitch also exposed the monochromatic makeup of the field.

The Power of WE has been officially documented by lawyers and more lawyers, professors and more professors, politicians, more politicians and political commissions. It’s no secret.

The Power of WE is totally obvious to White leaders in the industry. Nearly everyone has publicly confessed there is a problem. Only two modern-day honchos have ever put a deadline on delivering diversity. Omnicom President and CEO John Wren ordered his agencies to come into compliance with the pledges made to New York City’s Commission on Human Rights by the end of 2008. If it happened, no one published a congratulatory announcement. Indeed, the 2009 hiring of Tiffany R. Warren as the holding company’s Chief Diversity Officer indicates there’s still work to do and smokescreens to puff. Meanwhile, Draftfcb President and CEO Laurence Boschetto proclaimed that by 2014 his company would “be an organization that no longer uses the term ‘diversity and inclusion.’” Boschetto still has a couple of years to make it happen, but don’t plan on attending the victory party. After all, the man dubbed his crumbling shop “Agency of the Future” too.

The Power of WE is completely recognized by clients. Clients perpetuate the situation by allocating insufficient funds to multicultural marketing, failing to engage with multicultural advertising agencies or simply assigning White ad agencies to handle multicultural chores. In short, clients help to sustain the separate-but-unequal conditions. Additionally, they knowingly partner with predominately White ad agencies whose inability to embrace diversity sharply contrasts the client’s commitment to inclusion. Yet rather than demand change, clients display hypocrisy of the highest order and turn a colorblind eye.

The Power of WE is maintained via practices such as Corporate Cultural Collusion that permit White ad agencies to keep control of accounts and, well, everything else.

The Power of WE lets the ruling majority dodge responsibility by delegating diversity to resident minorities.

The Power of WE is propped up by lame excuses that lead to lame solutions which have historically not succeeded. The industry boasting creative minds and breakthrough ideas offers contrived clichés to address the issues including:

• Initiatives to reach inner-city kids

• High schools and camps

• More minority internships

• More special programs for underserved kids

• Strange scholarships

• Powerless Chief Diversity Officers and Diversity Committees

• Segregated award shows and events where folks like Dan Wieden and Tanner Colby are honored before folks like Sanford Moore, Harry Webber, Lowell Thompson and Hadji Williams

Of course, minimal thought is given to recruiting and retaining minorities beyond the age of 12—and zero suggestions involve educating White adpeople to raise their collective cultural competence.

The Power of WE will remain overpowering until the advertising industry starts abiding by the notions in a certain document that opens with, “We the People…”

10614: Where Are All The Black People Videos?

Videos of the latest “Where Are All The Black People?” are now on YouTube:

Keynote Panel included Spike DDB ECD Dabo Ché, Footsteps CEO Verdia Johnson, Amusement Park Partner and Director of Creative + Development Donna Lamar, Muse Communications CCO Jo Muse, The Martin Agency SVP/CD Danny Robinson and Amusement Park Chairman, CEO and CCO Jimmy Smith.

My First Time Panel included CD Robert Clifton Jr., Globalhue CCO Vida Cornelious, Draftfcb SVP CD Michael Kizilbash, McCann ECD Natalie Lam and CD Kash Sree.

Hybrid Creativity for a Multicultural World including Passport Project Founder Kenji Summers, Author Tanner Colby, globalWorks Global CD Iñaki Escudero, Wing CCO Renata Florio and PepsiCo Cultural Branding’s Bozoma Saint John.

Still don’t know why Tanner Colby received an invite. The man continued his culturally clueless knack for collecting common knowledge and drawing bizarre opinions. However, the event surely allowed Colby the opportunity to increase his total of Black acquaintances.

10530: Another Speaker Of Note For October.

To expand on posts 10527 and 10528, it must also be noted that Pepper Miller will speak at the 2012 ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference being held October 28-30 in Miami Beach, Florida (a few weeks after the annual Masters of Marketing shindig). In addition, the conference will feature a debate on cross-cultural versus multicultural marketing. Hey, maybe the ANA can even stage a wrestling match between Tanner Colby and Sanford Moore.

10528: Speakers Of Note For October.

Dr. Christopher Boulton, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Tampa—and creator of the Rebranding Diversity: Colorblind Racism Inside the U.S. Advertising Industry presentation spotlighted here last July—will participate on a panel titled, “Diversity & Inclusion Gaps in Advertising & Media Supply Chains.” The event will take place at the Sustainability Summit 2012 from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm on October 9 in New York City. Boulton should provide an interesting contrast to culturally clueless critter Tanner Colby, who is slated to appear at the annual “Where Are All The Black People?” soiree being held the previous week.

10484: Where Are Tanner Colby’s Best Friends?

The latest installment of Where Are All The Black People? is scheduled to take place in New York City on October 3, 2012. Among the list of usual suspects and speakers is Tanner Colby, the ignorant author of Some of My Best Friends Are Black. Count on Colby to ultimately wonder, “Where Are Some Of My Best Friends?”

On the one hand, Colby probably won’t be the only culturally clueless character at the soiree, as Jeff Goodby is slated to be there too. Yet it’s hard to fathom why anyone thought Colby would be a positive influence and/or relevant figure for attendees. In his book, Colby essentially admitted to spending nine years as a digital copywriter for Ogilvy, Draftfcb and Saatchi, completely oblivious to the dearth of diversity on Madison Avenue. In fact, he also acknowledged benefiting from White privilege throughout his brief and uneventful advertising career—and he was likely oblivious to the racially-rooted perks during his professional tour through the industry as well. Remember, it wasn’t until the 2008 election of President Barack Obama that Colby realized he knew zero Blacks. Based on his writing, Colby displays all the traits of a typical White man as described by Thomas Kochman and Jean Mavrelis in Corporate Tribalism. The Kochman and Mavrelis book, incidentally, is the polar opposite of Colby’s meandering mess.

But wait, there’s more. Through his book and Advertising Age interview, Colby demonstrated a below average understanding of the issues surrounding industry inequality. Plus, he painted an unflattering portrait of minority agencies—and these agencies will surely be well represented at the affair.

Then again, perhaps Colby has made great strides in his journey towards enlightenment. Maybe he’ll show up to deliver breakthrough insight and ideas for progress. It is possible that Colby is actually championing radical change versus merely hawking his lame book.

The next chapter in Colby’s strange story of integration on Madison Avenue may be written on October 3, 2012.

10394: Tanner Colby—The Great White Dope.

U.S Attorney General Eric Holder called the country “a nation of cowards” on race relations, arguing that “… if we are to make progress in this area, we must feel comfortable enough with one another, and tolerant enough of each other, to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us.” In this respect, Tanner Colby could be viewed as courageous for writing Some of My Best Friends are Black. Then again, Confucius said, “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”—which might explain why Colby fails in stereotypically dramatic fashion.

MultiCultClassics first encountered Colby last March when he published a couple of incoherent columns for Slate that centered on the depiction of race in AMC series Mad Men. The columns begged the questions: Who is this writer—and why is he babbling bullshit with such conviction? Well, it now appears that Colby was fueled by the insights he collected while typing his new book. And this goes to the heart of the problem MultiCultClassics has with Colby and Some of My Best Friends are Black.

For the record, MultiCultClassics did not read Colby’s entire book. However, enough of the text was examined to construct this review. Specifically, the Preface, Part 3 and the Author’s Note were perused. Scanning through anything more would have been too torturous.

During the political campaign and 2008 election of President Barack Obama, Colby suddenly realized that he didn’t know any Black people. Additionally, his close pals had no Black friends either. So Colby decided to write a book on why his life featured zero contact with Blacks. “Sure, I had no idea what I was doing,” the author admitted. “But to be a white person writing a book about race, ignorance was the only qualification I would need.” By Confucius’ standards, Colby was a treasure trove of real knowledge.

To his credit, Colby did a competent job of gathering historical data, and he connected with a number of decent sources for interviews and perspectives. But the author ultimately comes off like an arrogant White man. That is, he seems to believe three years of limited immersion qualifies him to speak on issues with credibility and authority—and that concepts new to him are groundbreaking for the rest of us as well.

Part 3—Why Do Black People Drink Hawaiian Punch?—focuses on Blacks in the advertising industry. The subject matter allegedly has personal interest for Colby, as he labored roughly nine years as a copywriter for various New York agencies. It wasn’t clear if Colby ever handled traditional advertising, as he claimed to have spent much of his time in digital departments or digital shops. And it’s safe to say he never served in minority agencies. The sentences above support the opinion that Colby holds little expertise about Madison Avenue and its Black executives.

To repeat, Colby showed competence in gathering historical data. But nearly every factoid in Part 3 could have been lifted from Madison Avenue and the Color Line by Jason Chambers and/or Advertising Age archives. Plus, Colby’s obsession with tying the trials and tribulations of Blacks on Madison Avenue to the political maneuvers of former President Richard Nixon is confusing and crazy.

Colby spoke at length with Uniworld Founder and CEO Byron Lewis, Advertising Hall of Fame icon Roy Eaton, McCann Executive Creative Director Vann Graves, DOJO Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director Geoff Edwards and Wieden + Kennedy Managing Director Neal Arthur. The admen offered terrific content, but Colby doesn’t understand that five individuals cannot represent all Blacks in advertising. Additionally, besides Lewis, the guys presented very skewed visions—and sharp words—regarding Black agencies. Um, the dearth of diversity on Madison Avenue should not be blamed on minority shops, just as the past inequities of Major League Baseball should not be dumped on the Negro Leagues.

Armed with previously published historical data, a handful of conversations and a fetish for Dick Nixon, Colby proceeded to tell it like it is. Yet the original positions in Some of My Best Friends are Black mirror his Slate columns and Ad Age discussion—that is, it’s a bunch of uninformed, incomprehensible pap. The author exhibits the classic symptoms of White Privilege as documented in Corporate Tribalism by Thomas Kochman and Jean Mavrelis. Colby is still only a few clues beyond cultural cluelessness.

Yeah, the man deserves to be commended for trying to gain enlightenment. Indeed, if the typical Madison Avenue executive copied Colby, the industry would be significantly closer to legitimate progress. And it would be awesome if Colby continues his quest for cultural competence and becomes a bona fide crusader for the cause—or minimally is able to honestly declare the title of his book applies to his life.

For now, Tanner Colby is The Great White Dope.

10374: Tanner Colby Is Odd—Maybe Dumb Too.

Last March, Tanner Colby presented painfully long and incoherent perspectives at Slate, declaring Matthew Weiner would delve into race-related areas during the past season of AMC series Mad Men. MultiCultClassics accurately predicted Colby was dead wrong.

Colby is back with fresh long-winded bullshit at The Big Tent, displaying his peculiar thinking while hawking his new book, “Some of My Best Friends are Black.” Amazingly, the Ad Age piece ends by claiming, “This interview has been edited and condensed.” Okey-doke, but it’s still over 3,000 words too long.

Fully examining Colby’s commentary would require rivaling his verbose style, ultimately putting blog readers into a catatonic state. Hence, MultiCultClassics will only address a few of the man’s bizarre and uninformed points.

Colby stated, “If you read the rest of my book, you come away with the conclusion that the problem for the advertising industry doesn’t exist inside the advertising industry. … If you want more black people in advertising, you fix housing and transit policies to get more access to jobs.” Hey, it’s not simply a matter of leveling the professional playing field; rather, the solution demands lifting the entire race. Imagine if Major League Baseball, for instance, had used this excuse to stall integration. Hang tight, Mr. Robinson, we’ll let you play after we’ve created economic equality. Even ADCOLOR® and the 4A’s would take a pass on attempting to tackle such a grand and noble endeavor. Hint to Colby: Fixing discriminatory and outdated hiring policies might be easier—and more effective—than fixing housing and transit policies. Just a thought.

Anyone who can decipher Colby’s ramblings about “minority set-asides” will receive a crisp one-dollar bill—which, by the way, roughly matches the standard “minority set-asides” doled out to non-White agencies.

Another Colby gem concluded, “… I think anyone who is being honest about the minority agencies would be frank to admit that they have to evolve. I’m not saying that you can’t take one of these shops and innovate. But something is going to have to change.” The man once again took a swerving turn and completely missed the real issue. Sure, the minority shops have work to do. But it’s grossly unfair to place the burden of progress on firms that have never exceeded 500 employees or held AOR status for $100 million accounts. If the budding author paid closer attention to Mad Men—contrasting Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce to modern counterparts—he’d realize that the White agencies are in far greater need of evolution.

Culturally clueless Neanderthals like Tanner Colby ought to try moving ahead on the Darwinian chart too.