Latinos LOVE literal and lousy ideas.
(That’s the only explanation we could think of for this ad.)
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Essay 4296
Latinos LOVE literal and lousy ideas.
(That’s the only explanation we could think of for this ad.)
Essay 4295
From The Chicago Sun-Times…
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Pearl Jam not first to be censored by AT&T
BY JIM DeROGATIS, Pop Music Critic
AT&T’s controversial edit of comments about President Bush from a Webcast of Pearl Jam’s performance at Lollapalooza last week was not the first time the telecommunications giant has silenced political statements by musicians.
An AT&T spokeswoman initially characterized the sudden audio edit that silenced Eddie Vedder’s lyrics “George Bush, leave this world alone” and “George Bush, find yourself another home” during Pearl Jam’s performance in Grant Park last Sunday as “an unfortunate mistake” and “an isolated incident.”
But yesterday, a reader e-mailed the Sun-Times saying AT&T’s Blue Room Webcast also had silenced comments during two performances at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee last June, cutting remarks by the John Butler Trio bemoaning the lack of federal response to Hurricane Katrina and comments about Bush and the war in Iraq by singer Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips.
“The sound did not cut out at any other time — only when someone was talking about George Bush or the government in a negative way,” the reader, who identified herself as Andrea K., wrote. Flaming Lips management said the band was unaware of the edit but was investigating, and the John Butler Trio could not be reached.
But AT&T did confirm that other, unspecified political comments have been cut from its Webcasts.
“It’s not our intent to edit political comments in Webcasts on the Blue Room,” Tiffany O’Brien Nels, AT&T’s Austin, Texas-based spokeswoman, said Friday in a prepared statement. “Unfortunately, it has happened in the past in a handful of cases. We have taken steps to insure that it will not happen again.”
O’Brien Nels would not confirm the specific Bonnaroo edits or provide any information about other edits during the Lollapalooza Webcasts. “What I gave you is our statement,” she said.
In a statement on its Web site, Pearl Jam echoed the concerns of many advocates of Net neutrality, who are angered about what they call a violation of free speech. “This troubles us as artists but also as citizens concerned with the issue of censorship and the increasingly consolidated control of the media,” the Seattle band wrote.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Essay 4294
Baloney and more in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• The Oscar Mayer Weinermobile was ticketed for illegal parking in Chicago yesterday. Did someone check it for trans fat emissions?
• New York citizen and Asian bigot Kenneth Eng, who penned a newspaper editorial titled, “Why I Hate Blacks,” was arrested shortly after pleading guilty to attempted assault. The guilty plea stemmed from charges of threatening neighbors with a hammer in May. The new arrest stemmed from a sealed complaint. If this guy ever lands in jail, he’ll have plenty of explaining to do with Black inmates.
• Mexico apologized for the boos directed at Miss USA during a Mexico City beauty contest last May. Audience members jeered when Miss USA stumbled during the evening-gown competition. “We understand the concern of the people of the United States about the incorrect behavior of a small group that attended the event,” wrote a Mexican tourism official. “We apologize for the inconvenience, and be sure that Miss Rachel Smith will always be welcome in Mexico.” Another potentially explosive international incident averted.
Essay 4293
The fourth episode of AMC series Mad Men reflected the advertising industry perfectly: there were no non-White people present. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
Additionally, creative director Don Draper terminated junior account executive Pete Campbell for selling his own lame copy idea to a client. But the ad agency’s leader vetoed the firing, recognizing Campbell had upscale family ties that benefited the company. The honcho declared, “There’s a Pete Campbell at every agency out there.” Actually, there are many more than just one per shop. Exclusivity has its privileges on Madison Avenue.
Regardless, this program is growing increasingly awful, amateurish and asinine. Mad Men definitely needs increased diversity on its writing staff. Or even a talented White person.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Essay 4290
Jamming in an extra MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Pearl Jam got jammed during a performance at Chicago’s Lollapalooza last Sunday. A live Internet broadcast of the show—carried on AT&T’s “Blue Room” site—deleted lyrics criticizing President Bush. AT&T admitted to the cut, but insists it was a mistake. “We don’t have a policy in place to censor,” said an AT&T spokesperson. “We have a policy on excessive profanity. This was an honest mistake. There was no censorship intended.” AT&T advertises its wireless service has the fewest dropped calls. Dropped insults to the president are another story.
• While Melanie Brown was dissing Eddie Murphy over child support for their 4-month-old daughter, the Scary Spice Girl quietly married new beau and film producer Stephen Belafonte. The couple enjoyed a quickie hitching at the “drive-thru” Special Memory Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, paying $59 for the ceremony. No word if Murphy covered that too.
Essay 4289
Diversity Achievement And Mosaic Awards 2007 is slated for September 26, during Advertising Week in New York City. The gala extravaganza includes the “Keys to Inclusion” forum. The advertisement above announces, “Diverse Minds Converge to Find the Key to Inclusion.” Yet the group depicted lacks robust representation from White adfolks. It’s tough to uncover the key to inclusion when everyone’s locked in traditional segregation and exclusivity.
Essay 4288
Blowing off the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• In Florida, State Rep. Bob Allen (pictured above) is still trying to explain why he was arrested last month for offering to perform oral sex on an undercover cop in a men’s room at Veterans Memorial Park. Allen insists he was approached by “a pretty stocky Black guy, and there was nothing but other Black guys around in the park.” Fearing he “was about to be a statistic,” Allen claims he would have said anything to avoid trouble. Hmmm. So fearful and intimidated by a Black man that you suggested giving him a blowjob? Sorry, Mr. Allen, but your story sucks.
• Census Bureau figures show Whites are minorities in nearly one out of ten counties in the U.S. Which means State Rep. Bob Allen could be offering a lot of blowjobs.
Essay 4286
Latinos LOVE barbecues. Um, wait a minute. Blacks LOVE barbecues. Somebody’s mixing up stereotypes here.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Essay 4285
Gaming in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• O.J. Simpson was ordered to give the family of murder victim Ron Goldman any loot he receives from a video game featuring his image. The video game is called “All-Pro Football 2K8,” in case you presumed it was a game glorifying murder and mayhem.
• New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas could be called for a flagrant foul, as a federal judge decided that the sexual-harassment suit against Thomas is solid. “It is strongly arguable that an employee subjected to Thomas’ admitted actions could reasonably consider them harassing,” wrote the judge. At this point, Thomas probably hopes to fare better in a court of law than a basketball court.
• Jay-Z is firing back at an ex-employee suing him for alleged offenses that took place at the trendy 40/40 Club. The rap mogul is now claiming the worker walked off the job, after taking passwords for the club’s YouTube and MySpace accounts and deleting promotional videos. Wow, that sounds positively heinous.
Essay 4284
Latinos LOVE extended family—even when the extended family member is a giant Oreo cookie.
Essay 4281
He’s baaaaaack.
When MultiCultClassics last spotlighted Tim Arnold, the man had just published an Adweek editorial insisting that blues music could help solve Madison Avenue’s diversity issues (see Essays 1544 and 1560). Well, Arnold is once again blubbering on the blues, presenting another long-winded, gaseous emission. Check it out, plus catch the brief MultiCultClassics response immediately following…
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Art & Commerce: Get a (Real) Life
By Tim Arnold
When I guest teach, I urge aspiring ad wannabe’s to get a life outside the business, to be passionate about something from real life as opposed to ad life. Doesn’t matter what it is—just find something you can lose yourself in, something that reaches a place deep down and energizes your everything. Italian opera. Swimming. Mid-century modern design. The history of condoms. Street art. Steinbeck. Rescue dogs. Customized Chia pets. Whatever. You’ll be better off for it, you’ll be a more interesting person, you’ll be happier. And trust me, sooner or later you’ll be able to apply it somehow, some way, some day to advertising.
My passion is the blues. There’s this album, Ray Charles in Person, recorded at the old Herndon Stadium in Atlanta, which includes “Tell the Truth,” maybe the greatest live cut ever recorded, even more remarkable when you realize they got it all on a rainy day in Georgia with a single microphone and a portable tape recorder—I am hooked on the drug that is and forever will be the blues. The rhythm that is the blues.
When I was growing up in St. Louis, Benny Sharpe had a kick-ass band—pomaded hair, slick and cool. I’m sure half his band had done time. His sax player would always have a lit cigarette stuck in one of his horn’s keys while he played, and Benny stuck his filter first on the sharp end of a string from his Fender Strat, one just like Ike Turner’s.
One time, Sharpe steered his boat-long, tail-finned red Cadillac right into MidWest Laundry just inside St. Louis city limits, where I worked Saturdays during high school. We had curb service and he was picking up some dry cleaning. He didn’t even park in a space, just pulled up long ways, defying anybody to suggest otherwise, and handed me his ticket. His processed, pomaded hair shone like neon lights on a beer glass, and there was this gorgeous blonde white woman wedged up next to him in the front seat. Cool.
I went and got his cleaned-and-pressed sharkskin suit for him. Three-dollar tip for a $2.75 cleaning bill. He was probably on his way over to a gig at Sam Spaulding’s Wonder Bar, on the East Side. This was the blues.
Now it’s 20 years later. I’m a punk-ass assistant account dog on the Budweiser business and it’s time for a new set of radio spots. Budweiser was always gifted with a brilliant jingle, befitting the King of Beers—“Where there’s life, there’s Bud,” “Here comes the king,” “When you say Budweiser, you’ve said it all,” “This Bud’s for you.” Valerie Simpson, of Ashford and Simpson, sang the pivotal, original, “When you say Budweiser…” campaign theme, establishing an amazingly high bar for the real deal. But our radio packages were always produced with what they called “sound-alike” studio versions, segmented by market—well intended, but more like “official” commercial music than anything real.
Now, along comes one of the creative guys with studio demos for the next sound alikes, this time for the black market. He’s actually got the right idea somehow, with a couple of demos that hint at Johnny “Guitar” Watson, an early rapper who was rappin’ even before James Brown “invented” rap. And I say, “Shit, why don’t we just hire ‘Guitar’ himself?” (What do I know?) So we do. And in great Budweiser style: unidentified, authentic, no sellout, no pitch, no endorsements. Just jam your music thing in between Bud melody bookends and the people who get it will get it, and the rest will follow.
And they did. Watson was first. After that, no more sound alikes. We ended up recording BB King, the Temptations, Rick James, Frankie Beverly, Herbie Hancock, Bootsy Collins, Stanley Clarke, War, Billy Preston, The Busboys, Jimmy Cliff, Sugahh, plus Robert Gordon, Oingo Boingo, Janis Ian, Leon Redbone, Karla DeVito, Mickey Thomas, Lacy J. Dalton, George Thorogood, Jennifer Warnes and Journey, to name a few. And we catapult Bud into the No. 1 share positions in every segment.
It’s no big thing. Just the real deal. A passion runs headlong into a situation and becomes an idea. All you’ve got to do is go for it.
There’s nothing like the blues for me.
That’s my other life. What’s yours?
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OK, Tim, we get it already. Your punk-ass genius launched a creative breakthrough. Why, if not for you, those music legends never would have realized their full potential to perform on Budweiser radio spots.
But it’s curious that you declared, “I’m sure half his band had done time.” Did you play harmonica alongside them in a jail cell? And your fascination with an artist accompanied by “this gorgeous blonde white woman wedged up next to him in the front seat” is, um, interesting. Then again, maybe not.
Thanks for sharing the memories, dude.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Essay 4279
Studying the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• A new study shows preschoolers believe anything made by Mickey D’s tastes better. Even wrapping vegetables and fruit in McDonald’s wrappers makes things more appealing to children. “You see a McDonald’s label, and kids start salivating,” said a childhood-development specialist. Let’s call it McPavlov Conditioning.
• A new study shows drinking at least three cups of coffee per day helps fight memory decline in older women. Preschoolers who drink three cups of coffee per day at Mickey D’s love the taste, but tend to not remember who they are.
• Busta Rhymes is now facing a lawsuit from a fan claiming the rapper and his crew beat him after he spit on Rhyme’s ride in 2006. If he loses the case, the fan can try to sell MTV a “Ptooey My Ride” series concept.
• A DNA test proved Chris Rock is not the father of a 13-year-old kid whose mom sought to sue for child support. Guess you can add one more irate mother to the list of everybody who hates Chris.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Essay 4276
From The Chicago Tribune…
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SIZE ZERO
INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN
Are women downsizing their ambitions along with their dress sizes?
By Anne Ream
Somewhere along the way, I had become nothing. A zero.
A combination of overwork, Third World travel and problems with A Man (always good for a swing of 5 or 10 pounds, coming or going) and -- Voila! -- my once-healthy body made its way down to a size 0.
There was nothing deliberate or attractive about it. Yet I soon discovered that what should be impossible (When did the absence of a number become a dress size? How did we make nothing into something?) was actually highly desirable, at least to the whisper-thin crowd that floats through Chicago’s upscale fashion boutiques.
“Don’t even look at the 2s, you’re a 0,” a Damen Avenue shop owner trilled triumphantly while a fellow shopper looked on, not with pity for a woman emaciated by a Third World virus, but with envy.
“You’ve lost so much weight!” an acquaintance rejoiced later that week. “It’s fantastic! Who is your nutritionist?”
What is going on here? It’s bad enough that our dress sizes are shrinking to 0, but so too is our common sense and our understanding of health, wellness and lasting beauty. Most distressingly, our ambitions are shrinking as well.
It sometimes seems that we like our women small, literally and figuratively.
We tell girls that they can be anything, while showing them -- through airbrushed ads and glossy media images -- that their first order of business is to be beautiful. We celebrate Grrl Power while marketing “Property Of My Boyfriend” T-shirts. When Madonna dons a “Mrs. Guy Ritchie” sweat suit, she speaks volumes without saying a word.
Though the dress size of the average American woman is 14, the average fashion model is -- you guessed it -- a size 0. The Hollywood starlets who dot our cultural landscape look just this side of skinny on their good days, and dangerously tiny the rest of the time.
Between the size 14 real and the size 0 “ideal” exists a world of women and girls, many of them pursuing an elusive body type through means that can be psychologically and physically devastating.
We feed the billion-dollar diet industry while denying our own bodies. We accept the premise that being thin will change our lives while failing to see that the pursuit of smallness, sometimes manifested in anorexia or bulimia, can actually shorten our life span.
Fashion designers and magazine editors argue that clothes look better on skinny women. The sad thing is that many of us have bought into that twisted logic. Instead of demanding that designers create fashion that fits real women, we try to refashion our bodies to fit today’s most unforgiving styles. All hail the skinny jeans, and whatever it takes to fit in them.
The shrinking goals are another matter, a far more baffling one.
Golden Globe winning actress Calista Flockhart says that becoming a mom has left her with “zero ambition.”
Gifted singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, at all of 23 years old, tells Rolling Stone magazine that now that she’s made one good album, she’d be happy to give it all up and just take care of her husband. Memo to Ms. Winehouse: Consider where rock ‘n’ roll would be had Mick Jagger and the boys called it quits after recording “Let It Bleed.”
When Hillary Clinton publicly jokes about her problems losing weight, she appears to be speaking in focus-group code: Don’t hate me because I’m smart and ambitious. I want to be skinny too.
Much has been written about what it takes to reach the so-called female ideal: the endless calorie counting, the hours on the treadmill, the nip and tuck we hope will make us whole.
The truth is that loving oneself -- and one’s body -- is a discipline all its own. It means challenging the images that the fashion industry has foisted on us. It means ignoring the voices that tell us that being healthy is a distant second to being thin. It means celebrating female ambitions -- our own, and other women’s -- instead of downplaying or deriding them.
So cancel your subscription to Vogue, tell the next size 14 woman you see that she’s gorgeous and banish the word “ladylike.”
As for me, I’m 15 pounds heavier than I was as a nothing, and once again a quite ordinary size. The attention of the fashionista set has disappeared. Healthy and happy, I’m waiting for someone to ask me again who my nutritionist is.
[Anne Ream is a Chicago-based writer and co-founder of Girl360 (Girl360.net), a cause marketing initiative for tween girls.]
Essay 4275
The letter below appeared in the latest issue of Adweek, and a brief MultiCultClassics response immediately follows…
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Perpetuating the Myth That Polygamists Are Mormons
I’m writing to point out an unfortunate accuracy [“Love Is in the Air,” July 9].
Those who practice polygamy are not, in fact, Mormons, but members of the relatively small Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Polygamy was officially discontinued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1890. Any church member adopting the practice today is excommunicated. Groups that continue the practice in Utah and elsewhere have no association with the church. Most of their practitioners have never been among its members. Unfortunately, this distinction is often lost on members of the public and even on some senior and otherwise responsible journalists.
To refer to the characters on HBO’s Big Love as Mormons (as was done repeatedly in the article) is blatantly inaccurate.
Jeff Taylor
Creative Director
McCann Erickson
New York
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Cultural cluelessness from “some senior and otherwise responsible journalists” at Adweek? Heaven forbid.
Essay 4274
One comment was posted at AdAge.com responding to the story presented in Essay 4270…
Never mind the alternate ending, which I wasn’t aware of until now. What’s with the out-of-date phone booth? Where would you even find one of those? —OREFIELD, PA
Essay 4273
Monday morning mini-MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Rapper Twista is ranting over Mickey D’s decision to cut him from a promotional concert (see Essay 4238). “I am very disappointed by McDonald’s decision to cancel my participation in the McDonald’s Live Tour,” said Twista in a statement. “Being that McDonald’s and I have worked together in the past, it was unsettling that I would be removed from the tour after undergoing the planning process and receiving assurances from McDonald’s on multiple occasions that I would appear on the tour.” Twista, insisting Mickey D’s was responding to the Don Imus incident, also remarked, “The recent trend of finger-pointing, and playing the blame game with certain media outlets and certain individuals needs to stop.” Um, that’s about as likely as Mickey D’s selling healthy food.
Essay 4270
The item below appeared at AdAge.com—it’s immediately followed by a MultiCultClassics response…
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VIDEO: Levi’s Innovative Gay Marketing Move
Gay and Straight Versions of Same TV Commercial Produced
By Hoag Levins
NEW YORK — Levi’s latest round of TV commercials for its 501 jeans line features the same commercial produced in two different versions -- one for straight audiences, the other for the gay demographic. The gay version premiered exclusively on MTV’s Logo network, whose programming is aimed at the gay community. And while this dual TV commercial concept was recently utilized in Orbitz travel site TV spots with marionette puppets, the Levi’s ads are believed to be the first to use real humans in the same way. In this video, Ad Age media reporter Andrew Hampp discusses the Levi’s campaign and the overall vigor of the gay advertising market.
[Click on the essay title above to view the spots and video via AdAge.com.]
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To quote Advertising Age’s resident moron Bob Garfield, “that is soooo gay.”
It’s hardly breakthrough to produce identical commercials, in this case swapping scenes to edit a version where the hero hooks up with a hot chick and another version where he connects with a hot dude. In fact, it’s the lame and lazy tactic traditionally employed by advertisers targeting minorities.
There’s a strong probability that the marketing maneuver will actually backfire. After all, gay audiences do not exclusively watch gay programming. So folks will likely see both versions. Guess we’ll have to think the main character is bisexual or sexually confused.
Regardless, it’s safe to presume that the adpeople responsible for the work are confused—and culturally clueless too.
It’s also interesting to note the Levi’s account is handled by ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Nearly a decade ago, BBH principal John Hegarty made semi-relevant comments regarding minority advertising during an interview with Adweek. Hegarty declared, “I dislike the whole idea of ethnic advertising. It’s about telling someone, ‘You are fundamentally different.’ Why? We should be celebrating the fact that we’re part of the whole.” If BBH created the gay/straight Levi’s spots (and MultiCultClassics is not certain they did), it would show Hegarty has not made much progress with his ignorant stance—which was already outdated when he presented the opinion in the 20th century.
For Advertising Age to label the Levi’s effort “innovative” speaks volumes on the publication’s expertise and credibility as well.
Is the Queer Eye team still available for enlightening visits?
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Essay 4269
The Adcolor Awards has extended its nomination deadline to September 7, 2007. The original deadline was August 1, and MultiCultClassics managed to submit the entry for Hadji Williams by that date. Maybe Adcolor™ is hoping for more American Indian and Alaskan Native nominees.
In the meantime, click on the essay title above to catch The Adcolor Awards PSA on YouTube.
Essay 4267
Icing the news with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• A federal appeals court ruled the Justice Department went too far when raiding the office of Senator William Jefferson last year. Officials violated the Constitution by poring over legislative documents during the corruption investigation. The court ordered the Justice Department to return any legislative documents. While pursuing international bribery charges against the senator, the investigation also uncovered $90,000 in Jefferson’s freezer. Guess investigators should have been content raiding the man’s refrigerator.
• MSNBC and radio station WFAN will likely split the former Don Imus empire, respectively assigning the hosting duties to Joe Scarborough and Boomer Esiason. Meanwhile, the fired shock jock continues his contract negotiations and future dealings, bound to net more loot than Senator William Jefferson’s freezer could accommodate.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Essay 4265
Playing with a full deck in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• NFL star Michael Vick’s dog-fighting problems continue to adversely affect his endorsement deals. Trading-card company Upper Deck plans to remove future Vick cards from UD and Fleer sets. Upper Deck released a statement that read, “The allegations alone have resulted in an outpouring of very strong emotion with our organization and among the collecting community. We believe collectors will agree and support this decision as being the best course of action for our football business.” Wonder if Vick will play the race card.
• Ford Motor Company will recall 3.6 million cars, trucks and SUVs, responding to a faulty cruise control switch. In January 2005, Ford recalled 6 million vehicles based on troubles with cruise control systems. At least the automaker is making defective progress.
• Nicole Richie has voiced her choice of a prison to serve her 4-day sentence, voting for the Los Angeles County jail. Richie had been ordered to do her time in a county jail or city jail. So she picked the county life over city life.
• Usher and his fiancée wound up marrying after all. The couple had postponed their wedding last week, allegedly haggling over the details of the prenuptial agreement. Guess Usher finally chose the specifics of his prison sentence.
• Membership has its privileges, but they no longer include being associated with Tiger Woods. The golf superstar has split with sponsor American Express. “He brought a lot of value to AmEx. He’s an incredible athlete with an incredible work ethic, and that runs well with what our brand is all about,” said a company spokesman. “Sometimes, strategies change. We wanted to move our dollars to build a broader base of consumer experiences.” Keeping Woods probably exceeded their spending limit.
• The U.S. Army is now offering $20,000 bonuses to recruits willing to sign up and quickly head to training camp. Calling it the “quick-ship” program, the Army hopes to boost sagging enlistment numbers. Whatever happened to wooing people with feelings of pride and adventure? Better change the new tagline from “Army Strong” to “Army Desperate.”
• Eddie Murphy is now admitting he’s the daddy of Melanie “Scary Spice” Brown’s baby. Murphy released a statement that read, “Mr. Murphy and Ms. Brown dated very briefly and never made any plans of ANY sort. He acknowledges paternity of the child Angel, and has paid child support to Ms. Brown as well as covering the expenses of her pregnancy.” Talk about a “quick-ship” program.
• A federal investigation has been launched to determine if the Los Angeles Fire Department allows racism and discrimination to flourish in the firehouses. The LAFD released a statement that read, “The Los Angeles Fire Department takes all workplace environment issues seriously. It has been and remains our goal to create a positive workplace that supports all our members.” They’ll probably hold a “Ladies’ Night Spaghetti Dinner” to boost morale (see Essay 1677, 1451 and more).
Essay 4264
From The New York Post…
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GETTING AHEAD CAN BE A BITCH
By LEELA de KRETSER, Post Wire Services
Women need to control their anger at work or risk being seen as “out of control” and incompetent, although men can get ahead by blowing a gasket, a new study has found.
The aptly titled report, “When Can Angry Women Get Ahead?” asked survey participants to rate male and female job candidates after watching a video of them interviewing.
In the video, the men and women alternatively get angry or sad over explaining how they lost an account at their former job because a colleague turned up late to a meeting.
Study participants easily ranked the man who said he was angry over the loss as the number one candidate for the job, followed by the woman who said she was sad over losing the account.
Participants wanted to pay the man significantly more.
The man who said he was sad came in at third, while the woman who said she was angry was ranked last by a sizeable margin.
The findings have implications for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, says report author Victoria Brescoll, who notes that Republicans, in order to win, will need to denounce the Democrat’s run for president because she is too angry.
“As Senator Clinton's experience suggests, for a professional woman anger expression may lead to a decrease rather than an increase in her status,” Brescoll wrote.
She said the attitude to angry women wasn’t conscious. “People are hardly aware of it.”
Friday, August 03, 2007
Essay 4263
Conflicts of disinterest in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• The Telemundo network suspended reporter Mirthala Salinas for covering Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in more ways than one (both pictured above). The woman had been romantically involved with the elected official while she also reported on him for KVEA-TV Channel 52. A memo from the station read, “while the content and accuracy of KVEA’s newscasts were not compromised, our news policy standards with respect to conflict of interest were clearly violated.” Bet lots of folks are feeling violated right now.
• A free concert to cheer up the Virginia Tech community has come under fire because it includes rapper Nas. People are complaining because Nas’ lyrics include violent themes, particularly a 1999 track with the chants, “Shoot ‘em up, just shoot ‘em up, what?” and “Kill, kill, kill, murder, murder, murder.” A spokesman for pissed-off people said the lyrics “are indicative of the moral decay in our society that contributes to acts of violence. For a university official to condone it or to be clueless of what this person’s track record is, it’s unconscionable beyond belief.” Hey, in America, cluelessness is never an exclusive dysfunction.
• Despite the New York City ban on trans fat, a new study showed fast feeders like Wendy’s and Burger King continue to feature high levels of the killer ingredient. Although Wendy’s claimed it cut trans fat in 2006, it still appears in the food. Apparently, the guidelines only cover usage of oil containing less than .5 grams of trans fat—selling other foods with higher levels is ok. Plus, the new ban doesn’t prohibit restaurants from using French fries that have been pre-cooked with trans fat levels exceeding the limits. Seems like the mandates have lots of fat loopholes.
• Sony recalled 416,000 digital cameras whose metal cases were prone to warping and slashing people’s hands. Talk about staying on the cutting edge.
Essay 4262
The AMC series Mad Men continued its clumsy dance with race on Madison Avenue.
The third episode featured a cornucopia of cultural cues.
A Black elevator operator was briefly acknowledged by one of the admen. Through three weeks, the program has now depicted a Black waiter, two sassy Black bathroom attendants, a Black cafeteria worker and a Black elevator operator. Get ready for a Black preacher and Black maid in upcoming installments.
The newly married Pete Campbell returned to find Asians (dressed in stereotypical peasant garb and accompanied by a live rooster) in his office—and one of them actually screamed at him in an exaggerated accent. The butt of the gag whooped, “Who put the Chinaman in my office?” A secretary later explained, “They paid an Oriental family to be in Mr. Campbell’s office.” Guess it was a common practical joke in the 1960s.
The show awkwardly pushed the humor further. Agency boss Roger Sterling griped, “I want the Chinaman out of the building by lunch.” To which Don Draper quipped, “I’m still waiting on my shirts,” as his associates guffawed in the background.
Campbell then announced, “The Chinamen are out of the building. I have a feeling in an hour I’ll want to take them out again.” More laughter erupted. Ha-ha. Velly funny.
To push racist equality, the admen also sneered about advertising legend Bill Bernbach being a Jew.
And this all happened in the first 15 minutes.
It sure feels like politically-incorrect imagery is being forced into the storyline. There was even a nod to Native Americans during a scene with kids playing Cowboys and Indians at a birthday party (a boy hobbled with crutches portrayed the Indian). Yet the biased behavior and hijinks seem somewhat sanitized. Today’s Madison Avenue regularly serves up much worse offenses.
Can hardly wait to discover how Mad Men integrates Latinos (technically, Bernbach and his crew introduced the National Federation of Coffee Growers’ Juan Valdez around this period). Perhaps Campbell will discover a mariachi band and smelly burro behind his desk.
[See Essays 4232 and 4235 for commentary on the first two episodes of Mad Men.]
Essay 4260
Given all the hoopla surrounding the child obesity epidemic, these ads seem a tad irresponsible.
Essay 4259
From The New York Daily News…
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The dragon slayers
State senators sharpen their knives to gut companies that support hip-hop thuggery
By Stanley Crouch
Hip-hop entertainers maintain the belief that it is all about the money. Before they put the microphone down they tell the public, over and over, that everything is determined by the power of money. Only fools could believe money ever takes second place. In their crude world of gold teeth, oversized jewelry, buffoon behavior and scowls, the entertainers of hip hop might be right; but New York State Sen. Antoine Thompson has ideas that could trouble the national waters of the hip-hop industry because he, too, believes it is all about the finances.
Bothered for years by what he heard coming from the recordings of these profane entertainers, Thompson joined with Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith to ask some questions.
The senators wanted to know how much of New York State’s investment and pension funds went to the entertainment industry. The number is $3 billion. Well, well, well. This did not only disturb the legislators; Thompson told me it also greatly bothered the people in his district.
“When the people in my district discover,” he said, “that their tax and pension money goes to things in entertainment that they find appalling, they are shocked and disturbed. I think this raises a public issue of what the state should or should not do with its investment and pension funds. It should divest itself from companies that disseminate insulting and abusive material for the same reasons that so many universities, municipalities and companies divested themselves from business connections to South Africa during the apartheid days.”
While this is hot stuff, it is not a censorship issue, though we know it will be twisted into one by hip-hop defenders. Trotting out the censorship argument is but another of what has been a very limited repertoire of dodges used to obscure the issue.
The real issue is quite simple. No curtailment of free speech and individual expression is being suggested. Hip hop can offend whomever it pleases on its own dime, not the public’s. Thompson says that he and Smith want to see the same standard applied to entertainment that is applied to people in other situations, such as law enforcement and religion. That means no funds for any corporation presenting any “material that is hostile to a given ethnic group and to women.”
Thompson scoffs at those who claim such entertainment does not influence people. Far from a naive man, he knows that entertainment is also a form of advertisement, which is why Cadillac, Hennessy and McDonald’s fell over themselves when they discovered how sales of Escalades, cognac and fast food rose when celebrated in hip hop.
Yes, everyone seems to know that it is all about the money, but what Thompson and Smith know and intend to do should make them national heroes to all of us. Thompson now wants to meet with the 16 corporations that benefit from investment and pension funds. Hmmm. Another spear is being prepared for the hip-hop dragon. Long may it bleed.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Essay 4257
Court Jesters in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• It’s getting scary and spicy for Eddie Murphy, as Melanie Brown marched to court seeking to establish Murphy as the daddy of her baby. The former Spice Girl announced, “I am here today for one reason and one reason only; her name is Angel. Angel is my baby and Eddie’s. She will always know that she was planned and wanted by both of us.” Sounds like Murphy’s in for a devil of a time.
• R. Kelly appears to be finally heading into court to face child pornography charges, as a judge scheduled a September 17 trial date. “He believes in our system of justice and is looking forward to finally having his day in court,” said a Kelly spokesman. “He’s confident that when all the facts come out, it will be clear that he is not guilty of any crime.” If that’s true, Eddie Murphy will probably be calling for referrals.
• Fisher-Price recalled nearly 1 million toys whose paint contains excessive amounts of lead. Initial reports are blaming the recall on manufacturers in China. “Sadly, this is the most recent in a series of disturbing recalls of children’s toys. While the toys may be different, they have one thing in common—they were manufactured in China,” said Senator Dick Durbin. “With the current tools and resources the Consumer Product Safety Commission has, it cannot adequately protect American consumers.” Somebody call in Jackie Chan.
Essay 4254
From ChannelWeb Network (see Essay 4229)…
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Intel Apologizes For “Insulting” Ad;
Critics Charge Racial Insensitivity
By Damon Poeter, CMP Channel
Intel found itself in hot water Tuesday when several leading blogs highlighted a Core 2 Duo print ad the chipmaker admitted was “insensitive and insulting.”
The ad, featuring a standing Caucasian man in casual business attire surrounded by six crouching African-American sprinters in a tableau many commenters found racially offensive, was pulled by Intel before publication in North America in all but one entry, a Dell catalog, said an Intel spokesperson.
In a statement released Tuesday, Intel admitted that the ad was a mistake.
“Unfortunately, our execution did not deliver our intended message and in fact proved to be insensitive and insulting,” read the statement, attributed to Intel VP and director of integrated marketing Nancy Bhagat.
The ad was first posted at gossip site Gawker.com by the blogger “Copyranter” and later re-posted at Gizmodo.com, a technology blog owned by Gawker.com. Commenters at Gizmodo.com were not in full agreement about any racist intent in the ad, but most criticized Intel for producing an ad that could easily be perceived as racially offensive.
The Intel spokesperson told ChannelWeb that the ad had first run in Europe, where Intel first received complaints about it in June. She said Intel would take steps to avoid such incidents in the future, such as including its existing in-house diversity team in the vetting process for ads. Currently, the diversity team works on different issues, such as hiring.
“Two months ago, we knew of the issue and pulled the ad. We tried to pull all the entries that we had placed, but there was one that made it into the Dell catalog that we didn’t manage to pull,” the spokesperson said.
The ad agency that produced the ad was McCann Erickson, according to the spokesperson. She would not say whether blame for the ad was being laid at the feet of the ad agency or Intel.
“I won’t point fingers. Both Intel and McCann-Erickson were working closely on this,” she said.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Essay 4253
Entertaining news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• O.J. Simpson is attacking Goldmans again, now criticizing the family for winning the rights to his cancelled “If I Did It” book. “I find it sort of hypocritical that they talked everybody in America to boycott the book: it was ‘immoral,’ it was ‘blood money,’” griped Simpson. “But we now see it wasn’t ‘blood money’ if they got the money.” Actually, the Goldmans view it as money owed for the multimillion-dollar wrongful death judgment.
• Usher and his fiancée insist the called-off wedding is just a temporary glitch (see Essay 4241). She’s probably holding out for more money, while he’s considering writing an “If I Didn’t Do It” book.
• A judge ruled rapper DMX owes a dog-clothing company $253,000 for failing to make good on a promotion deal. No word if Michael Vick is involved.
Essay 4252
From nationwide news sources…
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Study: ‘Discrimination has not disappeared’
MORTGAGES | Study finds disparities among home loans to blacks, Hispanics
BY ALAN ZIBEL The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Higher income does not protect blacks and Hispanics from receiving mortgage loans with above-market rates, a new study by a group pushing for reforms to lending laws says.
The report, released by the Washington-based National Community Reinvestment Coalition, concludes that in 2005 blacks in 171 metropolitan areas were at least twice as likely as whites to receive expensive loans.
The study was based on an analysis of nationwide mortgage data collected by the Federal Reserve for the most recent year available. The report, which analyzed thousands of loans in 380 metro areas, also concluded that while the disparity among blacks and whites existed at all income levels, it was more severe at higher income levels, rather than lower ones.
The study found that middle-class and upper income blacks in 167 metropolitan areas were at least twice as likely as whites with similar incomes to receive loans with high rates. By comparison, there were 70 metropolitan areas where low-income blacks faced a similar likelihood of receiving above-market rates.
Low-income blacks in all areas were more likely to have pricey loans than whites with similar incomes. The report uses the Federal Reserve’s definition of high-cost loans: mortgages whose rates are at least 3 percentage points above Treasury securities. That definition includes most subprime loans given to people with weak credit records.
The study points to the persistence of discrimination against minorities, said John Taylor, chief executive of the Washington-based group.
“Certainly discrimination has not disappeared in this country, by any stretch,” he said.
The Mortgage Bankers Association criticized the report, saying it focuses on race instead of factors that lenders consider when deciding whether to make loans, such as borrowers’ debt levels.
Essay 4249
Here’s a quick follow-up to Essay 4220.
MultiCultClassics submitted the official entry materials to nominate Hadji Williams for The Adcolor Awards. Special thanks to Carmen Van Kerckhove of Racialicious.com, Danny G of Adpulp.com and Bill Green of makethelogobigger.blogspot.com for assisting with letters of recommendation. We’ll keep everyone updated on any progress. The Adcolor Awards are scheduled to be doled out in November.
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