Essay 4441

Even more comments responding to Alberto J. Ferrer’s perspective posted under The Big Tent at AdAge.com (see Essay 4426)…

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I’m Dutch and had to learn English to live here. I don’t expect brands in America to speak Dutch to me. Why should “Hispanics” be exempted from having to learn English? Yes, Spanish marketing annoys me, so I guess that makes me a bigot and a racist.

And D. Luria, you won’t hear me reclaim New Amsterdam for the Dutch. —Peter Verkooijen, Brooklyn, NY

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Wow, hot topic, isn’t it? But be cool, English-speaking people: multilingual direct marketing isn’t a threat for your “social unity and cultural heritage.” I understand that you prefer that people [living] in the USA speak English, but don’t take that to ridiculous terms. I mean, thanks to globalization, your culture and language are well known around the world. Everybody likes McDonald’s and wears Nike. So, take this as a little cultural exchange ;-) —Juan Carlos Ascanio, Caracas

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Mary, just a reminder. Don’t forget to TiVo the upcoming Democratic debate broadcast in Spanish. —Bill Green, MTLB, NJ

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Mary, just a reminder. Don’t forget to TiVo the upcoming Democratic debate broadcast in Spanish. —Bill Green, MTLB, NJ

Is that a triumphalist smirk? Pro-Spanish-speaking people are good at that, aren’t they? Never mind what’s good for our country, we only care about what’s good for our own ethnic group.

Yes, the Democratic debate in Spanish is a low point in this country’s history. We cannot exist half-Spanish-speaking and half-English-speaking, just as we couldn’t exist half-slave and half-free. Anybody who thinks differently, please take a look at what’s happening in “bilingual” Belgium right now. After 170 years as a nation, the Dutch-speaking North and the French-speaking South are on the verge of splitting up. Don’t come whining to me when it happens here too. Let’s hope Bill Green doesn’t have any investment property in the Southwest. —Mary Jessel, San Francisco, CA

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It seems to me that diversity makes our culture richer. Regardless of whether it is language and culture or both.

The violent reaction and aversion to Spanish language and indeed Hispanics is synonymous with a lack of interest in new ideas and thinking. This is the most dangerous thing of all. Complacency, lack of thinking, fear of change. —Nils von Zelowitz, New York, NY

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Ignorance is the mother of all inaccuracies. Last night’s Democratic debate on Univision (the “low point in the country’s history” as one reader called it) was not conducted in Spanish, but in English, with simultaneous translation available for Spanish-speaking viewers. For those of you who didn’t watch, Bill Richardson was actually reprimanded, twice, for attempting to speak his native language: Spanish. —Laura Martinez, New York City, NY

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Can’t we just get along, as the author questions? Apparently not.

Marketing is a science and an art. At times an imperfect science. At times a perfect art. And vice versa.

No one intends to irritate or anger customers or potential prospects. We simply strive to deliver a message that resonates with our audience. If the audience is more comfortable in a language other than English, is there really anything wrong with that?

This should cause no more controversy than if a reference is made to the home state of a person and it is the wrong state. —Nils von Zelowitz, New York, NY

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“Is that a triumphalist smirk?”

Wow. You really showed me. Then again, I’d expect big words from a 200K household. Well done. —Bill Green, MTLB, NJ

Essay 4440

The creative team responsible for this concept should check out the help wanted ads.

[MultiCultClassics often critiques questionable work created by multicultural advertising agencies. But the truth is, in terms of volume, percentages and any other measuring standard, the majority of lousy ideas are produced by White agencies. In the spirit of inclusion, this week MultiCultClassics spotlights some White ad trash.]

Essay 4439

In 2005, MultiCultClassics published a column by Stanley Crouch that spotlighted Callie Herd, a woman dedicated to providing college scholarship information for Black and Latino students.

Herd said, “What I’m doing is trying to educate them. It’s not that Blacks and Latinos don’t want to go to college or need scholarship money; they just don’t know what is going on. At the advice of my son, I started a blog to get past writing individual letters. That just about wore me out. But the blog reaches so many.”

“It is located at www.ctherd.blogspot.com. There are millions of dollars available, just waiting for those who know how to ask for them. … It’s all about knowing, and that’s all I’m trying to provide. Well-used knowledge is part of the solution.”

Herd has updated her blog with new internships, summer programs, scholarships, etc. Some of the deadlines are approaching.

Spread the word. Click on the essay title above to visit Herd’s blog.

Essay 4438

Guilty pleasures in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Sen. Larry Craig plans to file court documents today in order to withdraw his guilty plea in the infamous toilet stall arrest (see Essay 4419). Perhaps he’ll opt for not guilty by reason of horny insanity.

• A Georgia Mickey D’s employee spent a night in jail for serving a cop a hamburger that was too salty. The female worker claims she accidentally spilled salt on the burger meat, but the cop wasn’t buying it after allegedly getting sick from the sandwich. The worker was charged with reckless condiment, um, conduct.

Essay 4437

Essay 4436

Looks like O-Cel-O is introducing the iSponge.

[MultiCultClassics often critiques questionable work created by multicultural advertising agencies. But the truth is, in terms of volume, percentages and any other measuring standard, the majority of lousy ideas are produced by White agencies. In the spirit of inclusion, this week MultiCultClassics spotlights some White ad trash.]

Essay 4435

News of the U.S. Census Bureau awarding its estimated $250 million government account to DraftFCB warrants a few observations, as the story dovetails with other recent events.

Technically, it’s probably more accurate to say the real winner is not DraftFCB, but parent company IPG. After all, the U.S. Census Bureau is asking that 40 percent of the billings go to small businesses, including women- and minority-owned firms. Which means DraftFCB pockets roughly $150 million. But IPG shareholders aren’t too unhappy, as many (and perhaps all?) of the companies being given subcontractor status are in the IPG network.

According to Advertising Age, “The Census Bureau on Sept. 6 identified DraftFCB’s subcontractors as including DraftFCB, Puerto Rico; GlobalHue, New York: A to Sí, New York; IW Group, San Francisco; G&G, Albuquerque, N.M., and Billings, Mont.; Allied Media, Alexandria, Va.; Weber Shandwick, Minneapolis; Jack Morton, New York; Booz Allen Hamilton, Washington; the Marcom Group, Fairfax, Va.; and Zona Design, New York. Initiative Media will buy media. G&G, a Native American agency, is the only one of the group that is repeating from the 2000 Census.”

That’s a lot of shops grabbing for slices of the segmented $100 million pie. Guess it’s a decent start for the U.S. government, which has been doing a lousy job of distributing assignments. In fact, the Government Accountability Office released a report showing a paltry 5 percent of the government’s $4.3 billion ad-related spending went to small and minority firms (see Essays 4313 and 4333). Senator John Kerry remarked, “This report shines a spotlight on the federal government’s failure to make equal opportunity a reality, not just rhetoric.”

It would actually make sense for the subcontractors’ budgets to reflect the country’s demographic figures. That is, the Latino shop should receive at least 15 percent of the total $250 million, the Black shop can collect around 12 percent, etc. Of course, such logic typically escapes Madison Avenue. Given the tactics of DraftFCB, look for Howard Draft to try compensating the Native American agency with cases of Effen vodka.

Were any small or minority agencies considered for the lead role? As the Latino population continues to surge, surely a Latino shop should have a strong voice on the team, perhaps even quarterbacking the overall effort.

Oh, who are we kidding? The minority shops were undoubtedly packaged with the White-owned finalists. Meaning the victorious subcontractors benefited from being in a network versus legitimately competing for the prize—no offense to the winning small and minority firms.

But it does awkwardly segue to a different point: the lack of qualified minority shops. In the related story posted in Essay 4333, the president and chief executive officer of the National Black Chamber of Commerce noted the U.S. boasts about 50 Black-owned advertising agencies and 75 Latino-owned. You don’t have to work for the U.S. Census Bureau to realize those numbers are pretty appalling. Anyone could easily find over 50 White-owned agencies in every major market—or numerous minor markets, for that matter. Minority shops unattached to a holding company may be systematically eliminated from opportunities like the U.S. Census Bureau account.

Then again, perhaps this is what constitutes being a U.S. minority.

[Click on the essay title above to read Advertising Age’s story on the U.S. Census Bureau and DraftFCB.]

Essay 4434

Never realized the mannequin business was so competitive.


Of course, sex sells mannequins.


There’s even multicultural mannequin advertising.


The people producing mannequin messages try to present cutting-edge concepts too.

Essay 4433

Weekend in Paris with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• When you care enough to sue the very best. Paris Hilton is suing Hallmark for using her image in a greeting card without permission (depicted above), charging the company with invasion of privacy. Funny, Hilton is usually invading the public’s space with her private moments—and her privates, for that matter.

• New York Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas is going to court this week to face a sexual-harassment suit (see Essay 4332). The accuser charges Thomas once approached her and said, “I think you’re beautiful, and I’m in love with you. I know you think I’m inappropriate.” In his defense, Thomas insists he may have used the word love, “Maybe in a greeting of hello or goodbye but never to be ‘in love.’” Wonder if Thomas was ever involved in creating the old NBA tagline, “I love this game.”

• Actor and comedian Eddie Griffin was yanked from a stand-up performance for using the N-word too much. The comedy routine was part of an event sponsored by Black Enterprise magazine. A Black Enterprise spokesman said, “We believe that ending the performance was the appropriate action.” So the decision had nothing to do with the fact that Eddie Griffin is rarely funny?

Essay 4432

Earth to Hostess: Sorry, your snack cakes have not earned the right to sit alongside the fancy offerings on the restaurant dessert tray.

[MultiCultClassics often critiques questionable work created by multicultural advertising agencies. But the truth is, in terms of volume, percentages and any other measuring standard, the majority of lousy ideas are produced by White agencies. In the spirit of inclusion, this week MultiCultClassics spotlights some White ad trash.]

Essay 4431

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

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‘Hate’ crime – it’s not black or white but gray

People feel that the law’s application is hit and miss

BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist

If a white person spray paints a black person’s home with racist graffiti, that person will likely be charged with a hate crime.

However, if a black person assaults a white person, more than likely the hate crime law won’t come into play. That has led to the perception that prosecutors are reluctant to charge blacks with a crime that is ordinarily committed against them, rather than by them.

So when black teens are accused of assaulting a white person and police deem the crime “random violence,” for many whites there is a nagging perception that the system is biased against white victims.

What we really have is a tepid law that can’t help but set us up for disappointment.

In fact, the biggest problem with any hate crime law -- including the move to expand our national Hate Crime Law -- is that one can never really know what’s in another person’s heart.

We can, and we do, assume a lot of things.

But unless there is hard evidence that a criminal attacked a person because of his or her gender, race, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, it is not likely that a cross-racial crime -- no matter how heinous -- is going to be charged as a hate crime.

No line on motives
According to the City of Chicago’s Human Relations Commission, 80 hate crimes were reported in the city in 2006. Thus far in 2007, 50 hate crimes have been reported. Since the Cook County state’s attorney’s office has to compile records from various sources -- a feat, I’m told, that could take days -- it is unclear how many hate crimes actually have been prosecuted.

The only hate-crime incident I found reported locally was one about the burglary of a North Side Jewish temple in June. That temple was previously vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti. Also in June, a man filed a federal lawsuit claiming Chicago Police officers allegedly beat him because he is gay.

Although well-intended, the hate crime law fails to give us a view into the motives of the most heinous crimes, and thus fails to satisfy our desire to put hatemongers in a class by themselves.

When a person spray paints swastikas on a synagogue, or puts a burning cross in front of a black church, it rattles our collective civility. But many of us are appalled by cross-racial assaults like the one that occurred in the Beverly neighborhood last summer when 14-year-old Ryan Rusch was beaten by three African Americans.

Prosecutors argued at the time that designating the assault as a “hate crime” would not have enhanced the penalty, since the assailants had been charged with attempted murder.

While a hate crime charge automatically bumps a misdemeanor to a felony, charging someone with a hate crime who is already charged with a felony does not necessarily enhance the punishment.

For instance, one of the Rusch attackers, Micha Eatman, was acquitted on attempted murder, but convicted on charges of aggravated battery and robbery. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. Conviction of a first offense for a hate crime law carries a one- to three-year prison term.

Did ‘hate’ factor in Doan's death?
Still, charging this particular crime as a hate crime would have sent a strong message to other teens who think preying on white victims is some kind of joke.

The state’s attorney’s office is still investigating the July melee in Durkin Park that left one teen severely injured. Charges against a 15-year-old black teen who drove a car into a predominantly white and Hispanic crowd during that incident have also not been filed.

The controversial hate crime law came up again last week when the killing of Du Doan, a 62-year-old Asian fisherman, appeared to be a hate crime.

Doan was shoved into Montrose Harbor while he was fishing from the pier.

John J. Haley, 31, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery in Doan’s death. Apparently, Haley had threatened another man, described as being Asian, earlier that same night. He also has been charged with pushing another fisherman into the lake on July 31. That man survived.

Although it was initially reported that all of the people victimized by Haley were Asian, an anonymous caller told me that the man who was catapulted into the harbor in the earlier incident was not Asian, but a white male.

That, of course, is little comfort to Du Doan’s widow and family.

Essay 4430

A few more comments responding to Alberto J. Ferrer’s perspective posted under The Big Tent at AdAge.com (see Essay 4426), followed by a brief MultiCultClassics reply…

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“I complain because I believe the encroachment of Spanish is a direct threat to our nation’s social unity and cultural heritage.”

Am I the only person overwhelmed by the irony of this coming from a resident of San Francisco, a Spanish-named city founded by the Spanish in 1776? Perhaps I’m mistaken in thinking the cultural heritage of the single most populous state in the US somehow precedes its annexation to the US in 1848… but I don’t think so. —D. Luria, El Cajon, CA

D. Luria:

California has been English-speaking longer than it was Spanish-speaking. Yeah, we kept a few of the place names -- they were pretty. Big deal. If it were still part of Mexico (or Spain) do you think it would still be the world’s 7th largest economy? Neither Spain nor Mexico built the Golden Gate Bridge, Silicon Valley or Hollywood.

This is an English-speaking country. All other immigrants learned to speak English and accepted that the USA is an English-speaking country. We never had to “press one” for the Persians, Chinese or Poles. We hear a lot about Hispanic “pride.” Time to let advertisers know that we unhyphenated Americans have a lot of “pride” too. —Mary Jessel, San Francisco, CA

Anyways, the issue isn’t going to go away. The history of most bi-lingual countries isn’t particularly inspiring. —Mary Jessel, San Francisco, CA

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The comments from Mary Jessel are not surprising—and definitely not original—to folks in the advertising industry. Although let’s hope Jessel isn’t a member of our exclusive business, as there are already enough examples of biased thinking polluting the ad waters.

As a public service, here’s the stereotypical rebuttal:

One wonders how Jesselish people react when visiting San Francisco’s famous Chinatown. Bet there are strong opinions regarding the city’s GLBT community too. Jesselish people are also cautioned to avoid the Polish, German, Swedish, Russian, Korean, Jewish, Italian and other ethnic and cultural areas across the nation.

Plus, related commentary on this country would be incomplete without noting its original inhabitants did not speak English—you know, the Native Americans.

Of course, such observations are lost on Jesselish people, who are probably too busy drafting petitions to print English-only renditions of “E Pluribus Unum.”

Essay 4429

Crimes and punishments in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Foxy Brown was sentenced to a year in jail for probation-related violations. The judge declared, “I’m not going to give you any more chances. … I hope you turn your life around and never again have to stand in a court of law.” If Brown gets a Nicole Richie deal, she’ll be free in about a week.

• Former Duke lacrosse team prosecutor Mike Nifong left prison this morning after serving his one-day sentence. A small crowd of supporters cheered the disbarred lawyer. Nifong offered gratitude to the jail personnel “for the professionalism with which I was treated and the respect which I was shown.” Nifong can’t look forward to receiving much more of that outside of the slammer.

• Embattled Rep. William Jefferson accused the Justice Department of racial discrimination, arguing charges were filed against him in Virginia versus Washington in order to lessen the chance of finding Black jurors. Investigators originally found $90,000 stuffed in Jefferson’s refrigerator in Washington. No word yet if Jefferson has a Frigidaire® in Virginia.

• Countrywide Financial Corporation plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs. The terminations will probably happen countrywide.

Essay 4428

From The Chicago Tribune…

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What the Duke lacrosse case has taught us

By Clarence Page

When Mike Nifong reported to jail Friday to serve a 24-hour sentence in Durham, N.C., a small band of die-hard supporters carried signs that said, “We believe in your integrity and goodness.” I wonder if they believe in the tooth fairy too.

Every wicked man is right in his own eyes, the Book of Proverbs says. But that doesn’t mean that the rest of us should cheer him on.

Nifong is the former Durham County district attorney who brought the notoriously bogus rape case against three Duke University lacrosse team members, a rape case that turned out to have no rape.

In the end, the only person convicted of anything was Nifong. A breathtaking list of procedural abuses led to his disbarment, resignation and prosecution. The abuses included the withholding by his office of DNA evidence for more than nine months that proved the athletes’ innocence.

I hope Nifong spent his night in the pokey thinking about the young lives he ruined. I also hope he thought about the voters he flimflammed, along with a national audience, all so that he could be re-elected in his 40 percent black district and maximize his pension.

That narrative comes through with painful clarity in a new book, “Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case,” co-authored by Stuart Taylor, a National Journal columnist and Newsweek contributor, and K.C. Johnson, a history professor at Brooklyn College and CUNY.

Nifong’s overreaching “may be the worst prosecutorial misconduct ever exposed while it was happening,” said Taylor, in an interview. Taylor was one of the early skeptics of Nifong’s case.

Like the case, the book offers a chilling portrait of how the criminal justice system can nail and punish the innocent. Usually the innocent are poor people who lack the money, connections or other resources to mount a proper defense. In its concluding chapters, the book recounts several striking examples of poor blacks and Hispanics, in particular, who were sent to Death Row but later released as a result of misconduct by prosecutors.

But it was the racial and socioeconomic lineup in the Duke case—upscale white male students accused by a poor black female stripper—that excited passions in a different ideological direction. Left-progressive activists, pundits and intellectuals allied with the prosecutor to steamroll over any presumption of the boys’ innocence.

For some petitioners and op-ed writers, the young jocks provided too convenient a target as symbols of white male hegemony, runaway testosterone and every other agenda that could be hung on them like tree ornaments. Voices as varied as The New York Times and CNN star Nancy Grace come in for a well-deserved skewering here.

Think about it. If any institutions should be engaged in the critical reasoning that it takes to analyze situations like these, weighing claims and counterclaims, and sorting out facts from rumors, it is the media and college professors. The university, of all places, should teach not only good ideas but also the rational thinking that leads one to a lifetime of producing good ideas.

In that spirit, it is important to note the solid journalism that did occur, even if it failed remarkably to have much of an impact during the months Nifong’s freight train surged ahead. Besides Taylor, there was Ed Bradley, the CBS reporter who died before the charges were dismissed, “60 Minutes” producer Michael Radutzky, and MSNBC’s Dan Abrams. Each courageously pursued the growing holes in the case, despite unsubstantiated countercharges by die-hard critics who would rather punish the messenger than listen to the uncomfortable facts.

“This entire experience has opened my eyes up to a tragic world of injustice I never knew existed,” said Reade Seligmann, one of the three accused Duke students. He and his teammates were fortunate to have the resources to fight back. Most defendants don’t. That’s all the more reason for those of us who believe in justice to scrupulously avoid pursuing personal agendas at the expense of the truth, no matter how much it may satisfy our preconceived notions.

Essay 4427

Waiting to exhale—projectile vomit.

Essay 4426

Another perspective from under The Big Tent at AdAge.com, followed by actual responses posted at the blog…

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Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Spanish Language Draws Ire of a Few Consumers. Why?

By Alberto J. Ferrer

Some time ago, one of our clients shared with us an issue they had with their Hispanic marketing efforts. Specifically, the issue was with language in direct-mail communications targeting Hispanics.

It turns out that a few consumers were upset about receiving direct-mail communications with Spanish-language copy.

We used the most advanced algorithms available in the market to identify Hispanics from within the broader universe of the rented lists. Because the model used data to infer ethnicity, we knew it would never be 100% correct. Therefore, we crafted our communications using both Spanish- and English-language copy.

We did that, among other reasons, to (a) not offend anyone, (b) engage Hispanics who preferred English to Spanish in their marketing communications, and (c) be able to address any non-Hispanics who were incorrectly identified as Hispanics by the algorithm.

As seasoned direct marketers, our clients are used to occasional consumer complaints and well-versed in how to manage them. This was different, however, and it became a hot-enough topic that we were asked how to address the situation. What was different?

Well, the consumers who complained were what I can politely describe as Hispano-phobes. Less politely I could call them ignorant, racist, bigots. These individuals also knew how to get to higher ups at the client company.

They had called or written to the CEO and CMO, and one of them even left a voicemail message for our senior client that was so laced with loathing and disdain for Hispanics that it was scary. The actual content of the complaints was similar: How dare we send mail to them with Spanish-language text? They’re not “Spanish” (or “Mexican,” no one used the term Latino or Hispanic) and resent being identified as such.

Further, we’re helping establish these undocumented immigrants who are taking jobs away from hardworking Americans.

In the immortal words of Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?”

I don’t know about you, but if I get a piece of mail targeting me as a Native American, for example, I simply assume it’s a mistake and discard it. Similarly, if I am watching television and see a commercial for denture cream that is clearly targeted at senior citizens, I just pay it no mind. Why were these folks so angry when they received a piece of communication with another language on it?

Is it because of Spanish? Would they react the same way if they received a mail piece written in English and French to target French Canadians? Why did these folks (from both red and blue states, by the way) feel compelled to contact the company? They could have simply thrown the mail piece in the nearest trashcan. Who are these people, anyway, and does our client really want them as customers? I’d love your thoughts on this.

Our recommendation to the client included purging these prospects from further mailings. Good riddance! However, the fact that in this day and age we still have reactions like that to something as innocuous as a direct-mail piece signals that we have a lot more work to do before we can call ourselves an inclusive society.

That incident was a reminder that, regardless of all that’s been done by my generation and those before it to make this country one of equality, a meritocracy open to those who work hard, the generation of my children and that of their children will have to keep at it.

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I am one of those “racist” bigots who complain about Spanish direct mail (and other forms of Spanish advertising). I complain because I believe the encroachment of Spanish is a direct threat to our nation’s social unity and cultural heritage. Whenever I get direct mail in Spanish I take a big black Sharpie marker and scrawl “ENGLISH IS OUR LANGUAGE” across it and mail it back to the offending company. I also boycott any stores that feature bilingual signage, which means shopping at a lot of established Mom and Pop stores, which are more expensive and less convenient, but so what? My country’s cultural heritage means more to me than a few extra dollars.

This may come as a surprise to someone who seems to make his living out of helping to destroy our cultural heritage by encouraging the proliferation of Spanish, but there are many English-speaking Americans who feel the same way as I do, and our numbers are growing. Marketers are going to find out very quickly that they can no longer count on us English-speaking “bigots” to lie down and accept cultural obliteration without a fight. They can no longer take us for granted. Sure, go ahead and chase that Spanish-speaking dollar. But do it at the risk of losing the English-speaking dollar. In my case, you’ve lost a consumer from a household with a 200K annual income. —Mary Jessel, San Francisco, CA

Perhaps you’re getting this reaction because people feel that those living in this country should be able to read and speak English. Is that too much to ask? —Jim Mcginn, Bonita Springs, FL

Essay 4425

Slams and slammers in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Nas slammed Bill O’Reilly after the old man criticized the rapper’s free concert for Virginia Tech students as an “abomination.” O’Reilly griped, “Having a rapper who trades in violence perform at Virginia Tech insults the [shooting] victims, the university and the entire commonwealth.” Nas declared, “He’s a racist. … Everybody has a marketing plan; his marketing plan is racism. … It just shows you what bloodsuckers do; they abuse something like the Virginia Tech [tragedy] for show ratings. You can’t talk to a person like that.” Bloodsucker. Marketing plan. Racist. Hey, O’Reilly ought to be on Madison Avenue.

• Former Duke lacrosse team prosecutor Mike Nifong reported to prison for his one-day sentence. Meanwhile, lawyers for the three players are threatening to sue Durham, North Carolina, for $30 million and reforms in the legal process. Looks like the experience has turned the players into bold defenders of justice.

Essay 4424

The latest episode of AMC series Mad Men presented two Black men—together in a single scene! The elevator attendant returned, joined in the car by a mop-pushing janitor. There was even brief dialogue, with the elevator attendant apologizing to Campbell for the delayed ride. Plus, the janitor spied Campbell and Peggy having sex in the office.

Later, Draper visited his mistress and partied with her dope-smoking friends. The hipster group included a Black woman. How edgy!

At an after-work gathering, agency employees squealed and twisted to Chubby Checker.

And to round out the diversity, art director Salvatore Romano rejected a gay romance.

MultiCultClassics proclaims AMC series Mad Men as “The Shit of the Year.”

Essay 4423

Essay 4422

Wish someone would drive this campaign off a cliff.

Essay 4421

The perspective below appeared under The Big Tent at AdAge.com. A brief MultiCultClassics response immediately follows…

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When It Comes to Diversity, Pain Means Gain

Slow Shifts Lead Only to Apathy

By Jonathon Feit

The most significant risk involved in addressing diversity is, of course, that someone, somewhere is going to be left out of the mix. It’s a rightful concern—one best mitigated by internalizing how truly vast is the field of racial, ethnic, religious, national, sexual and industrial orientations.

My fellow blogger Karl Carter has said that “the weight of the multicultural industry to a degree is on us. We have a responsibility to write from the heart and address what often doesn't get addressed in our industry.”

Yet the benefits putting diversity on a pedestal as an accomplishable ideal stretch far beyond the business community. As Carter continued, “They [at Advertising Age] have opened Pandora’s box now that industry has to seriously address diversity and it can’t ever be shut again. Our job, as I see it, is to keep the lid open and open a lot of eyes and minds.”

Last winter’s American Association of Advertising Agencies’ 2007 Media conference in Vegas featured a “novel” panel on diversity. MediaPost’s Wayne Friedman pointed out that “so obvious was the mass exit that a question for the panel came up in its regard—wondering how improvements could be made in the area of diversity if few people cared enough to hang around for discussion.”

I pointed out to Friedman that disregard for the 4A’s so-called “diversity” panel was rampant perhaps because the panel itself was a sham.

Now, I don’t care what color your skin is, but a panel featuring three black men and a Hispanic woman is not diverse. That’s a token panel, thrown together as an afterthought to satisfy the political-correctness checkbox on someone’s mental roster.

One would be hard-pressed to find anyone who discourages a robust discussion of diversity in media and related industries. After all, what downside is there (except to a bigot)? A greater cacophony of voices likely leads to creative new ideas.

But not everyone seems to agree that a lack of diversity warrants a fix. Another fellow blogger for Advertising Age, Arnold Worldwide’s Tiffany Warren, recently pointed to Wall Street Journal editorial page deputy editor Daniel Henninger’s declaration that diversity is dead. I don’t know Henninger personally, but I can’t imagine a fool who takes words lightly could have risen through the echelons of so venerable a newspaper.

More specifically, there remain disagreements about the nature of the necessary changes, how dramatic and how quickly to undertake them—where to begin. A reasonable expectation might call upon market forces to dictate diversity’s priorities, focusing first on the most easily incorporated groups (say, for example, the GLBT community) that really just require a change in perspective and movement toward tolerance.

Soon thereafter, the floodgates to all-inclusiveness will thrust open on their own.

Unfortunately for us all, such an assumption would be wrong, and utterly neglectful of the intellectual inertia that constantly befalls companies within the media-marketing orbit as they struggle with new markets and new technologies all at once. The cure for mental stagnation is usually a three-day complaint session (read: “conference”) and several rounds of golf, but some industry leaders (including the Meredith Corporation, one of the country’s largest publishers of women’s and shelter magazines) are taking control of the market cycle from idea to product to promotion in order to better know, represent, and cater to their consumers, in all their variety.

Shaunice Hawkins, over at the Magazine Publishers of America, is a case study of activism and passion melded seamlessly with the finesse at negotiating egos needed to make (and keep) friends in high places. She is a friend and trusted colleague.

But over many lunchtime debates I’ve learned that Hawkins ascribes to a strategy of gradual, evolutionary movement toward lofty, admirable diversity goals. Her method has the benefit of being relatively pain-free for the companies concerned. They like that. But the one attribute it lacks in spades, unfortunately, is ambition enough to force companies to bend or break the status quo.

Warren indicated that time is of the essence, lest diversity decline from collective objective to passé social trend. To avoid that fate, I—for one—will always prefer paradigm shifts that are stark, definite. Remember gym class? Pain brings gain, and confirms that change is meaningful and permanent, rather than mere appeasement.

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Feit’s opening line—“The most significant risk involved in addressing diversity is, of course, that someone, somewhere is going to be left out of the mix”—actually stumbles across a critical hurdle in the continuing saga. There already are key people being left out of the mix.

Leaders of minority shops remain conspicuously silent. They’re undoubtedly in the awkward position of being unable to speak openly and potentially alienate or anger clients.

Clients are also avoiding the discussions. Indeed, many clients are perpetuating the dilemma by segregating the minority shops and demanding stereotypical work.

Yet the biggest absentees are White adpeople. After all, how can the problems be addressed without proactive participation from the ruling majority?

Feit insists “the 4A’s ‘diversity’ panel… was a sham.” Ironically, The Big Tent may be as well, with its predominately minority contributors potentially preaching to the converted—versus including fully diverse voices to ultimately convert the sinners.

Essay 4420

Q. Why are there so many straws?
A. Because the idea really sucks.

Essay 4419

Rocking and rolling with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Rock and roll will never die. Rock stars, however, are another story. Researchers at Liverpool John Moores University produced a study showing rock stars and celebrities are twice as likely to meet an early death than regular folks. Bet the researchers were just a bunch of groupies looking to party with the band.

• Rock and roll will never die. And it looks like R. Kelly will never go to trial over child pornography charges. The court date has been postponed again. At this rate, the child Kelly allegedly abused will be an AARP member when the trial begins.

• Crock and roll will never die. Sen. Larry Craig sought to have the ethics charges against him dropped, but the Senate Ethics committee rejected the request. Craig is also trying to have his guilty plea stemming from an airport sex sting bust withdrawn (see Essay 4413). Craig must think he’s a rock star—or R. Kelly at least.

Essay 4418

Essay 4417

This campaign is the cheesiest.

Essay 4416

Watching paint dry in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Mattel recalled 800,000 Chinese-made toys for excessive amounts of lead paint. It’s the third recall for the toymaker this summer. Maybe they should introduce a toy lead painter’s kit.

• Jerry Lewis is backpedaling over an anti-gay comment he made during his annual telethon. While performing a freestyle ramble with a cameraman, Lewis joked, “Oh, your family has come to see you. … You remember Bart, your older son. … Jesse, the illiterate faggot.” Lewis later said, “I apologize to anyone who was offended. … Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard. That something like this would distract from the true purpose of the telethon pains me deeply.” Next year’s telethon celebrity lineup will include Isaiah Washington and Sen. Larry Craig.

Essay 4415

Essay 4414

These Goodwrench ads are not good.

Essay 4413

Squeezing the Charmin in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The children of Sen. Larry Craig appeared on “Good Morning, America” to defend their dad (pictured above). “He was a victim of circumstance, in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said son Michael Craig. “It was tough standing next to him, but we are family and we stay together through good times and bad. … We know who he is and we stand behind him.” Just don’t stand in the toilet stall beside him.

• A spokesman for Sen. Larry Craig said the decision to resign is not a sure thing. “It’s not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign,” said the spokesman. “We’re still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign Sept. 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we’re able to stay in the fight—and stay in the Senate.” Sounds like a (toilet) stall tactic.

Essay 4412

Studying the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• A new study shows 50 percent of parents with obese children don’t realize their kids are too heavy. Many parents are apparently in denial, unwilling to change their own eating and exercise routines. “It’s usually a dietary and lifestyle issue. It’s very difficult for parents to confront their own food issues,” said an expert. In other words, your kid may look normal-sized if you’re a blimp yourself.

• A new study of men and women in Munich, Germany, showed men are more likely to choose a mate based on looks. Duh. Wonder if fat men were also attracted to fat women, yet didn’t realize the women were overweight.

Essay 4411

From The New York Daily News…

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A cautionary tale on the dangers of never growing up

By Stanley Crouch

There are many things attached to the horror story of star NFL quarterback Michael Vick participating in the barbaric sport of watching two dogs trained to kill go about tearing each other apart. Though people like Geraldo Rivera have gone on the record assuming that the national black community will come behind Vick because of the attention, the weight and the charges to which he has pleaded guilty, I doubt it.

Like every other minority group of Americans — including Catholics — black people can sometimes be manipulated by the idea of group solidarity. But, also like everybody else, black people are usually too shrewd to be hustled by those who try to hide indefensible sins behind ethnicity.

However uncomfortable it might be to swallow, disappointment in human behavior is almost always faced in the long run. Apologies may throw people off for a short while, but they only go so far.

There are a number of things that stand out about Vick and separate him from most of the black Americans we see celebrated in the media.

First, he is not only very dark in skin tone but he is also inarguably one of the handsomest men in the entire United States. Were he an equally attractive and talented actress, his smoky color would have kept him from starring roles in film or the abundant jobs reserved almost exclusively for light-skinned half-naked rump rollers in hip-hop videos.

Second, with his ability to think fast and scramble when necessary (move around quickly in the backfield or carry the ball if no receivers are available), Vick was on his way to becoming one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the sport. He resoundingly shut down a complaint held for many years by black football fans: that black men were rarely chosen for that position because white owners almost never thought they were intelligent enough to handle a role that called for brains as well as brawn.

In short, never expect or demand quality thought from a black man; it’s asking too much.

Thirdly, Vick seems to have joined Mike Tyson and Allen Iverson in becoming a hip-hop athlete — one whose talent, no matter how massive, becomes secondary to embracing the gutter excitements and trashy behavior that hip hop celebrates as a form of ethnic allegiance called “keeping it real.” Comedian Chris Rock, in a routine on his “Bring the Pain” CD, refers to such loutishness as “Keeping it real. Real dumb.”

This was echoed by a Black Entertainment Television host of a hip-hop show who said Vick misunderstood one fact: Some things from one’s background need to be left behind and one should not be so naive as to be exploited by the worst elements from his former neighborhood.

A great hall of fame black athlete from the days before the multimillion-dollar contracts and endorsements told me when the Dwight Gooden drug problems became big news that the younger players seemed to have not been given the right advice by their parents. Every temptation from women to drugs had always been waved in the faces of athletes. It was in their interest to turn away from them. They needed to be adults, not bad little boys in the bodies of men.

Perhaps that ugly adolescent streak that has dogged American men in so many instances is the real problem and the one that Michael Vick alluded to when he publicly apologized and said that he needed to grow up.

Although Americans have long worshiped youth and childlike behavior, we can see in the arrogantly imbecilic actions of a Paris Hilton or a Lil’ Kim that the problem of immaturity transcends color, sex and the class of one’s background. It is a disease of the mind and the spirit that we all need to disavow and step away from. Perhaps we will, but that is a freedom that demands more than a notion.

Essay 4410

Essay 4409

This real beauty looks like she’s in real pain.

Essay 4408

Laboring through another MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• A U.N. report showed U.S. workers lead the planet in productivity, spending more time in the office, at the factory or on the farm than our peers in Europe and most other rich nations. “Rich nations” is probably the key term here, fellow workers.

• Rap mogul Russell Simmons is working on a new line of clothing targeting urban enthusiasts closer to his own age (49). The stuff will probably be produced in third-world nations by children nowhere near Simmons’ age.

• Dina Matos McGreevey, ex-wife of former New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey, said she can relate to the wife of Sen. Larry Craig. Matos McGreevey had to stand by when her ex-husband told the world he was “a gay American” and resigned from office. “I was watching his wife the other day standing next to him, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, that was me three years ago. Now here we go again,’” said Matos McGreevey. “She’s a victim of the choices he’s made.” Um, somebody tell Matos McGreevey that Sen. Craig denies being gay.

Essay 4407

Essay 4406

All right, everybody look at the camera and say, “Cheese!”

Essay 4405

From The New York Times…

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Colorado Police Link Rise in Violence to Music

By DAN FROSCH

COLORADO SPRINGS — The D.J. puts on the popular song “No Problem” by Lil Scrappy, and a sea of young men and women rush the dance floor.

As the party anthem bursts through the speakers and Lil Scrappy drawls, “But you don’t want no problem, problem,” the crowd swerves in a sweaty, liquor-soaked rhythm. The scene, heavy with the sweet smoke of cigarillos and exploding with hip-hop’s unmistakable pounding bass, could be almost anywhere: New York, Chicago, Memphis, Oakland, Calif.

The only sign that this is Colorado Springs is that two churches sit adjacent to the club, La Zona Roja, in an empty strip mall.

The club is part of a thriving hip-hop community that has grown as Colorado Springs, known for its military installations and evangelical groups, has grown. But not everyone is happy that hip-hop has taken root here.

After a spate of shootings, and with a rising murder rate, the police here are saying gangsta rap is contributing to the violence, luring gang members and criminal activity to nightclubs. The police publicly condemned the music in a news release after a killing in July and are warning nightclub owners that their places might not be safe if they play gangsta rap.

“We don’t want to broad-brush hip-hop music altogether,” said Lt. Skip Arms, a police spokesman, “but we’re looking at a subcomponent that typically glorifies, promotes criminal behavior and demeans women.”

The actions of the police have angered the hip-hop community here, mostly blacks and Latinos, many of whom live in this city because of ties to the Army and Air Force bases here.

“If we were talking about a rock bar or a country bar here, none of this would be happening,” said James Baldrick, who runs a local hip-hop promotions company, Dirty Limelight.

“This city wants to shut down hip-hop,” said Mike Cross, 26, who was outside Eden Nite Club, a popular downtown venue that plays hip-hop, with a group of friends on a recent night. “They don’t want it to survive.”

Calling the police’s approach ignorant, a group of club promoters and rappers in Colorado Springs organized a night of hip-hop performances and music at La Zona Roja last month, seeking to prove that such events could occur without incident.

“When two cowboys got into an argument at a saloon, went outside and had a draw, nobody blamed the music that was playing at the saloon,” said a local rapper known as B. Serious, who performed at the event.

But with 19 homicides already this year, compared with 15 in 2006, the police insist on a correlation between gangsta rap and violence, and point to three recent shootings.

[Click on the essay title above to read the full story.]

Essay 4404

From AdAge.com…

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Marketing His Book Is a Job to Die For
How Do You Get O.J.’s Tome to Sell? Simple -- Do Nothing at All

By Claude Brodesser-Akner

Is there any juice left in The Juice?

Recently, news broke that the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman would square off on Oprah Winfrey’s syndicated talk show to argue over whether a book that describes in vivid detail how O.J. Simpson might have slain the two victims should ever really see the light of day.

In agreeing to argue their case on the Supreme Sofa of Daytime Justice, the families seem to have agreed that the only opinion that matters on their case is the only opinion that ever really matters in the marketing of popular American literature: Oprah’s.

Fred Goldman is in the bizarre position of having to promote the book, titled “If I Did It,” of the man he believes murdered his son. How do you market that?

Sit back and relax
“You do nothing at all,” said Michael Viner, president-publisher of Phoenix Books, who ought to know.

Mr. Viner’s made a mint off the Hollywood scandal genre in general and O.J. in particular. He’s published Faye Resnick’s “Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted,” which sold about a million copies in book and audio form, as well as the unauthorized Anna Nicole Smith biography, “Trainwreck” (inopportunely delivered to him on the day she died, hurting sales), as well as the Heidi Fleiss call-girl memoir, “You’ll Never Make Love in This Town Again.”

Is doing nothing really a viable plan? In this case, yes, Mr. Viner said.

“You leave it to the press,” he said, adding, “It’s like blood in the water; the sharks will come. You spend nothing on it. You’re catering to the train-wreck crowd.”

Then again: “Having said all that, this is not a book that should be published,” said Mr. Viner. “It’s gross exploitation, and the Goldmans are soiling their public image.”

Predictably, Team Goldman believes otherwise.

Pragmatism
“This isn’t about the Goldmans making money off of O.J.,” said Sharlene Martin, head of Martin Literary Management and an agent to Mr. Goldman. “It’s about the Goldmans taking money from O.J. It’s the only asset they’ve been able to seize.”

How things came to be this way is truly a first in the history of publishing: The father of Ron Goldman, the man who was murdered alongside Nicole Brown Simpson, plans to publish the manuscript next month to collect on a so-far fruitless $33.5 million civil judgment awarded to the surviving families in the 1997 wrongful-death lawsuit against Mr. Simpson. Mr. Simpson had filed for bankruptcy to avoid paying Mr. Goldman and the family of Nicole Simpson.

In a stunning reversal, however, Mr. Goldman was awarded the right to sell the book by a bankruptcy-court judge after its initial publisher, HarperCollins, abandoned it after much public outcry, and the company that controlled its rights went bankrupt.

One Hollywood heavyweight literary agent sums up the paradox this way: “The whole story is such a disgusting, rotten, crummy enterprise. And yet, it’s also the main source of income for the judgment.”

No promotion from big retailers
Ms. Martin declined to speak to Ad Age about the specifics of the marketing plan for the book, as did its publisher, calling such talk “premature.” But clearly, both have their work cut out for them: While both Barnes & Noble and Borders will stock the book, neither will promote it in any way.

Ms. Martin is unfazed. Just two weeks ago, “If I Did It” didn’t even show up in Barnes & Noble’s website order counter, but by Aug. 29 it was ranked its 17th-best-selling book. She adds that its publisher, New York-based Beaufort Books, plans to recast the book as a confession, possibly by adding commentaries by key participants in the trial whom she declined to name.

Mr. Viner dismisses such spikes as entirely driven by the media, noting, “You can become the No. 1-selling book on Amazon.com just by selling 100 books in one day. Likely, most of those numbers are [driven] by members of the media.” (As of Aug. 29, it was No. 71 on Amazon.com.)

“And the one thing nobody’s mentioned is the quality of the writing,” said Mr. Viner, who's read the manuscript. “Because it makes no difference; it’s become immaterial to the discussion. That’s troubling, because it’s completely mediocre.”

Another top literary agent is even more succinct: “This isn’t literature,” he laughed. “It’s toe jam.”

Essay 4403

Flushing out the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Sen. Larry “Mr. Whipple” Craig officially resigned on Saturday over his toilet incident (see Essay 4399). “It is with sadness and deep regret that I announce it is my intent to resign from the Senate effective Sept. 30,” said Craig. “I apologize for what I have caused. I am deeply sorry. … I have little control over what people choose to believe, but clearing my name is important to me and my family.” He appears to have little control of his bathroom functions too.

• Recording artist Usher finally officially married Tameka Foster with a celebrity-filled ceremony at a posh resort near Atlanta. Despite a guest list including Oprah Winfrey, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey, the event drew far less media attention than Larry Craig.

Essay 4402

From USA Today…

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D.C.’s majority-black status slipping away

By Brian Westley, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Much has changed since Ben’s Chili Bowl opened nearly 50 years ago on a bustling strip known as America’s Black Broadway for its thriving black-owned shops and theaters.

Back then, the red-and-white diner was a popular hangout for black bankers, doctors and blue-collar workers who lived and worked along U Street. Even jazz greats Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald could be found devouring chili half-smokes and milkshakes after performing at nearby clubs.

Now, on some days, the crowd at the Washington landmark is mostly white, reflecting a neighborhood metamorphosis that has brought in high-end condominiums and businesses like Starbucks.

“Sometimes you look around and wonder, ‘Where are all the black people?’” said Virginia Ali, who opened the diner with her husband, Ben, in 1958.

A similar transformation is happening across Washington as the black population declines and more white residents and other ethnic groups move in. Demographers say if the trend continues the District of Columbia could lose its longtime majority-black status within 10 years. The changes are shaking up city politics, reshaping neighborhoods and displacing longtime residents.

Washington’s black population peaked at 71% in 1970 as tens of thousands of white residents left for the suburbs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But by 2006, the estimated number of black residents had fallen to 57%.

At the same time, the population of white residents, which plunged from 65% in 1950 to 27% 30 years later, is growing. By 2006, the census estimated that 38% of D.C. residents were white. The city’s Asian and Hispanic populations also are climbing.

Analysts attribute the shift to lower-income and middle-class black residents leaving for the suburbs while young white professionals and others able to afford expensive housing prices are moving in. The newcomers to D.C. are being lured by a robust economy, new condos and a chance to escape worsening highway congestion.

“The city today is occupied by a lot of singles and childless couples who have put incomes together,” said Robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. “I don’t think it’s a straight-on white gentrification — it’s more affluent as a whole.”

Washington isn’t the only city where neighborhoods have gentrified in recent years. But William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, said D.C. is one of the few places seeing such dramatic change. He expects the city will cease to be majority black by 2015.

[Click on the essay title above to read the full story.]

Essay 4401

There’s a new Just For Men® hair color commercial that blatantly dramatizes ageism in the workplace. Couldn’t find the spot online or via YouTube, but it goes like this:

An executive steps into an elevator and notices his graying hair reflected in the metallic walls. The elevator suddenly stalls and even drops, while the announcer voiceover asks if gray hair—and the way you look to others—is keeping you from moving ahead in business. After the graying man uses Just For Men® hair color, he’s confidently interacting on the job with coworkers who are clearly younger and appear to respect him. The tagline reads: Stay In The Game.

Can’t help but wonder about the creative team behind this bullshit. Are they Old Men, dealing with the bias prevalent on Madison Avenue? Or Young Turks using the opportunity to slam the agency Baby Boomers they despise? Either way, leave it to the advertising industry to prey on the paranoia associated with a growing form of discrimination. It’s an age-old tactic that’s pathetically outdated.

Essay 4400

Here’s an advertisement starring a Black man singing (a parody of an Elvis tune!) for the purple pill. Talk about dysfunctional.

Essay 4399

Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Sources indicate Sen. Larry Craig will resign today as a result of all the publicity surrounding his infamous airport restroom arrest (see Essay 4397). No word if the announcement will be made from a toilet stall—or if the senator plans to come out of the water closet.

• Former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, infamous for his improper prosecution of the Duke lacrosse team rape case, was sentenced to a day in jail for lying to a judge during his pursuit of charges. The punishment is largely symbolic, as Nifong could have been hit with up to a month behind bars. “If what I impose with regard to Mr. Nifong would make things better or different for what’s already happened, I don’t know what it would be or how I could do it,” said the sentencing judge. Um, place Nifong in a toilet stall next to Sen. Larry Craig?

Essay 4398

Growing tired of inane illustrations for diversity ads.