6925: Don’t Blame P&G For Shittier Mad Ave.

The story below appeared at Advertising Age. Scan it quickly and read the MultiCultClassics perspective immediately following…

P&G’s Production Move Makes Industry a Worse Place

Marketers Won’t Gain Efficiencies by Strangling Creativity

By Teressa Iezzi

So P&G is now going to choose with which production companies its agencies can work in the U.S. From a select group of production shops chosen by its roster of agencies, P&G will demand detailed financial information and discounted long-term production costs. The marketing giant is looking to reduce the number of production vendors it uses to 30 (from over 100) and set production rates for the next two years, at least. Production companies that agree to P&G’s terms will be given “preferred vendor” status but not guaranteed any work.

Sounds great. What happens now?

1. Production companies get squeezed, again. We can all agree that creativity can flourish under pressure, be it the temporal, financial or peer variety, and that a lot of great ideas have been executed for next to nothing. But production companies are consistently asked to do what is realistically big-budget-level work for not much beyond the reel/career boost the resultant campaign bestows on the director involved. Given that P&G so rarely backs reel-boosting work, participating production companies can’t count on banking even prestige.

2. Creativity suffers. The still-moist notion that it’s possible to do interesting things for huge, unglamorous marketers is put out of its misery. The best creatives do whatever they can to not work on P&G. Here’s the part where I sound naïve, thinking that every marketer wants to actually do what you would call “creative work.” Of course not all of them (perhaps not many of them) do. But this is a company that’s eagerly claimed the mantle of creative marketer, one that accepted marketer-of-the-year honors at Cannes, billed as the industry’s premier celebration of brand creativity. But creativity isn’t just about communications, it’s about process too. P&G might not be the best advertiser, but it has demonstrated innovation in certain areas (product design). Rethinking its production processes would have been a great opportunity to apply some creativity—as the Association of Independent Commercial Producers has suggested, perhaps tying production costs to guaranteed shoot days or payment terms. But the proposal doesn’t seem to encompass anything creative or anything that encourages creativity.

3. P&G creates the appearance of creating significant efficiencies.

4. P&G gains no such efficiencies. See No. 1. Production companies already do a lot of work for less than fair market value. As one agency producer puts it, “It doesn’t matter what the budget is; there’s always a way to find a way to do something. I don’t think these rates are going to be that great, or beyond what we could get on a given day. It won’t give them the results they want—and it’ll set up this tension in the industry about people wanting P&G rates.”

5. The best talent gets yet another reason to leave the industry. And the talent that might have, once upon a time, considered entering advertising gets another reason to look elsewhere for a creative career. In the wake of this country’s financial crisis, many are looking to a new, small-business-driven innovation boom. With Wall Street a little off its game, other fields stand to benefit from an influx of new brains. Precedents like this encourage those brains to bypass advertising and marketing, where, not only do you not own the great ideas you create, but where you’re now under orders as to with whom and on what basis you can collaborate. Buh-bye, innovators and creative geniuses.

6. Another of the final drops of joy left in the industry evaporates. We’re all painfully aware of the choices that most businesses have been forced to make in the last year. But here’s to P&G for making the industry just that little bit shittier just because it can.

Teressa Iezzi is the editor of Creativity magazine and Creativity-Online.com

Um, can’t help but think Teressa Iezzi typed this bullshit after having lunch with a whining BDA creative director—probably at a fancy New York restaurant.

There are lots of questions here. The first one being why the hell the editor believes she is qualified to pontificate on matters at all.

That aside, Iezzi should rest assured that P&G is not launching Armageddon on Madison Avenue. Indeed, the actions are likely a response to the advertising industry’s bloated and corrupt practices.

This is hardly a new initiative. Over the years, P&G has routinely introduced mandates designed to generate efficiencies. So has nearly every big advertiser.

Perhaps these measures would not be necessary if advertising agency dinosaurs didn’t consistently insist on hiring A-level directors for lame talking-head commercials—while staying at 5-star hotels and maxing per diems like corporate CEOs on crack.

Why the outrage, Ms. Iezzi? Let’s be honest. Advertising agencies are just as guilty when it comes to being in bed with “preferred vendors,” accepting favored rates, gifts and kickbacks in exchange for repeat assignments.

Additionally, P&G is not very revolutionary. That is, the “preferred vendors” list will almost certainly be comprised of production houses that have already successfully serviced the mega-client. In other words, the advertising agencies’ pet production pals will not be eliminated from the festivities. However, they may unable to continue spoiling agency peeps with gourmet dinners, theater tickets and other pampering excursions.

Not surprisingly, completely ignored in Iezzi’s rant are any references to minority advertising agencies—maybe because the esteemed editor of Creativity magazine and Creativity-Online.com has never visited non-White shops…?

Otherwise, Iezzi might know that P&G and nearly every other major advertiser has issued orders like these to minority shops for generations.

Minority shops are expected (i.e., forced) to use minority production houses and vendors, mostly in order to satisfy the advertisers’ minority supplier goals versus choosing the best person for the job. Or the minorities are required to tag onto White agencies’ productions, where they inevitably assume a literal minority status.

Minority shops are expected to execute their concepts for significantly less money than White agencies, which translates to reduced resources and results. If White agencies were asked to perform under similar conditions, the majority of them would go out of business.

Minority shops are expected to serve as “consultants” to White agencies, reviewing White agencies’ concepts for projects that should rightly belong to minority shops. P&G is a prime culprit for this nonsense.

Minority shops are expected to deliver in ways that make White agencies’ potentially joyless existence feel like paradise.

The difference is, minority shops don’t have the luxury of recruiting reporters to air their childish grievances.

The Ad Age editor ends by declaring, “But here’s to P&G for making the industry just that little bit shittier just because it can.”

Ms. Iezzi, take a closer look at the Mad Men you’re sleeping with. Their hands are covered with the feces contributing to the industry’s shittiness.

6924: New Low Standards In Journalism.

This actual craigslist ad seeks writers to provide art criticism for Newcity, a Chicago free weekly newspaper. The extraordinarily lengthy classified warrants the following artistic critique:

You guys are cheap bastards. Kinda sleazy too.

Newcity proclaims, “From the beginning, we’ve been a publication with a special appreciation for, and relationship with, writers and artists.” Yet you’re offering up to $25 for a review—and you bury the admission that payment can be expected within a year of publication.

Hope you find a few starving art critics.

Write art criticism for Newcity
Reply to: gigs-39dyq-1266543004@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-07-12, 5:30PM CDT

Chicago's Newcity magazine is looking for contributors to its art section. We publish weekly exhibition reviews on shows at museums, galleries, and alternative spaces, and profiles on local artists, curators, dealers, and art world luminaries. Contributors will be invited to submit pitches for all Chicago area scenes and all artistic media, and an assignment list will also be distributed. Knowledge of Chicago's artistic climate is helpful, and a willingness to attend art shows outside of your comfort zone is required.

Expect to write 1 pithy and concise review weekly (250-300 words, $10), and 1 profile (350-400 words, $25) every 1-2 months. Other opportunities to write feature-length articles and blurbs in special issues could become available.

Newcity's art section covers more ground than any other publication in Chicago. Your reviews and articles will be published online (http://art.newcity.com/) and in print.

To apply, send a writing sample and resume.

More information about Newcity:

From the beginning, we’ve been a publication with a special appreciation for, and relationship with, writers and artists. The list of Newcity contributors and alumni who’ve influenced and shaped American culture, with words, with images or both, is lengthy and one we’re proud of and constantly seeking to extend. Twenty-plus years in, we’ve evolved into an enterprise equally at home online and in print, but our core values remain unchanged: We believe that what we create, through the combined words and images of our individual contributors, is not only a chronicler and critic of the arts, but has the potential to be a work of art in itself, and to that end we constantly strive. We’re the last of our kind in Chicago still locally owned, and we take that unique role as a responsibility to be the absolutely very best that our city has to offer.

We want scoops, but we don’t want them written in the style of a daily newspaper or a lifestyle web site that breathlessly regurgitates PR copy. We want voice, criticism and perspective, but we don’t want opinion. While we prefer articles about things no one else has addressed, we also look for stories about things everyone else has covered, as long as we get it in a singular style or from an unconventional perspective. When others use a microscope, we prefer a telescope; and vice versa.

Assignments: New contributors to Newcity rarely work “on assignment,” meaning that we are neither committed to publish nor pay a kill fee even if we respond with interest to your query or manuscript.

Editing philosophy: We consider Newcity a writer’s publication. Please do not hesitate to raise questions or concerns with any member of our editorial staff.

Payment: The “new economy” has not been nice to us, or to our ability to pay creators. Contributors to our web sites are currently doing so on a volunteer basis in nearly all cases. This is not our preferred state of affairs, and as the economics of our world improves, we will look for ways to change. We still pay for stories we run in print, albeit modestly and at a time lag that is equally absurd, about a year after publication currently.

6923: Legally Insured Blond.

So easy a dumb blond can do it.

6922: The NAACP Centennial.

From The New York Daily News…

President Obama, new NAACP president Benjamin Jealous star at centennial

A hearty Big Apple welcome to visiting delegates of the nation’s best-known civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which today kicks off an annual convention marking the group's 100th anniversary.

The celebration is a homecoming for a group that first convened in Manhattan, as well as a relaunch under the leadership of new President Benjamin Todd Jealous, a 35-year-old Rhodes scholar who fairly crackled with energy and ideas in a meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board.

It was from a headquarters here that the NAACP waged audacious legal and political battles that hastened the demise of formal racial segregation. During the darkest days of struggle, the group would hang a grim flag outside its Fifth Ave. offices after every lynch-mob murder.

Hardly could the activists of yore have imagined that their successors would be addressed by a black President, as will happen when Barack Obama appears at the conclusion of the festivities.

Today, the NAACP’s appeals to the nation’s conscience about the state of black America are more nuanced because the starkest injustices have given way to subtler issues of race and complex issues of poverty.

As the country’s social fabric has improved, bringing greater opportunity and better lives to many, the NAACP has struggled to define its mission. It also has suffered scandals and management shakeups.

Now, Jealous is shaping an agenda that, he hopes, will address the persistent ills that afflict too many blacks — in the process, serving also to lift the fortunes of others in poverty.

He plans to marry traditional protests and lawsuits with modern political tactics, using online social networks and a new cell-phone based rapid-response system to accomplish what his predecessors did via door-to-door canvassing. More importantly, he recognizes that many social problems have less to do with race than with economic inequality.

We wish him success in reestablishing the NAACP as a powerful voice for fairness and an advocate for those most in need of help in a nation that can always use more of both.

6921: Bill Clinton, Frat Boy.

From FOX News…

Black Fraternity Inducts Bill Clinton as Honorary Member

National fraternity Phi Beta Sigma welcomed Bill Clinton as an honorary member Friday, making him the first and only U.S. president to be inducted into a historically black fraternity.

From AP

NEW ORLEANS -- A historically black fraternity has voted to induct former President Bill Clinton as an honorary member.

Phi Beta Sigma President Paul Griffin Jr. said Friday that Clinton is the first U.S. president to be inducted into a historically black fraternity.

The fraternity voted Tuesday for Clinton's induction at its 95th Anniversary Conclave in New Orleans, La.

Stevie Wonder, Al Roker, the Rev. Al Sharpton and jazz musician Ramsey Lewis are also honorary members of Phi Beta Sigma.

The fraternity was founded in 1914 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. It has more than 150,000 alumni and college members in about 500 chapters throughout the U.S., Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

6920: Offending The Masses.

Insensitivity training in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) declared Sacha Baron Cohen’s new Bruno movie perpetuates negative stereotypes and “decreases the public’s comfort with gay people.” Universal Pictures insists the flick is a satire that “uses provocative comedy to powerfully shed light on the absurdity of many kinds of intolerance and ignorance, including homophobia.” Omnicom sees absolutely nothing wrong with the movie.

• Burger King made news a few times in the past days. An ad that ran in Spain featuring a Hindu goddess sitting upon a burger managed to offend Hindus. Then Burger King officials sought to persuade U.S. franchisees to adopt a value menu item by promising to tone down the advertising. Recent research showed the fast feeder’s cutting-edge campaigns haven’t translated to increased sales, but that doesn’t seem to dissuade them from pushing the envelope. Expect to see a Bruno Burger soon.

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi nixed a proposal for Congress to vote on honoring the late Michael Jackson. “What I have said to my colleagues over the years … is that there is opportunity on the floor of the House to express their sympathy or their praise any time that they wish,” said Pelosi. “A resolution, I think, would open up to contrary views that are not necessary at this time.” The response is not surprising, as the government also never considered offering Jacko much-needed bailout money.

6919: GEICO Gecko’s No Gringo.

Wonder if the Gecko raps when targeting Black consumers.

6918: Digging Through History.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

Exclusive: Emmett Till’s casket left to waste at Burr Oak

Cemetery debacle grows worse with discovery of coffin of civil rights icon

By Mary Mitchell, Sun-Times Columnist

Broken. Rusted. Battered. The image of a glass-covered casket with the body of Emmett Till was shown around the world in the 1950s. But on Thursday, as hundreds of African Americans searched frantically for the graves of love ones, the battered casket of Till was rusting in the back of a shack at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.

The casket was surrounded by garbage and discarded headstones strewn about like litter.

“When we opened it up trying to find what we have, a family of possums ran out,” said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.

Cemetery workers had been cooperative and informed law enforcement officials that it was indeed Till’s original casket.

“It sure looks like all of the photos I have ever seen,” Dart said. “This is absolutely horrible.”

In June 2005, Till’s body was exhumed during an investigation of his death. As is customary, he was not reburied in the same casket.

The original casket was supposed to be part of a planned memorial for Till at Burr Oak Cemetery, but the donations for that memorial were allegedly pocketed by a woman who has been charged in this ghoulish scheme.

Till, 14, was kidnapped and murdered after he whistled at a white woman in 1955 in Mississippi. The lynching of the Chicago youth helped spark the civil rights movement. A picture of his severely mutilated face was shown around the world.

His original casket is symbolic of the condition of the battered condition of the cemetery.

Officers raided the cemetery at 4400 W. 127th St. in Alsip on Wednesday morning.

Four people, including Carolyn Towns—the woman who was supposed to set up the Till memorial—were charged with one count of dismemberment of a human body.

The other charged employees were Keith Nicks, 45; Terrence Nicks, 39, and Maurice Dailey, 59.

Throughout the day, Cook County sheriff’s deputies ferried anxious family members to grave sites in buses ordinarily used to take inmates to Cook County Jail.

The landscape in some sections of the cemetery was dotted with orange utility flags that some people mistakenly thought indicated desecrated graves.

But beyond the grassy areas at Burr Oak, hidden by a wall of high weeds and buried under mounds of dirt, is the nightmare that all of these African Americans were praying they were spared.

The Cook County sheriff’s office now estimates that about 300 bodies were dumped in the rear of Burr Oak, in an area that is about the size of three football fields.

Knowing what was out there was a heavy burden etched in the faces of the people who were waiting for answers.

Carolyn Singleton of Chicago sat in a folding chair outside of the cemetery’s office building, where people were lined up seeking information about plot locations.

She had arrived at Burr Oak at 11 a.m. It was about 3 p.m., and she was still clutching No. 379.

Singleton told me she was looking for the grave sites of seven family members: her grandmother, two aunts, two uncles, a cousin, and her fiance’s mother.

“This is like having a funeral all over again,” she said. “My fiance’s family is calling from out of town trying to get information. All this is giving me a headache.”

I have to give Dart credit for the way he has handled this unprecedented catastrophe.
Although the cemetery’s owners said they would attend a news conference at the cemetery, they failed to show. With most of the employees under arrest, the Cook County Sheriff ‘s Department is essentially running the cemetery.

Sheriff’s deputies drove worried families back and forth to sections of the cemetery to look for plots.

Armed detectives took information from distraught people who either could not find their loved one’s grave site or discovered something was amiss.

Other employees with the Cook County sheriff’s office passed out cold bottled water and even emptied garbage containers.

Although the process for locating plots was indeed slow, people were unbelievably patient, and sheriff’s deputies were sensitive.

The Rev. Steve Jones, a chaplain for the sheriff’s office and president of the Baptist Pastors Conference, was one of the people driving distressed survivors to grave sites.

Jones was thankful that Dart advised the clergy about the disaster before going public. He believes that decision helped bring an element of dignity to a situation that could have been chaotic.

“It wouldn’t have been fair to exclude funeral homes or fair to pastors, not to be prepared for a catastrophe of this magnitude,” Jones said.

“The fact is every black person in Chicago has a tie to this cemetery. When they took us to the crime scene, I walked over bones,” he said.

“This whole thing makes the bereavement experience fresh. To even think your loved one’s remains might not be in place… it really breaks my heart.”

6917: Ebony And Ivory Funerals.

From The Chicago Tribune…

The black funeral of Michael Jackson

Though he may have transcended or “escaped” blackness in life, Michael Jackson was rendered fully black in death. And that says much more about us than about him.

By Melissa Harris-Lacewell

Funerals tell us more about the living than the dead. It’s why anthropologists often begin with rituals of death as an entry point for understanding societies and cultures.

I remember watching the funeral of Princess Diana. It was a perfectly British event: the poignant, silent march of her children, the bells tolling at Westminster Abbey, the red coat pallbearers. But I remember being taken aback as the car carrying Princess Diana’s casket drove through the streets of London. I was surprised because at that moment the mourners began to applaud.

They’d stood for hours lining the streets and as the casket passed they needed to grieve collectively and publicly. Stiff-upper-lip British culture does not have a mechanism for such public grieving. There is no piercing death wail, no garment rending, no ceremonial dance. So, instead, the British applauded. That applause revealed the missing place in English life for public mourning.

The death and remembrance of Michael Jackson has been an interesting window into American culture, its relentless cable news cycle, and the overwhelming but false sense of intimacy our celebrity culture engenders. But for me it was the peek into African-American culture that was most intriguing.

Within a week of Jackson’s death I watched the avatars on my Twitter feed turn from Iran-solidarity green to iconic photographs of Michael Jackson. But the photos were exclusively of “black” Michael Jackson: some from his childhood, some from the “Off The Wall” era, and many from the “Thriller” era. Few of my African-American tweeps were visually remembering the Michael Jackson of the past decade with diminished features and whitened skin.

Memorializing Jackson included selective collective memory that allowed African-Americans to see him as belonging especially, if not exclusively, to black folks.

Some African-Americans were incensed by the misogynist, racially stereotypical BET Awards that gave the first public tribute to Jackson. Many have been critical of BET as a cable network for more than a decade, and the tribute to Jackson renewed those criticisms. The contrast of Michael Jackson with Soulja Boy felt particularly stark, regressive and embarrassing.

Memorializing Michael Jackson renewed critical conversation about the direction of black music.

Jackson’s passing inspired memorials that reflected local cultures. My favorite was the “second line” in New Orleans, those who follow the brass band just to enjoy the music. But it was the massive funeral in Los Angeles on Tuesday that was most revealing. Jackson was an international music icon and his memorial was covered on mainstream media. But it was black tradition most fully on display Tuesday.

African-American death rituals have long been celebratory as well as mournful. As a marginal people whose collective identity is rooted in struggle, death is celebrated as a release from pain, inequality and torment. As a deeply religious people, death is celebrated as an opportunity for reunion with God. As a people who were often denied dignity in life, the dignity of a proper “home-going” is a critically important sign of respect. Along with these celebratory aspects of funerals, death rituals among African-Americans are marked by loud, deep displays of emotion and public grieving that mark the sense of loss experienced by the whole community.

All of these aspects of black life were on display Tuesday. And it tells us more about us than about Michael Jackson. Jackson’s radical surgical choices largely eliminated his black phenotype. Jackson’s romantic choices did not include black women. His wealth and eccentricities set him apart from most black people. In the final years of his life, his music was much more popular in European and Asian countries than among black American listeners. But in death, black folks embraced Jackson.

Memorializing Jackson reminds me that death still is a segregated business in America. Funeral homes still anchor black neighborhoods and are a central path of black entrepreneurship. Though he may have transcended or “escaped” blackness in life, Jackson was rendered fully black in death. And that says much more about us than about him.

Melissa Harris-Lacewell, an associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University, is completing her latest book, “Sister Citizen: A Text for Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Politics When Being Strong Isn’t Enough.”

6916: Picture Imperfect.

Developing news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Ritz Camera warned of possible liquidation, saying it does not have enough cash to survive the summer. You mean those commercials with honcho David Ritz and Carmen Electra didn’t ignite sales?

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that over 26 percent of Americans are obese. Somewhere, Ronald McDonald is proclaiming, “Mission Accomplished.”

• J.C. Penney same-store sales for June fell 8.2 percent. Target same-store sales for June fell 6.2 percent. Free sales-inducing ideas: Stock more plus-sized garments and execute promotional tie-ins with Mickey D’s.

• Turns out former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was busted for stalking his girlfriend, shortly after the two had a spat. Hey, if Barry joined Twitter, would women be upset to learn he was following them?

6915: Hasta La Vista, Univisión…?

From The Miami Herald…

Univisión struggles to overcome recession

By Meg James
Los Angeles Times Service

LOS ANGELES—When Spanish-language broadcasting giant Univisión Communications was sold for $13.7 billion three years ago, the highly leveraged deal was, in the words of one veteran banker, “priced for perfection.”

Given the $10 billion in debt the buyers were assuming, the slightest hiccup in the company’s financial performance would have a cascading negative effect.

The buyers, a consortium of investors including entertainment mogul Haim Saban, were counting on several factors to justify the steep purchase price: the nation’s exploding Hispanic population and the popularity of Spanish-language programming, coupled with the promise of robust advertising growth. They expected to hold the assets for a few years, then sell at a tidy profit.

But it’s not a perfect world.

In the two years since the buyout, the U.S. economy has collapsed, dragging down advertising to media companies. Adding to the economic distress, Univisión has been mired in a costly legal battle with its primary programming partner.

The big payday for Univisión’s owners, which include well-heeled private equity companies, seems far less certain. Instead of riding a high wave to easy profits, Univisión executives have been working furiously to dig the company out of its hole.

WROTE DOWN ASSETS
During the past year, the broadcaster has written down assets by $5.3 billion, and some industry insiders now believe the nation’s largest Spanish-language media company is worth closer to $9 billion—slightly less than what it owes.

In recent months, Univisión has been putting out fires on multiple fronts to shore up its finances and to protect its programming pipeline.

In January, it settled a nagging lawsuit brought by its longtime programming partner, Grupo Televisa of Mexico, which had threatened to strip Univisión of its most popular and profitable shows. The resolution guaranteed Univisión the right to broadcast Televisa’s hugely popular soap operas, including Cuidado con el Angel (Be Careful With the Angel), through 2017.

Two weeks ago, Univisión bought breathing room by refinancing $500 million in debt, pushing back the due date by three years to 2014. The extension means that Univisión no longer has to worry about burning through its cash within the next two years.

CABLE FEES
And during the past few months, Univisión achieved one of its highest priorities—getting cable and satellite TV operators to pay the company to carry its programming. The agreements with Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, AT&T and others should bring Univisión $175 million in 2009, and as much as $350 million annually by 2014.

The cable-subscriber fees help Univisión diversify its revenue and, for now, make up for the decline in ad revenue.

Univisión’s chief financial officer, Andrew Hobson, said the company’s actions during the past six months had put it on a stronger footing and should allow it to weather other economic storms.

“Our balance sheet is now bulletproof for even the most draconian scenarios,” Hobson said. “We don’t feel that we have covenant risks or liquidity risks for at least another five years.”

Still, credit-rating agencies worry that Univisión could default on loans that total $9.7 billion.

“This clears the runway a little bit for them, but we still have concerns about their liquidity and their ability to make their debt-amortization payments,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Michael Altberg, who acknowledged that Univisión had bolstered its position.

“Before their credit amendment, they didn’t have that much of a cushion.”

Barclays Capital debt analyst Andrew Finkelstein said Univisión executives did “exactly what they needed to do for now.”

INCREASING REVENUES
But Univisión’s challenge in the next few years, he said, will be to increase revenue—a difficult task during an economic recession.

Univisión’s predicament is not unusual for a company sold in a leveraged buyout at the top of the market.

In 2006, Univisión’s then-controlling shareholder, billionaire A. Jerrold Perenchio, orchestrated a bidding war for the company.

The Spanish-language broadcaster had been showing dramatic growth, along with the Hispanic population. Univisión’s upside seemed unlimited.

6914: Room For Change.

From The New York Times. Hey, maybe Madison Avenue executives should be forced to room—or at least share cubicles—with minorities.

Interracial Roommates Can Reduce Prejudice

By Tamar Lewin

As a freshman at Ohio State University, and the only black student on his floor, Sam Boakye was determined to get good grades — in part to make sure his white roommate had no basis for negative racial views.

“If you’re surrounded by whites, you have something to prove,” said Mr. Boakye, now a rising senior who was born in Ghana. “You’re pushed to do better, to challenge the stereotype that black people are not that smart.”

Several recent studies, at Ohio State and elsewhere, have found that having a roommate of a different race can reduce prejudice, diversify friendships and even boost black students’ academic performance. But, the research found, such relationships are more stressful and more likely to break up than same-race pairings.

As universities have grown more diverse, and interracial roommate assignments are more common, social scientists have looked to them as natural field experiments that can provide insights on race relations.

“From a scientific standpoint, when these roommates are paired, you have a natural experiment going on, in an area that’s very difficult to test empirically,” said Thomas E. Trail, a graduate student in psychology at Princeton University who has studied interracial roommates. “You couldn’t very well set up an experiment assigning people to spend several months living with someone of a different race.”

Russell H. Fazio, an Ohio State psychology professor who has studied interracial roommates there and at Indiana University, discovered an intriguing academic effect. In a study analyzing data on thousands of Ohio State freshmen who lived in dorms, he found that black freshmen who came to college with high standardized test scores earned better grades if they had a white roommate — even if the roommate’s test scores were low. The roommate’s race had no effect on the grades of white students or low-scoring black students. Perhaps, the study speculated, having a white roommate helps academically prepared black students adjust to a predominantly white university.

That same study found that randomly assigned interracial roommates at Ohio State broke up before the end of the quarter about twice as often as same-race roommates.

Because interracial roommate relationships are often problematic, Dr. Fazio said, many students would like to move out, but university housing policies may make it hard to leave.

“At Indiana University, where housing was not so tight, more interracial roommates split up,” he said. “Here at Ohio State, where there was a housing crunch, they were told to work it out. The most interesting thing we found was that if the relationship managed to continue for just 10 weeks, we could see an improvement in racial attitudes.”

Read the full story here.

6913: Game Over.

This ad is a fusion of lousy copywriting and bad art direction.

6912: Slice Of Life.

Safe to say the Creative Minds comprising this survey were not exclusively advertising people. Otherwise, the yes slice would be considerably thinner.

6911: ¡Ay Carcrashamba!

This ad is about as subtle as a head-on collision.

6910: Mookie Today.

The New York Daily News commemorates the 20th anniversary of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing with a series of photos showing the stars then and now.

6909: The Minority Money Game.

From USA TODAY…

For many minorities, saving isn’t so easy

By Sandra Block and Laura Petrecca, USA TODAY

Many Americans fear they’ll outlive their savings, but African Americans and Hispanics face an even greater risk of spending the end of their lives in poverty.

Members of those two groups are less likely than white and Asian workers to participate in their employers’ 401(k) plans, and when they do contribute, they save less, according to a study scheduled for release today by Ariel Education Initiative and Hewitt Associates.

African Americans and Hispanics also are much more likely to take money out of their 401(k) plans for emergencies, which could further stunt long-term savings growth. And they are less likely to invest in stocks in favor of low-risk investments and real estate, increasing the risk that their savings won’t keep pace with inflation, retirement specialists say.

The survey, which analyzed data from nearly 3 million employees at the end of 2007, found significant differences in retirement savings even among higher-income employees. White workers who made $120,000 or more had an average balance of $223,408 in their 401(k) plans, vs. $154,902 for African Americans in the same salary range.

Monica Flamand, 33, a fraud analyst in Chicago who is Hispanic, has a 401(k) plan through her job but has saved only about $6,000 in five years. Her husband doesn’t have a 401(k) plan, she says. She worries that Social Security won’t be there for her when she retires.

“We don’t save,” she says. “We should. We could, if we really wanted to, save at least 3% of our paycheck, which is probably what we should talk about doing.”

Last year’s bear market wiped out 27% of the typical worker’s 401(k) plan, according to Fidelity Investments, forcing millions of Americans to save more, delay retirement or both. Many Americans have increased their savings rate in recent months, even as many employers have reduced or eliminated matches to 401(k) plans. But the Ariel/Hewitt study indicates that African Americans and Hispanics will have to save at a significantly faster pace than others to have a chance at a comfortable retirement.

Read the full story here.

6908: Comfort Inn’s Uncomfortable Gestures.

What’s with all the staged hand gestures?

6907: Legally And Morally Bankrupt.

Hating Mondays with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• General Motors was granted permission by a federal bankruptcy judge to sell the bulk of its assets to a new entity. Somebody better ask for a CARFAX® report.

• Rep. Peter King of New York declared the late Michael Jackson was a “pervert” and wondered why Americans are “glorifying” a “low-life” while ignoring real heroes like firefighters, cops and teachers. Ex-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer will probably step in to tell King to tone it down already.

• Colin Powell criticized his fellow Republicans for their attacks on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Powell believes Sotomayor should not be condemned for ruling against White firefighters in a reverse discrimination case. He added, “What we can’t continue to have is to have somebody like a Judge Sotomayor … called a racist.” Rush Limbaugh will likely respond by calling Powell a racist.

6906: MBA In Bullshit.

Build your brand online —with a Master’s Degree in Internet Marketing. The hype states, “The Internet Marketing Master’s Degree provides an in-depth exploration of Internet-specific marketing methodologies, Internet law, and interactive advertising design principles, as well as teaching the best ways to utilize social media networks and search engine optimization. Through it all, you’ll gain the necessary tools to create a viable marketing and strategic plan for selling products, developing and cultivating a brand, and for protecting a company’s reputation within the Internet community.”

Um, why is a college offering a Master’s Degree promising expertise in areas that the entire industry has not yet figured out?

6905: Multibingual.

Has anyone actually used Bing™ for anything?

The brand’s commercials are completely unintelligible. One would be hard-pressed to explain what the fuck Bing™ even is after viewing the spots. Ironically, the best way to find answers about Bing™ requires a Google™ search.

The recent PR surrounding Bing™ seems to confirm the problem. It’s as if the stories are forced on the media to generate fake hype. And tying to Twitter smacks of desperation.

Bing™ needs to do a search—for a new advertising agency. Of course, if Bing™ executives tried Bing™ to conduct the quest, they’d probably wind up with a bad decision like, say, Draftfcb.

Then Draftfcb would employ its cutting-edge—albeit culturally clueless—consumer insight expertise to appeal to diverse audiences. And the end result might include copy and imagery such as this:

6904: Bad Role-Playing & Bad Role Models.

Antisocial media and behavior in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• CNET News reported that social media entities like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are raking in serious loot with Mafia-inspired games. Seems folks just can’t get enough mobster role-playing, carrying out crimes including stealing and killing rivals. It’s amazing that Draftfcb has not emerged as a major player in the action.

• Former Washington Mayor Marion Barry was arrested and charged with stalking a woman. If only this guy would confine his criminal activities to online role-playing.

6903: Closing Notes On The Fourth Of July.

Perhaps society has grown so accustomed to things like Twitter and TMZ—with the instant delivery of news and short bursts of mindless content—that we fail to appreciate and savor the true historic moments.

On July 4, 2009, Serena and Venus Williams staged another groundbreaking event by dueling at Centre Court, with the younger sister picking up her third Wimbledon title.

And as Harry Webber pointed out, advertisers and media failed to recognize “the importance of celebrating the first Fourth of July since the birth of our nation—the very first—when we could tell our children, ‘Yes. You can grow up to be President.’ And know it to be true, deep down in your heart.”

6902: How Harlem Celebrates Independence Day.

From The New York Times…

Harlem Journal
The Good Old Red, White and Barbecue

By Christine Haughney

Limited space has long forced New Yorkers to celebrate Fourth of July rituals differently. As the rest of the country has backyard barbecues and pool parties, city dwellers cook lunches in tiny kitchens and carry them up to rooftops, or, if they can get a spot, they spread blankets in the parks.

In Harlem, Dorothy Davis celebrates with a front-stoop cookout.

Ms. Davis, 54, a full-time baby sitter with an encyclopedic knowledge of the comings and goings of her West 119th Street block, starts shopping weeks ahead for a communal feast. In a decade of yearly cookouts on the sidewalk in front of her building, Ms. Davis — known to neighbors as Dot or Auntie — has come to feed at least 50 relatives and neighbors.

“I don’t mind sharing my blessings,” she said, sitting in her living room near a tall stack of take-home containers. “I’m a people person.”

Part of the reason her cookout is so popular is her reputation for generous portions. Anthony Burrell, an Alvin Ailey dancer whose 3-year-old daughter, Sifare, is under Ms. Davis’s care, described the dinners she cooks for him on Friday nights.

“You could feed the whole block off one plate,” he said, recalling fried white fish, rice, collard greens and macaroni and cheese.

For her family, Ms. Davis’s efforts have made the Fourth of July into one of the biggest holidays her family celebrates, but the observance has taken on added significance since her Aunt Lillian, who loved the holiday, died two years ago.

This year, about 30 relatives drove in from Texas, Virginia, Rhode Island and South Carolina. Weeks in advance, Ms. Davis invited her building superintendent, a neighboring landlord and retired police officers from the local precinct.

“The neighbors come; she doesn’t have to invite them,” said one of her aunts, Lena Perryman, who stops by the cookout each year, even though she dislikes crowds. “She doesn’t turn anybody away.”

Ms. Davis, who says she has been cooking since she was 10, usually prepares collard greens, green beans, barbecue chicken, potato and macaroni salads. (She did not have time to bake this year, but she hinted that there might be a Costco cake for an uncle whose birthday is coming up.)

In an effort to cut costs, she is serving lemonade instead of cans of soda — though at some point, Ms. Davis may retreat to her apartment for her favorite Cognac.

The way Ms. Davis sees it, food is not just a source of sustenance. When guests are well fed, she said, there is “no fussing.”

“Usually at a cookout, there’s somebody who wants to fight,” she said. “We never had no arguments.”

In the weeks leading up to the cookout, Ms. Davis tries to squeeze in shopping around baby-sitting for eight children. Last weekend, she headed to two Western Beef stores in the Bronx to buy $400 of ribs, chicken and hamburgers, which she stored in a deep freezer in a bedroom. By Monday, she had already decided to set up the grill in a vacant lot next to her building. She was still sorting out what kind of pork to use in the collard greens.

On Thursday, she headed back to Western Beef to pick up hamburgers. As she shucked corn and soaked chicken, her sister Deborah picked up plates, and her daughter, Dequasha, headed to a party shop to make a deposit for 30 balloons.

By Friday, her entire family had started to pitch in with last-minute shopping and preparations. A goddaughter, Denise, was expected to arrive from Providence, R.I., to make the fruit salad. Aunts, brothers, daughters and nieces helped with peeling potatoes, spicing chicken and preparing ribs.

Her friend Tina is bringing a macaroni salad. One aunt who does not like to cook will bring a tossed salad. Setup is to begin as early as 6:30 on Saturday.

By late afternoon, her brother Marshall will start to grill. She will seat her relatives and neighbors on a half-dozen tables set up on the sidewalk. As the aroma of grilled chicken and ribs wafts down 119th Street, neighbors will start to appear.

In the end, she makes sure that no leftovers come home with her. One year she cooked so much, she had to hand out trays of food to relatives, neighbors — even strangers — to get rid of it all. While she estimates the cookout will cost $600, she does not keep track. Her concern is that people leave well fed.

“I spend, and I cry the next day when I’m broke,” she jokes. “It’s always better to have enough than not enough.”

6901: How Slaves “Celebrated” Independence Day.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

Slaves denied even the chance to celebrate Fourth of July

By Anne Pastore

In America today, both black and white citizens gather to celebrate the Fourth of July, but that has not always been the case. Blacks in the antebellum North were sometimes pressured to stay away from celebrations, while in the South no one thought to include them. In his book Celebrating the Fourth: Independence Day and the Rites of Nationalism in the Early Republic, Len Travers reports that in the overwhelmingly black South “no one was about to allow crowds of blacks to march anywhere.”

In the plantation country surrounding Charleston, S.C., in 1800, for example, the African-American population was 84 percent. As a minority, the whites never allowed slaves to celebrate the Fourth of July, Travers says, and they themselves “celebrated, as it were, while glancing over their shoulders. White Charlestonians could never quite dispel their fears of what their enslaved servants might do while their masters celebrated liberty.”

They had reason to be wary. Charleston suffered a devastating bout of fires, often at the homes of slaveholders, not a few of which occurred while the owners were out observing the Fourth. As fears spread, laws were passed forbidding gatherings of more than seven blacks. The use of fireworks, cigars and anything capable of starting a fire was outlawed.

Edward Hooker, a white visitor to South Carolina, found the Fourth of July experience unsettling: “The tables were served by negro slaves under the superintendence of the managers. What an incongruity! An Independence dinner for freedmen and slaves to wait on them. I couldn’t keep the thought out my mind, the whole time I was there feasting.” This “incongruity,” however, was not apparent to the party-goers, or to most white southerners.

As Travers writes, “Independence Day was for Americans only, and as far as white Charlestonians were concerned, blacks simply did not qualify.”

In northern cities, blacks were allowed to gather on the Fourth, Travers says, but when a hostile group of black youths took to the streets of Philadelphia on that day in 1804, whites retaliated the next year by forcing them out of the town square.

In his book Forging Freedom: The Formation of Philadelphia’s Black Community, 1720-1840, Gary B. Nash says that in the years following this incident the exclusion of blacks from Independence Day celebrations became customary. “Black citizens could enter the public space in front of Independence Hall only at their peril.”

As a result of their exclusion from Independence Day celebrations, African Americans in the North began to create their own holidays. In The Roots of African-American Identity: Memory and History in Antebellum Free Communities, Elizabeth Rauh Bethel says one of the first opportunities for a celebration came on Jan. 1, 1808, when the United States formally abolished the slave trade. This was also the day in 1804 when Toussaint L’Ouverture declared Haitian Independence, a date that would be commemorated by American blacks well into the 1820s.

On March 5, 1858—one year to the day after the Dred Scott decision—Boston’s African-American community began the Commemorative Festival, which marked the anniversary of the death of Crispus Attucks in the Boston Massacre as well as the Supreme Court ruling.

In the years before the Civil War, African Americans’ attitudes toward Independence Day were perhaps best expressed by Frederick Douglass in his 1852 speech named after its most famous line, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

Douglass asked the crowd why they had invited him, a black man, to speak on this occasion celebrating freedom in a country where his people were not free.

“Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us,” he said. “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”

Anne Pastore is a writer for History News Network.

6900: Nielsen Rerun.

Nielsen is getting lots of play out of a single lame layout. Insert minorities here.

6899: Freemasonry At Last!

From The New York Times…

Black Member Tests Message of Masons in Georgia Lodges

By Shaila Dewan and Robbie Brown

ATLANTA — The members of the Gate City Lodge No. 2 would like it known that Freemasonry, a centuries-old fraternal organization founded on the principles of the Enlightenment, is not racist.

But some of their fellow Masons here in Georgia are spoiling the message.

In June, the Worshipful Master, or leader, of the Gate City Lodge was served with complaints from two other lodges, whose Worshipful Masters were upset that Gate City had admitted a “nonwhite man” to its ranks.

Although the rules of Freemasonry do not say that members must be white, and there are numerous Hispanics, Asians and other ethnicities represented in lodges across the state, the Grand Master of Georgia decreed that the complaints would be heard in a Masonic trial that could have resulted in expulsion of a lodge or members of it. In response, Gate City (the name is an old nickname for Atlanta) filed a lawsuit in state court seeking an injunction to prevent its charter from being revoked.

The “nonwhite man” whose presence had caused such a fuss is Victor Marshall, a shy, 26-year-old African-American Army reservist who has been eagerly studying the secret catechisms of the Masons for almost a year. Mr. Marshall, who has the Army rank of specialist, said he was attracted to the Masons because of the group’s spirit of volunteerism.

“I’ve been interested in the Freemasons for a very long time,” he said in an interview. “It took me a while to find my place and get up the courage to try and join.”

Mr. Marshall investigated historically black Masonic lodges, which are part of an entirely separate organization known as Prince Hall Masonry, but said he felt most at home at the Gate City Lodge, a predominantly white Masonic group where officers attend in tuxedos and regular members wear suits and ties. Recent Gate City programs have included talks by Hindu priests, a Mozart recital (the composer was a Mason) and a visit from an Auschwitz survivor.

After petitioning to join, Mr. Marshall moved up through the ranks, becoming a Master Mason, giving him the right to visit other lodges.

Mr. Marshall was actually the second black member of Gate City, said David Llewellyn, a member and lawyer who is representing the lodge. But he was the first to attract notice, when he and Masons from across the state attended the 275th anniversary of a lodge in Savannah.

“There were ill-informed brethren who were surprised that there was an African-American brother,” Mr. Llewellyn said, “and some of them were very upset.”

Read the full story here.

6898: Horny On The Fourth Of July.

Celebrate Independence Day with a new dependent, sugar daddies.

6897: Classic Bullshit From Coke…?

An anonymous comment left at the post on Coca-Cola Assistant VP of African-American Marketing Yolanda White inspired this follow-up perspective. The comment included declaring, “Ms. White is Black and even she is culturally clueless.”

It’s not fair to presume Ms. White is culturally clueless, and it’s quite probable that she isn’t. MultiCultClassics’ original remarks were never intended to question Ms. White’s cultural credentials.

At the same time, Ms. White did make a lot of bizarre statements. She said, “Three years ago, we began to see new evidence of growing population, growing buying and growing power in income. We also saw significant [interest] in emerging categories, which made this consumer segment that much more viable for us as a company. So we really began to rebuild our strategic focus and realign our organizational capabilities to go after this consumer more holistically.”

For how many fucking decades must research be presented to prove the Black consumer market has money and is a viable audience? Surely Ms. White isn’t implying the segment mysteriously vanished for a few years, suddenly becoming poor and unworthy of Coke’s interest.

Additionally, every “insight” Ms. White presented on Black consumers was originally delivered to Coke by advertising agencies like Burrell and FUSE—as long ago as the 1970s.

The revelation that “a plethora of other agencies” handles Black-targeted assignments is particularly disturbing.

First, it continues the corporate crimes of allowing White agencies to win minority billings while non-White agencies are never permitted to even pitch for mass market spoils.

Second, it contributes to the perpetuation of exclusivity and discrimination in the industry. The White agencies admit they are doing a lousy job of embracing diversity. As previously mentioned, the head of Coke’s lead agency—Dan Wieden of Wieden + Kennedy—proclaimed things are “fucked up.” The Coca-Cola Company officially brags about its commitment to supplier diversity. Yet it awards work to agencies that appear adverse to diversity, while its minority shops must beg for scraps. This deliberate bullshit is driving minority shops out of business, further compounding the global problem.

MultiCultClassics hopes Ms. White’s answers were rooted in supporting and promoting the Black consumer market—as well as representing her bosses. Again, it’s not fair to call the woman culturally clueless. But if Ms. White really believes her own words, one has to wonder if she’s just plain clueless.

6896: Rising Rates And Weights.

Examining the figures in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Bosses cut 467,000 jobs in June, raising the unemployment rate to 9.5 percent. Does that figure include all the celebrities that have dropped dead in recent weeks?

• Mickey D’s is stimulating the economy with it new Angus Burger, debuting nationwide today. “Customers are looking for great tasting burgers at a value that only McDonald’s can offer,” said a McDonald’s spokeswoman. “These premium burgers are a tremendous value compared to similar fast-casual and midscale offers.” Fast-casual? Are there fast-formal restaurants out there?

• Obesity rates are rising like unemployment, with 23 states reporting citizens are heavier now versus last year. Two-thirds of U.S. adults are obese or overweight. And probably thrilled to hear about Mickey D’s new Angus Burger.

6895: Fayette Pinkney (1948-2009).

From The New York Times…

Fayette Pinkney, Soulful Singer With the Three Degrees, Dies at 61

By William Grimes

Fayette Pinkney, an original member of the Three Degrees who lent her strong, soulful voice to the 1970s hits “When Will I See You Again?” and “T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia),” the theme song of the television show “Soul Train,” died Saturday in Lansdale, Pa. She was 61.

The death was confirmed by Abington Health Lansdale Hospital. The cause was acute respiratory failure, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The Three Degrees formed in the early 1960s when Ms. Pinkney, who was still going to Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, joined with Shirley Porter and Linda Turner under the management of Richard Barrett, the record producer behind the Chantels and Little Anthony and the Imperials.

For more than a decade, Ms. Pinkney was the one constant in a group whose members came and went. She sang on the group’s first single, “Gee Baby (I’m Sorry),” on its 1970 hit “Maybe” and on the hits for Philadelphia International Records in the 1970s that helped the define the Philadelphia sound.

In a statement, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, the label’s founders, called the Three Degrees “our Philly sound version of Motown’s Supremes, but bigger and stronger and melodic.”

The group’s first two singles for Philadelphia International, “Dirty Ol’ Man” and “I Didn’t Know,” were modest successes, but “T.S.O.P.,” a mostly instrumental piece featuring the studio band MFSB, reached No. 1 on both the R&B and pop charts in 1974. “When Will I See You Again?,” which sold more than two million records, reached No. 2 on the pop charts that year.

Their close-harmony singing made the Three Degrees a popular nightclub act. The group performed with Engelbert Humperdinck at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas; a performance at the Copacabana in Manhattan ended up in the 1975 film “The French Connection.”

After leaving the Three Degrees and recording a solo album, “One Degree,” in 1979, Ms. Pinkney studied psychology at Temple University and earned a master’s in human services at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1985. She began working as an administrative assistant for the Medical College of Pennsylvania and rose to become an education coordinator there. She later counseled incoming patients at United Behavioral Health in Philadelphia.

She is survived by a brother, Nathaniel.

Ms. Pinkney continued to sing. “I travel with a unique group called the Intermezzo Choir Ministry,” she told the Web site thethreedegrees.com. “Yes, I do still love people and I love to make them smile.”

6894: White Talk.

The story below appeared at AdAge.com. Scan it quickly, then read the brief MultiCultClassics comments immediately following…

How Coke Is Targeting Black Consumers
Q&A With Yolanda White, Assistant VP of African-American Marketing

By Natalie Zmuda

Coca-Cola re-established a dedicated African-American marketing group in 2006. The beverage giant has spent the past few years testing programs and conducting market research. And in the first half of this year, those efforts have come to fruition, with four new campaigns for the Dasani and Coca-Cola brands.

“Three years ago, we began to see new evidence of growing population, growing buying and growing power in income,” said Yolanda White, assistant VP of African-American marketing. “We also saw significant [interest] in emerging categories, which made this consumer segment that much more viable for us as a company. So we really began to rebuild our strategic focus and realign our organizational capabilities to go after this consumer more holistically.”

Ms. White’s dedicated group of five people—three additional employees are shared with the Hispanic-marketing division—has a seemingly herculean task, working across the company’s numerous billion-dollar brands. But Ms. White says the arrangement has its advantages. The group has a deep understanding of the demographic and is able to measure the total impact of African-American marketing efforts. Here, Ms. White also talks more about that, the impact President Barack Obama is having and why general-market agencies are ceasing to exist.

Ad Age: The four campaigns you’ve done so far this year focus on moms and teens. Why?

Ms. White: Among African-American consumers, African-American moms are the gatekeeper to the household. We over-index in single-family households, and so reaching Mom is critical. Teens really are the future of America, and African-American teens, in particular, have proven to be trendsetters in the U.S. Their ability to shape culture is really critical.

Ad Age: What sorts of results are you seeing from those campaigns?
Ms. White: We’re really focused on building loyalty and building share. And our numbers are showing that we’re doing both. We are the beverage leader among African-American consumers. And if you look at how we’re performing vs. our competition, we are outperforming them on both volume and value. We’re seeing our equity numbers grow. One of the things that’s not as measurable but is really important is we’re also seeing really strong organic integration of our brands in relevant African-American spaces.

Ad Age: What trends do you see in the African-American market?
Ms. White: All consumers right now are experiencing some struggles and strife. We are seeing some of that accelerating with the African-American consumer, in terms of the way that they have to manage time and how they have to manage their family, given that they’re maintaining more jobs and balancing at home issues. …The Obama effect is another trend we’re seeing in the marketplace. That’s helping African-Americans feel more in tune with Americans and more a part of American society. Another general trend that we are seeing is the fact that multicultural consumers are sharing more of their culture with the total population.

Ad Age: What agencies do you work with?
Ms. White: We work with several agencies. There’s no dedicated agency, due to the complexity of managing multiple brands. We have African-American agencies, but we also have a plethora of other agencies that work on the business.

Ad Age: Do you think general-market shops can adequately speak to this demographic?
Ms. White: What is interesting is that, if you look at society today, there really is no general market. The market is really multicultural. It’s really important for all agencies to have a pulse on the total population as it exists and on what’s happening. If they don’t, it really prohibits the agency’s ability to be at the forefront of pop culture and to tap into relevant trends, which could have an impact on the long-term growth of a company.

Ad Age: Do you feel that African-American or multicultural shops bring something unique to the table?
Ms. White: Absolutely; we use them. All of our agencies bring something unique.

Ad Age: Are marketers taking the lead in encouraging agencies to diversify?
Ms. White: Diversity as a whole is important for the Coca-Cola Co. And as a company we’re in full support of where the advertising-industry efforts are moving, in order to increase their diversity.

Ms. White said: “We work with several agencies. There’s no dedicated agency, due to the complexity of managing multiple brands. We have African-American agencies, but we also have a plethora of other agencies that work on the business.” Um, Coke saw fit to re-establish “a dedicated African-American marketing group,” yet doesn’t see the need for a dedicated agency. Okey-doke. And does “a plethora of other agencies” working on Black-targeted assignments mean Coke is yet another major corporation handing minority projects to White shops?

Some ground-breaking insights from Ms. White:

“Teens really are the future of America, and African-American teens, in particular, have proven to be trendsetters in the U.S. Their ability to shape culture is really critical.” Um, this has been common knowledge since at least 1971.

“Another general trend that we are seeing is the fact that multicultural consumers are sharing more of their culture with the total population.” Um, ditto. And some folks insist the sharing has not been voluntary.

Ms. White said: “Diversity as a whole is important for the Coca-Cola Co. And as a company we’re in full support of where the advertising-industry efforts are moving, in order to increase their diversity.” Um, better check with the head of Coke’s leading White shop, Dan Wieden of Wieden + Kennedy. He said the industry’s diversity record is fucked up.

6893: Talent Seeker Wanted. No Talent Required.

This actual craigslist ad might explain the quality of creative work coming from Draftfcb. The place is seeking a Recruiting Manager to identify, court and sign up wunderkinds for The Agency of the Future. The prerequisites? A whopping 4-5 years as a “professional,” and at least two years in the HR department. Plus, recruiting experience is not mandatory. The ideal candidate “[d]evelops a pipeline of star talent for future needs.” Sounds more like a pipe dream.

Draftfcb Chicago — Recruiting Manager
Reply to: job-ccekn-1248956828@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-07-01, 1:41PM CDT

The Talent Hound. The Attentive Listener. The Problem-Solver.

The Draftfcb Recruiting Manager
Partnering with hiring managers and human resources generalists to define staffing needs, the Draftfcb Recruiting Manager creates effective strategies for hiring high-quality talent. Responsible for the entire recruiting cycle — from sourcing candidates to making offers — this person must have the persistence and patience to find the needle in the haystack.

The Personality
• Enjoys the challenge of managing competing demands in a high-pressure environment
• Knows the value of creativity, flexibility, and a sense of humor when problem-solving
• Possesses excellent project management. Strong communication skills a must.
• Has the ability to anticipate needs before they arise and acts accordingly
• Shows solid judgment when handling sensitive and confidential information
• Is capable of weathering long lines, flight delays and lost luggage from time to time

The Position
• Must have 4-5 years of professional experience
• Minimum 2 years in HR, preferably Recruiting
• Works with teams to identify both short- and long-term staffing needs
• Sources and interviews all candidates presented to hiring teams
• Contributes ideas toward the continued improvement of our recruiting process including creative and cost-effective sourcing strategies, interview procedures, candidate assessment tools, and branding materials
• Develops a pipeline of star talent for future needs
• Builds and maintains excellent relations with hiring teams and candidates

6892: Another One Bites The Dust.

“Do you know me? I’m moonwalking with Jacko right now.”