One final point about Burger King and its decision to dump its minority agencies in 2010: It takes extraordinary cultural cluelessness and ignorance to make Mary J. Blige and Salma Hayek look bad.
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
9966: Burger King-Sized Cultural Blunders.
One final point about Burger King and its decision to dump its minority agencies in 2010: It takes extraordinary cultural cluelessness and ignorance to make Mary J. Blige and Salma Hayek look bad.
9965: Home Of The Whopper Bullshit.
Why is Mary J. Blige under attack for her Burger King spot? The commercials starring Jay Leno, David Beckham and Salma Hayek are just as awful—if not worse. And does anyone think any of these celebrities would ever eat at BK?
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
9963: Mary J. Blige, The New Chicken Queen.
The short-lived Mary J. Blige Burger King commercial is worth a quick replay. Too many sources have ripped the spot, and reports claimed the catcalls prompted BK to pull it. However, an official statement from the fast feeder insisted music-licensing issues led to its yanking, and the commercial may soon reappear. Whatever.
Critics initially wondered which advertising firm was responsible for the piece. The mediocre production values—coupled with the contrived colored-person-singing-about-fried-chicken concept—actually felt like the stereotypical handiwork of a Black shop. Or Will.i.am. However, neither option could have been true, as Burger King dumped its minority agencies in 2010. At the time, BK bigwigs said the idea to go exclusively with a White agency was “based on where our consumer is,” especially considering “the X and Y generations” allegedly believing in the “melting pot. … We felt the right decision for Burger King is to address all our consumers as a whole, instead of taking a segmented approach.” Uh-huh. Wonder what the Whopper crew is thinking now. More importantly, what would the public think upon learning that the King’s court is comprised of White guys—and minorities were kicked out of the castle?
The creative culprit, incidentally, is Mother New York. This leads to a twisted snap: Your Mother is so culturally clueless, they made Mary J. Blige sing like a Subservient Chicken Queen about fried chicken for a racist, flame-broiling burger joint.
9962: Popular Black Actor Plays Basketball.
Oh, look! The new hardest-working man in Black advertising is a starting guard in this CDW campaign.
Monday, April 02, 2012
9960: Miller, Time to Fire Draftfcb.
The only thing worse than the Miller Lite launch commercials from Saatchi & Saatchi are Girlfriend and Roadie from Draftfcb. It’s painful to watch an iconic brand on a death spiral accelerated by talent-deficient advertising agencies.
9958: Why Don’t Clients Demand Diversity?
Advertising Age reported on an ANA survey showing that 52% of clients will ask their advertising agencies to reduce internal costs over the coming year. Why are clients completely comfortable making demands on nearly every aspect of the business—and expecting agencies to comply without complaint—except when it involves diversity? Hell, clients could solve the dearth of diversity overnight. All they have to do is say, “Make it happen, White boys.”
ANA Survey: 52% of Marketers Will Ask Agencies to Lower Internal Costs
Brands Are Being Asked to Be Conservative With Spending
By Rupal Parekh
Marketing budgets haven’t changed drastically in the past year, yet brands are being asked to be highly conservative with spending, a new Association of National Advertisers study has found.
The spending survey, the sixth the ANA has conducted, was fielded in January via an online poll of its members. Nearly 250 client-side marketers responded.
The good news? Comparatively few plan to cut agency compensation—only 17% of all respondents, which is the lowest since 2008. Instead, they are asking agencies to look internally for ways of reducing costs. More than half (52%) of marketers surveyed will during the course of this year challenge their agencies to reduce costs internally.
In essence, that means marketers are asking agencies to share the burden of being cost-efficient. More marketers today are saying that they are under pressure to tightly manage their controllable spending; last year 77% of respondents said they were asked to control spending, and this year that number jumped to 84%.
“It’s not just marketers who are feeling the pinch,” said ANA President-CEO Bob Liodice in a statement. “All of our partners feel the impact of this year’s projected trends, as modest spending trends undoubtedly affect business processes throughout the supply chain.”
He added: “Though the industry outlook is trending toward stability, marketers need to be careful not to simply rely on short-term answers to solve enduring budget issues.”
Some of those short-term budget cuts that are being made to reduce overhead expenses include professional development and hiring of full-time talent. The survey found that 28% plan to lower investment in training of talent and attendance at conferences, while 21% are planning to use freelancers to fill open positions. The ANA stated that both figures were up from 2011 but was unable to immediately provide a comparative number.
Marketers are also planning to reduce costs in travel significantly—by 68%.
The respondents also said that they are toying with the media mix and using different marketing channels to try and lower costs. Despite the cautious environment, the survey found that nearly half of marketers surveyed (49%) will keep their ad budgets flat. For the 34% of companies that said they will reduce budgets, reductions are expected to be higher than last year, with 33% of those companies expecting to trim marketing budgets by 11% or more.
Some marketers out there are spared from the heat; 17% of respondents said they believe their advertising budgets are slated to go up.
9957: Now Send Culturally Clueless To Class.
The press release for the 2012 4A’s Transformation Conference featured the following:
In addition, Ron Berger, former Euro RSCG executive and a founder of Advertising Week, shared news on a separate talent initiative. The High School of Innovation and Media (IAM), which Berger co-founded and is sponsored by the 4A’s, is getting ready to graduate its first senior class. Some of those students presented at the first TEDx Harlem conference on Tuesday. They created an integrated campaign in support of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” effort to combat childhood obesity.
Four years after launching IAM, the industry is now four more years away from realizing the grand experiment’s potential—provided the senior class members graduate from a 4-year college program. Whatever.
As the Impact Study indicates, ventures like IAM only address half of the real problem. That is, schooling minorities won’t do much good until someone erects an institution of higher learning to educate and reform the industry’s White majority. Unless we confront the fact that the culturally clueless inhabiting corner offices have created minority-unfriendly workplaces, the IAM students would be better served receiving 40 acres and a mule.
9956: C’MON WHITE MAN! Episode 20.
(MultiCultClassics credits ESPN’s C’MON MAN! for sparking this semi-regular blog series.)
Advertising Age provided a snapshot of last week’s 4A’s conference in Los Angeles, including the following excerpt:
It’s been talked about for years, but it bears repeating: Agencies need to commit to hiring a diverse workforce at all levels. If they don’t, they risk creating work that doesn’t appeal to the changing demography of the nation. Speaking openly, Ogilvy North American Chairman-CEO John Seifert said the agency received its latest cultural survey last week, and called it “depressing” because “we hadn’t achieved what we set out to do.”
Ogilvy North American Chairman-CEO John Seifert represents the crème de la culturally clueless on Madison Avenue. He is among the leaders who publicly declare a commitment to diversity, yet personally and professionally don’t do a damn thing to address the situation. Rather, guys like Seifert wring their hands and furrow their brows, feigning deep concern when asked to comment on the subject.
In 2009, Seifert confessed the industry is “not exactly leading the way” in regards to diversity, and he admitted his agency was “not blind to the fact that there is so much more to do to recognize our ambitions.” The remarks were delivered while Seifert was rubbing elbows with Rev. Al Sharpton at the NAACP’s 100th anniversary celebration.
In 2011, Seifert “soft-launched” OgilvyCulture with all the enthusiasm of an Old White Guy attending a Black History Month event. At the time, Seifert admitted, “…[If] there has been a weakness in the marketing communications industry generally, it’s that the makeup of agencies is not reflective” of the consumers to whom they advertise. Regarding OgilvyCulture, Seifert said, “We’re feeling our way; I’ve said to everyone this is going to be messy for a while.” When has an agency leader ever predicted messiness for a new venture except when it involved the integration of minorities?
The Impact Study probably caught Seifert off guard, as the survey indicated minority employees held positive feelings about working at Ogilvy. Seifert responded with a statement saying, “While we are grateful to see our progress recognized, we still have so much to do in attracting and retraining the best and brightest talent from the cross-cultural landscape we serve.” Did Seifert make a Freudian slip, accidentally inserting “retraining” for “retaining”? A week later at the 4A’s soiree, Seifert showed signs of clinical depression over his agency’s failure to meet its diversity goals. What did he see that the Impact Survey participants did not?
Why are passive racists like Seifert permitted to keep their jobs when they consistently fail to create meaningful and measurable results with diversity? In every other area of our business, leaders are held accountable for success. Yet when it comes to replacing exclusivity with inclusivity, it’s completely acceptable to get away with a substandard performance—provided you hone the ability to act with contriteness and fake bipolar mania.
C’MON WHITE MAN!
Sunday, April 01, 2012
9954: Mad Men Agency Hires Minorities.
Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce did in two weeks what most advertising agencies have failed to do for decades—the fictional shop has embraced diversity. Granted, the place only hired a new Black secretary. “She was the most qualified,” explained Don Draper. Um, since when have secretaries at SCDP ever displayed qualifications beyond good looks and a willingness to have sex with Roger Sterling? Plus, at the insistence of Sterling, Peggy Olson hired a Jewish copywriter, another first for the agency, which should provide Mad Men series creator Matthew Weiner more opportunities to present cultural stereotypes. What’s next? A Chief Diversity Officer?
For a semi-related perspective on the secretary scenario, check out this essay at The Daily Beast.
9953: Black Businesses In The Black…?
“Black Business Ownership Surges” is the title of a recent addition to
The New America fluff series from Adweek, Draftfcb and the U.S. Census Bureau. The report stated, “According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business owners, the number of Black-owned businesses in the U.S. grew at around triple the national rate.” It’s a safe bet the figures do not apply to Black-owned advertising agencies. But maybe the boys at Made will launch a multicultural division to service the prospective clients.
9952: ADCOLOR® To Honor Popeyes’ Annie.
The 2012 ADCOLOR® Awards and Industry Conference plans to honor Popeyes spokeswoman Annie the Chicken Queen with the prestigious All-Star Award. The gala event is scheduled for October 18-20, 2012, at The Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
“Annie symbolizes everything our 501(c)(6) trade association stands for,” explained ADCOLOR® Founder Tiffany R. Warren. “We’re pleased to add her to our illustrious honorees, representing true diversity champions who work together to further diversity and inclusion efforts in the advertising, marketing and media industries.”
“Everyone at our agency is thrilled to be a part of this recognition,” gushed GSD&M CEO Roy Spence, one of the originators of the popular campaign character. “Annie has always been committed to giving back—as well as giving hearty helpings of Popeyes Bonafide® Chicken, Popcorn Shrimp and Catfish Meals.”
“I cannot begin to express my sincere gratitude for this award,” said Annie the ADCOLOR® Honoree. “I haven’t been this excited since Popeyes beat KFC in a national taste test. I’m dancing, honey!”
2011 ADCOLOR® Catalyst Honoree Dan Wieden added, “I’ve always respected Annie for her courageous refusal to move to the back of the bus on that fateful day—December 1, 1955—in Montgomery, Alabama. Oh, wait a minute. That was Rosa Parks. My bad. But hey, Annie’s cool too.”
Awarding a coveted trophy to Annie the Chicken Queen also drew criticism. “I deserved to win over Annie,” huffed Diane Amos, The Pine-Sol® Lady. “That’s the power of cronyism, baby!”
9951: Supercuts Super-Overpromise.
Supercuts will make you look like a rock star. No, it’s not an April Fools’ Day joke—these delusional, overpromising idiots are serious.
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