12297: Translation Wins NBA Shootout.

Advertising Age reported the NBA alley-ooped its account to Translation, and the beleaguered shop slam-dunked over 20-year incumbent Goodby Silverstein & Partners. Did NBA CMO Pam El take Jeff Goodby’s sage advice when making her decision? Probably not. To his credit, Translation Founder Steve Stoute has shown strength in his ability to create and capitalize on relationships. He apparently used such skills to once woo Anheuser-Busch InBev U.S. Marketing VP Paul Chibe and win beer business. Stoute’s ties to El when she worked at State Farm—as well as his connections to the New Jersey Nets—were clearly enough to outplay GS&P and R/GA in the shootout.

Goodby certainly can’t cry foul, as he’s benefitted from relationships to originally nab Chevy; plus, he’s picked up lots of business for being an indentured servant in Omnicom. And if Goodby’s still asking, “Where are all the Black people?” well, one of them just beat his ass in hoops.

NBA Taps Translation After Review

Incumbent Goodby Had Been Working With NBA for 20-plus Years

By Maureen Morrison

The National Basketball Association has tapped Translation to handle creative after a review.

A spokeswoman for the league confirmed the win, calling the shop the “primary agency” for creative. The scope of the work, however, is yet to be determined, the spokeswoman said.

The account had been at Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the NBA’s agency of record since 2007, though the shop has worked with the association for more than 20 years. The review process was overseen by Hasan & Co.

Goodby declined to comment. Translation couldn’t be immediately reached.

It’s not immediately clear whether the review will result in another agency of record relationship or whether the association will move to soliciting work on a project basis from the winning shop.

The review began less than three months after Pam El was named the NBA’s new chief marketing officer. Previously she had been at State Farm for 11 years, most recently as exec VP-marketing. Ms. El is familiar with Translation through State Farm; the shop handles some advertising for the marketer.

Goodby’s last campaign for the NBA was the work themed “Everybody Up,” which began in the current season. Ms. El said in October that the league will be more aggressive in its marketing moving forward, an effort to lure more casual fans.

In 2013, the NBA spent $93.6 million on measured media, a figure that includes ads promoting the NBA TV cable channel, as well as plugging the WNBA, according to Kantar Media.

12296: Merry Cripmas, Clemson!

From The New York Post…

Clemson fraternity suspended over gang-themed ‘Cripmas’ party

By Reuters

A Clemson University fraternity has been suspended indefinitely by its national organization after some of its members threw a gangster-themed Christmas party over the weekend seen by many as racially insensitive. The Saturday night off-campus party, dubbed “Clemson Cripmas,” was thrown by the South Carolina school’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, which school officials say has no black members.

The Crips are group of mainly African-American street gangs founded in Los Angeles in the late 1960s. Many of those attending wore bandanas, oversized T-shirts and low-slung pants, and were shown in photos posted on social media sites making what appeared to be gang signs.

“The decision of a few brothers to hold this type of social event is inexcusable and completely inappropriate,” the national Sigma Alpha Epsilon organization said in a statement announcing the suspension posted on its website on Sunday.

“Their behavior in no way reflects the values and creed of the fraternity, and we apologize to (the) campus and local community for their actions,” the fraternity added. News of the party spread quickly through social media among students and community members, many of whom had participated in recent campus rallies over the refusal of grand juries in Missouri and New York City to indict white police officers in the deaths of unarmed black males, said Clemson Chief Diversity Officer Leon Wiles.

A group of students protested over the party on Sunday, he said.

“Many of our students of color were infuriated, outraged and upset by the ‘Cripmas’ party,” Wiles said. “Some white students didn’t think it was a big deal and didn’t understand why there was such a strong reaction.” The incident comes in the wake of the suspension of all on-campus social activities for Clemson’s 24 fraternities in September after the death of a 19-year-old fraternity pledge who died of a head injury following a fall from a highway bridge into a river.

12295: Kidding With Condoms.

This Durex campaign was allegedly created by a student in India. Here’s some advice for the wannabe adman:

Tip 1: Don’t produce spec ads for condoms, as it’s a clichéd and contrived tactic to gain attention.

Tip 2: Definitely follow Tip 1 if you’re living in a country where misogyny and rape are big problems.

From Ads of the World.

12294: Volunteer Visitors Earn Prizes…?

This campaign from Spain encourages young people to volunteer to visit the elderly. But it seems to put a lot of pressure on the elderly, implying their gratitude will include preparing elaborate gifts for the visitors—which is actually counter to the notion of volunteerism.

From Ads of the World.

12293: Sprint Clearly Creating Chaos.

Advertising Age reported on the latest lunacy from Sprint. According to Sprint CMO Jeff Hallock (who’s slated to bail out as soon as a sucker successor is identified), Deutsch LA (the White advertising agency that was not eliminated in a lengthy review) is producing work on a project basis—meaning Figliulo & Partners (the hackneyed White advertising agency responsible for the Frobinsons campaign) is technically still the AOR.

So far, Deutsch LA has shat out commercials starring a screaming goat, an office worker going postal and fake Verizon and AT&T customers cutting their bills in half. No one seems to be taking responsibility for the Latino commercial featuring star-struck Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure (kudos to the set designer!). And if Deutsch covers any digital assignments, somebody better monitor the lying assholes closely.

Claure promised an aggressive approach; however, without discipline and focus, aggressive becomes depressive, regressive and unimpressive. Additionally, MultiCultClassics wondered how the Sprint diverse-yet-dysfunctional corporate family would ultimately fare, but never imagined anything this messed up. Why would consumers want to connect with a company in such disarray—even at half price?

Sprint Slices at Verizon, AT&T in Latest National Ads

Deutsch L.A. Produced Spots, but Agency Review Remains in Limbo

By Mark Bergen

On Tuesday, Sprint announced another price offering, its most ambitious yet. Over the weekend, the carrier will begin a national ad campaign to promote the deal, which directly targets larger rivals Verizon and AT&T.

Sprint has unleashed a torrent of new customer plans—and varying marketing materials—since CEO Marcelo Claure joined in August. Its latest move promises to halve the service bills for Verizon and AT&T subscribers who convert to Sprint, a stunt to hemorrhage its steady customer loss. The carrier is also offering to pay early termination fees for subscribers who switch, a move T-Mobile made in January.

Beginning Friday evening, a 30-second spot will air during prime-time on national networks and cable. The carrier is also releasing print ads and a Spanish-language spot, which will begin airing this weekend. Two weeks ago, Sprint kicked off a Hispanic marketing campaign, with ads featuring Mr. Claure.

The carrier’s latest offering, and its adversarial marketing, mirrors the aggressive maneuvers from T-Mobile. Under its former CEO Dan Hesse, Sprint largely avoided calling out its bigger competitors by name. “It’s probably our most aggressive stance that we’ve taken,” said CMO Jeff Hallock.

Last month, Ad Age reported Mr. Hallock would depart by April 2015, under amicable terms. He’ll continue to oversee marketing until his exit.

Deutsch L.A. produced the spots. The agency also made the recent commercial for Sprint’s new family plan, which is in heavy rotation and features a braying goat. That spot was pitched as part of an ongoing creative review initiated in September.

“Deutsch L.A. did the creative work on this campaign,” said Dave Mellin, a Sprint spokesman. “They are doing some work for us on a project basis.” Figliulo & Partners, which Sprint tapped last November, remains the agency of record, Mr. Hallock said. Sprint’s contract with Figliulo & Partners had yet to expire as of a month ago, according to executives familiar with the matter.

Since coming on board as CEO, Mr. Claure has been shaking up marketing. He promptly nixed Sprint’s earlier ‘Framily’ campaign and launched the agency review. He’s also pledged more aggressive advertising.

Despite the audacity of its new wireless deal, there is fine print. Switching customers would see a price cut in service fees—for voice, text and data—but they would need to lease or pay installments for a new phone with Sprint. Earlier this week, Sprint’s CFO Joe Euteneuer said the new plan would deliver customers around a 20% discount, according to a report from Re/code.

Walter Piecyk, a BTIG analyst, estimated a family of three on Verizon that switched to Sprint and upgraded iPhone plans, would save around $2 a month. In recent months, Sprint has introduced a series of new offerings, including discounted data and an iPhone leasing program. The new plans “just don’t seem compelling enough to move customers to Sprint’s existing network,” Mr. Piecyk wrote in a blog post.

He added: “It could be that the timing of Sprint’s latest promotion is an indication that its current promotions have not gained much traction.”

Mr. Hallock would not offer details on the success of the iPhone leasing plan, which launched in October. “It’s off to a good start,” he said. “We’re pleased with the result.”

Several years into a network overhaul, Sprint has bled subscribers to Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. In November, Sprint reported a net loss of 272,000 postpaid customers, making it the only carrier among the top four to shed a portion of its lucrative subscriber base during the quarter.

Last year, Sprint spent $1.6 billion in advertising, according to the Ad Age DataCenter.

With contributions from Malika Toure and Maureen Morrison

12292: Matches Campaign Strikes Out.

If not for the Vladimir Putin ad, this campaign might have looked very racist. Instead, it’s just another sad example of poor instruction being given to Miami Ad School students.

From Ads of the World.

12291: Santa’s Clicking His List.

Has comScore and Santa included Deutsch LA on the naughty list?

12290: Walmart Takes A Deep Breath.

Advertising Age reported Walmart and The Martin Agency are re-editing a commercial featuring a Black man saying, “I can’t breathe” while his daughter hugs him, as the phrase has become the rallying cry of Eric Garner protesters. Wonder if another protest would erupt if the public learned Walmart ads targeting Black consumers are being handled by White advertising agencies where diversity is a dream deferred and denied.

‘I Can’t Breathe’: Walmart Edits Ad in Wake of Protests

Phrase Uttered by Eric Garner Before Death Became Protest Rallying Cry

By Jack Neff

In the wake of nationwide protests over the lack of an indictment for the death of Eric Garner, Walmart is editing a commercial showing a black man saying “I can’t breathe” as he’s hugged by his daughter.

The same phrase was adopted by protesters nationwide after a grand jury on Dec. 3 declined to indict police officer Daniel Pantaleo for the death of Eric Garner, who uttered the phrase in a video aired in news reports following his July arrest. That video has gotten round-the-clock national news play since the grand jury decision.

In response to tweets yesterday, the @WalmartNewsroom account announced: “We’re re-editing as we speak based on feedback we’ve received.”

The Walmart Mobile Family Plan ad first aired this summer during back-to-school season, said Walmart spokeswoman Deisha Barnett in an e-mail.

“We can see how the ad might be viewed differently today than when it first aired earlier this year,” she said. She didn’t yet know when the revised ad would air.

Interpublic’s Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., created the ad, “which began running earlier this summer before any of this started,” said a spokeswoman for the agency. Publicis Groupe’s Mediavest handles media for Walmart.

The TV ad tracking service iSpot.tv only picked up airings of the ad starting Dec. 1, two days before the Staten Island grand jury decision was announced. Walmart spent an estimated $1 million on the spot this week, according to iSpot.tv, which indicated it aired up to nearly 4 a.m. this morning on such networks as A&E and BET.

12289: Stop Cop Abuse Of Black Men.

From The New York Times…

We Must Stop Police Abuse of Black Men

By Eric L. Adams

I CAN recall it as if it were yesterday: looking into the toilet and seeing blood instead of urine. That was the aftermath of my first police encounter.

As a 15-year-old, living in South Jamaica, Queens, I was arrested on a criminal trespass charge after unlawfully entering and remaining in the home of an acquaintance. Officers took me to the 103rd Precinct — the same precinct where an unarmed Sean Bell was later shot and killed by the police — and brought me into a room in the basement. They kicked me in the groin repeatedly. Out of every part of my body, that’s what they targeted. Then I spent the night in Spofford juvenile detention center.

For seven days after that, I stared into the toilet bowl in my house at the blood I was urinating. I kept telling myself that if it didn’t clear up by the next day, I would share this shame and embarrassment with my mother, although I could never bring myself to start that conversation. When clear urine returned, I thought I was leaving that moment behind me. I never told anyone this, not even my mother, until I was an adult.

As I attempted to put that shame and attack on my manhood away, new horror stories kept compelling me to relive those memories: the nightmare experiences of Randolph Evans, Patrick Dorismond, Abner Louima and countless other young men have reminded me of my own secret. Think of all the secrets that young men of color are hiding. How many are concealing some dark truth of the abuse they endured, and what is that darkness doing to them?

In order to finally bring this darkness into the light of day, our nation must address the foundation of this crisis. That starts with acknowledging that the training taught in police academies across the country is not being applied in communities of color. After six months in the police academy, that instruction is effectively wiped out by six days of being taught by veteran cops on the streets.

I learned this myself firsthand. I didn’t want any more children to go through what I endured, so I sought to make change from the inside by joining the police department.

Hours after coming out of the police academy, I was told something as a new rookie officer: You’d rather be tried by 12 jurors than carried by six pallbearers. In my impressionable first days, I saw officers leave the precinct every day touching the lockers of their fallen brothers. They started their shift on the defensive, thinking about protecting themselves, as opposed to the communities they served, regardless of the complexion of those communities. One of my white fellow officers once told me that if he saw a white individual with a gun, he took extra care for himself and the individual. When he saw a black individual with a gun, he took care only for himself.

These are the lessons to which I was exposed, and the reality of what policing communities of color has been, not just in New York City but across America. There is a legacy of inequity that did not just appear overnight, but was carved into the culture of law enforcement over decades.

There is reluctance on the part of police leadership, which has long believed in the nightstick and quick-trigger-finger justice, to effectively deal with officers who have documented and substantiated records of abuse. These individuals need to be removed from the force. That is an essential component of the larger response we must have to address this history of abuse.

We cannot continue to approach policing in an antiquated fashion, and that certainly includes technology. Technology has been used as a crime-fighting tactic, but not as a tool to determine what happens during a police action. New York City has taken the right step in putting body cameras on police officers, but what about cameras on guns themselves? While I was a state senator, I introduced a proposal to allow such devices, which would not interfere with the function of the weapon; this proposal deserves to be revisited. In fact, we can go further, with cameras on police vehicles as well. Not only will technology shine a light on the darkness of these police encounters, it will be significant in advancing community trust that accountability does in fact apply.

Equally important, especially in the wake of what has taken place after the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, is reform to our grand jury system. Grand juries were established in England in the 12th and 13th centuries, a vestige of a time when people needed to be protected from unfair prosecution from the king and others. There was a necessary element of secrecy — one that need not apply in cases involving police misconduct.

Open, preliminary hearings in court can and should determine if a case should be stepped up to a trial. Additionally, the handling of police shootings should be wholly separated from local grand juries. These bodies cannot handle cases involving local police officers on whom they rely every day.

Special grand juries should be convened for police-related incidents, and independent agencies must gather evidence even before they convene, at the time of police encounters where a death has occurred; the evidence gathered at that moment is the evidence that will shape whether there is an indictment, as well as whether there will be a fair trial based on the facts.

All of these ideas need to be moved forward under the leadership of our president, our governors, the mayors of our major cities and our law enforcement leadership. If we fail to take advantage of this moment that history has laid on our doorstep, we are doomed to more abuse, more division and more chaos.

When my son was 15, he was stopped by the police in a movie theater for no apparent reason. He showed his ID and explained that his father was a retired police captain and a state senator. The response was “So what?” It doesn’t and shouldn’t matter who he is. He shouldn’t have had that experience at all. And until that changes, for all men of color, real reform will never come.

Eric L. Adams is the Brooklyn borough president, a retired New York Police Department captain and the co-founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care.

12288: Call PETA Pronto.

The creative team from India responsible for this campaign should be decapitated.

From Ads of the World.

12287: Digital Deception Done Daily.

Adweek reported on the FTC spanking Deutsch LA for the White advertising agency’s deceptive messages delivered via Twitter. The Adweek story contained a few quotes worth laughing over examining.

Mom Central Consulting CEO Stacy Debroff said, “As ad agencies move from paid ad placements to the viral pathways of social media, they haven’t taken the time to train and familiarize their employees on FTC-required disclosures. For a sophisticated ad agency such as Deutsch LA, one would not expect such an amateurish social media disclosure mistake.” Um, Deutsch LA is about as sophisticated as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne—and the White ad agency is definitely digitally dumber than the duo.

Razorfish Co-Founder and current Sprinklr Chief Evangelist Jeff Dachis remarked, “I think the FTC may have been piling on with the additional action against Deutsch LA to ensure that they were sending a message to the marketplace,” adding that it’s a standard industry practice for agency employees to hype their own work via social media. Give Dachis credit for being honest. But it confirms what MultiCultClassics originally stated; that is, traditional White ad agencies, digital agencies and media firms are all knowingly polluting the World Wide Web with fake comments, likes, reviews, etc. That Dachis doesn’t think it’s wrong only shows the fucked-up state of the industry.

Advertisers like Kraft and Unilever have expressed great concern over digital advertising dilemmas like viewability and fraud. Yet the companies continue to collaborate with agencies that are openly compounding the communications corruption and chaos.

Why, it’s as outrageously hypocritical as declaring commitment to diversity while conspiring with White ad agencies where exclusivity reigns.

FTC: No, Agencies Can’t Ask Staffers to Casually Tweet Nice Things About Clients

A cautionary tale about disclosure in social media

By Michelle Castillo

As brands push their messages through social media platforms like Twitter, the Federal Trade Commission is reminding marketers they need to disclose any bias on their promotional materials—even if they only have 140 characters to do so.

Last week, the FTC and Deutsch L.A. reached a settlement regarding the agency reportedly using social media to promote a client’s work without disclosing its bias. In 2012, Deutsch L.A. promoted the PlayStation Vita, creating a Twitter campaign that asked users to tweet positive statements about the hand-held gaming device with the hashtag #GameChanger. According to court documents, not only did the agency encourage the public to do so, but one of the assistant account executives sent a company-wide email encouraging employees to do the same. Many obliged the request on their personal Twitter accounts but did not disclose that PlayStation Vita was a client, violating the FTC’s stance that brands have to have full disclosure on marketing materials no matter what medium the ad is on.

PlayStation is no longer a Deutsch account; BBH has handled the video game company since 2013. And, the agency told Adweek, under the terms of the settlement, Deutsch L.A. did not admit to breaking any law and decided to resolve the case in order to skip prolonged legal battles.

However, the implications of the court case—that even statements made on personal social media accounts need to be transparent if there may be any brand bias—will resonate throughout the industry. Mary Engle, director of the FTC’s Division of Advertising Practices, acknowledged to The Wall Street Journal that while this was the FTC’s first case regarding Twitter and misleading behavior, “it’s unlikely to be our last.”

Stacy Debroff, CEO of social media firm Mom Central Consulting and a former litigator, pointed out that most social media firms know the FTC requires disclosure on all postings, and simply adding #client or #sponsored would have sufficed. While employees may not know the rule extends to their personal accounts, their agency is responsible for educating them. “As ad agencies move from paid ad placements to the viral pathways of social media, they haven’t taken the time to train and familiarize their employees on FTC-required disclosures. For a sophisticated ad agency such as Deutsch LA, one would not expect such an amateurish social media disclosure mistake,” she stated.

Jeff Dachis, co-founder of Razorfish and current chief evangelist of Sprinklr, said he was surprised the FTC chased after Deutsch L.A. given that it’s a common industry practice to ask agency employees to publicly support their work. He believes the government agency “over reach[ed]” considering it didn’t seem like Deutsch was trying to game the system and just wanted to build buzz for its campaign.

“I think the FTC may have been piling on with the additional action against Deutsch L.A. to ensure that they were sending a message to the marketplace,” he commented. “There are many people in the agency world that have influence in social channels, and they should use good judgment with disclosures if an agency is going to employ a strategy that benefits from that influence on behalf of clients and is receiving remuneration as a result.”

However, James Percelay, co-founder of Thinkmodo, said in his experience it’s not common to ask employees to promote their own work. He agreed with Dachis that Deutsch L.A.’s intent was probably “overenthusiasm for its campaign, not malice.” But he said he believes the agency wasn’t employing a sound strategy by tooting their own horns. Allowing organic support through social media is what is most valuable to a brand, so hashtags should be allowed to go viral on their own merits. “Once it starts to become manipulated, it undermines its effectiveness,” he pointed out.

It’s not necessary to ask employees to promote campaigns through their personal accounts, said Alyssa Galella, director of earned media at Huge. Campaigns should already have a solid launch promotion strategy that includes owned, earned and paid media. If employees are proud of their work and feel compelled to tweet about it, Huge allows them to do so—as long as it follows the letter of the law as well as client confidentiality agreements, Galella added.

“In situations like that, it’s probably better to stay away from posting about the client’s campaign at all,” she said.

12286: Kraft Hearts White Ad Agencies.

Advertising Age reported White advertising agency Leo Burnett won a bunch of Kraft business as a result of the food company’s recent agency consolidation. Funny thing is, Burnett never had any Kraft business, so it’s a bit odd to refer to the move as an agency consolidation. It’s more likely another example of Corporate Cultural Collusion. The other three White agencies still servicing Kraft—mcgarrybowen, Taxi and Crispin Porter + Bogusky—show the client’s decisions were not rooted in ultimately creating the best work. After all, the losing agencies included TBWA and Wieden + Kennedy, both of which are waaaaay better than Burnett and mcgarrybowen. Additionally, there has been no news on selecting minority agencies, despite Kraft’s alleged commitment to diversity and supplier diversity. Maybe Burnett conned impressed Kraft by displaying its NO.2.66 smokescreen.

Leo Burnett Emerges as the Big Winner in Kraft’s Agency Consolidation

Publicis Group Shop To Handle Philadelphia, Crystal Light And Planters, Among Others

By Maureen Morrison, E.J. Schultz

Leo Burnett has emerged as the big winner in Kraft Food Group’s recent creative agency consolidation. The Publicis Groupe shop, which previously did not have any Kraft brands, has won Philadelphia cream cheese, Crystal Light, Cracker Barrel, Planters, Jell-O, Cool Whip and Breakstone’s, Kraft confirmed to Ad Age on Thursday.

The marketer announced the consolidation in November, picking four creative agencies to oversee its vast portfolio of packaged food brands—and shedding other shops. Among incumbents, McGarryBowen, Taxi and CP&B made the cut.

McGarryBowen will handle Kraft-branded salad dressings, barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, natural cheese and parmesan cheese, as well as Kraft Singles, Capri Sun, Kool-Aid in the U.S., Oscar Mayer, Country Time and Athenos.

Taxi will handle Maxwell House, Mio, Gevalia, Tassimo, and, in Canada, Kraft peanut butter, Nabob and Kool-Aid. CP&B got Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Velveeta, A.1., Miracle Whip, Grey Poupon and Stove Top. In Canada, CP&B was assigned Kraft Dinner—which is the same as Macaroni & Cheese—and Kraft Singles.

Kraft, which is headquartered in suburban Chicago, said in a statement that Leo Burnett’s “storied experience with iconic brands lends itself well to these new assignments. The fact that they are located right in our backyard is another valued benefit as we look to build deeper more meaningful connections with our agency partners.”

At the time of the consolidation announcement, Kraft said it was consolidating so it could align its brands better with the “particular strengths” of certain agencies. Shops that were removed from the roster included Droga5, VSA Partners, TBWA, The Martin Agency, Lopez Negrete Communications, Roberts & Langer and Wieden & Kennedy.

Among the biggest brand spenders for Kraft are Oscar Mayer, with $91.4 million spent on U.S. measured media in 2013, according to Kantar Media. In the same time period, Crystal Light spent $66.3 million. According to Ad Age’s DataCenter, the Kraft brand spent $154.7 million, a figure that includes spending for Macaroni & Cheese and salad dressing, among other Kraft-branded products.

12285: Exclusivity Translates Globally…?

At Advertising Age, Al Ries published a column titled, “Biggest Change in Marketing in Last 50 Years Might Get Lost in Translation,” where the marketing expert discussed a challenge that may ultimately further expose the industry’s cultural cluelessness. Ries wrote:

What’s the biggest change in marketing in the past 50 years?

You could make the case for the Internet. Or Big Data. Or mobile marketing. Or PR. Or celebrities. Or a number of other revolutionary developments.

But in our work as marketing consultants, we find the biggest change is the shift from national marketing to global marketing. Our clients are mostly focused on building global brands.

Ries tapped a topic previously covered at this blog, most recently when Johnson & Johnson Chief Marketing Officer Alison Lewis announced her desire to create “one global idea for each megabrand” at her company.

However, Ries’ take on the situation seems insufficient and incorrect, as he believes “English has become the second language of the world. Any brand designed for the global market needs to use a word English-speaking people can relate to.” To simply think a brand’s name is key to success ignores the cultural differences that each market presents. For example, the skin-lightening products hawked in India—despite the Advertising Standards Council of India’s new guidelines—would probably receive a very different response from audiences in the U.S. or Africa, regardless of product monikers.

But more importantly, are any advertising agencies—particularly any White agencies that ultimately control the “collaborative” efforts—really qualified and culturally competent to concoct concepts that might communicate globally? Hell, U.S. White shops can’t even handle cross-cultural campaigns on a single continent. The goal of global messaging should clearly show the industry’s ignorance that is fueled by exclusivity. The question is, will anyone notice—or care?

The impending Tower of Babel scenarios should not be led by English-speaking, culturally clueless adpeople. And that’s no bullshit.

12284: Nils Leonard Is A Coward.

Adweek interviewed Grey London CCO Nils Leonard and asked about his pathetically patronizing pro-women pap:

You wrote a column for Adweek saying the perfect modern creative is “fierce, fearless and female.” It was polarizing, to say the least. How did you feel about the reaction to it?

I was overjoyed that people care. I wrote an article about creativity. I changed the language of it to “she.” And that’s clearly a fucking sore point for the industry. Whether you like or lump that article, it’s a sore point. So I was happy, in a way, with the controversy it created.

Outgoing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder once called the country a “nation of cowards” for our refusal to openly address issues of race and culture. While Leonard is not a U.S. citizen, he certainly deserves the title of culturally clueless coward.

For starters, he works for an advertising agency that is predominately White and male, at least in terms of its leadership. To Leonard’s credit, his Deputy Executive Creative Director is female. But that’s beside the point.

Leonard’s response to Adweek revealed his true colors. He insisted he “wrote an article about creativity.” Really? The man doesn’t have the courage to claim he sought to confront the exclusivity poisoning the industry? Instead, he’s apparently positioning gender discrimination as being about creativity. Brilliant.

Additionally, Leonard “was happy, in a way, with the controversy [his pathetically patronizing pro-women pap] created.” This is such a spineless summation. Like the stereotypical liberal White male—and hackneyed adman—Leonard expressed pride in igniting controversy. Yet he lacks the guts to stand behind his words and continue the dialogue. Sorry, but dropping a bomb and scuttling away is a typical trait of a coward.

What’s more, Leonard is jumping on a super-safe bandwagon versus assuming a revolutionary platform. As reported by The Drum, White women are well-represented in the UK advertising community, and their numbers have consistently increased for years. Leonard’s article was not breakthrough commentary from a thought leader; rather, it presented common knowledge in a cloyingly contrived fashion—that just happened to coincide with the pro-women parties at Advertising Week 2014. So the White man’s words were probably opportunistic too.

The dearth of dames in adland is a just tiny part of the global problem of institutionalized bigotry exclusivity. Of course, Leonard won’t touch the true dilemma. Advocating for White women is so much easier than speaking out and acting on the abysmal deficit of non-Whites in the field. As an alleged A-Lister with hiring authority, Leonard is professionally obligated to deal with diversity. But similar to other White ad honchos, he’ll opt to ignore the matter and cower behind the skirts of his White female peers.

12283: Which White Adperson Are You?

Campaign presented the UK advertising honchos depicted above with the following quiz:

Which A-Lister are you?

Consider yourself as funny as Paul Lawson, creative as Nils Leonard or savvy as James Murphy? Answer the next 10 questions to find out which influential A-Lister you most closely resemble.

Um, is A-Lister shorthand for Anglo-Lister? MediaCom UK CEO Karen Blackett—the most influential Black person in Britain—didn’t earn a spot on the list? Damn.

12282: Sears Holdings Not Holding Up.

The New York Post reported Sears Holdings—which owns Sears and Kmart—continues its death spiral, losing $548 million and planning to close 235 stores. Sears Holdings Chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert admitted, “Our stores are often in the wrong place and are often too large for our needs.” Um, whose fault is that? Meanwhile, the brand band plays on with inane advertising that clearly is not moving inventory. The latest Joe Boxer commercial from White advertising agency FCB is exclusively sexist—were no pregnant minority women available? Why doesn’t Lampert realize his White ad agency is in the wrong place and too large for the needs of dying dinosaur retail brands?

Sears posts $548 million loss, plans to close 235 stores

By James Covert

Sears Holdings is racking up big numbers — when it comes to losses, store closings and receding business, that is.

The cash-strapped owner of Sears and Kmart said it is now aiming to close a total of 235 stores this year, up from an earlier target of 130, as it scrambles to stem a growing cash bleed.

“Our stores are often in the wrong place and are often too large for our needs,” Eddie Lampert, the company’s chairman and CEO, said on a Thursday conference call.

Even as Sears reported a third-quarter loss that widened to $548 million, the hedge-fund billionaire reiterated a plan he disclosed last month to sell as many as 300 stores to a real estate investment trust, or REIT.

The idea is for Sears to continue to operate those stores while leasing them from the REIT, a financial maneuver meant to prop up Sears’ balance sheet.

Still, Sears’ and Kmart’s brick-and-mortar stores, which currently number more than 1,800, are getting an increasingly diminished role as Lampert invests in the company’s Web site and its Shop Your Way loyalty program.

“We remain intently focused on delivering an unparalleled integrated retail experience for our customers through Shop Your Way,” Lampert said.

Nevertheless, Shop Your Way accounted for 72 percent of third-quarter sales, unchanged from a year ago. Sears’ online sales grew just 9 percent — a weak showing this quarter versus such rivals as Macy’s and Amazon.

“The company seemed to lose momentum in their own key initiatives, which undermines the strategic direction promoted by management,” said Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter.

Sales fell 13 percent to $7.2 billion amid store closures, the spinoff of Sears’ Lands’ End business and the exit of its stake in Sears Canada.

Sears shares lost 4.4 percent to close at $32.75.

12281: Cadillac Drives In Circles.

Advertising Age reported Cadillac has driven its account to a new White advertising agency, Publicis Worldwide. The luxury car brand has switched gears—in terms of switching its White agencies—a lot in recent years, with Publicis shops benefiting from the reassignments. The only thing that is constant is change. Except in the advertising industry, where change means constantly awarding accounts to generic White agencies within exclusive holding companies.

Cadillac Leaving Lowe for Publicis

Shop to Become Auto Brand’s New Global Creative Agency of Record

By Malika Toure

Cadillac has named Publicis Worldwide its new global agency of record, Ad Age has learned.

The decision comes less than two months after the dissolution of Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Rogue, which was created to handle Cadillac. The now-disbanded shop originally consisted of Lowe & Partners; Boston creative agency Hill Holliday and Detroit-based Campbell Ewald—the last of which has now merged with Lowe.

According to Kantar Media, Cadillac spent $280 million in measured media in 2013.

Lowe & Partners’ creative responsibilities will be moving to Publicis, according to executives familiar with the matter. The agency is still handling below-the-line work for the auto brand, including customer relationship management, though that may change as the account transitions over to Publicis.

Both Publicis and Lowe-Campbell Ewald declined to comment.

This is only one of the changes from the auto brand this year. First, Uwe Ellinghaus joined the company as CMO in January; later that month, the company changed its logo. Mr. Ellinghaus succeeded Don Butler, who had been in the position for nine months. In July, former Infiniti president Johan de Nysschen was appointed president at Cadillac. Most recently, the company announced its plan to move its headquarters to New York City’s SoHo neighborhood.

This is the latest in a number of agency shifts for Cadillac in recent years. Since ending its relationship with Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett in 2006 the company has worked with Modernista, Publicis’ BBH, Publicis’ Fallon and Rogue.

12280: Rocking Hollywood.

From The New York Daily News…

Chris Rock sounds off on race in Hollywood: ‘It’s a white industry’

The ‘Top Five’ actor penned an essay published Wednesday in The Hollywood Reporter discussing African-Americans’ treatment by the film industry, including his own experiences. He also said that Mexican-Americans are treated worse than black people, writing that ‘there’s just an acceptance that there’s a slave state in L.A.’

By Kirthana Ramisett

Chris Rock has written a candid and bleakly funny essay about his experience in Hollywood.

The “Top Five” actor, writer and director offered his point of view in navigating the movie industry in an essay published Wednesday by The Hollywood Reporter — and he doesn’t hold back in describing its treatment of minorities.

In the essay, Rock discussed how he often offers advice to other black performers because he was similarly helped in his career by stars such as Eddie Murphy and Keenan Wayans.

“I’d do the same for a young white guy, but here’s the difference: someone’s going to help the white guy,” the star pointed out. “The people whom I’ve tried to help, I’m not sure anybody was going to help them.”

Rock revealed that he got new “SNL” cast member Leslie Jones an audition with the show’s producer, Lorne Michaels. He said that he strived to assist younger stars because “there aren’t that many black people to turn to.”

“It’s a white industry,” Rock added. “I’m not even saying it’s a bad thing. It just is.”

As examples, the comedian notes how there are no major black film executives, agents or producers. He also said that when it came to casting the lead female role in season 2 of “True Detective,” there were no black actresses said to be up for the role, which went to Rachel McAdams.

“I didn’t hear one black girl’s name on those lists,” Rock wrote. “Not one.

“Literally everyone in town was up for that part, unless you were black. And I haven’t read the script, but something tells me if Gabrielle Union were Colin Farrell’s wife, it wouldn’t change a thing.”

Rock also points out that while black people struggle to find roles and have little representation at movie studios, Mexican-Americans are treated even worse.

“It’s the most liberal town in the world, and there’s a part of it that’s kind of racist — not racist like ‘F--- you, n----’ racist, but just an acceptance that there’s a slave state in L.A,” the 49-year-old wrote.

“There’s this acceptance that Mexicans are going to take care of white people in L.A. that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”

But the “Top Five” actor says he finds there has been some progress in terms of the expanded opportunities for black actors and filmmakers, citing a skit he did when he hosted “Saturday Night Live” last month, in which he played a father who disapproves of his daughter’s Internet show.

“Twenty years ago when I was on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ anything with black people on the show had to deal with race, and that sketch we did didn’t have anything to do with race,” he wrote. “That was the beauty: the sketch is funny because it’s funny, and that’s the progress.”

“And there are black guys who are making it: whatever Kevin Hart wants to do right now, he can do; I think (‘12 Years a Slave’ actor) Chiwetel Ejiofor is a really respected actor who is getting a lot of great shots just because he’s really good; if (‘12 Years a Slave’ director) Steve McQueen wants to direct a Marvel movie, they would salivate to get him.

“Change just takes time,” he added.

12279: Digital Ads Don’t Work. Duh.

Advertising Age reported on research from Google stating 56 percent of digital ads are never seen by humans. This news will undoubtedly further upset the digital dimwits at Kraft and Unilever—even though 56 percent sounds pretty optimistic. Hell, of the 44 percent that allegedly are viewable, probably 99 percent are ignored.

The World Wide Web was not intended to accommodate advertising—at least not in the style that the overwhelming majority of advertisers and advertising agencies are shitting it out. Yet advertisers and agencies continue to seek fresh ways to force interruptive, inane messages upon the online public. Plus, sources such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. are increasingly open to prostituting platforms to position the Web as a profitable and viable advertising vehicle. And let’s not deny how agencies and media companies cheat the systems to inflate impressions and fabricate results. Then when it becomes crystal clear that the efforts are failing and futile, everyone starts whining, seeking to cast blame on all parties except themselves.

John Wanamaker is credited with having said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” With the Internet, the iconic phrase needs a total rewrite and recalculation, pending truthfully accurate data that no one associated with the creation of digital advertising will ever want to compile and share.

56% of Digital Ads Served Are Never Seen, Says Google

Report Comes as Industry Confronts Fraud, Poor Inventory Quality

By Alex Kantrowitz

An incredible 56.1% of ads on the internet are not seen by humans, according to new research released today by Google.

“With the advancement of new technologies we now know that many display ads that are served never actually have the opportunity to be seen by a user,” said Google group product manager Sanaz Ahari in a blog post.

Those ads appear outside the viewable area of a browser window. Once you factor in bots, even fewer ads are seen by the people advertisers are paying to reach.

The report comes at an uneasy time in the digital ad world, when fraud and poor inventory quality are raising doubts about the industry’s ability to deliver on what is sold to advertisers.

The publication of data from Google, the world’s largest ad-tech company, is likely to increase advertiser concerns about the trustworthiness of the digital ad industry supply chain. Google’s finding is based on information collected from its Doubleclick ad server and its display network in October 2014.

Google also found a smaller number of publishers with significantly greater numbers of unviewable ads, which skewed the numbers higher. The average publisher viewability is 50.2%, according to Google.

The report detailed a number of other findings about viewability based on data collected in July 2014. Among them: vertical ad units are the most viewable and placing ads above the fold does not guarantee viewability. Worth noting, Google does offer a viewability product called Active View, which may explain its decision to release the report to the public.

12278: Great Scott, Ridley!

From Medium…

Ridley Scott’s Explanation For Whitewashing His Exodus Movie Is Infuriating

By David Dennis, Jr.

Ridley Scott’s Exodus movie is still racist as shit. And his explanations as to why he chose to make his main characters of the Exodus story set in Egypt White while making the servants and thieves Black didn’t make me feel any better, either.

I have no clue if people will actually boycott Exodus: Gods And Kings. The movie might be a hit. It may tank. It may tank because it’s just not an appealing movie. It may tank because the #BoycottExodus movement really put a dent in the film’s promotional push. I don’t know what will happen. Here’s what I do know: I’m more convinced than ever that Ridley Scott doesn’t care that he whitewashed his movie.

Here’s what he said in a profile for Variety:

Like most high-profile religious pictures since Martin Scorsese’s 1988 “The Last Temptation of Christ,” “Exodus” became the subject of intense media scrutiny before Scott had ever exposed a frame of (digital) film on stages at London’s Pinewood Studios and on location in Spain. Much of the outcry online stemmed from his decision to cast white American, European and Australian actors in most of the key roles, no matter that the same could be said of “The Passion of the Christ,” “Noah,” “The Ten Commandments” and virtually any other big-budget Bible movies. “I can’t mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such,” Scott says. “I’m just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn’t even come up.”

I’m officially angry now.

Scott’s response is pompous, flippant and doesn’t make an ounce of sense. The idea that Ridley Scott can’t get a movie funded off of his name alone is absolutely ridiculous. He’s Ridley Scott for White Chrissakes. He could get $100 million off his name even if he cast a broomstick, the Aflac duck and Taylor Kitsch in a remake of Lady And The Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure. But let’s take his comments at face value. Maybe it is difficult to get funding for a movie without Hollywood stars even if the director is Ridley Scott. Does he have to make sure those stars are all White? It’s not like he doesn’t know any stars of color.

The Scott-directed American Gangster starred Denzel Washington, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Idris Elba. Gladiator featured Djimon Hounsou. Each of those actors has had box office success. In fact, American Gangster itself grossed more than $250 million with a nearly all-Black cast and Russell Crowe. So even if he didn’t cast “Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such” (which…seriously?), it’s not impossible to find actors of color who have track records of successful movies. And hey, if he’s concerned that a project won’t work without an all-White cast then maybe — and I’m just spitballing here — a movie set in Africa isn’t for him.

I’m insulted that Scott would even dare to give the “my hands were tied…I had to be racist” approach, hiding behind some archaic, fictional premise that Hollywood movies only work with White stars. He’s had months to come up with an answer and that’s the best he could conjure. And it doesn’t even begin to hold water. Just last year the top-grossing actor in Hollywood is a half-Samoan, half-Black former pro wrestler who looks exactly like a guy who could have been born and raised in ancient Egypt if ancient Egypt had a killer Crossfit gym. Scott upped the ante of his racist casting by insulting my intelligence, too.

As I mentioned in my original article about this movie, it’s not just the fact that Scott chose all-white stars for his film that bothers me. It’s the juxtaposition of those stars against the backdrop of people of color being portrayed as the slaves. So what’s Scott’s explanation for that? Do subservient Black characters help his box office prospects in the same way whitewashing does? Unfortunately, we don’t get the answers because the Variety article glosses over the racial issues and leaves Scott’s unbelievable comments to float in the air without follow-up or scrutiny. This, of course, is after a condescending paragraph dismissing the very valid objections about the movie’s casting.

I don’t know if Ridley Scott is lying here, covering up some sort of blatant whitewashing with a makeshift and useless excuse or if he really didn’t even consider having people of color in leading roles. And I’m not at all sure which answer is worse. Regardless, this is still cinematic colonialism. This is still whitewashing. This is still a $300 million exercise in erasing an entire race of people from their own history. It’s inexcusable that this movie could go from the conceptualizing phase to casting to production to marketing without anyone suggesting that the film have a modicum of cultural sensitivity and historical accuracy. It’s scary to think about how many people decided to let this happen.

The apathy towards the movie’s whitewashing isn’t confined to Scott’s “Mohammad So-and-So” (Again…seriously?) BS. There’s Joel Edgerton, who gave a “meh, oh well” response back in August: “It’s not my job to make those [casting] decisions…I got asked to do a job, and it would have been very hard to say no to that job.”

Apparently Edgerton looked around, noticed that the only thing Black about the main cast was their eyeliner and started to ask some questions; then his direct deposit came in and he said f*ck it. I hope the money was worth it.

I’m so sick and tired of people being flippant with my history while being dismissive of an entire culture’s impact on the landscape of modern civilization. I’m tired of teachers who told me that Egypt wasn’t really in Africa and movies that try to distance people of color from one of the world’s most advanced civilizations. If you get denied $300 million because you wanted to make a movie with accurate-looking characters not divided along racial lines, make a $150 million movie that doesn’t contribute to the subjugation of a substantial amount of people worldwide. I don’t need CGI locusts nearly as much as I want a movie that doesn’t look like Party Of Five: African Excursion.

What Ridley Scott and his cast are looking at is a film that could and should have been great. Scott has directed some of my favorite movies and I really wish I wanted to see Exodus as I’m sure it’s objectively a good-to-great movie. But his own close-mindedness and racist approach have ended my desire to see a second of the film. And I know of quite a few people who share that sentiment. Again, I’m not sure how much impact the boycott Exodus movement has done to the movie’s prospects, but I think it’s safe to say that — ironically — I think it would have fared better if Scott sent a few fliers out to “Mohammad so-and-so from the mean streets of such-and-such,” favoring authenticity over cultural negligence.

I ended the original piece about Exodus with, “Boycott the movie. Go see the movie. I don’t care.” It’s my one regret about the article. I do care. Boycott this movie. Let Hollywood (and Ridley Scott) know that whitewashing won’t be tolerated and simply slapping White faces on movie posters isn’t a tried-and-true formula for success anymore. If you’re going to tell our story, then treat us with respect. Until then, when it comes to seeing your movies, the question won’t even come up.

David Dennis, Jr. is a writer and editor based out of Atlanta (but it’s still WHO DAT all day). He’s currently an editor at Moguldom Media whose writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Smoking Section, Uproxx, Playboy, CNN Money, The Source, Complex.com and wherever people argue about things on the Internet. He’s a New Orleans Press Club award recipient and has been cited in Best Music Writing. He’s also a proud alum of Davidson College.

12277: Merry XXXmas.

Looks like mommy’s doing more than kissing Santa Claus this year.

From Ads of the World.

12276: Super Mario, Super Stupid.

From The New York Daily News…

Soccer star Mario Balotelli apologizes for Instagram post that has been criticized as racist and anti-Semitic

Balotelli uploaded a picture of the video game character Super Mario, with whom the Italy international shares a nickname, with text around the image including ‘jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew.’

By Bernie Augustine | NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Mario Balotelli was booked Tuesday for a social media post that’s been whistled offsides.

The Liverpool striker is facing an investigation by the English FA after he shared a photo on Instagram that’s been slammed as racist and anti-Semitic. The controversial photo shows Super Mario — the video game character that Balotelli shares a nickname with — leaping over a line of text that reads, “… jumps like a black man and grabs coin like a jew.”

“We are aware of it and we are looking into it,” the FA said Tuesday.

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) said the incident “reinforces the need for continued education” for footballers who use social media. “The situation regarding Mario Balotelli’s Instagram post… highlights how vigilant players need to be in all of their dealings with social media,” the PFA said in a statement.

“We strongly condemn all discriminatory language used in any context. We are working with clubs and the FA to ensure players are aware of the impact of inappropriate and unacceptable language regardless of the forum.”

If charged by the FA, Balotelli faces a five-match ban from Liverpool, which faces Leicester City later on Tuesday.

Balotelli — who has been the subject of racial taunts while playing in Italy and England — tried to defend his post by saying, “My Mom is jewish so all of u shut up please.” Balotelli was born in Sicily to Ghanaian immigrants but was raised by Italian foster parents. He became an Italian citizen the day after his 18th birthday.

The 24-year-old eventually relented and deleted the post from his Instagram page, which has 2.1 million followers, and later issued an apology.

“I apologize if I’ve offended anyone. The post was meant to be anti-racist with humour,” Balotelli wrote on Twitter. “Not all Mexicans have moustache, not all black people jump high and not all Jewish people love money.

“I used a cartoon by someone else because it has Super Mario and I thought it was funny and not offensive. Again, I’m sorry.”

The Super Mario meme appeared under the headline “Don’t be Racist!” in bright yellow type. Below that header it reads, “Be like Mario. He’s an Italian plumber, created by Japanese people, who speaks English and looks like a Mexican.”

— With News Wire Services

12275: Fist Raiser Gives Rams Thumbs Up.

From The New York Daily News…

John Carlos, who raised fist during 1968 Olympics, praises St. Louis Rams players

Carlos, who along with Tommie Smith famously raised their fists in a human rights salute while on the medal stand at the 1968 Olympics, said the five Rams’ players who mimicked the ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ pose used by Ferguson protesters had courage. ‘Their job was to go out and to play football, that doesn’t preclude them from what’s happening in society,’ he said.

By Meg Wagner | NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

One of the two black sprinters who defiantly raised his fist during the 1968 Olympics defended the five St. Louis Rams players who walked onto their home field Sunday, arms raised in solidarity with the Ferguson protesters.

Olympic bronze medalist John Carlos and his teammate, gold medalist Tommie Smith, earned front page headlines across the world during an era of dramatic racial tension just six months after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

While 46 years and 1,700 miles separate the 1968 Mexico City games and Sunday’s St. Louis Rams match, the two gestures carry the same message, Carlos, now 69 years old, told the Daily News Tuesday.

“(The Rams players) realize that there is a need for a voice and they had the right opportunity — like we did — to be that voice, to be heard.”

The Rams’ raised arms symbolized the rallying cry of Ferguson activists: “Hands up, don’t shoot!” The move pitted the team against furious St. Louis cops.

Ferguson, St. Louis and nationwide demonstrators have used the move while protesting the death of black teenager Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson. Some witnesses claim Wilson fired while the teen’s hands were raised.

Carlos said that while the five Rams — Kenny Britt, Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Jared Cook and Chris Givens — are professional football players, they are citizens first.

“Their job was to go out and to play football, that doesn’t preclude them from what’s happening in society,” he said. “They’re concerned about humanity, with young black kids being gun downed. This is rampant. This has been going on for some time. People are fed up.”

Carlos and Smith gained international fame during the 1968 Summer Games, first for their track and field wins for the USA and then for their silent, fist-up symbol while accepting their medals.

Originally, commentators dubbed the raised fists a Black Power salute, but the two later explained it was a call for human rights reform everywhere. The International Olympic Committee was furious with the political statement: while the two athletes got to keep their medals, they were suspended from the U.S. team and banned from the Olympic Village.

Carlos said his 1968 demonstration stemmed from a desire to “open people’s minds.” With an international audience, he felt it was his responsibility to bring the issue into the limelight.

“It’s anyone’s duty to speak up,” he said.

That’s the same calling the five Rams players felt on Sunday, he said.

“It takes courage. It takes willingness. It takes insight,” he said.

During the Rams’ Sunday home blowout against the Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Police demanded an apology from the team.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told his staff Monday that Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ chief operating officer, had made the apology. But the team quickly fired back to dismiss the claim: while the team had “positive discussions” with the force, it did not say sorry for the gesture.

Carlos said none of the five players needs to apologize.

“They speak volumes for those who cannot speak up,” he said.

12274: Translation Loses Beer Business.

Advertising Age reported Anheuser-Busch InBev cut its ties with Steve Stoute and Jay-Z of Translation, ultimately handing the shop’s duties to White advertising agencies BBDO and Anomaly. Translation is clearly going though tough times, with leadership shifts and account losses. It doesn’t help that the place has never produced consistently decent work. Having access to celebrity talent—even with an industry that loves hip hop—doesn’t equate to professional, sustainable success. Otherwise, Will.i.am would be the next Bill Bernbach.

A-B InBev Ends Relationship With Translation

The Shop Was Lead Agency for ‘Made in America’

By E.J. Schultz

Anheuser-Busch InBev has cut its final ties with Translation, which has served as the lead ad agency for Budweiser’s much-hyped Made in America summer music festival curated by Jay Z.

The shop first won its way on to the brewer’s roster in 2011 and was named lead agency for Bud Light in 2012. BBDO won the Bud Light account in 2013. Translation managed to hang onto Bud Light line extensions like Platinum until earlier this year, until BBDO took that business too.

That left Translation with only the Made in America business. The shop, founded by former music exec Steve Stoute, played a key role in the 2012 launch of the Made in America event, which has served as a key plank in the brewer’s millennial marketing strategy. The concert originally was staged in Philadelphia and was expanded to Los Angeles this year.

Anomaly, which is the lead shop for Budweiser, will assume Made in America duties, according to an A-B InBev spokeswoman. Asked about what the move means for the brewer’s partnership with Jay Z, she said: “We have an ongoing, global relationship with Shawn ‘Jay Z’ Carter. It will continue.”

She described the consolidation with Anomaly as a “synergy” move that was not tied to Translation’s performance. Mr. Stoute did not immediately reply to an email for comment. The brewer has yet to announce plans for the 2015 music festival. Other organizations that have been involved with the festival include Jay Z’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, and Live Nation.

12273: UK White Adwomen Thrive.

The Drum published an article—“A quarter of senior management in advertising are women, finds IPA Agency Census—but is that still simply too low?”—which included commentary from a handful of White female ad honchos in the UK.

According to research from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), women comprise at least 49 percent of the UK advertising workforce and 25.6 percent of senior-level roles. Additionally, women comprise 27 percent of digital creatives, up from 15 percent in 2013. In short, women in UK advertising—particularly White women—are making natural and significant strides that have surely been happening long before efforts like The 3% Conference jumped on the bandwagon. After all, White women have always enjoyed much easier access to the advertising field, whether joining via legitimate credentials or through administrative assistant positions, nepotism, cronyism and even as the mistresses of account directors and creative directors. While White men have certainly stalled women’s industry infiltration, the boundaries are continuing to diminish as the years go by.

In contrast, minorities continue to face the same bigoted barriers that have been around for too many decades. Even MediaCom UK CEO Karen Blackett—recognized as the most influential Black person in Britain—admits to experiencing racial bias from peers and clients. And Blackett is only 43 years old.

So why does racial, ethnic and cultural discrimination take a back seat to the supposed woes of White women? The dearth of dames in the advertising industry is certainly cause for concern. But the institutionalized dearth of diversity is cause for criminal charges.

12272: Storming Stupid Critics.

From The New York Daily News…

John Boyega, star of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ responds to ‘black stormtrooper’ tweets: ‘Get used to it’

The British actor takes to Instagram amid criticism about a black man wearing the uniform of the saga’s legendary villains in the new trailer for ‘Episode VII’

By Gersh Kuntzman | NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Is he on the dark side…or the light?

A black actor who created a disturbance in the Force after he donned the uniform of an Imperial stormtrooper in a much-anticipated “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” trailer has told curious fans to “get used to it.”

Many fans took to the internet after the trailer was posted online on Friday — with some criticizing director J.J. Abrams for casting a black actor to portray a stormtrooper.

But actor John Boyega responded cheekily on Instagram, saying a bit sarcastically, “Thank you for all the love and support! The fan mail…has added to my joy!”

He then added, “To whom it may concern…Get used to it. :)”

It is, of course, unclear if Boyega’s character is one of the Empire’s soldiers or merely wearing the stormtrooper uniform — as heroes Luke Skywalker and Han Solo did in the original “Star Wars” film when they infiltrated the Death Star to free Princess Leia.

The “Episode VII” trailer, which also features a new villain with a menacing three-bladed lightsaber, has been viewed more than 40 million times since Friday.

12271: Ramming A Protest.

From The New York Daily News…

St. Louis police officers upset over Rams players’ ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ gesture before game, demand apology

St. Louis Police Officers Association called for a ‘very public apology’ and wants the players involved disciplined by the team or NFL after five Rams players came onto the field with their hands raised in a gesture of solidarity with protesters in nearby Ferguson, Mo.

By Nicole Hensley, Reuven Blau, Bill Hutchinson | NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

St. Louis cops are demanding “a very public apology” from their hometown football team after five Rams players did a pregame “hands-up-don’t-shoot” gesture of solidarity with protesters in nearby Ferguson.

The St. Louis Police Officers Association immediately condemned the players, saying it was “profoundly disappointed” in the coordinated move, which came during pregame introductions Sunday at St. Louis’ Edward Jones Dome.

The five black players — Jared Cook, Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey and Chris Given — came onto the field with their hands raised, a pose that has become symbol of the ongoing protest over the police shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown.

“I just think there has be to a change,” said tight end Cook. “There has to be change that starts with the people that are most influential around the world.”

The action came during the Rams’ first home game since the Nov. 24 announcement that Officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for the Aug. 9 shooting of Brown, 18. The players’ gesture also came on day after Wilson resigned from the Ferguson Police Department.

Some witnesses said Brown had his hands raised when he was shot to death, but others, including Wilson, told the grand jury that Brown was charging after the cop when he was shot.

The St. Louis police union statement said the players “chose to ignore the mountains of evidence” released by the grand jury and engaged “in a display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory.”

The group called for the players to be disciplined and accused the Rams and the NFL of being hypocritical.

“We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation,” the NFL said in a statement to The News.

Union business manager Jeff Roorda said it was “way out-of-bounds” for the players to conduct an on-field protest while being protected by officers who have been working 12-hour shifts and even gave up their Thanksgiving holiday to defend their community.

Meanwhile, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said Sunday that Wilson did not receive a severance package when he resigned.

Wilson left the force Saturday in response to death threats against other officers, his lawyer said Sunday.

“The information we had was that there would be actions targeting the Ferguson (police) department or buildings in Ferguson related to the police department,” his attorney, Neil Bruntrager, told the Associated Press.

Wilson was on the force for three years.

Wilson’s resignation letter stated that his “continued employment may put residents and police officers of the city of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance I cannot allow.”

Nicole Hensley reported from Ferguson, Mo.

With Stephen Rex Brown, Bernie Augustine and News Wire Services

12270: Messing With Mariachi Bands.

From The Los Angeles Times…

Mariachi Plaza development plan worries L.A. musicians

By Esmeralda Bermudez

The mariachis of Los Angeles have flocked to their plaza for nearly 80 years — to sing, to hustle for work, to pass the time.

In the last decade, they’ve seen the Boyle Heights square transformed: Their favorite doughnut shop went away, and a Metro Gold Line station was built, along with a sleek stage. The Boyle Hotel, where so many musicians have lived, was given a face-lift.

The changes brought some inconvenience — drilling, dust and construction scaffolding — but the renovations, many said, have been worth it. There are big concerts now, and lots more visitors.

But the latest plan to remake Mariachi Plaza, this time into a modern shopping center, has the community worried that the mariachis’ livelihood and their cultural center could be threatened, even wiped out.

The proposal calls for a significant overhaul of the corner of 1st and Boyle streets. Buildings that now house an ice cream shop and a restaurant, among other businesses, would be torn down and two new structures would be built: one an eight-story building with six levels of parking and two floors of medical offices, and the other three stories housing a gym, restaurants and stores.

“Everything will change,” said Arturo Ramirez, president of the Los Angeles United Mariachis Organization. “What we want to know is, what will happen to us? We’re a community, and this is our home.”

Mariachi Plaza is the historic gateway to the neighborhood, a quaint and beloved space that resembles Mexico’s famed Plaza Garibaldi.

Here, musicians from across Los Angeles have gathered since the 1930s in hope of being hired by someone in search of a full band, trio or solo singer.

Front and center in the square stands a ceremonial cobblestone kiosk, a gift from the governor of the Mexican state of Jalisco. Along the north end, the plaza’s backdrop includes low-slung buildings housing several mom-and-pop establishments that operate in sync with the mariachis.

They provide meals and outdoor seating for musicians, pass out the mariachis’ business cards and feature images of musicians on murals splashed across their walls.

“We all know each other,” said Armando Salazar, who has owned Restaurant Santa Cecilia for 23 years. “If this change happens, rents will probably go up, and only big chains and corporations will be able to move in.”

The development plan, still in the beginning stages, is being orchestrated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns most of the land.

The agency faced a public backlash last month when it submitted the project for initial approval. Mariachis and business owners said they were kept in the dark before the move, and they called for major changes to the plan.

The musicians would prefer a development that brings more mariachi-friendly business: restaurants and shops catering to Latinos.

“Why would a gym want to have anything to do want with mariachis?” Salazar said.

Metro officials, who said that the bidding process had limited them from releasing information, promised to conduct plenty of community outreach in the months ahead.

“The perception is that this proposal is fully cooked and there’s no room for input, but that’s a big misunderstanding,” said Jenna Hornstock, Metro’s deputy executive officer for countywide planning and development.

Because of complaints, the agency has delayed moving ahead with the proposal until February.

In Boyle Heights, a tight-knit community known for its ability to organize, the development plan probably will continue to generate criticism. Residents along 1st Street already were on edge about potential gentrification creeping in from downtown.

In an effort to smooth over community fears, the project developer has said that the mariachi tradition is precisely what attracted the firm to the site; the proposal submitted to the county, Arturo Sneider of Primestor Development added, was simply a first step.

“Our goal is to find out what the community needs the most and what’s feasible,” Sneider said.

But whatever the final plans look like, the mariachis will remain the heart of the square.

“They will continue doing exactly what they do — looking for work and playing music,” Sneider said. “We just look forward to elevating what’s already there.”