Essay 2017

Adweek published a story detailing how advertisers responded to the Don Imus incident. Here’s an outrageous excerpt:

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One sponsor, General Motors, said the company wouldn’t rule out advertising on Imus if he returned to the airwaves on another station. After GM initially pulled its ads last Wednesday, the automaker noted that because Imus had apologized and promised to make changes in his program, it was “monitoring” the situation. Asked for clarification, company spokeswoman Ryndee Carney said, “I think that would indicate that we were open to revisiting at some point down the road” returning to the broadcast.

Carney said that if Imus does land somewhere else in radio land, and “if an opportunity is presented to us [to advertise], we would assess it just like we do all the other opportunities that come our way.”

“We obviously don’t condone his statements, but we have found value advertising on Imus in the past,” said Carney. “Up to this point, the good has outweighed the bad.” She said GM would continue to support Imus’ charitable causes.

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Damn.

So many folks have blasted the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton for alleged hypocrisy during the Imus debacle. But General Motors clearly deserves to have its nameplate placed at the top of the official Hypocrites List.

After all, here’s a corporation that employs multicultural agencies to reach minority audiences. General Motors runs diversity advertisements and programs that claim to recognize and respect minorities.

It’s clear that General Motors loves minorities — but only when doing so meets profit objectives.

General Motors ultimately shows why the efforts of Jackson and Sharpton are more necessary than ever.

[Click on the essay title above to view an example of GM’s pandering and hypocrisy.]