7276: On Procter & Gamble’s Radar.

Target Market News spotlighted a story on Procter & Gamble’s alleged interest in multicultural marketing. The headline—P&G says growing African-American, Hispanic consumer markets are ‘on our radar’—seemed to imply the company was presenting some type of revelation along the lines of the recent mutterings from Mickey D’s and Coca-Cola marketing executives. Yet the full extent of it all is captured in the following excerpt:

“Very much on our radar screen is what will happen between now and 2050 in terms of the demographics of the U.S. population, where minorities move to a majority,” CFO Jon Moeller said. “We need to ensure we have products and messages and connections with Hispanic consumers, with African-American consumers.”

Look for P&G to likely lounge around for the next 40 years before getting serious about the colored blips on its radar screen.

It’s tough to feign interest in anything the Cincinnati-based advertiser has to say about multicultural marketing. As MultiCultClassics has noted in the past, P&G once announced plans to distribute more assignments to minority agencies. Any tangible results are difficult to see. There are still instances where White agencies handle projects that ought to be with minority shops. In these scenarios, the multicultural experts are relegated to consultant roles, offering input on the White storyboards and layouts.

Additionally, P&G is another major client that has the ability to do something breakthrough in the industry: award total AOR status to a minority shop. Given the numerous brands in their arsenal, it should be easy to let a non-White partner completely manage one. Instead, P&G seems to believe it’s doing the right thing by sponsoring segregated efforts like My Black Is Beautiful.

Real progress doesn’t appear to be on Procter & Gamble’s radar.

(FYI, the photo above depicts P&G Leaders from the company’s 2009 Annual Report.)