Digiday published companion content to the recent confessions series installment that showed how Black publishers—as a result of broken promises and declining interest from brands and White advertising and media companies who pledged support—are now struggling financially and suffering from being labeled MFAs (made-for-advertising sites).
These reports consistently underscore that the game is rigged against Black-owned businesses and media—plus, the commitments uttered in 2020 turned out to be performative PR and blatant lies.
Most peculiar is the animated illustration accompanying the story (depicted above), displaying Black hands and money. The coins should have displayed ¢ versus $—or, more appropriately, been replaced by crumbs.
Some Black-owned publications push back on MFA reform amid declining traffic
By Kayleigh Barber and Sara Guagloine
Some Black-owned publishers feel the crackdown on made-for-advertising sites (MFAs) unfairly puts them at a disadvantage — particularly while grappling with declining referral traffic from social platforms.
More ad dollars are making their way to Black-owned publishers, as a result of agencies’ commitments to spend a percentage of their media budgets with Black-owned publishers after the media reckoning spurred by the murder of George Floyd in 2020. However, declining referral traffic from sources such as Facebook this year means some of those publishers are struggling to fulfill the ad impressions required in their deals with advertisers.
(Read the full report here.)
Post-George Floyd, I personally saw brands make great pledges to "invest in minority-owned business," then turn around and shovel all the work to businesses owned by white women.
ReplyDeleteThey then had the audacity to issue press releases and statements and speak on industry panels crowing about the "increased spend with minorities."
Because they defined "minority" as "including white women," and that's where they put and continue to put all their dollars.