16323: How Multicultural Marketers Might Have Prevented Bud Light Mess.

 

To play off the thought of the previous post, the Bud Light–Dylan Mulvaney scenario might have been averted if multicultural marketers—or multicultural marketing practices at least—had been integrated.

 

For starters, Bud Light faces a significant—albeit common—challenge experienced by big brands today; that is, how to connect with a huge audience featuring diverse sub-segments.

 

The former Bud Light VP of Marketing reportedly sought to make the beer less “fratty” and more “inclusive”—yet seemingly did not consider that the “fratty” folks might negatively react to being in the same party with “inclusive” drinkers.

 

InBev and Bud Light have been sorta secretive about identifying the advertising agency, media firm, or whomever was behind the Dylan Mulvaney promotion, so it’s tough to call out the culprit—if there even is one.

 

But it could be argued that the creators failed to utilize a multicultural marketing fundamental: crossover appeal. While the term has a variety of meanings, there are applications for Bud Light. In short, multicultural marketers must always direct the message to its specific, intended audience—while being cognizant of how the concept might play across audiences. Apparently, no one was legitimately woke in this scenario.

 

Just a thought.

 

PS, To make a sloppy segue, check out the source of this post’s illustration depicted above.

16284: ‘Woke’ Advertising Is Joke Advertising—As In Hilariously Culturally Clueless.

 

Digiday published a report on brands expressing mixed opinions and concerns over ‘woke’ advertising, mostly responding to the recent boycotts, backlashes, and bad press ignited by Bud Light, Miller Lite, and adidas.

 

Seems like brands need only consider at least three basic angles:

 

1. What’s the true motivation behind any proposed ‘woke’ communication? That is, does it seek to reflect the brand’s values or is it patronizing propaganda?

 

2. What’s the marketing objective? How will the brand benefit from publicizing its politics and purpose?

 

3. What’s the intended audience response? And more importantly, will the message polarize and politicize the audience? That is, does a sizable segment present biased and bigoted attitudes toward ‘woke’ communications?

 

In these times when research and data drive every decision, it’s astounding if these communications aren’t undergoing pre-testing via focus groups—which could be renamed ‘woke’-us groups.

 

How the push for anti-‘woke’ advertising could create controversy for brand startups

 

By Kimeko McCoy

 

Recently, purpose-driven and inclusive marketing has found itself under fire, with “woke” advertising from Bud Light, Miller Lite and Adidas in the spotlight. It’s left marketers of all sizes questioning the future of inclusivity-themed campaigns, partnerships and imagery.

 

But marketers at startups and direct-to-consumer brands in particular, have mixed opinions on whether to push forward with purpose-driven marketing as the stakes for losing business may be a bit higher when it comes to boycotts and bad press.

 

For some companies, like LGBTQ+ healthcare brand Folx Health and August, a period care company, inclusive marketing is a no-brainer. But for others, like Glamnetic beauty brand, the public pushback to so-called woke advertising creates uncertainty and fear of upsetting potential shoppers.

 

The startup, which launched back in 2019, has had Pride-themed initiatives in the past, including launching rainbow colored beauty products and donating to gender-inclusive non-profit organizations. The latter of those efforts will continue, per Ann McFerran, CEO and co-founder of Glamnetic, but promotion won’t be as visible as prior years.

 

“You have to tread carefully there,” said McFerran. “As a brand, we’re not a political company.” Seemingly, there’s been a pendulum swing from brands presenting themselves as not “woke” enough to too “woke,” she added.

 

Marketers have been flocking to the idea of deeper meaning behind the brand, or purpose, even before the pandemic. But after Covid-19, the murder of George Floyd, the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, voter suppression and other societally pivotal moments, the idea of brand purpose was revisited as a must-have marketing strategy.

 

Strategists, however, warned brands of the dangers of lauding positive campaigns for good PR and in hopes to be on the so-called right side of history. Case in point: Pepsi’s brand value dropped by 4% to $18.3 billion after its Kendall Jenner campaign disaster back in 2016, as reported by Marketing Week. Albeit, Pepsi’s initiative was critiqued as a shallow commitment–a danger zone for brands, per strategists.

 

According to agency executives, brand purpose is a long game that takes commitment, especially as each passing generation has higher expectations of brand beliefs and values.

 

“The leaders of these big portfolio companies, they’re obviously driven by revenue and commercial success,” said Akbar Hamid, founder and CEO of The 5th Column communication and marketing agency. “It’s important to create specific campaigns that build your community, not your consumer.”

 

It’s a message that the team at Folx and August have taken to heart, albeit their companies are founded on ideas of inclusivity and gender non-discrimination. Even in the face of potential backlash, inclusivity is paramount.

 

“From a business perspective, we stand for inclusivity,” said Nadya Okamoto, co-founder of It’s August period care and wellness company. “We stand for these things because we believe in it. We know that backlash might come about.”

 

In talking about how period care extends to all genders, Okamoto said she often gets death threats. Still, she said, “I’m taking my bets as a business owner that we are going to stand for what we believe in.” Consumer trust is at an all time low, but brands can benefit from being strong in what they believe in, she added.

 

The three-year-old company is still sorting through what Pride campaigns look like in the future. But for now, work is inclusive year-round, per Okamoto.

 

It’s a similar notion that Liana Guzman, CEO of Folx Health, holds. “Consumers today are much more sophisticated around wanting to make sure that companies are not just talking the talk, but they’re walking the walk as well,” Guzman said.

 

And the numbers speak to that; 94 % of consumers say that “supporting brands that care about environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues is as important as it was 12 months ago, despite inflation,” according to research from Barkley ad agency.

 

For Pride this year, the health company is partnering with the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition for a one-month fundraising campaign to improve the lives of 491 trans people for a year. It’s a push to show that purpose-driven marketing isn’t synonymous with propaganda. Also that brands should be leveraging social moments and their position of power to drive change, she said.

 

“When you think about purpose-driven marketing, what is the purpose? That, you have to ask yourself,” Guzman said. “And if the purpose is to leverage the social moment to drive growth, that is a selfish purpose that is not really about the community.”

14371: Burger King Fanning Flames…?

This Burger King commercial is borrowed interest and patronizing bullshit. But that’s just one blog’s prejudiced opinion.

13681: Garden-Variety Lunacy.

Campaign reported on the latest installment of the Erin Johnson-Gustavo Martinez soap opera, with lawyers exchanging pre-trial jabs. Here’s one point worth noting:

Also under contention is the subpoena of Johnson’s medical records. Lawyers for the defense have requested authorization to subpoena her mental health records, which Johnson lawyers have declined to provide.

Earlier this week, Martinez’s lawyer Ricki Roer filed a letter to the court requesting to address “a defendant’s entitlement to discovery of plaintiff’s psychological/mental health records, even when only ‘garden variety’ emotional distress damages are claimed.”

Wow, Martinez and his lawyers are lowdown assholes. Has anyone inquired about Martinez’s mental state? Based on everything recorded to date, the man is a garden-variety bigot, misogynist and moron.

Johnson, WPP battle over access to sensitive documents as TBWA is pulled into drama

By Eleftheria Parpis

The holding company’s lawyers seek to keep its internal investigation private while asking to see Johnson’s emails about an alleged job offer.

As the Erin Johnson lawsuit against J. Walter Thompson, WPP and former CEO Gustavo Martinez inches its way to trial, the legal teams are butting heads over the admissibility of sensitive documents.

In documents filed with the US Southern District Court on Wednesday, lawyers for WPP and JWT requested a protective order to stop Johnson, JWT’s Chief Communications Officer, from subpoenaing documents pertaining to the internal investigation conducted by Bettina Plevan, a partner at law firm Proskauer Rose, in the weeks after Johnson filed her sexual harassment lawsuit. Howard J. Rubin, partner at WPP legal firm Davis & Gilbert, claims that the report, which details the substance of Plevan’s interviews with 32 current and former agency employees, is protected by attorney-client privilege.

The defense is also seeking a protective order to block access to documents related to a report prepared by Merrick Rossein, an employment law professor and human resources consultant who provided equal-employment training to Martinez and counsel to the agency’s legal team after the suit was filed, including advice about the retention of Martinez in an executive position elsewhere at the holding company.

Reports summarizing the findings were shared with Johnson and the legal team from Vladeck, Raskin & Clark “subject to an agreement that Plaintiff would treat the reports as confidential,” writes Rubin.

The defense is also arguing that Johnson should be compelled to turn over documents “relating to her efforts to seek alternative employment, including at another advertising agency, TBWA Worldwide.”

It was earlier revealed that Johnson had been offered a job at Omnicom’s TBWA\Chiat\Day before filing her suit, but turned it down, telling Martinez in a text that she was “loyal” to him and “felt like we had a good year together.” The defense lawyers argue that any documents related to that job offer are relevant “to whether she believed she was experiencing harassment and/or retaliatory treatment,” and whether her working environment at JWT was “as hostile or retaliatory as she claims.”

Asked whether the agency had been contacted by attorneys regarding the case, a TBWA spokeswoman said, “We haven’t received the subpoena yet and can’t comment.”

The flurry of memos filed Wednesday also included a request from the defense lawyers for a 60-day extention of the discovery deadline, citing Johnson’s “voluminous and burdensome discovery requests.” Johnson’s legal team has subpoenaed Plevan and Rossein for all documents related to the case, including communications that concern Martinez’s “ability to use the English language,” a defense lawyers for Martinez and WPP have used to explain Johnson’s claims that Martinez regularly made comments about rape and sex, using terms like “talk about the sex” and “sex of angels.”

The plaintiffs are also attempting to subpoena all documents about behavior and statements Martinez made “with respect to women or their appearance,” “Jews or Westchester County,” “people of color,” the Miami corporate meeting where Martinez was recorded making a rape joke, and female employees like global president Claire Capeci, who Martinez, claim Johnson’s lawyers, said was “bossy” and should be “hogtied” or “raped.”

The legal teams met last month with Magistrate Judge James C. Francis to discuss discovery but were unsuccessful in attempts to reach an agreement.

Also under contention is the subpoena of Johnson’s medical records. Lawyers for the defense have requested authorization to subpoena her mental health records, which Johnson lawyers have declined to provide.

Earlier this week, Martinez’s lawyer Ricki Roer filed a letter to the court requesting to address “a defendant’s entitlement to discovery of plaintiff’s psychological/mental health records, even when only ‘garden variety’ emotional distress damages are claimed.”

At the conference on April 26, states Roer in the letter, Johnson “for the first time stipulated” that she would be “claiming ‘only garden variety’ emotional damages.” The judge approved the team’s request to file a motion.

Calls to representatives for WPP and Johnson for comment were not immediately returned.

The current deadline for discovery is May 26.

13639: Scarcity & Scarier.

Digiday interviewed Karmarama Chief Strategy Officer and PrideAM Founder Mark Runacus, who stated, “…People often fear the bigoted minority who will create a backlash.” Okay, but the scarier problems usually come from the bigoted majority. Digiday also pointed to research indicating LGBT people constitute only .06% of people in ads. Not sure how the figure could be valid, as commercial actors are not typically required to supply such personal data. Wonder how the true percentage compares to similar stats for racial and ethnic minorities underrepresented in adverts.

Agency exec on scarcity of LGBT people in ads: ‘People fear the bigoted minority’

By Grace Caffyn

As Kendall Jenner’s ad catastrophe at Pepsi illustrates, those who hitch their wagon to socio-political causes (however vague) can, and do, get burned.

Agencies’ fear of this, according to chief strategy officer at Karmarama and PrideAM founder Mark Runacus, is what’s holding the industry back from better representing its audiences, including those lumped together in the LGBT umbrella: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and other variations of sexual and gender identity.

Case in point: According to research from Lloyd’s Banking Group, which examined 1,300 ads from 40 top-spending brands, LGBT people make up just .06 percent of people in ads.

We spoke to Runacus about his thoughts on the issue. Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

You’ve said previously that agency planners are holding back representation of LGBT people in advertising. Tell me more.

It comes from both sides, but agencies are more often the blockage than the client. This happens for two reasons: ignorance and fear. First, there is an expectation you only include LGBT content if you’re targeting the so-called “pink pound.” But the community doesn’t like being ghettoized, and that term is actually offensive. We don’t think of ourselves in that way. Second, people often fear the bigoted minority who will create a backlash.

Give me an example.

They know who they are, and they’ll have heard my comments. Hopefully they have managed to work through that ignorance.

So some planners still see LGBT audiences as niche?

Often it’s because they think their brand isn’t relevant to LGBT audiences. It’s right that as planners we should think of how to target and better communicate with an audience, but it’s wrong to only include LGBT content if you are targeting LGBT people. We know that 49 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds don’t identify as straight or gay; this is part of everyday life for them. So for modern brands with purpose, it’s important to use this diverse content to create better engagement.

What are the challenges for agencies wanting to get this right?

The main challenge is understanding how to communicate without falling into stereotypes. But LGBT people don’t always have to be front and center, just part of real life. When it’s done well, like the recent Lloyd’s Bank advert, it’s fantastic. It can be done.

Does a lack of diversity inside agencies make this harder? You’ve mentioned before that the ‘scariness’ of making inclusive ads is amplified by agencies that aren’t diverse.

Agencies are still not inclusive enough. There are leaders in the advertising community who are predominantly white, middle-class men. It’s proven that when you remove homogeneity, you create an environment that’s more creative. If we’re reflective of our target audience, I’m confident we’re much less likely to witness this fear and ignorance I’ve talked about.

How so?

Agencies should challenge the existing recruitment process, for example, by reviewing CVs anonymously and doing one-on-one interviews. Young people aren’t convinced in you saying you’re actually doing it; they want to see it. For instance, does your website look inclusive? Do you have gender-neutral toilets? This all shows you’ve paid attention to the detail. However, I’m optimistic as I’m surrounded by young people who believe we have to change.

Do brands care enough?

There are loads of people who want to do this because trust in advertising is at an all-time low. Brands are vying for attention, and if they do this authentically and sensitively, they will connect better with consumers. But brands aren’t challenging agencies enough to accurately reflect their current and aspirational audience with an understanding of how progressive the U.K. population is today. In their briefs, brands need to include a challenge. Agencies will then be empowered to respond.

What’s your advice to brands?

It’s important that you’re authentic, which starts by looking within. If consumers can see that the brand’s external manifestation is a genuine representation of what happens inside its walls, they shouldn’t be fearful. If companies have an LGBT network, they should ask how they want to be portrayed and use them as a powerful insight and advocacy tool. Then, in an unlikely event of a backlash, they’ll have ready-made supporters.

13341: Airing Cultural Cluelessness.

Advertising Age and Adweek aired stories of cultural cluelessness from Air China and Airbnb. There must be something in the air.

Air China airdropped an in-flight magazine that offered the following travel advice:

“London is generally a safe place to travel, though precautions are needed when entering areas mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis and black people.”

Adland has apparently taken the tip to heart, based on the lack of Blacks employed in the local White advertising agencies.

Airbnb admitted to bias ‘n bigotry, and will now require hosts seeking to rent space to agree with the following statement:

We believe that no matter who you are, where you are from, or where you travel, you should be able to belong in the Airbnb community. By joining this community, you commit to treat all fellow members of this community, regardless of race, religion, national origin, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or age, with respect, and without judgment or bias.

Don’t expect Madison Avenue members to sign a similar proclamation to belong in the advertising community.

Airing one’s discriminatory laundry is a common occurrence these days.

11119: Greeting Bigotry.

From The New York Daily News…

Muslim terrorist doll on birthday card angers Council on American-Islamic Relations: ‘blatant bigotry’

The card, released by a company called Noble Works, contains phrases such as ‘She’ll blow your brains out!’

By David Knowles / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A New Jersey greeting card maker’s motto may be “Dare to laugh,” but don’t tell that to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Noble Works, the company that released a birthday card that features a digitally altered version of an hijab-wearing Muslim doll along with several incendiary phrases, finds itself under fire from the council.

“I see blatant bigotry,” Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told WGN.

The card’s cover, which says “Pull string for message, if you dare!” uses a photo of “Aamina, the Muslim Doll,” a children’s toy that teaches Arabic phrases and greetings when a string is pulled.

Further text meant to portray the doll as a suicide bomber reads, “She’ll blow your brains out!” and “She’ll love you to death!” Inside, the card contains the punchline “Hope your birthday is a blowout!”

Rehab says that reducing the children’s toy to a terrorist promotes harmful stereotypes of Muslims.

“It basically correlates Muslims and terrorism,” Rehab told WGN. “There’s nothing about that doll, other than that she’s a Muslim, that caused the makers of the card to think it was funny to put blurbs on the box of the doll to say, ‘Let me blow you up!’”

As Noble Works states on its website, all of its cards are printed on demand. In Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, the card of the Muslim doll was noticed at a stationery store called He Who Eats Mud, where it reportedly sold out.

“I can only imagine folks and friends who receive or read our cards, can help but wonder as to whether laughing is the appropriate thing to do,” Noble Works’ owner, Ron Kanfi, said on the company’s website. “But as our motto goes: “F--- ‘em if they can’t take a joke!”

Rehab counters that he can take a joke but that this one just wasn’t funny.

“I would urge him to make fun of us, but do it intelligently. Humor ought to have even a minimal amount of intelligence,” Rehab said. “But when it lacks all intelligence, and is the same kind of message you get out of a white supremacist group, it’s not so funny.”

11062: Imagine That.

There’s something peculiar about the Anti-Defamation League speaking out against bigotry and prejudice via a commercial produced by a New York City advertising agency whose leadership looks like most New York City advertising agencies—that is, predominately White women and White men.

10519: Bigot Bash.

USA TODAY reported White supremacists will hold a gala get-together in Tennessee. The event is being organized by Stormfront, a “White Pride, White Power” website. Stormfront’s proprietor, ironically, is a moron named Don Black.

White supremacists to gather in Tenn.

By Anita Wadhwani, The (Nashville) Tennessean

A Caucasian heritage and $75 are the price of entry into this weekend’s international conference for white supremacists in East Tennessee organized by Stormfront, the oldest website devoted to the “white pride, white power” movement.

Like a Facebook for white supremacists, Stormfront is the virtual gathering space for like-minded people to meet, post and respond to messages, tell jokes and offer political commentary in a variety of labeled discussion groups that range from “fighting white genocide” to poetry.

The Tennessee conference represents a rare offline gathering for Stormfront members. The two-day agenda includes a luncheon and workshops on immigration, political organizing and communications by some of the movement’s best-known contemporary leaders.

“This will be a national conference, drawing people from around the United States and Canada,” said Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research for the Anti-Defamation League, which monitors hate groups. But the 150-mile radius surrounding the meeting includes concentrations of active supremacist groups most likely to attend, he said.

Former presidential candidate David Duke will lead “an informal nature walk through the Smokies” on Day 2 of the conference, which begins Saturday. Duke is the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and Louisiana lawmaker. The conference is limited to 150 people, but it’s unclear how many will attend.

More than 30 white supremacist organizations operate in Tennessee, representing the five strains of supremacists, according to the Anti-Defamation League. They are neo-Nazis, racist skinheads, “traditional” movements like the Ku Klux Klan, racist prison gangs and “Christian identity” groups that espouse the belief that God favors white people.

Paul Fromm, a Canadian resident who broadcasts his own online radio show from Ontario via the Stormfront site, is coming to the conference to give a presentation about the perils of immigration in North America.

“Basically if the present trends continue, the founding set of people will be a minority in America in 2041,” Fromm said.

10446: More Musings On Moronic Megan Lochte.

The incredibly ignorant Megan Lochte has inspired a few additional thoughts.

Considering how triple jumper Voula Papachristou was dumped from Greece’s Olympic team for her culturally clueless Tweets mocking African immigrants—and officials at Euro 2012 were ready to penalize teams, countries and fans for racist behavior—it would be appropriate for Ms. Lochte to experience similar reprimands. For starters, she should be banned from attending any future Olympic events. And like the Euro 2012 teams and countries connected with bigots, the Ryan Lochte posse should be punished for its association with Ms. Lochte. After all, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Additionally, if there is truth in Ms. Lochte’s excuse that her 2008 performance was actually a staged skit, Maryland late night comedy talk show Closing Time, as well as its Baltimore-based comical host Mickey Cucchiella, should face disciplinary action too. Finally, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where Ms. Lochte studied multicultural marketing, owes an explanation regarding its curriculum.

10140: Quit Using ‘Oaxaquita.’

From The Los Angeles Times…

Epithet that divides Mexicans is banned by Oxnard school district

‘Oaxaquita’ (little Oaxacan) is used by other Mexicans to demean their indigenous compatriots — who are estimated to make up 30% of California’s farmworkers.

By Paloma Esquivel, Los Angeles Times

Rolando Zaragoza, 21, was 15 years old when he came to the United States, enrolled in an Oxnard school and first heard the term “Oaxaquita.” Little Oaxacan, it means — and it was not used kindly.

“Sometimes I didn’t want to go to school,” he said. “Sometimes I stayed to fight.”

“It kind of seemed that being from Oaxaca was something bad,” said Israel Vasquez, 23, who shared the same mocking, “just the way people use ‘Oaxaquita’ to refer to anyone who is short and has dark skin.”

Years later, indigenous leaders are fighting back against an epithet that lingers among immigrants from Mexico, directed at their own compatriots. Earlier this month the Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project in Oxnard launched the “No me llames Oaxaquita” campaign. “Don’t call me little Oaxacan” aims to persuade local school districts to prohibit the words “Oaxaquita” and “indito” (little Indian) from being used on school property, to form committees to combat bullying and to encourage lessons about indigenous Mexican culture and history.

Indigenous Mexicans have come to the U.S. in increasing numbers in the last two decades. Some estimates now put them at 30% of California’s farmworkers. In Ventura County, there are about 20,000 indigenous Mexicans, most of whom are Mixtec from the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero who work in the strawberry industry, according to local organizers.

Many speak little or no Spanish and are frequently subjected to derision and ridicule from other Mexicans. The treatment follows a legacy of discrimination toward indigenous people in Mexico, said William Perez, a professor of education at Claremont Graduate University who has interviewed and surveyed numerous indigenous Mexican students.

“One of the main themes is the discrimination, bullying, teasing and verbal abuse that they receive from other Mexican immigrant classmates who are not indigenous,” he said. The abuse, which often goes unnoticed or is minimized by teachers and administrators, has left some of the indigenous students too embarrassed to speak their native languages, he said.

Educators and others in the U.S. often don’t recognize diversity within the Mexican community, said Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, a researcher at the UCLA Labor Center who has written extensively about indigenous Mexican migration.

“We forget that it’s a multilingual, multiethnic community,” he said. “We forget about the fact that 62 indigenous languages are spoken in Mexico.”

The organizing project’s campaign, Rivera-Salgado said, “is a really interesting way to confront, very directly, something that the Mexican nation and the Mexican immigrant community sometimes sweeps under the rug, and that’s the prevalence of racism and discrimination that indigenous people have to endure in Mexico and that is reproduced here in the United States.”

Elvia Pacheco, a Mixtec mother who lives in Oxnard, said her U.S.-born son’s middle school teacher poked fun at him for his Oaxacan heritage. Pacheco is from Oaxaca; the boy’s father is from the central state of Guanajuato.

One day her son came home and threatened to kill himself if she made him go to school again.

When she asked what was wrong, “He said, ‘You embarrass me.’”

“It’s the worst thing a mother can hear from her son — to be renounced because of who you are,” she said.

Since then, they have taken classes about Mixtec history and culture and participated in the project’s organizing efforts. It has made a world of difference, she said.

Denis O’Leary, a member of the Oxnard School District’s Board of Trustees, was at an event to launch the campaign.

“I’m very proud of the students and the parents that stood up on this issue,” he said. “We need to now learn from this and do better.”

On Wednesday the school district unanimously passed the resolution originally proposed by the organizing project prohibiting the derogatory terms and creating an anti-bullying committee, O’Leary said.

Though the district had existing policies prohibiting bullying and taunting, “This resolution is going to let teachers know, and administrators know, that this group, that nobody really thought of, has suffered. And we need to pay attention,” he said.

8021: The Reality In Rick Sanchez’s Rant.

From Politics Daily…

The Kernel of Truthiness Behind Rick Sanchez’s Ugly Rant

By Melinda Henneberger

No, not the anti-Semitic part, no word of which deserves defending.

But there is a sad, circular pattern to the bigotry that Sanchez obviously experienced and was scarred by, embittered to the point that even as a successful cable anchor, it escaped his lips one day and blew up his career. That’s why racism, and every form of discrimination, is so insidious: It can make you crazy, and is very, very hard to make a clean break from.

For those who missed the story, Sanchez was fired from CNN on Friday after an Oh-My-Lord Sirius/XM radio interview in which he may have made his new book, “Conventional Idiocy,” a best-seller among Jew-haters.

Sanchez is one of the many cable-news guys and gals Jon Stewart regularly pokes fun at on “The Daily Show,” but Sanchez couldn’t laugh off the treatment; instead, he was humiliated by the teasing in a way that clearly tapped into earlier slights and ongoing self-doubt.

Asked by his interviewer, Pete Dominick, about the ribbing, Sanchez, who was born in Cuba, went out with a bang: “I’ve known a lot of elite Northeast establishment liberals that may not use this as a business model, but deep down when they look at a guy like me they look at a – they see a guy automatically who belongs in the second tier and not the top tier.”

When pressed to explain what he was talking about, he said it was subtle stuff, mostly: “White folks usually don’t see it. But we do – those of us who are minorities and women see it sometimes, too, from men in authority.”

True, that. Also true: we humans say insensitive things to each other every day, but regularly being treated as “second tier” takes a toll, and can deform the way we see the world.

Sanchez said that one CNN exec told him, “I really don’t see you as an anchor; I see you more as a reporter. I see you more as a John Quinones – you know, the guy on ABC…Now, did he not realize that he was telling me…An anchor is what you give the high-profile white guys, you know…To a certain extent Jon Stewart and [Stephen] Colbert are the same way. I think Jon Stewart’s a bigot.”

At that point, he veered into wild talk that conflated past experiences with Stewart just mocking him the same way he mocks everybody. From there, it was a steep, steep drop into the sewer, complete with ancient stereotypes about Jewish power. And before you could pick your jaw up off the floor, CNN had done the only thing they could do, which was send him off with a terse announcement that “We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.”

Afterwards, I saw some of my fave friends on Facebook and Twitter laughing that he’d have more time to hand-sell his book now. But really, people, what happened here isn’t funny.

7960: Burning Bigotry.

From The Chicago Tribune…

Saving America from bigotry

By Eboo Patel and Samantha Kirby

We’re mostly disgusted with Terry Jones, pastor of the 50-member Dove World Church Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla. But a small part of each of us thinks we ought to thank him for the announcement of his International Burn a Quran Day. He has given us a face and an event that crystallizes the anti-Muslim bigotry brewing for far too long and going largely unchecked in America.

Anybody following religion statistics knows that anti-Muslim bigotry has existed for a long time, and the numbers are scary. In a 2009 Pew Research Center study, almost 60 percent of adults reported that Muslims in America were subject to a lot of discrimination. According to a more recent Pew study, favorable opinions of Islam have actually declined in the last five years. Currently, less than a third of Americans hold a favorable view of Islam, and about a third think Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence.

Jones is currently the most prominent in the sea of ugly faces of anti-Muslim bigotry in our nation today. Others are carrying signs, such as one that proclaimed: “Everything I needed to know about Islam, I learned on 9/11.” Some are throwing bricks at mosques and urinating on the prayer rugs inside. One asked a New York cabdriver if he was a Muslim, and then allegedly stabbed him. And now, from the fringe church that brought us the sign “Islam is the devil,” this Quran burning event. It is chilling to recall a quote from the German-Jewish poet Heinrich Heine, who wrote in 1821 that “Wherever people burn books, there, in the end, will they also burn people.”

Disgusting as it is, Jones’ Quran burning day is a symptom of a larger problem, which is the widespread and increasingly accepted bigotry against Muslims, a group that makes up one-fifth of humankind, and includes several million fellow Americans.

A recent and fairly typical e-mail making the Internet rounds is titled: “Can a good Muslim be a good American?” The author answers “no” for a variety of reasons, such as: “Theologically — no … because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia, and admits no greater allegiance. Geographically, no… because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he turns in prayer five times a day. Intellectually no … because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is not based on the Quran and because it is based on biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.”

But bigotry exposed is preferable to bigotry concealed. In the history of our nation, when we have seen and named the ugly demons of division, the better angels of American unity go into action.

Today, these angels take the form of visionary leaders who know how important it is to build an inclusive America. They are working to shield us from the scars of other eras — of Japanese internment, of “No Irish need apply” signs, of the KKK’s anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic and anti-minority idea of America.

For example, another pastor in Gainesville, Pastor Larry Reimer of the United Church of Christ, is gathering an ecumenical group to create a positive force in response to Jones. Reimer said: The acts of Sept. 11 were not acts that were Islamic in nature. They were acts of fanatical extremists. And fanaticism is not confined to any one faith. I think that there’s no better time than Sept. 12 to remind ourselves of this and to read from the Quran in worship to point out how much we really do have in common.

Similarly, Muslims across the country are responding to this hateful incident by choosing to live up to the highest ideals of their faith. Instead of turning on Jones, Muslim leaders nationwide are mobilizing their communities to volunteer and serve others to memorialize 9/11. This campaign, called Muslim Serve, is about demonstrating how Islamic values inspire Muslims to serve humanity and is meant to highlight the great contributions that the Muslim community has provided and continues to provide our great nation.

The forces of unity have saved American before. We need them to save America again.

Eboo Patel is founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based nonprofit working to build interfaith cooperation. He is author of “Acts of Faith.” Samantha Kirby is a communications and policy specialist at Interfaith Youth Core.