The creative team responsible for this ad should retire early.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Essay 3013
From The New York Daily News…
-------------------------------
EXHIBIT A: RACISM
NEGATIVE IMAGES OF BLACKS REVEAL HATE'S LONG HISTORY IN AMERICA
By ERROL LOUIS, DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST
This weekend, an exhibit opens at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture that will shine a penetrating, much-needed light on our nation’s shameful Jim Crow era, the period after the Civil War when demeaning and degrading caricatures of blacks were a staple of American culture.
For the first time in its 80-year history, the Schomburg will exhibit dozens of racist images and artifacts that were plastered on everything from toothpaste tubes and movie posters to children’s books, postcards and paintings.
The hard-hitting exhibit, “Stereotypes vs. Humantypes,” couldn’t arrive at a better time, given the current national battle to halt a rising tide of commercialized cultural contempt aimed at black Americans by everyone from hip-hop minstrels to hate-spewing nitwits like Don Imus.
The mad swirl of grotesque, popeyed subhumans so popular in the 19th century bear an unmistakable resemblance to today’s parade of cartoonish pimps, strippers and gunmen used by Madison Avenue to sell sneakers, CDs, movies and booze.
But in a stroke of genius, the Schomburg curators set aside a room next to the virulent, dehumanizing images and stocked it with pictures and paintings from the same period — the 1890s through the 1950s — depicting blacks getting married, gathering in church, marching for civil rights and generally living every dimension of the American Dream.
The juxtaposition makes clear that the depiction of blacks as less than human was always a conscious choice that could — and can — be rejected. The exhibit’s most moving images are those of black families who chose to sit for portrait photos less than a generation after slavery’s end, projecting grace and dignity even as the country was flooded with caricatures.
“At first blush, you look at this stuff with a certain sense of disbelief, then a kind of rage,” says Howard Dodson, the Schomburg’s director. “Then you realize these are figments of white imagination.”
According to Dodson, the use of black caricatures like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben to sell pancakes, rice and other products is key.
“These caricatures actually become brands, so customers don’t have to look at people as individuals — you just see the skin and hair and the reaction is automatic,” says Dodson. “Interestingly, things don’t change until the late 1960s and early 1970s, when companies discover that black families represent a growing market themselves, who obviously would not buy such images.”
What images we will or won’t buy remains the question of the hour, which Dodson poses by placing a mirror at the end of the exhibit. Visitors are invited to look at one last image and ask themselves what kind of person they — and the rest of the world — see.
Essay 3011
.jpg)
My Oh My, What A Wonderful MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• The Walt Disney Company continues to consider re-releasing “Song Of The South,” but California civil rights leaders won’t make it easy. According to a report from DiversityInc., a group including L.A.-based NAACP leaders is asking Disney to add a disclaimer explaining why the depictions of Blacks are considered racist—plus, describe the social climate in which the movie was created. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, explained, “Because it does promote racially offensive stereotypes … it would be socially irresponsible [to re-release the film] without a disclaimer that puts the film in context, not with these times but those times.” We’ll bet Disney won’t do Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.
• A study in Sweden shows today’s 4-year-old Swedish girls are six times more likely to be obese than 20 years ago. “This indicates that there is a relatively recent change in our lifestyles that is behind this,” said the lead researcher for the study. “But it’s difficult to say what that is.” Um, Barbie toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals?
• Jennifer Lopez has allegedly received death threats from animal rights wackos for wearing fur. One writer promised “to kill her in public, just like the slaughtered animals whose fur she wears.” J Lo’s probably looking for a bullet-proof mink vest now.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Essay 3008
Ratting out the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• According to the Palestinian information minister, a Mickey Mouse wannabe appeared on a children’s TV show telling Palestinian kids to fight Israel and strive for worldwide Islamic domination. “You and I are laying the foundation for a world led by Islamists,” said the character on a recent episode. “We will return the Islamic community to its former greatness, and liberate Jerusalem, God willing, liberate Iraq, God willing, and liberate all the countries of the Muslims invaded by the murderers.” Wonder if the show will introduce militant Mouseketeers.
• O.J. Simpson’s lawyer insists his client was kicked out of a restaurant because of race (see Essay 3005), and the attorney intends to pursue the matter and possibly sue the restaurant. The lawyer warned, “[The restaurant owner] screwed with the wrong guy, he really did.” Sounds like the perfect defender for Simpson.
• Singer Akon apologized for performing a raunchy dance with a 14-year-ol girl during a concert. “It was never my intention to embarrass or take advantage of my fans in any way, especially those under the age of 18,” said Akon. R. Kelly wondered why the apology was necessary.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Essay 3005
Cutting the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• O.J. Simpson was tossed out of a Louisville steakhouse because the owner didn’t like him. “I didn’t want to serve him because of my convictions of what he’s done to those families,” said the owner. “The way he continues to torture the lives of those families … with his behavior, attitude and conduct. … I didn’t want that experience in my restaurant. … [The attention Simpson receives] makes me sick to my stomach.” Plus, it’s probably unnerving to be around O.J. with so many steak knives nearby.
• Paris Hilton is seeking a pardon from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, hoping he’ll keep her out of jail. “I don’t think the Founding Fathers had Paris Hilton’s driving conviction in mind when they enacted the cruel and unusual punishment provision of the Constitution,” said a Loyola Law School professor. Hilton’s petition starts with some serious ass-kissing: “Let me first begin by saying that I grew up as a child enjoying all of your wonderful films. You really are the truly great action hero for our time. You are doing a great job in the great state of California.” Don’t look for the Terminator to come to the rescue on this one.
• Cracker Barrel is pulling hamburgers from hundreds of its restaurants after a patron cut herself on a piece of metal in a patty. Usually, Cracker Barrel customers only receive cutting remarks from racist employees.
Essay 3003
Looks like nobody showed up for the family reunion. Or maybe Doubletree didn’t want to pay talent costs.
Essay 3002
From The Chicago Tribune…
------------------------------
Obama’s protection reveals ugly ‘secret’
By Leonard Pitts, a syndicated columnist in Washington
Not Rudy Giuliani, who is a supporter of abortion rights.
Not Tom Tancredo, who is a hard-liner on immigration.
Not John Edwards, who is a critic of the war in Iraq.
Only Barack Obama, who is black.
No other presidential candidate, no matter his or her polarizing positions, has felt it necessary to seek protection from the Secret Service. But last week we learned that Obama has sought and will receive that protection, the only candidate ever to do so this early in the process. Only one other candidate even has a Secret Service detail: Hillary Rodham Clinton. And that’s because she’s a former first lady.
You know who else required early protection? Jesse Jackson, when he ran for president in 1984 and '88.
Neither Obama’s campaign nor the Secret Service will comment on precisely what went into the decision to assign a detail to the senator, beyond saying it was based on no specific threat. But one need not be a seer to divine the reason. Put it this way: The darker the candidate’s skin and the more serious his candidacy, the earlier he seems to need protecting.
All of which adds a telling dimension to the ongoing debate about Obama and blackness that has percolated for months beneath the surface of his candidacy.
On the one side, you have earnest white people insisting that, because his mother was white, Obama is not really black, but “biracial.”
On the other side, you have earnest black people insisting that, because his heritage does not trace to slavery, Obama is not really black enough -- that is, not black in a cultural sense.
Apparently, however, he is both black and black enough for whatever individual or individuals unnerved his handlers enough to seek Secret Service protection.
That’s a truth that cuts the clutter.
In a sense, the fact that we have the luxury of debating “what” Obama is testifies to the racial progress this nation has made. Once upon a time, nobody had to debate. Back before Colin and Cosby and Condoleezza, before Air Jordan took wing and Johnson made Magic, before Oprah was America’s favorite sister girl and Martin spoke of dreams, back when a Southern restaurant caused an international incident by refusing service to an African diplomat -- back in the day, there was no need of abstract rhetoric on what black is.
You knew. The world made sure of it.
If we have moved beyond that day, if we are proud to think ourselves more enlightened now, it is nevertheless naive to believe the naked meanness of that day has wholly disappeared.
It is fashionable now to speak of systemic racism and the need for black folk to take a greater hand in their own salvation. Those discussions are valid. But it is also occasionally instructive to remember that old-fashioned mean-as-a-snake, thick-as-a-brick hatred is still alive and well and living in the U.S.A.
Sometimes, it lolls in the shade of the intellectual cover provided it by the likes of Rush Limbaugh.
Sometimes, it is dressed in suit and tie and sounds reasonable when told by the likes of David Duke.
Sometimes, it is sung in wobbly adolescent voices by the likes of Prussian Blue.
And sometimes, it just rears up on its hind legs and brays that it will commit violence rather than accept a black man as its president.
We like to pretend this bile is not still in us. We like to pretend we are beyond it. Then the man who could be our next president must ask to be protected from those who think him too dark for the job.
Something to remember next time you are tempted to debate what black is. The world still has ways of making you know.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Essay 3001
From The Chicago Tribune…
---------------------------------------
Racial profiling myth continues to live on
By Steve Chapman
We’ve all heard of the offense of “driving while black.” But not everyone has heard the good news: It doesn’t exist anymore. According to an authoritative report, black motorists are no more likely than whites to be pulled over by police. So how has that study been greeted? As proof that police racism is still a powerful force.
It’s a widely accepted article of faith that cops systematically engage in racial profiling against dark-complexioned folks. Yet this is the second consecutive survey from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics—using information supplied not by police but by citizens—that finds law enforcement to be admirably colorblind when it comes to routine traffic enforcement. Not a puny achievement, but one that was overlooked by people straining to find lingering discrimination.
The complaint is that though they get stopped at the same rate as whites, minority motorists are more likely to get unfavorable treatment during the stop. According to BJS, 3.6 percent of whites are searched, compared with 9.5 percent of blacks and 8.8 percent of Latinos. African-Americans are more likely to have force used against them and to be arrested. And they more often feel their treatment is unwarranted.
What can we make of these figures? Not what is claimed by critics like those at the American Civil Liberties Union, which labeled the disparities “disturbing,” and columnist Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post, who detected “powerful evidence that racial profiling is alive and well.” Some people get their exercise jumping to conclusions.
The researchers at BJS tried to discourage snap judgments. “The apparent disparities documented in this report do not constitute proof that police treat people differently along demographic lines,” they warn. “Any of these disparities might be explained by countless other factors and circumstances that were not taken into account in the analysis.”
Plenty of other elements could generate these divergent patterns. Why would black drivers be arrested more often? Maybe because African-Americans commit crimes at a far higher rate and are convicted of felonies at a far higher rate. In 2005, for instance, blacks were nearly seven times more likely to be in prison than whites.
Those disparities are bound to affect the outcome of traffic stops. Most blacks, like most whites, are not crooks. But since the average black driver is statistically more likely to be a criminal than the average white driver, he’s more likely to have an outstanding arrest warrant—which the police would find when running a computer check of his license. A computer check that turns up a long rap sheet will probably induce the patrol officer to ask for a look inside the trunk.
A motorist of felonious habits is also more likely to have illegal guns or drugs on board. If the contraband is visible to a traffic cop, or if it shows up in a search, the driver can expect to be arrested. Not to mention that the vehicle itself may turn out to be stolen.
Given the racial gap in crime rates, it would be a shock if traffic stops didn’t generate more searches and arrests of blacks than whites. Even in a world where cops are completely free of racial prejudice, that is exactly what you would expect. There is a similar difference, after all, between the sexes—males are nearly twice as likely as females to be arrested during a stop. Is that because cops are sexists? No, it’s because men commit more crimes.
Trying to find “compelling” evidence of racism in this data is a fruitless task. Robinson makes much of the fact that blacks who are stopped are more likely to be sent on their way without any corrective action, even an oral warning. That, he says, “suggests there was no good reason to stop these people.” Or it might suggest that cops cut African-American motorists a bit more slack on petty issues, perhaps in the hope of improving their reputation.
Whatever they do, the cops can’t win. Blacks don’t get stopped more often? Big deal. Blacks have higher arrest rates? Proof of racism. More blacks are let off without a warning? More proof of racism.
And if fewer blacks were let off without a warning? I’ll let you guess how that would be interpreted.
Essay 3000
From USA Today…
--------------------------
Navajo Nation Faces Lack of Jail Space
By FELICIA FONSECA
CHINLE, Ariz. — With only about 80 jail beds on the sprawling 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation, authorities increasingly face a quandary when they catch a suspect: Who should be locked up and who let go?
The guy accused of beating up his wife? Of drunken driving? Of theft?
“What do you do when you don’t have jail bed spaces? It’s a revolving door, and it’s going faster,” said Dolores Greyeyes, director of the tribe’s Department of Corrections.
Last year, police on the reservation made roughly 39,000 misdemeanor arrests. Of those, some 36,000 were released early.
During sentencing, judges have to weigh the seriousness of the charges individuals face and consider what jail space will allow, said Mabel Henderson, program supervisor with the Corrections Department.
“Sometimes the court will look at the cases, and they say, ‘OK, we need bed spaces for more major offenses,’ so all the minor charges are, at that point, released,” she said. “They’ve seen a lot of these people that have been charged over and over that have come before their court, but they just can’t house them.”
Samson Cowboy, director of public safety at the tribe’s Crownpoint jail, said he believes the Navajo jails never were meant to house many criminals. People were supposed to follow the principle known as “k’e”—maintaining relationships through kinship and respect.
But the culture has changed, and there is more crime, he said.
“The whole Navajo Nation is denying we have an issue here, a whole societal issue,” he said.
[Click on the essay title above to read the full story.]
Essay 2099
On the road with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• According to an analysis of the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances conducted by the Consumer Federation of America, Blacks pay more interest on auto loans than Whites—7 percent for Blacks versus 5 percent for Whites. “It’s hard to believe that any differences in creditworthiness explain all of these rate gaps,” said a spokesperson of the consumer federation. “They size you up, the car salesmen and finance and interest guys. They must think African Americans are more vulnerable to a markup.” Or an industry holdup.
• Sen. Barack Obama urged automakers to go greener. “So here’s the deal,” Obama told the Detroit Economic Club. “We’ll help to partially defray those health-care costs—but only if manufacturers are willing to invest the savings right back into the production of more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.” And then Blacks will pay more green than Whites for auto loans.
• A woman in Ohio is dumping her beloved Starbucks after taking offense to a message printed on a cup. The statement read, “Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.” The woman said, “As someone who loves God, I was so offended by that. I don’t think there needs to be religious dialogue on it. I just want coffee.” What would Jesus drink?
• Energy drink Cocaine has been pulled from store shelves following concerns about its name. The Food and Drug Administration warned the company last month that its product name and marketing indicated it was illegally selling a street drug alternative and dietary supplement. The label and website touted the juice as “Speed in a Can” and “Liquid Cocaine.” The company plans to relaunch the product with a new name. Possibilities include “Canned Crack” and “Blow Beverage.”
Essay 2097
Would the audience for Quilt magazine feel comfortable supporting a company that also promotes gangsta rap?
Essay 2096
From The New York Times…
----------------------------
50 Years Later, Little Rock Can’t Escape Race
By ADAM NOSSITER
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Fifty years after the epic desegregation struggle at Central High School, the school district here is still riven by racial conflict, casting a pall on this year’s ambitious commemorative efforts.
In the latest clash, white parents pack school board meetings to support the embattled superintendent, Roy Brooks, who is black. The blacks among the school board members look on grimly, determined to use their new majority to oust him. Whites insist that test scores and enrollment have improved under the brusque, hard-charging Mr. Brooks; blacks on the board are furious that he has cut the number of office and other non-teaching jobs and closed some schools.
The fight is all the more disturbing to some here because it erupted just as a federal judge declared Little Rock’s schools finally desegregated, 50 years after a jeering white mob massed outside Central High to turn back integration.
In 1957, the fight was over whether nine black students could attend an entirely white high school. Now it is over whether the city’s black leaders can exert firm control over the direction and perquisites of an urban school district in the way that white leaders did for decades. When Mr. Brooks, who declined a request for an interview, cut 100 jobs, he saved money but earned the fierce ill will of many other blacks, who see the district as an important source of employment and middle-class stability.
Many whites, on the other hand, see the district, where issues of race have long been a constant backdrop, as a bloated bureaucracy, ripe for Mr. Brooks’s pruning. Where some blacks say Mr. Brooks disregards them and cozies up to the white business establishment, many whites say he is merely trying to stop white flight.
The bitter racial split has left some residents questioning the dimensions of advancement in the intervening years. There are no mobs in the street this time, but the undercurrents are nasty.
“We’re quite concerned about what kind of progress we have or haven’t made,” said Andre Guerrero, a white member of the Central High School 50th Anniversary Commission.
[Click on the essay title above to read the full story.]
Monday, May 07, 2007
Essay 2095
Baring unbearable souls in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Naomi Campbell penned a diary during her community service sentence, and now the public will be able to share her trash-collecting trials and tribulations. “I find solace in sweeping,” revealed the temperamental supermodel. “I have no other responsibility. I have no phone. I have the time to think. Just have, you know, peace. … What I came to realize is that I had to surrender. … I’m such a controlling person, but I had to just let go and let something higher than me be in control of my destiny. You have to let yourself become vulnerable again. … Some people can handle a drink or a line of cocaine, but I’ve finally come to realize that, for me, it’s all or nothing — and it has to be nothing. And my life has changed since.” Somebody throw a cell phone at the woman.
• A new study showed 20 percent of toddlers under the age of 3 have a TV in their bedrooms. Plus, 43 percent of kids between the ages of 3 and 4 have TVs. “A lot of these parents are kind of checking out,” said the study’s co-author, a professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. “It’s not really neglect, it’s more like absentee parenting.” Or maybe the parents are too busy watching the TVs in their own bedrooms.
Essay 2093
Since 2002, African-American hotel ownership has increased ten-fold. Which is good, but not good enough.
(This probably means there are now exactly ten African-American hotel owners.)
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Essay 2092
From AdAge.com—click on the essay title above to view the accompanying video…
---------------------------------
Uncola: The Video History of a 7UP Breakthrough Ad
How Actor Geoffrey Holder Brought Down a Racial Barrier
By Karl Idsvoog and Bill Barre
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In the early 1970s, as part of its new “uncola” advertising strategy, the 7UP company had J. Walter Thompson produce a TV commercial starring actor, director and choreographer Geoffrey Holder as a Caribbean planter explaining the difference between cola nuts and 7UP’s “uncola nuts,” lemon and lime. The extraordinary performance of the Trinidad-born Mr. Holder made the spot one of the most remembered commercials of all time. But behind the scenes, the project also represented a dramatic change in the marketing culture of the soft-drink company -- the first time it allowed a person of color to be cast in its TV ad. Researched and produced by Bill Barre and Karl Idsvoog, both professors at Kent State University, this seven-minute program uses interviews with former JWT executives Charlie Martell and Jon Furr to tell the story of 7UP’s racial breakthrough.
Essay 2091
From AdAge.com, another story by Laura Martinez Ruiz-Velasco, formerly of Marketing y Medios…
--------------------------------
Latino Marketers and Agencies Set Out to Explore Virtual Worlds
Dieste, Vidal and Sprint Among Those Experimenting in Second Life to Connect With Tech-Savvy Consumers
By Laura Martinez Ruiz-Velasco
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Hispanic marketers and agencies are using Second Life to gain experience in creating virtual worlds to appeal to Latinos, who are more likely to play online games than their general-market counterparts.
Alberto Fulham, for instance, shows visitors around El Dorado, one of six “islands” acquired in Second Life by Vidal Partnership, the biggest independent U.S. Hispanic agency. A four-screen movie theater screens films, and sculptures by leading artists are on display.
Clad in tight jeans, running shoes and a colorful T-shirt, Alberto Fulham is an avatar created by Alberto Ferrer, managing partner-director of direct and digital marketing at Vidal. Soon El Dorado will open a café, host concerts, and exhibit art and photography from Latin American artists, part of Vidal’s goal to make El Dorado a place where visitors can indulge in all aspects of Latino culture, from film and theater to literature and food.
Virtual area precedes the real thing
Working with Vidal, Sprint last month opened in Second Life a virtual replica of the Sprint Center, an 18,500-seat arena that will open in the real world -- Kansas City, Mo. -- this fall. The virtual arena will feature concerts by Latin artists, including performances from the Sprint-sponsored reality TV series “Concierto Clandestino,” broadcast on NBC Universal’s Spanish-language network, Telemundo. Web users can visit a bar and lounge area, and a virtual Sprint store to see and learn about new phones.
“We were looking for an opportunity to amplify our Hispanic marketing efforts in an innovative way,” said Ted Moon, director-digital marketing at Sprint Nextel. “It’s not about just slapping our logo somewhere.”
This year Omnicom Group’s Dieste Harmel & Partners, Dallas, created La Ciudad, a Second Life space where Dieste hopes to greet visitors, show its creative work and perhaps generate new business. Most of the agency’s 250-plus staffers have created their own avatars for the site.
“We’re still trying to figure out [exactly] what to do,” said Aldo Quevedo, Dieste’s president-chief creative officer. “We have an Argentine copywriter who is a male stripper. He basically dances for money [in Second Life]. It’s hilarious!”
He said the agency is in talks with a “couple of clients” interested in pursuing a Second Life strategy.
Marketing to a ‘dog with wings’
Creating virtual worlds is enticing, but industry experts increasingly are skeptical about the actual value a marketer or agency can get from Second Life and unsure how many of the millions of registered visitors are regular users. “It’s impossible to know exactly who is in Second Life at any moment, but I’ve bumped into people speaking Spanish several times,” Vidal’s Mr. Ferrer said.
Most studies show the average Second Life user is about 32 and tech-savvy, but the rest is less clear.
“In Second Life, you can be a dog with wings,” said Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at eMarketer. “How do you market to a dog with wings?”
The best use of a virtual world so far in the U.S. Hispanic market isn’t in Second Life. It’s Toyota’s Mundo Yaris, or World of Yaris (MundoYaris.com), created by Publicis Groupe-owned Conill, the carmaker’s Hispanic agency. Conill tapped into Latinos’ penchant for web games with Mundo Yaris, a virtual futuristic city where young bicultural Hispanics were introduced to Toyota’s entry-level subcompact car -- a segment where Toyota was seen as more staid than its rivals -- and convinced them that Yaris is as much a trendsetter as they are.
As the hub of a campaign connecting online, TV and print, Mundo Yaris offered an online world of style and choices in creating music, film and art. The Yaris quickly jumped from unknown to the No. 1 entry-level subcompact car, with a 22% share of Hispanic car buyers in that segment.
Essay 2090
Kicking it with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Forget Starbucks and Red Bull. The hottest energy drink in Peru is frog juice, considered capable of curing asthma, bronchitis and sluggishness. Others even view it as “Peruvian Viagra” for increasing sex drives. If anyone decides to create an advertising campaign, Kermit and Miss Piggy are perfect spokescritters.
• CBS News.com is banning reader responses because stories about Sen. Barack Obama have been receiving too many racist comments. A spokesperson said, “We have our rules of engagement. … They prohibit personal attacks, especially racist attacks. Stories about Obama have been problematic, and we won’t tolerate it.” Look for Don Imus to add another charge to his upcoming lawsuit against CBS.
Essay 2088
From The Chicago Sun-Times…
--------------------------------------
Poster boy for a ghetto nation
BY DEBORAH DOUGLAS
My brain exploded again the other day. The detonator came in the form of a teenage girl walking down a city street with a cute waddling toddler. She was having a conversation with a boy on the other side of the street and the f-word figured prominently in her discourse.
It was a ghetto moment.
No, I was not in the ghetto; I was on my way to a hot restaurant for a night of sushi and fruity alcoholic drinks with my girlfriends. Besides, the ghetto is no longer a place in America; it’s a state of mind. If you think you haven’t been there, think again. Whether you are high class or middle class, poor or professional, white or yellow, we’ve become a ghetto nation.
The Chicago Bears’ top draft pick, Greg Olsen, took us there last week when his YouTube-posted, nasty, misogynist rap lyrics made headlines. As a member of the University of Miami’s 7th Floor Crew, Olsen rapped about “mutting” a woman, called her a ho, described his privates and a host of filthy acts. While his lyrics are no different than those of a lot of other rap songs, it makes you wonder why and when women became targets.
Author Jabari Asim puts some of the blame on the ‘80s era of Reagan Republicanism -- the “coarsening of American culture.”
Ronald Reagan “was able to distort the image of African-American women by painting them as welfare queens,” says Asim, author of The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why. “During the greed-is-good 1980s, our self-absorption became so great we became capable of degrading our peers and fellow citizens. … I call it the blind adoration of one’s own navel.”
Writer Cora Daniels nails it in her new book GhettoNation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and the Home of the Shameless. For her, kids in her Brooklyn neighborhood playing cards outside on a school night instead of doing homework underscored the ghettofication of her world. But, she emphasizes, ghetto behavior is not limited to the folks commonly associated with the physical ghetto: poor people of color. It’s not just women afflicted by bad weaves or men wearing gold teeth or diamond grills. Ghetto nation is a place where the worst behavior is celebrated. In this values-free zone, you’re rewarded for devaluing education and a strong work ethic, disrespecting yourself and others, taking instead of giving.
“It’s not where you live, it’s how you live,” the Ivy League-educated Daniels told me in a recent phone conversation. “It’s a mind-set that celebrates the worst of us. There’s a lot of finger-pointing that goes on: ‘It’s only them.’”
Daniels defines the New American Ghetto as a place where “marriage” and “monogamy” are bad words. It’s a place where stripper-like dancing is celebrated as long as it’s on a video and the rapper who wrote the song got a “phat” record deal.
This new, commodified ghetto is inhabited not only by hip-hop stars, but by politicians, celebrities, pundits, athletes and anybody else who allows the narcissistic inclination to profit from the moment to overtake a sense of responsibility to self, family and society. Residents of the ghetto nation create, condone or ignore ghetto behavior. The ghetto is us.
Some of the ghetto’s most prominent citizens include:
Donald Trump. This flashy trash talker gives rap a run for its money; and the worst part is he means it. Making fun of Rosie O'Donnell’s girth, among other classless moments, was a cheap shot. Low blows are ghetto.
Rosie O’Donnell. By engaging in a shout-it-out free-for-all with the Donald, this famous celebrity mom didn’t model good behavior for her kids, our kids or anybody else. Because O’Donnell milked Trump’s vendetta for ratings on “The View,” she is ghetto.
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He won’t take responsibility for the goings-on in his office, especially why eight federal prosecutors were dismissed in what looks like politically motivated firings. When a man won’t “man up” and be accountable for his actions or lack thereof, he is ghetto.
Busta Rhymes. Cowed by the rappers’ “no snitching” code of ethics, the entertainer has refused to cooperate with police in the fatal shooting of his bodyguard Israel Ramirez, though he and up to 25 other people witnessed the killing last year during a video shoot in Brooklyn. Moral relativity is ghetto.
Alec Baldwin. He’s ghetto because of the awful way he talked to his tween daughter Ireland a couple of weeks ago. Baldwin is the loudmouth ghetto parent who jerks his kid around, screaming profanities while onlookers stand by in shock.
Natalie Portman. This Harvard-educated actress is ghetto, Daniels says, because on a TV talk show, she promoted pole dancing as a great way to exercise. This once X-rated form of exhibitionism has been publicly celebrated by more than one female celeb and is now entrenched in mainstream culture.
Reality TV. From “Cheaters” to VH1’s “Flavor of Love” and its demon spawn “Charm School,” these shows glorify a voyeuristic, classless ghetto mentality. We’re ghetto for watching.
Anna Nicole. That whole “Who is her baby’s daddy?” freak show was ghetto with a capital “TO.”
Steve Bing. The millionaire filmmaker would not at first acknowledge paternity of his son with actress Liz Hurley. He’s also the daddy of a baby by another rich man’s wife.
A slippery slope
But are these people hurting anybody? Absolutely.
With the rise of the ghetto nation, we are on a slippery, downward slope to the end of decency and polite society. And for people who take this kind of behavior seriously, it’s the end of hope for a better life because they can’t fathom how adherence to a credible moral code or work ethic will work in their favor.
In America, Daniels points out, you can now buy pole-dancing kits for your kids, and pimp and ho costumes for Halloween. This is what the world has come to.
“It’s a part of a larger conversation about how Americans talk to each other,” Asim says from his home in Baltimore. “We’ve replaced constructive dissent with a culture of name-calling that does not move the country forward. Cora is talking about ghetto behavior; I’m focusing on ghetto language, unproductive language.”
Rush Limbaugh embodies the ghetto ethos, Asim says, recalling how the radio host once told a guest to take a bone out of his nose and call him back.
“That behavior is beneath the dignity of the American people and cannot be limited to any particular racial group,” says Asim, who also calls out right-wing pundit Ann Coulter. “Rush Limbaugh is a member of the white elite, yet his conversation rarely rises above the level of the playground. We have a moral obligation to be intelligent, to be compassionate. Both of those things have fallen by the wayside.”
Daniels adds: “Your silence is an endorsement. That is a basic level of how each of us is ghetto. Our expectations have gotten too low.”
Time to evolve
At least the Bears’ Olsen has apologized. And you’d like to think Olsen, with his all-American good looks (have you seen his mood-ring blue eyes and strong, dimpled jaw?) has grown up and out of this infantile, gimme-gimme, make-me-feel good way of relating to the world. He certainly has a lot at stake.
But now it’s time for the rest of America’s ghetto dwellers to evolve and for the rest of us to nudge public tastes back into a respectable, less cringe-worthy range more suitable for mainstream consumption.
So now you know.
If you’ve been bopping your head to catchy songs that denigrate women, you’re ghetto.
If, like Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly, you resort to name-calling when you can’t intelligently wend your way through a debate, you’re ghetto.
If you think debauched behaviors such as overindulging in alcohol and sex, drugging and spewing sexually and racially insensitive remarks are easily cured by a quick stint in rehab (Britney, LiLo, Isaiah), welcome to the ghetto nation.
[Deborah Douglas is the Chicago Sun-Times deputy features editor. She is one of the Fearless Voices of Huffingtonpost.com.]
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Essay 2087
The smoking section of a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Controversy continues to smolder over Camel No. 9, a new cigarette launched in February. The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company argues the brand is targeting women smokers, but critics insist the cigarette maker is actually after college students and teens. Company executives deny the charges, claiming the product was introduced in response to consumer requests. A spokesperson said, “We launched Camel No. 9 for women who were asking for a product that better reflected their taste preferences and style.” The folks at R.J. Reynolds appear to be smoking something besides Camel No. 9.
• Paris Hilton is heading for jail after being convicted of probation violations in connection with a drunk-driving episode. She’d better pack a few cartons of Camel No. 9 to use as barter.
• Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is smoking over the LAPD’s use of force at an immigration rally. Cops bashed reporters and citizens with batons and fired rubber bullets into crowds with children. Villaraigosa declared, “Like every Angeleno I was deeply, personally troubled by the events of May 1st. … Those images hit me in the gut. … We don’t need a long and lengthy investigation to stand up and speak to the truth. What happened on May 1st was wrong, was wrong.” Or just another day for the LAPD.
• Sen. Dick Durbin insisted the decision to assign the Secret Service to protect Sen. Barack Obama “had a lot to do with race.” Durbin said, “I wished we lived in a country where that is not a problem, but it still is. … The fact that Barack Obama is such a highly visible African-American candidate, I think increases his vulnerability.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remarked, “I would just say this — the bipartisan leadership committee that makes this decision, it didn’t take long to decide that it would be important for Sen. Obama to have this security.” In other words, it’s no secret that racism requires a Secret Service response.
• As a former first lady, Sen. Hillary Clinton already has Secret Service protection. Which is good, since some nutcase from Louisiana State University threatened to kill Clinton during an upcoming visit to Baton Rouge, where she’s scheduled to speak at the National Conference of Black Mayors. Wonder if Hillary merits additional Secret Service protection, as her husband was occasionally referred to as the first Black president.
• The infamous KFC/Taco Bell restaurant in Greenwich Village that was shut down after a video showed scurrying rats will not reopen. A spokesperson claimed, “The lease was actually expiring and we just decided we are not reopening.” So the rats will have to go elsewhere to pick up their KFC/Taco Bell goodies.
• A lawyer for fired shock jock Don Imus is already arguing the impending lawsuit for contract payment from CBS. The lawyer insisted CBS and MSNBC had the option to edit Imus’ remarks, but their failure to do so shows the companies viewed the comments as routine. “That means CBS and MSNBC both knew the language that was going out, and both knew the language complied with [Imus’] contract. … It was consistent with many of the things he had done,” stated the lawyer. It’s safe to say that in the coming months, America will be seeing a lot of corporate pimps and hos in action.
Essay 2085
From USA Today…
------------------------------
Fewer Americans call themselves multiracial
By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY
The share of Americans who identify themselves as multiracial has shrunk this decade, an unexpected trend in an increasingly diverse nation.
About 1.9% of the people checked off more than one race in a 2005 Census Bureau survey of 3 million households, a meaningful decline from two surveys in 2000.
“There’s no overall explanation” for the drop, says Reynolds Farley, a research scientist at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research who analyzed the trend.
The data show that the nation continues to wrestle with racial identity even in the face of growing diversity, he says. “We’re a society where we still basically assume everyone is in one race,” he says.
Multiracial groups fought that concept in the 1990s. The small but vocal movement gained momentum in 1997 after golfer Tiger Woods proclaimed his race “Cablinasian” — for Caucasian, black, American Indian and Asian. The spotlight hit other multiracial celebrities, including singer Mariah Carey, actress Halle Berry and Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.
Mixed-race Americans lobbied the government to stop requiring people to choose one race category on Census and other federal forms. The 2000 Census for the first time allowed people to check more than one race. About 2.4%, or 6.8 million people, did so in the full Census.
The numbers were likely to rise as more children were born to mixed-race parents and multiracial organizations sprouted on college campuses. The opposite happened.
The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey of 3 million households a year shows a clear trend, Farley says. In the 2000 ACS, 2.1% checked more than one race. The drop to 1.9% in 2005 is “a slight decrease but statistically significant,” Farley says.
Jungmiwha Bullock, president of the Association of MultiEthnic Americans, is not surprised. Some believe that identifying more than one race negates racial identity, she says. “To say you’re black and Asian doesn’t mean you’re not black,” she says. “I don’t say I’m half black and half Korean. I’m 100% black, and I’m 100% Korean.”
The Census numbers “clearly underestimate how many people are mixed race,” says Daniel Lichter, a professor at Cornell University who has studied intermarriages. “People aren’t willing to define themselves as such.”
Many multiracial people identify themselves as black if they grew up in a black neighborhood, he says.
“There’s a lot of pressure from society to choose one race,” says Sara Ferry, 28, a school psychologist in Philadelphia who has a black father and a Chinese-American mother. “That’s unfortunate.”
Friday, May 04, 2007
Essay 2084
Call of the Wild with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• “Can you hear me die? Good.” The government is studying using cell phones as detection devices against biological, chemical and radioactive attacks. A Homeland Security official said, “If it’s successful, it’ll change the way chemical, biological and radiation detection is done. … It’s a really, really neat thing.” Golly, it sounds totally awesome, dude!
• CBS plans to fight the proposed lawsuit from fired shock jock Don Imus (see Essay 2078). The company issued a statement that read, “We terminated Mr. Imus for cause. … Based on the comments in question and relevant contract terms, we believe that the termination was appropriate and CBS would expect to prevail in any attempt by Mr. Imus to recover money for his actions.” In other words, CBS has no intention of paying the old ho.
• Another hip-hop artist was charged with a DUI. This time it was rapper-actress Eve, who was arrested on April 26. Somebody ought to team her up with Busta Rhymes and a third rapper and call the act Run DUI.
Essay 2082
Caressa Cameron claims, “I want my customers to know the facts about payday advances before they walk through my door.” Yeah, right. The payday advance industry was probably required to run this ad. Plus, Cameron needs serious help with her ‘do. And those are the facts.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Essay 2081
From AdAge.com…
-----------------------------
Edward Boyd, Helped Break Corporate Color Barrier, Dies
Led Sales Team for Pepsi That Transformed Image of African-American Consumer
By Kate Macarthur
CHICAGO -- Edward F. Boyd, one of the first African-American executives to break the color barrier, died April 30 in Los Angeles of complications from a stroke.
Mr. Boyd, 92, leaves a marketing legacy that set a standard of equality toward African Americans years before segregation ended and helped change the sales trajectory of beverage giant Pepsi-Cola.
“When I reflect upon people who have made a profound difference on our company, Ed Boyd’s name will be foremost among them,” Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo chairman-CEO, said in a statement. “His groundbreaking history with Pepsi and the powerful, lasting impact that Ed made on both our company and our nation speak for themselves. Every PepsiCo associate across the globe joins me in celebrating Ed Boyd’s amazing life and journey.”
Joined a struggling Pepsi
Born in 1914, Mr. Boyd left the National Urban League to join a struggling Pepsi-Cola in September 1947 at the behest of Pepsi President Walter Mack to create an all-black national sales team to sell the soft drink to African-Americans, at the time a $10 billion market. Though Mr. Mack described the job using a racial insult, Mr. Boyd accepted the post as assistant sales manager.
Mr. Boyd formed a team of a dozen men who traveled the country to sell and market the drink to stores, colleges, bars and restaurants. Despite the sales team’s charge to redefine the image of African-Americans in advertising from that of demeaning racial caricatures to one of middle-class consumers, the men faced Jim Crow discrimination and often stayed in family homes after being refused rooms by hotels. But Mr. Boyd and his team drove sales up by double digits, according to the marketer. One of the team’s 1949 ads featured 7-year-old child model Ron Brown, who later become U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Clinton. The team’s story is chronicled in a new book, “The Real Pepsi Challenge,” by Stephanie Capparell.
The team broke up in 1951 as several of the salesmen moved into regional corporate positions. Mr. Boyd that same year left Pepsi to join the Sherman & Marquette advertising agency, but his influence on the company and the industry persisted. In 1962, Harvey C. Russell, one of Mr. Boyd’s original team members, became the first black man promoted to VP at a major company.
‘Made a difference’
“Ed carried the dreams of future generations of African-Americans,” Donald M. Kendall, retired chairman-CEO of PepsiCo, said in a statement. “Jackie Robinson may have made more headlines, but what Ed did -- integrating the managerial ranks of corporate America -- was equally groundbreaking. Long before most companies came to see the power and potential of the black consumer, Ed put doors where previously only walls existed. He and his team made a difference and made us all better.”
In 1954, Mr. Boyd became a mission chief for the international aid agency CARE, later joining the Society of Ethical Culture in New York. In the 1960s, he worked for American Home Products’ Wyeth International to help the company to sell baby formula in Africa. A decade later, he worked in Washington with a computer-marketing firm and later set up his own market-research consultancy, Resources Management.
Mr. Boyd retired in 1981, splitting time between his homes on New York’s Upper West Side and an alpaca farm in Bethel, N.Y. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Edith Jones; and four children, Rebecca and Brandon of New York; Edward Jr. of Boulder, Colo.; and Timothy of Chicago.
Essay 2080
A cleaning business run by immigrants from South Korea (pictured above) is facing a lawsuit from a judge after allegedly losing his pants. The judge is looking to collect $65 million.
The cleaners should seek counsel from the Calgon guy, who would probably tell them, “Ancient Chinese Secret: When confronted by crazy-ass judge demanding trousers, strike opponent in the fucking balls.”
Essay 2079
Here are two interesting Letters to the Editor from the latest issue of Advertising Age.
It seems like O. Burtch Drake spends a lot of time defending himself and the 4As. What happened to the hiring of a PR firm to help counter all the negativity targeting Madison Avenue?
The second letter takes a snarky swipe at Donny Deutsch. Love the reference to “his well-known potty-mouthed putdowns of people and ideas.” A former Madison Avenue leader appears to be a mean-spirited, unprofessional tyrant. Imagine that.
Essay 2078
Brainteasers in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• A new study showed consuming over 14 alcoholic drinks per week may shrink your brain up to 1.6 percent. This could explain the Miller Lite Man Laws campaign.
• Busta Rhymes was busted on a DUI charge early Thursday morning. It was yet another legal problem added to the rapper’s rap sheet. Plus, it may confirm the study findings regarding alcohol consumption and brain size.
• Fired shock jock Don Imus is preparing to sue former employer CBS. Imus argues his contract stipulated he would be warned before being axed for making dumb remarks, and he’s now seeking $40 million. Talk about a high-priced ho.
Essay 2076
“I can’t wait to grow up so I can play whenever I want.”
We can’t wait for AARP to run a decent ad.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Essay 2074
From The Chicago Sun-Times…
-------------------------------
Another march, another year, but still no reform
Yes we can change laws -- before the nation’s attention is lost
BY SUE ONTIVEROS
The focus of Tuesday’s immigration reform rally was in the signs.
Whether on printed placards or handwritten, the words “Keep Families United” and “Stop Raids Now” -- or some variation on those themes -- appeared repeatedly among the crowd.
This immigration march put the spotlight on the fact our country's current -- and very broken -- immigration system tears apart families when undocumented parents are deported or loved ones have to face long, complicated procedures to ever be allowed legal entry into our country. Supporters of immigration reform are pushing for a moratorium on raids and deportations until new legislation is hammered out.
Because this issue is so much a family one, once again whole families came together to make the trek from Union Park through downtown Chicago. Parents pushed strollers with babies who amazingly slept through the loud repeated cries of “Si se puede” (Yes we can).
Yet this march also appeared to draw a slightly younger crowd and one that seemed to be more Latino than last year.
And probably because there’d been so much criticism at the number of Mexican flags waving at last year’s rally, this year Old Glory was everywhere and in all sizes among the estimated 150,000 marchers. Red, white and blue balloons were released into the sky as supporters waited for the walkers from the south and north starting points to get to Union Park.
But this is the thing that bugged me about the rally. I had something to compare it to; last year I arrived there by L, this year I had to hop in a cab. The day was hotter and sunnier than last time. Shorts would have been a better choice than jeans this year.
What all that means is that immigration reform hasn’t moved ahead much. Another year, another march. Though reform supporters got out the vote and did a lot to help make the current Congress become one controlled by Democrats, those elected officials haven’t returned the favor with new and better immigration legislation.
The American attention span is quite fleeting. Before long immigration will be replaced on the radar by the next presidential election. So legal American citizens, it’s time to put the pressure on your elected officials if you really want change. Remember, as my favorite sign this year pointed out: “Your Vote is Your Voice. Your Vote is Power.” The other side will be pushing that sentiment; you better do the same.
Essay 2073
After playing patty-cake, maybe Grandma and grandbaby will crack open a six-pack of Budweiser.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Essay 2072
From The New York Daily News…
----------------------------------
The dragons among us are feeling the heat
By Stanley Crouch
After convincing so many that it was invincible to criticism and no more than a fresh voice of the street that was holding up a mirror and expressing unpleasant truths through its music and its poetry, the hip-hop dragon has begun to bleed. Profusely. It is easy to see how the Don Imus affair brought into question issues long avoided by the media and the civil rights leadership as well as the women’s movement.
While the contrast between actual black women and those presented as no more than sluttish sex toys in rap videos had seemingly bothered no one, we found that was not true at all. The dramatic contrast between the women’s basketball team at Rutgers and the kind of language Imus borrowed from the misogynist world of rap burst a boil.
Not only did filth flow out of this swollen sore; so did all of the suppressed or intimidated goodwill one would have hoped to see rise into view much sooner. But with black women in the lead this time and far from willing to shut up, the decrepit civil rights leadership and the media chimed in and would not back up.
“The Oprah Winfrey Show” devoted two solid hours to the subject last week, followed by Paula Zahn, who had already been on the case. Then Katie Couric, “60 Minutes” and the dragon slayer himself, Anderson Cooper.
On “60 Minutes” and CNN, Cooper did the most damage by getting the rapper Cam’ron to admit the actual truth while sitting there handsome and self-satisfied with his diamond earrings sparkling for the camera. Arrogant and charmless, he made it quite clear that he was much more interested in maintaining his thug image and making money than whether or not he encouraged self-destructive attitudes and homicidal actions among young people through his lyrics and videos.
The rapper couldn’t care less and, he said, neither did any of the big corporations promoting such products and ideas through their hip-hop lines. Material, I might add, that would be elevated if it were called slime.
Bad decision, homie: You let the world see what the real deal is and what those behind you believe in above all else.
Just as he admits to having sold drugs, Cam’ron appeared smug and happy about the millionaire status he has achieved through selling poison to his fans and helping to destroy the communities of some of his followers.
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons was, I’m sure, appalled after all that he has done over the past few weeks, tirelessly trying to present these men as “poets.”
Spooked, Simmons even tried a diversion last week by calling for voluntary censorship of three little words from recordings and videos. Sorry, mogul. As the hip-hop chat rooms and the e-mail responses to Cooper and Winfrey made clear: The public has seen and heard what is actually being sold and what its actual effects are.
Cam’ron’s apology, so well written by his publicist, won’t stop what he helped make more than obvious to all who are willing to look at the real truth that was exposed in his “60 Minutes” interview. The almost irrevocable force of democratic goodwill is picking up its pace and is speaking across all lines of color, sex and creed, as it always must. We can be sure of this: The dragons are now trembling inside of their gated communities.
Essay 2071
Driving Change with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• The Justice Department released a study showing cops search Black and Latino motorists more than White motorists. Blacks are three times as likely and Latinos are twice as likely to be searched versus Whites. “There are countless reasons or circumstances that could lead police to conduct a search after making a traffic stop,” said the study’s author. “There’s really no way for us to say this is clearly evidence of racial profiling.” The Justice Department, like Lady Justice, is blind.
• It’s May Day March Madness. Demonstrations for immigration reform are planned to roll out nationwide, as folks have organized marches, meetings and voter registration drives. “If we don’t act, then both the Democratic and Republican parties can go back to their comfort zones and do nothing,” said the director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. “They won’t have the courage to resolve a major situation for millions of people.” A word of advice: based on the recent study released by the Justice Department, avoid driving to your local demonstration.
Essay 2069
Essay 2058 presented a story from The New York Times on advertising to American Muslims. The piece was actually PR hype generated by self-proclaimed futurist Marian Salzman, executive vice president and director of strategic content at JWT in New York.
MultiCultClassics spotlighted Salzman in Essay 1034 after she authored an Adweek editorial schooling the masses on urban culture, displaying all the street cred of a typical Madison Avenue wigger. Salzman’s website, as you may recall, claims she “identified such trends as wiggers.”
The American Muslim market is Salzman’s latest hustle. And once again, Adweek provided her with a publishing pulpit.
Salzman proclaims, “Over the past year, we’ve become acutely aware that most brands and marketers are turning a blind eye to the multibillion-dollar American Muslim market. Maybe they don’t recognize that there is an opportunity. Maybe they harbor some of the anti-Muslim fears and prejudices that are so apparent in American media and public life. Maybe they are scared of offending American Muslims, or they fear that by embracing Muslim consumers, they will alienate non-Muslims.”
Maybe Salzman needs an education on American advertising. Most brands and marketers have been turning a blind eye to every minority in the nation. Sure, folks might claim that Blacks, Latinos and Asians receive targeted efforts. But even these segments are grossly underrepresented in the standard marketing plan—just as they’re underrepresented in the standard ad agency. Now Salzman recommends creating another segregated corporate ghetto. Brilliant!
Salzman stresses that “Marketers are consummate opportunists, constantly looking for new angles, new ways to sell products and new target markets to address.” Ditto revenue-starved dinosaurs like Salzman and JWT.
Salzman asks, “Why this group? Why not another growing niche consumer segment that may prove less challenging to understand?” Good questions. The woman has already demonstrated cultural cluelessness with more popular minority groups. Prospective clients ought to wonder why Salzman should be trusted with any non-White audience. Or for that matter, any White audience.
The whiz kid reveals, “Our research shows that while Muslims are actually more brand aware than the general population, they see themselves as largely ignored by marketers.” Yo, Marian, you can substitute “Muslims” with any minority label in that sentence and it still rings true.
Salzman closes by making an inane argument that marketing to American Muslims will ultimately build bridges across society’s multicultural landscape. Damn, she probably thinks she deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for that brainstorm. If this woman only spent a minute examining her own field, she’d realize her hare-brained dreams have failed to play out in similar instances—at least 100 percent of the time. Hey, futurist lady, drop the crystal ball and gaze into the past and present.
Salzman needs to construct a bridge from insanity back to reality.
[Click on the essay title above if you want to waste your time reading Marian Salzman’s Adweek editorial.]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
