This concept is so poor, someone ought to take up a collection.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Essay 4575
As AMC series Mad Men painfully grinds to its conclusion, the show is making extra references to minorities.
A flashback sequence involving Don Draper/Dick Whitman in the Korean War featured a Black soldier.
Peggy Olson had money stolen from her locker, and she reported the theft to building security. Guess who was blamed and fired for the crime? The Black elevator attendant (whose name was revealed as Sonny) and the Black janitor.
Look for the Black cafeteria worker to be terminated in the finale.
Essay 4574
Came across the USA TODAY article below. It’s over a year old, but still worth re-reading…
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N.Y. ad agencies vow to address lack of diversity
By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Jimmy Smith is at the top of his game.
His work as executive creative director at ad agency BBDO includes the launch ad for Motorola’s Rokr phone and iTunes player that shows musicians including Madonna and Bootsy Collins cramming into a phone booth. Among his ads earlier at Wieden & Kennedy was the iconic Nike Freestyle ad in which NBA players bounce a basketball to a hip-hop beat.
But after more than 20 years in the business, Smith, 44, remains one of a handful of African-Americans in top advertising jobs.
Complaints about this lack of senior minorities led New York City’s Commission on Human Rights to begin a probe of the industry 18 months ago. The city is seen as the capital of advertising, with more than 46,000 employed in the industry.
The commission found that of 8,000 workers at the 16 agencies targeted, 22% make more than $100,000 a year — but only 2.5% of those high-earners are black.
The commission this summer subpoenaed the agencies to explain at hearings that were set for Monday, the start of the Advertising Week annual industry gathering here.
The potentially embarrassing hearings were called off only after the agencies signed agreements in recent weeks to boost minority hiring over three years. One company, Omnicom, also committed $2.5 million over five years to a plan of its own that includes an ad curriculum at a New York City college.
Trade group to back efforts
The agreements are “a decision the agencies made, and it’s the right way to go,” says Wally Snyder, CEO of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) trade group. “We’re about to turn our attention to helping agencies with retention and mentoring. … I think we can really accomplish something.”
The face-off, however, remains part of the backdrop for the AAF’s annual diversity awards today at Ad Week. BBDO, owned by Omnicom, will be named Agency Corporate Leader in Diversity Achievement.
Smith says he supports the commission’s move to force faster results: “Absolutely, you’ve got to have somebody step in.”
At the offices here of BBDO, Smith recalls his first job hunt in 1984. The Muskegon, Mich., native got a phone call from Warren, Mich., agency Campbell-Ewald. He says the agency “loved” his portfolio and wanted him to interview the next day for a creative position.
He got up at 4 a.m. to drive across the state to meet his would-be boss. He never got past the human resources office — he believes because they weren’t expecting him to be black. “That’s when I realized this was going to be a little more difficult than I thought.”
“We were dismayed to hear Mr. Smith’s story,” says Mark Benner, a spokesman for Campbell-Ewald, now owned by the giant Interpublic Group (IPG). “It does not represent who we are as a company.”
Diversity “is a significant priority for Campbell-Ewald,” he says.
In 1985, Smith landed a job at Burrell, a top agency specializing in marketing to blacks.
Looking for his break
It was more difficult again in the 1990s. Smith was working at multicultural ad specialist Muse Cordero & Chen in Los Angeles (now Muse Communications). Nike was concerned about its image among African-Americans as basketball shoes became more important.
Smith, who has a passion for basketball, had high hopes that good work for Nike at Muse would get him noticed by Nike’s much larger general market agency, Portland, Ore.-based Wieden & Kennedy. But he says that in 1994, principal Dan Wieden pulled back on hiring him. Smith wrote Wieden a five-page letter questioning whether the reason was that he’d have been the agency’s first black copy writer.
“I hesitated about hiring him, but not because he was black,” Wieden says. “I wasn’t convinced that his (portfolio) was up to snuff. I was trying to be nice, and we had a bunch of conversations. But he took me to task with a letter that was so well-written. We hired him on the basis of an angry letter rather than on the basis of his book.”
More progress needed
Since then, however, Wieden says the agency has boosted minority hiring, but not enough. “I will not stand here and try to make excuses for the number of African-Americans we’ve hired. It’s pathetic. There’s a lot more we can do.”
Other ad agencies trying improve minority hiring and promotions include IPG. Three years ago, it named Heide Gardner as diversity director to lead minority recruiting and retention for its agencies, including giants McCann-Erickson and DraftFCB.
Now, the seven-page agreements signed by agencies in New York should boost such efforts. They include annual progress reports to the city and fines of up to $250,000 for failing to meet goals.
Such incentives were not in place when Doug Alligood, an advertising major in college, was doing various jobs at a Detroit radio station. Then the Pepsi bottler pressured the station to have more blacks selling ads full-time. “It was 1962, in Detroit, and there was no black salesperson.”
Still, “I didn’t want to be a good black ad man. I wanted to be a good ad man,” Alligood says.
Today, Alligood, 72, is BBDO’s senior vice president of special markets. He researches media consumption in the African-American, Hispanic, Asian and senior markets.
Like Smith, he welcomes the commission’s actions. “Sometimes, you have to jumble things up to see how wrong you’ve been.”
But he says good consumer marketing transcends differences.
“Advertising has nothing to do with race, culture or ethnicity,” says Alligood. “You just have to give consumers enough information to get them to buy your product.”
Essay 4573
Change of heart in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Bobby Brown and his lawyer can’t agree if the singer had a heart attack. The lawyer told folks, “[Tuesday] morning they did diagnose him as suffering from a mild heart attack … they attributed to stress and diet.” But on Wednesday, Brown was denying the ailments. “None of it’s true,” insisted Brown. “I went in for a checkup. The doc gave me a clean bill of health. … I did go to the hospital … to just get a checkup, get everything tested out so that I could go on this tour, and everything is fine. … I don’t know where the heart attack thing came from. I got my heart and everything checked out earlier this morning, and I’m just fine.” Brown’s real life continues to be more bizarre than his reality TV series life.
• The U.S. Army has been lowering its standards for recruits, increasing the number of approved applicants with criminal records and lacking diplomas. In the last year, over 11 percent of recruits needed “character” waivers because of criminal problems, up from 7.9 percent in the previous year. “That’s a pretty tough standard,” said the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. “Not to be cheeky about this, but [if] we apply that standard to our legislative overseers, a significant fraction would need waivers to join the United States military.” Which means Sen. Larry Craig has a new career option with the army.
• A new study showed big Los Angeles law firms have lousy records regarding diversity. Almost all of the 17 firms studied reported having three or fewer Black, Latino or Asian partners (In L.A., Blacks account for 9.7 percent of the population; Latinos account for 46.8 percent; Asians account for 14.6 percent). The firms even scored poorly in the female partners category, with the highest number for one firm at 27.7 percent. The good news: The firms still do significantly better than Madison Avenue advertising agencies.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Essay 4569
Merging stupidity and ignorance in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Coors and Miller have merged their breweries in to better compete with Budweiser. Hmmm. The two brands with the most contrived and corny advertising hope to knock down the King of Beers. Wonder what these folks have been drinking.
• An arbitrator ruled NFL quarterback Michael Vick must give back $20 million in bonus loot to the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons argued the disgraced athlete violated his contract by his involvement in illegal dogfighting; plus, he used money from his contract to finance the illegal activities. Heaven forbid the team should also investigate all the money fans pour into fantasy football pools and gambling.
• A student in Nashville, Tennessee, is suing her high school after she was banned from wearing a t-shirt supporting the Jena 6. An assistant principal had stopped the student from entering the school wearing the shirt because it could “cause a problem.” Guess the assistant principal was right about that.
Essay 4566
From The Los Angeles Times…
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Group accuses Unilever of ad hypocrisy
The firm runs one ad campaign that praises women and another that degrades them, a consumer coalition says.
By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
A consumer group accused Unilever of hypocrisy Tuesday for running conflicting advertising campaigns -- one for Dove that praises women and their natural beauty and one for Axe that the group said “blatantly objectifies and degrades” them.
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood launched a letter-writing effort on its website and demanded that the company pull ads for the Axe line of grooming products for men, which one online pitch says makes “nice girls turn naughty.”
Unilever shouldn’t be commended for Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” while promoting products with a starkly different message, said Susan Linn, the consumer group’s director and an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
“The campaign says they’re going to help girls to resist a toxic marketing environment but they’re creating that environment as well,” Linn said.
Unilever spokeswoman Anita Larson said the Axe ads were clearly spoofs.
The Dove campaign is serious, she said, and “dedicated to making women feel more beautiful.”
“Each brand effort is tailored to reflect the unique interests and needs of its audience,” she said.
The owner of dozens of food, home care and beauty brands, Unilever has had success with both its Dove and Axe promotional campaigns.
Advertisements for each have won awards but take different approaches.
Kelly O’Keefe, a professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University AdCenter, said Unilever was “playing with fire” if it was thinking that the divergence “wouldn’t be picked up on at some point.”
“When you take a stance,” as Dove has with its anti-beauty industry marketing, “it does raise the game,” O’Keefe said.
A recent Axe TV ad showed a young woman who, spotting a man wearing Axe body spray in a grocery store, shoved a wheelchair out of her way to get close to him, gyrating and singing “bom chicka wah wah.”
That and similar advertisements spawned a music video in which lingerie-clad pole-dancing women sing about “skimpy thongs.”
The Axe line’s U.S. website says that women turn into “lust-crazed vixens” around men wearing Axe, whose fragrance “acts upon the female libido and stimulates the clothing-removal section of the female brain.” The company recently hired comedian David Spade to help make “The World’s Dirtiest Film,” a collection of clips sent in by young men who are encouraged to engage in “dirty sexy fun” so they can wash it away with Axe Shower Gel.
Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” has been extolled by women’s groups and the advertising industry for its message that the beauty industry sets unrealistic standards for women. The company runs the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, a nonprofit that seeks to educate girls about a “wider definition of beauty.”
An award-winning Dove video from 2006, “Evolution,” traced the transformation of an ordinary woman with blemishes into a billboard beauty, communicating that even supermodels don't really look like supermodels.
Last week, Dove released “Onslaught,” a video juxtaposing images of young girls walking to school with shots of thin models in beauty magazines and TV ads telling women how to slim down or become prettier. The video, released on the Internet, ends with the line “talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does.”
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, affiliated with Harvard University, is a coalition of healthcare professionals and advocacy groups.
On its website, it asks people to send Unilever a form e-mail or letter urging the company to “end your sexist and degrading advertising for Axe grooming products.”
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Essay 4565
Driven to drink in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• A new Israeli wine targeting American Christians presents images of Jesus on the label. The Grapes of Galilee claims to be made from grapes originating in the place where Jesus allegedly lived, with water from the Jordan River. Actually, it would be more impressive if the product were bottled water that turns into wine.
• The Second Coming of Don Imus is scheduled for December 1, when the fired shock jock will reportedly join WABC. Jesus Christ.
Essay 4564
Sprinting through a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Marion Jones, who finally admitted to taking steroids, relinquished the five gold medals she received at the 2000 Olympics. Now the International Olympic Committee has to figure out the true standings from the events. “The IOC wants to move forward as quickly as possible in getting the facts and sorting out all the issues,” said a spokeswoman. If they want to move forward as quickly as possible, perhaps they should ask Jones for some performance-enhancing… um, never mind.
• No amount of steroids could help the performance of Sprint CEO Gary Forsee, who stepped down yesterday from his leadership position. Looks like the company decided to sprint ahead without him.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Essay 4561
The Advertising Age interview with retiring AAF president-CEO Wally Snyder (see Essay 4556) warrants a few responses, particularly regarding the comments on multicultural marketing and diversity. First, let’s review the excerpt…
Ad Age: Over the course of your time at the AAF, what is your proudest achievement?
Mr. Snyder: The one thing I am most proud of is what we’ve accomplished in multicultural marketing and diversity. We started about 15 years ago when I think there wasn’t a real appreciation of the benefits of reaching different cultures in advertising. We have three programs that I think really stand out. The Most Promising Minority Students program, where we have brought talented students of color to the industry; over the last 12 years we’ve been doing the program, 70% of them are still in the business and making a contribution. Also, our Mosaic Awards have really recognized the companies and individuals that have contributed successfully in this area of multicultural marketing, so that’s a real accomplishment. And we put together a task force of leading clients like Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. … [T]ogether over the years they came up with the multicultural guidelines for advertising.
Ad Age: How would you estimate the pace of progress when it comes to minority representation in the industry?
Mr. Snyder: The progress can be measured in the fact that first, clients understood the importance of multicultural advertising, but have moved beyond that to know how to effectively do that. The other progress is that in order to do it effectively, we’ve all learned that we [have] to surround ourselves with diversity, and I think there is a real effort now to hire minority professionals. Having said all that, I think we have a long way to go.
Snyder said, “We started about 15 years ago when I think there wasn’t a real appreciation of the benefits of reaching different cultures in advertising.” Wow. The leading multicultural advertising agencies launched in the 1970s and 1980s. Is Snyder implying these shops toiled for decades without being appreciated? Then again, it could be argued that minority shops continue to be unappreciated.
The Mosaic Awards, according to Snyder, have “really recognized the companies and individuals that have contributed successfully in this area of multicultural marketing.” Wonder how many non-minority adpeople have ever heard of these awards.
As for “the multicultural guidelines for advertising,” also known as the Mosaic Principles and Practical Guidelines, well, you be the judge. Click on the essay title above to download the document. The objectives and strategies make total sense. But is anyone following, enforcing or even acknowledging it all? The value of this minority manifesto is diminished if it remains a dream deferred and unread.
Snyder exhibits his experience as a lawyer and huckster in answering the second question. Everyone is welcome to try deciphering the statements. If the industry has made progress by recognizing “we’ve all learned that we [have] to surround ourselves with diversity,” why does the issue remain a major problem? The only time it’s seriously addressed is when Madison Avenue is faced with the threat of legal action from organizations like the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Snyder admits, “I think we have a long way to go.”
You think?
Essay 4560
The winners of the 2007 ADCOLOR™ Awards have been posted—click on the essay title above to view the honorees.
The committee even decided to create a new category to salute Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr.
OK, technically, Magic has accomplished a lot of positive deeds. But surely Michael Jordan deserved the trophy ahead of Magic. Jordan’s got more championship rings. Plus, his work for Hanes® underwear continues to set the standard for multicultural marketing.
Congratulations to all the winners. And better luck next year, Michael.
Essay 4559
Garden variety news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• There’s a new bias lawsuit looming against Madison Square Garden, although this one doesn’t involve the New York Knicks and Isiah Thomas. Two Black women who worked as security supervisors charge that Garden honcho James Dolan is running a “boy’s club,” where they were denied promotions while young White interns who had sex with bosses advanced. Wonder what Thomas would have to say about these women and their accusations.
• Snoop Dogg felt humbled after being recognized at VH1’s fourth annual Hip Hop Honors. “These are guys that I grew up wanting to be like and learning their words and dreaming and hoping and wishing, and now they know who I am and they respect me and they say that my work has put me in the position that I can be commended—it’s unbelievable, I can’t believe it,” said the artist, noting the others who saluted him. “This is the best thing for us to happen for hip-hop, it’s positive. … These awards shows—never no violence it’s never negative, never anything in the media the wrong way, it’s always a great celebration of music and the artists and what they did.” Makes you want to go out and shoot a gun to celebrate.
Essay 4556
From AdAge.com, an interview with outgoing AAF president-CEO Wally Snyder. Check out his perspectives on diversity…
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AAF’s Snyder Has a Few Thoughts for His Successor
Ad Group’s Retiring CEO Talks Diversity, Fragmentation and Ethics
By Rupal Parekh
NEW YORK -- The American Advertising Federation’s president-CEO, Wally Snyder, came to the Washington-based trade group in the fall of 1985 after a career as a trial attorney and adviser to the Federal Trade Commission on advertising issues. In 1990, he was promoted from senior VP-government relations to executive VP-government, and took on the role of president-CEO two years later.
After a tremendous 15-year run at the helm of the AAF, during which time Mr. Snyder spearheaded numerous diversity- and ethics-related industry initiatives and testified before state and federal lawmakers on key industry issues and helped grow the organization’s membership to 50,000, he’s getting ready to pass the torch.
Ad Age: Do you plan to remain active and involved in the industry?
Wally Snyder: Yes. It’s a great industry. I really want to stay involved in advertising, particularly public-policy issues surrounding advertising. The one I will really focus on is advertising ethics–I’ve written in the area, and I want to continue to lecture in this area.
Ad Age: Over the course of your time at the AAF, what is your proudest achievement?
Mr. Snyder: The one thing I am most proud of is what we’ve accomplished in multicultural marketing and diversity. We started about 15 years ago when I think there wasn’t a real appreciation of the benefits of reaching different cultures in advertising. We have three programs that I think really stand out. The Most Promising Minority Students program, where we have brought talented students of color to the industry; over the last 12 years we’ve been doing the program, 70% of them are still in the business and making a contribution. Also, our Mosaic Awards have really recognized the companies and individuals that have contributed successfully in this area of multicultural marketing, so that’s a real accomplishment. And we put together a task force of leading clients like Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. … [T]ogether over the years they came up with the multicultural guidelines for advertising.
Ad Age: How would you estimate the pace of progress when it comes to minority representation in the industry?
Mr. Snyder: The progress can be measured in the fact that first, clients understood the importance of multicultural advertising, but have moved beyond that to know how to effectively do that. The other progress is that in order to do it effectively, we’ve all learned that we to surround ourselves with diversity, and I think there is a real effort now to hire minority professionals. Having said all that, I think we have a long way to go.
Ad Age: Going forward, what do you see as being the biggest challenge to this industry?
Mr. Snyder: This industry has changed more in the past two years than the previous 15, and is changing rapidly. All of the new digital opportunities to reach consumers are really important, and the first thing we have to continue to work on is building principles and plans that give clients opportunities to use all of these different [mediums]. The opportunity to connect the American advertising industry and our players with the global industry is a big challenge. We are going to be aided in that by our online capabilities. It’s ironic that as the world is getting smaller because of digital communication, we are becoming more fragmented as an industry. There is a need for the AAF to continually connect all of the facets of the business.
Ad Age: There are so many associations now, to some degree isn’t that fragmenting for the industry?
Mr. Snyder: Over my career, I’ve seen people only belonging to those associations where they get bottom-line benefits. The AAF pulls everybody together. I have never sold against the other associations, because we are all needed, but the special duty AAF has is to pull all the players together at one table. The only way to solve industrywide issues is to bring everyone together. AAF has proven itself by taking on the really tough issues. The AAF’s role is to make sure that everybody is participating in the decision making.
Ad Age: What advice would you give to your successor?
Mr. Snyder: The principal advice is it’s very important to be open and positive … and certainly to look to all of the opportunities we have to connect our members. I want my successor to be really knowledge-based in the advertising profession and in public policy, and certainly very energetic. I, along with the leadership of the AAF, are calling on people to apply. We’ve had a lot of people express interest and have applications already. We’re going to have a lot of great candidates.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Essay 4555
Turning the other butt cheek in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Next week, Sen. Larry Craig will be inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame. “Larry Craig has made a great contribution to Idaho over the period of 20-some years. At the time it was considered, this other matter had not come up,” said the Hall of Fame Association’s chairman. Craig has already been unofficially inducted into the Stall of Fame.
• The attempt to return fired shock jock Don Imus to the airwaves continued, with the chief executive of the media company rumored to be courting Imus speaking out in his defense. “He did something wrong,” said the chief executive of Citadel Broadcasting. “He didn’t break the law. He’s more than paid the price for what he did. I think he should be evaluated by what he does going forward.” In other words, the contract’s almost signed.
• Isiah Thomas spoke with the Rev. Al Sharpton to defend himself against the accusations surrounding his “bitch” commentary, and Sharpton is backing off on the boycott threats (see Essay 4549). Thomas argued the comments were spliced together from a seven-hour deposition tape to create misleading results. “I give him the benefit of the doubt,” said Sharpton. “It would seem like an easy thing for his lawyers to say he unequivocally didn’t say that.” Yeah, let’s look to the lawyers for the truth.
• Rapper Lil Wayne was busted in Boise, stemming from a felony fugitive charge after Georgia police suspected the hip-hop star of possessing a controlled substance. The arrest prohibited the rapper from making a Saturday night performance, resulting in irate fans bombarding the police with complaints. “Every other phone call that we’ve picked up have been about him—people who have tickets wanting to know where his concert will be, people calling to see if it’s true that he’s incarcerated,” said a deputy. It’s starting to seem like arresting rappers is more trouble than it’s worth.
Essay 4554
Adweek presented the fluff piece above, spotlighting White admen sharing their philosophies and strategies for recruiting talent. Of course, there’s zero mention of seeking diversity. In fact, Jeff Goodby said, “We’ve gotten to the point where it feels like all the great people are working either for us or our good friends.” Exclusivity has its privileges. Goodby’s creative recruiter claims to hunt for candidates in nontraditional places like comedy clubs. Gee, what a totally original idea. Adpeople never search for fresh bodies at comedy clubs. “After seeing his Borat-like performances, I knew he was a great writer and would be incredible with clients,” said the Goodby recruiter about a recent hire. Can’t think of a better way to embrace diversity than with a Borat impersonator. However, the agency did bring on a rapper-comedian who calls himself Jelly Donut. davidandgoliath principal David Angelo remarked, “We challenge everyone to look at things differently and that includes how we go about finding fresh creative talent.” Yeah, right.
Essay 4552
From The Chicago Tribune…
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WHY POLICE BOTHER IS ANOTHER MATTER
Craig was talking the talk
By Rex Wockner
Even though a judge ruled last week that Sen. Larry Craig cannot withdraw his guilty plea stemming from a Minneapolis airport sex sting operation, the Idaho Republican says he has changed his mind about resigning from Congress.
Which raises the question: What will it take to make this guy go away? Here we are six weeks after Craig’s arrest became public, and the story just will not die. This is intolerable -- even for gay folks like me. I can only imagine how straight people must feel.
So, if you don’t mind terribly, I’d like to do my part to help kill this story off, put it out of its misery, make it go away forever. This will require a bit of setup, and I’ll have to spoon-feed some straight readers some gay secrets.
The most amazing thing for me is that Craig still insists he wasn’t “cruising,” which is gay lingo for looking for partners in men’s rooms, forest preserves, rest areas and the like (remember George Michael? Wham!), or even just while walking down the street or shopping at Jewel.
Assuming the airport police report is accurate, and by ruling against Craig on Thursday that is exactly what a Minnesota judge did, the insurmountable problem with Craig’s insistence is this: We know better.
There are millions of gay men in the U.S. who, like me, came out in a less-enlightened era when we didn’t have much choice but to learn about restroom cruising. There were few other ways to find each other. Some of us weren’t so much looking for “public” sex as we were just looking to meet. But regardless of our motivation, we all -- millions of us -- have one thing in common: We learned, and we can still speak, the secret language that the police report says Craig spoke fluently in a men’s room at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
I learned this non-verbal language in 1984 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Let me be your translator.
The police report says Craig entered the men’s room and began peering through the door crack into the undercover cop’s stall. The report says Craig did this for two minutes. That is how bathroom cruisers often begin their dance.
The police report says Craig then sat down on the toilet in an adjacent stall, “tapped his toes” several times and moved his foot closer to the officer’s stall. The cop responded by moving his foot “up and down slowly.” Craig then slid his foot into the adjacent stall, and the two men’s shoes “touched.” This, gentle readers, is more than a textbook example of how bathroom cruisers communicate that they’re there to hook up rather than use the facilities. (Ordinarily, you don’t bump feet; usually, the slow up-and-down movement of toes is sufficient.)
The police report says Craig then slowly swiped his hand, palm upward, along the bottom of the stall divider with his fingers protruding into the policeman’s stall. It says he did this three times.
This gesture has a precise meaning that is universally understood in the cruising scene. It means: “Come closer to the wall so I can touch you.”
If you’re skeptical, you should know that the Minneapolis airport is extending the stall dividers farther down toward the floor.
So the bottom line: Larry Craig evidently was cruising. The only way he wasn’t cruising is if the perfectly detailed police report is a total fabrication, or if by magical coincidence all his many moves flawlessly mimicked the intricate choreography of the men’s-room mating dance.
You can make your own call on that. Audio of the post-arrest argument between Craig and the flabbergasted arresting officer is online. Go to tiny url.com/32h68z and scroll down to “MSNBC audio” in the right column.
Meanwhile, there is at least one other element that has kept this story alive -- the growing consensus among opinion writers, straight and gay, that Craig was entrapped by a police department that should have better ways to use its officers.
After all, it’s not as if men’s-room sex shenanigans are actually “public.” Cruisers go to great lengths to keep from getting caught. Bathrooms that become “tearooms” (gay lingo for cruising bathrooms) are chosen because they’re safe for such activity. Many such bathrooms, for example, are L-shaped, or have two layers of doors at the entrance. Why is this relevant? It means that if you’re using the men’s room as a tearoom, you can hear someone entering the bathroom before the person gets close enough to detect the shenanigans. In most tearooms, cruisers have time to get back in proper position after realizing that someone is heading in.
I agree that Larry Craig was, at minimum, enticed. It takes two to tango. If the cop hadn’t been sitting there peering back and playing footsie, Craig probably wouldn’t have made the come-hither finger gesture. Instead, he likely would have left frustrated, caught his next flight and returned to the Senate to continue his 100 percent anti-gay voting record.
In the wake of Craig’s inane drama, it seems obvious we should urge police departments to find better ways to spend our money. The era of what the British call “pretty policemen” entrapping horny men in toilets is long gone in Western Europe, and it should be relegated to the history books here too. Tearoom hanky-panky is a victimless “crime” that is only visible to those who are looking to find it.
In the end (if this story ever ends), Larry Craig may never come out. He even went so far as to engage in a bizarre, doomed effort to undo his guilty plea. I sort of hope he doesn’t come out. He’s hardly a role model for gay men, bisexual men or even straight men who sometimes have sex with men.
But if the police report is accurate, there are millions of such men in America who know the truth because we’re fluent in tearoom communication. And, if the report is accurate, you now know the truth too.
[Veteran journalist Rex Wockner writes for the Windy City Times and numerous other gay publications.]
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Essay 4550
From The Chicago Tribune…
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Doubting Isiah Thomas’ defense
By Clarence Page
As the steamy story of Isiah Thomas’ sexual harassment suit unfolded, I could not help but wonder what his mother would think.
The first time I really paid attention to the retired NBA star and current New York Knicks coach was back in 1989 when his mother’s life story was dramatized in an NBC-TV movie, “A Mother’s Courage: The Mary Thomas Story.”
Alfre Woodard depicted the feisty mom who raised her children alone on Chicago’s West Side after separating from her husband. When the Vice Lords street gang came to recruit her sons, she memorably greeted the gang-bangers with a shotgun and a threat to blow their sorry selves across the nearby expressway.
“First off, you have to keep an eye on your children,” she said in a 1990 Ebony magazine article on how to save inner-city children from gangs. “… Parents have to set examples. You can’t hang around the taverns and expect your children to behave differently.”
Sure enough. Young Isiah, (now 46) launched into a full-tribute mama-thon on the witness stand, describing to the jury how Mama Thomas taught her boys to respect women.
In the end, his memories of mother appeared to have helped Thomas’ case. When the three-week trial ended last week, a jury of four women and three men found in favor of the plaintiff, but let Thomas off the hook for paying damages.
The owners of the New York Knicks, however, were ordered to pay $11.6 million to Anucha Browne Sanders, 44, a former team executive who was fired from her $260,000-a-year job. The firing came after she endured a hostile work environment, she said, including crude insults and unwanted advances from Thomas, who denied the charges.
But what brought Thomas’ mother to mind was an unnecessary but explosive revelation by Coach Thomas during his video deposition. In his version of etiquette, he revealed, it’s wrong for a black man to call a black woman a “bitch,” but much worse for a white man to do it.
“A white man calling a black woman a bitch, … that is a problem for me,” he said. But when asked in a follow-up if he would be bothered by a black man’s using the same put-down, he said, “Not as much. I’m sorry to say. I do make a distinction.”
Don Imus, consider yourself vindicated.
Imus, you may recall, lost his nationally syndicated radio show in the uproar over his referring to the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.” The I-man claimed to have gotten his defamatory words from hip-hop. That still doesn’t excuse his unsporting attack on a defenseless women’s basketball team. But if my fellow black folks don’t object to anyone, including sports stars and rappers, who spew such insults against women, we virtually admit to the same double-standard that Thomas says he is “sorry to say” he employs.
At least Rev. Al Sharpton, to whom Imus appealed almost as an unofficial arbiter of black feelings, “unequivocally” condemned Thomas’ comments. But don’t hold your breath waiting for Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson or the recent multitudes of mostly black protesters against unequal justice in Jena, La., to turn out against Thomas or in support of Sanders.
Don’t expect black sports fans to burn their Knicks tickets in protest or call for Thomas to be ousted from his job like Imus was. Sanders is more likely to be vilified as some sort of Jezebel, sent perhaps by white conspirators to “bring another brother down.”
Just ask Anita Hill. When U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas dismissed Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment as a “high-tech lynching,” his approval ratings in polls of black Americans shot up to about 55 percent from around 40 percent. The Senate barely confirmed him as a Supreme Court justice.
Imus was vulgar but black popular culture wrote his script. In the early 1970s, films like “Superfly” and “The Mack” glamorized and glorified the sleazy worlds of drug dealers and pimps. Despite their technical excellence, they signaled the beginning of a long slide from a period of rebellious politics into a sexist rebellion against self-respect that today infects the popular culture of a new generation.
Isiah Thomas’ blase attitude toward the B-word tells us this attitude has infected top sports management. I don’t know what his mother would say. But I know mine would not be happy.
Essay 4549
Weekend Upchuck in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Olympic medalist Marion Jones officially told the public that she had taken steroids, opening the door to losing her awards and facing prison time (see Essay 4547). “In September 2000, before the Sydney Olympics, (former coach Trevor) Graham began providing me with a substance he told me was flaxseed oil,” said Jones. “I continued to use this substance until July 2001. … By November 2003, I realized that what Graham had given to me was a performance enhancing drug.” Three years to figure things out? Perhaps the drugs were accelerating her physical performance while slowing her mental abilities.
• The Rev. Al Sharpton is threatening to boycott the New York Knicks unless Isiah Thomas apologizes for remarks about referring to Black women as bitches. “We are calling on him to apologize because of what came out during the deposition … when he said it was all right for Black men to call Black women ‘bitches,’” said Sharpton. “It is inexcusable for any man of any race to call Black women or any women ‘bitch.’” As a symbolic gesture, Thomas should be forced to apologize during a WNBA New York Liberty game.
• In Jena, Louisiana, the town’s mayor is taking issue with a song by John Mellencamp whose lyrics include, “Jena, take your nooses down.” The mayor wrote, “The town of Jena has for months been mischaracterized in the media and portrayed as the epicenter of hatred, racism and a place where justice is denied. … the Mellencamp video is so inflammatory, so defamatory, that a line has been crossed and enough is enough.” Mellencamp posted a note on his web site stating, “The song is not written as an indictment of the people of Jena but, rather, as a condemnation of racism.” It’ll probably make a terrific jingle for a Chevy truck commercial too.
• As expected, three players from the Duke lacrosse team filed a lawsuit against former prosecutor Mike Nifong, the city of Durham, North Carolina, and police detectives involved on the case. The suit declares the case to be “one of the most chilling episodes of premeditated police, prosecutorial and scientific misconduct in modern American history.” Don’t hold your breath waiting for a Mellencamp song.
• Mickey D’s must pay a whopper of an amount—$6.1 million—to an ex-employee who was forced to strip and sexually abused on the job after the restaurant received a crank call from someone posing as a cop. The fiendish caller told the assistant manager that a young woman had stolen from a customer and should be strip searched. The assistant manager’s ex-boyfriend performed the search and abused the victim, all of which was recorded by a surveillance camera. The lawsuit charged that Mickey D’s failed to warn employees about the caller, whose pranks had occurred at other fast food restaurants across the country. Of course, the fast feeder plans to appeal. A spokesman for McDonald’s said, “While we are disappointed with the verdict, we remain vigilant in our efforts to protect our employees and provide them with a safe and respectful workplace.” Yeah, can’t think of a more respectful job than toiling at Mickey D’s.
• O.J. Simpson is getting back his Rolex watch seized by the family of murder victim Ron Goldman (see Essay 4540). The watch was originally valued at $12,000 to $22,000, but turned out to be a fake worth about $125. It’s just one more lie surrounding the former NFL star.
• Sidley Austin, one of the country’s biggest law firms, agreed to pay a $27.5 million settlement to former partners who accused the firm of age discrimination. The law firm sought to argue that as partners, the accusers were technically not employees entitled to protections of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. But the firm lost key preliminary court fights, paving the way for the settlement. Perhaps this is an example of the benefits of being a seasoned and savvy veteran.
Essay 4548
Hispanic Heritage Month doesn’t seem to inspire a lot of advertising messages. This is probably a sign of progress.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Essay 4547
Changing hearts and minds in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones appears to be admitting she did indeed use steroids. In a letter to family and friends, Jones wrote, “I want to apologize for all of this. … I am sorry for disappointing you all in so many ways.” In the letter, Jones also indicates she’s facing prison time and will be sentenced in three months. Look for her gold medals to appear on eBay soon.
• Senator Larry Craig lost his attempt to reverse his infamous toilet-stall guilty plea, but is now reversing his decision to leave office on September 30. “I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively,” wrote the moron. “I will continue my effort to clear my name in the Senate Ethics Committee—something that is not possible if I am not serving in the Senate.” No word if the statement was written on toilet paper.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Essay 4544
Only two more painful episodes remain for AMC series Mad Men. Will the Black elevator operator or janitor make final appearances? The suspense is excruciating. So is the writing and acting.
Essay 4543
Old school moves in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• “Slave labor is the way to go because slaves aren’t paid, so all money is profit,” declared a sixth-grade student from Grover Cleveland Middle School in Caldwell, New Jersey. As part of a social studies assignment created by two language arts teachers at the school, students were asked to create an advertising campaign hyping slave labor for a newly built plantation. In fact, this is the second consecutive year the project has been given to the kids. “Our intent was not to be insensitive,” announced the school principal, responding to complaints from parents. “After reviewing the assignment and listening to feedback, from an administrative and teaching perspective, we determined it was insensitive and inappropriate. And we will eliminate it from the curriculum.” However, the students can now expect to be heavily recruited by Madison Avenue advertising agencies.
• Shock jock Don Imus is reportedly wrapping up the details on a new contract that will put him back on the air via Citadel Broadcasting. This news gives the kids at Grover Cleveland Middle School a lesson about the power of White bigotry.
• Desperate Housewives sparked controversy over a politically-incorrect punchline delivered by Teri Hatcher’s character in the season premiere episode. After the character was told during a doctor’s examination that she might be going through menopause, she remarked, “OK, before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren’t, like, from some med school in the Philippines?” Philippine officials protested, while viewers launched a petition that read, “A statement that devalues Filipinos in healthcare is extremely unfounded, considering the overwhelming presence of Filipinos and Filipino Americans in the medical field.” ABC responded with an apology that included, “The producers of ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ABC Studios offer our sincere apologies for any offense caused by the brief reference in the season premiere. There was no intent to disparage the integrity of any aspect of the medical community in the Philippines. … As leaders in broadcast diversity, we are committed to presenting sensitive and respectful images of all communities featured in our programs.” Um, isn’t broadcast diversity almost an oxymoron on network television?
[Thanks to Bill Green of Make The Logo Bigger for pointing out a few of these news items.]
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Essay 4540
Seize the daily news with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• O.J. Simpson must hand over his Rolex watch and other goodies to the family of murder victim Ron Goldman in order to satisfy the infamous civil lawsuit verdict. In addition, if the items seized by Simpson and his cohorts in Las Vegas turn out to legally belong to Simpson, they will also be handed over to the Goldmans. No word yet if the Goldmans plan to storm in packing pistols to seize the items.
• A Tennessee teacher sparked controversy by giving her fifth-grade students a crossword puzzle featuring the N-word. The clue read, “17 across: An insulting way to label a black person.” The teacher found the puzzle online, and believed it would be a good way “to teach about how it was [in historical times].” And she wound up teaching about how it is in present times too.
• Ford reported its 11th straight monthly drop, experiencing a 20 percent slide in sales. 17 across: A four-letter word for shitty automaker.
Essay 4538
Our secret formula is our people. However, the minority people are probably not trusted to know the real secret formula.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Essay 4537
At the buzzer with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• The verdict is in. Madison Square Garden and its chairman owe $11.6 million to fired executive Anucha Browne Sanders. Isiah Thomas was also found guilty of sexual harassment, but won’t have to pay any money from his own wallet. Of course, the losers have vowed to appeal. “I’m innocent, very innocent, and I did not do the things she has accused me in this courtroom of doing,” griped Thomas. “I’m extremely disappointed that the jury did not see the facts in this case. I will appeal this, and I remain confident in the man that I am and what I stand for and the family that I have.” A statement from Madison Square Garden read, “We believe that the jury’s decision was incorrect and plan to vigorously appeal the verdict. … We look forward to presenting our arguments to an appeals court, and believe they will agree that no sexual harassment took place and MSG acted properly. … The normal operations of Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks will continue unabated.” Which means fans can look forward to another hopeless, playoffs-free season.
Essay 4536
Balancing work and play in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• Things look bad for Isiah Thomas and the Knicks in the sexual harassment lawsuit from Anucha Browne Sanders (pictured above), as the jury continues to pass notes to the judge indicating they are unanimous on eight of the nine charges. The charge in contention involves whether or not Thomas should have to pay from his own wallet. Now that would be a bitch.
• A new report indicates approximately one-third of all sick days are for mental disorders, including the popular mental health days. One researcher commented, “It is ironic we spend the least on musculoskeletal disorders and depression when they have the most impact on people's lives and disability.” Look for Isiah Thomas to use a few mental health days in the upcoming season.
• Anita Hill fired back at Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (see Essay 4528). “I stand by my testimony,” wrote Hill in an editorial for The New York Times. “I will not stand by silently and allow him, in his anger, to reinvent me.” Hill also appeared on a television talk show and declared, “I was truthful. What I described happened actually did happen, and what I’ve learned is that it’s happened to many women in the workplace. … [Thomas’ response] is really so typical of people accused of wrongdoing. They trash their accusers.” Didn’t realize references to pubic hair on Coke cans were such a widespread occurrence.
Essay 4535
The perspective below appeared under The Big Tent at AdAge.com. Hadji Williams follows with a decent response. MultiCultClassics adds a few thoughts too.
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Could Multicultural Shops Go the Way of Negro League Baseball?
Big-Agency Injustices Gave Rise to Minority-Owned Agencies; What Happens if Those Agencies Diversify?
By Tiffany R. Warren
Recently at the AAF Mosaic and District 2 Diversity Achievement Luncheon, an honoree mentioned in his remarks that he hopes in the next forty years there will be no need for diversity-achievement luncheons and segmented awards shows honoring multicultural work. The honoree is a well-respected chairperson of a multicultural marketing firm that was founded several decades ago. His comment made me think, “Would multicultural marketing agencies, ethnic marketing, media and role models even exist if the advertising, marketing and media industries had their act together in its beginnings?”
Eric Harris, CEO of Sixth Floor Developers and a panelist at the recent AAF Mosaic Forum on supplier diversity, mentioned that in the midst of apathy and change comes opportunity. He pointed out that his success came at a time when music companies did not want anything to do with the Internet. So he thought, “This would be a great time to start an Internet company targeting music companies!” Eric’s principle of success applies to why multicultural marketing agencies and ethnic media have thrived and become such a prolific part of the advertising and marketing landscape.
The “multicultural/urban marketing” industry began during a time when the mainstream advertising agencies and marketers did not hire, market or promote people of color—or women. From this cold shoulder came the warm ray of opportunity. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world” and the following pioneers did just that. John H. Johnson, Vince Cullers, Thomas Burrell, Byron Lewis, Carol H. Williams, Bob Johnson, Eliot Kang, Lionel Sosa, Mr. Ernest Bromley, Howard Buford, Mary Wells Lawrence, Michael Gray and many others succeeded in reaching an audience that until then had been largely ignored by general-market practitioners. Other examples of historic opportunities created in an environment of adversity are the Tuskegee Airmen, Negro League Baseball, 54th Regiment of Massachusetts, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the LPGA, the WNBA, GLAAD, etc. In the absence of diversity, new marketing paradigms and new role models were born. But in some cases—the Tuskegee Airmen and Negro League Baseball, for example—the achievement of progressive goals meant the end of the groups.
I don’t think the AAF honoree mentioned above was saying he looked forward to a time when his shop became obsolete. What he may have been promoting is the ability to have his multicultural-targeted creative and diverse professionals judged and honored in a more mainstream forum. Although his motives are honorable, it unfortunately is not happening in the current marketing and advertising climate.
So should the multicultural marketing agencies, diverse advertising, marketing and media professionals and targeted creatives wait to be recognized? No! Just like those advertising and marketing pioneers did in the past, the AAF Mosaic programs, the ANA Multicultural Excellence Awards and The ADCOLOR Awards have created a forum to recognize and celebrate those contributions and achievements in a meaningful way.
So now that we are in a time that may not have the overt and unconstitutional adversity that our predecessors faced, diversity’s role may be to insure that we continue to have checks and balances in order to celebrate and promote future Johnsons, Burrells, Kangs, Sosas, Bufords, Grays and Williamses.
-----------------------------
Tiffany,
The assumption you’re making is that as the marketplace and consumers diversify, GM agencies and GM holding companies will pull a Branch Rickey and decide to hire the best talent not only regardless of color, but also recognizing some the unique advantages and perspectives that professionals of color can offer clients and companies.
Well, it’s 2007 and 100 million out of 300 million are non-White. African-Americans are currently spending over 800 billion annually on consumer goods and expected to hit the $1 trillion mark by 2010. Hispanic Americans are already pushing the $1 trillion mark. Asian Americans are nearing the $500 billion mark…
I don’t need to recite the hiring numbers, but as of last year, there was a NYC agency that tried counting a janitor as a VP because the shop thought it easier than hiring qualified black talent.
Yet with few exceptions, many in the industry still hide behind “hey it’s not so bad/it’s getting better” and “this is just PC run amok whining complaints.”
Maybe because sports is so much more public and the ad world is more of a behind-the-scenes sort of industry this sort of nonsense has allowed to go on for so long.
But it’s gonna take a lot more Branch Rickeys than the current glut of Al Campanis, Marge Schott and Jimmy The Greek types still in the game.
Then maybe, just maybe, you’ll see some lasting change. —Hadji Williams, Chicago, IL
-----------------------------
Tiffany R. Warren is a Golden Child in the contemporary diversity drama—and deservedly so, as she has contributed countless positive achievements for the cause. Therefore, please don’t view the following as attacking an esteemed role model.
Yet when Advertising Age named Warren among their Women To Watch 2007 honorees, the publication revealed she calls herself a “diversity Pollyanna.” Can’t help but think Warren’s latest perspective validates the label.
Warren wondered, “Would multicultural marketing agencies, ethnic marketing, media and role models even exist if the advertising, marketing and media industries had their act together in its beginnings?” Duh!
Warren wrote, “The ‘multicultural/urban marketing’ industry began during a time when the mainstream advertising agencies and marketers did not hire, market or promote people of color—or women.” Well, things have improved for women at least (although some might argue the point). But the rest of the sentence absolutely applies to the state of affairs today. Want proof? See how many White advertising executives are familiar with the minority marketing icons listed in Warren’s piece—besides Mary Wells Lawrence. Hell, Warren even misspelled Tom Burrell’s name in her original post.
The references to Negro League Baseball are interesting, considering lots of adpeople believe the current minority agencies represent a “Negro League” within the industry. And does anyone honestly doubt the mainstream advertising agencies and marketers are actively perpetuating the separate but unequal conditions? As Warren notes, the minority agencies have been around for decades. But they still assume a second-class status, prohibited from making meaningful progress and growth.
Warren should be careful to decipher the words of the “well-respected chairperson” she highlighted. He likely was not envisioning a future where his agency would become obsolete. Rather, he was probably hoping the rampant bias and exclusivity poisoning Madison Avenue would become obsolete, providing his agency an opportunity to thrive.
No offense, but the multicultural awards aren’t helping matters. After all, it’s great for Jamie Foxx to receive accolades from BET and the NAACP. But the real deal happened when he nabbed an Oscar. To gain true appreciation, the minority agencies must appear in the majority awards shows. Unfortunately, the controlling mainstream advertising agencies and marketers are not about to let that happen.
Warren ended by observing, “…we are in a time that may not have the overt and unconstitutional adversity that our predecessors faced…” Or perhaps the unconstitutional adversity is now covert. Warren—and everyone in the advertising industry—could benefit from spending an extended period working at a minority agency.
Better yet, let the minorities compete on a level playing field in the big leagues.
[Final note: Chill out, Warren groupies. This response sought to examine opinions and ideas. Nothing more. Nothing less.]
Monday, October 01, 2007
Essay 4532
A Monday morning MultiCultClassics Monologue…
• According to various stories published nationwide, there’s a growing disinterest in O.J. Simpson memorabilia. Items on eBay continue to generate lukewarm responses at best. “Prior to O.J.’s criminal issue, he was a player like Joe Montana, a fan favorite, well-liked," said a sports memorabilia seller. “In general, we don’t sell O.J. Simpson stuff. There really isn’t much demand for it. People do recognize him for his football-playing abilities, but at the same time people are turned off by him.” Guess the only person really desperate for O.J. Simpson stuff is, well, O.J. Simpson.
• A tentative agreement between General Motors and the United Auto Workers would allow GM to shut down two plants in Michigan and Indiana, in addition to potentially closing more facilities. Guess GM cars are about as popular as O.J. Simpson memorabilia.
Essay 4530
Innovation through diversity—although there’s no innovation throughout this diversity ad.
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