8477: Rep. John Lewis, Comic Book Hero…?

From USA TODAY…

Rep. John Lewis to write graphic novel on civil rights

By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., has inked a deal to help write a graphic novel about his experience during the 1960s civil rights movement.

As a young man, Lewis was beaten in Selma, Ala., on the day in 1965 that has become known as Bloody Sunday. Marchers were on their way from Selma to Montgomery when Lewis and others were beaten by Alabama state troopers on the Edmund Pettus bridge.

Top Shelf Productions will publish the novel, called March, in 2012. Top Shelf, a graphic novel and comics publisher, said the agreement with Lewis is a first for a sitting member of Congress.

“It is not just a story of struggle; it is a story of involvement,” Lewis said in a statement posted on Top Shelf’s website. “It shows the ups, the downs, the ins and the outs of a movement.”

Putting Lewis’ story in the form of a comic book will help educate a new generation about the struggle for civil rights, said publisher Chris Staros.

Lewis, 70, was first elected to Congress in 1986. Later this month, he is slated to receive a Medal of Freedom—the nation’s highest civilian honor—from President Obama.

8476: Brother, Can You Spare $7.00?

At this very moment, Tahir Hemphill’s Hip-Hop Word Count is only $7 shy of its $7,500 goal. So barring a disaster, the project will be moving forward. Congratulations to Hemphill. And if you’re interested in being the one to seal the deal, become a backer by clicking here now.

8475: Colored Agencies, Click Here.

Here’s another example of the disparities—and disrespect—between White and minority advertising agencies. When White shops compete for new business, there’s high-level schmoozing, high-energy hype and high-priced consultants conducting the review. When minorities are asked to pitch an account, clients post obscure banner ads on trade publication websites. Wouldn’t be surprised if there were companion craigslist classifieds too.

8474: Words On The Hip-Hop Word Count.

PSFK spoke with Tahir Hemphill last June, discussing the Hip-Hop Word Count. Check out the interview. Then check out the project and become a backer. Hurry, the deadline is February 13, 2011.

8473: BHM 2011—Macy’s.

Here’s Macy’s ad for the celebratory team-up with Ebony and Fashion Fair Cosmetics.

8472: Bill O’Reilly MVP—Most Vulgar Prick.

The Super Bowl featured a much-anticipated showdown between Bill O’Reilly and President Barack Obama. The live event displayed quite clearly that O’Reilly is a rude, offensive, loud-mouthed, arrogant prick. If the interview had been an NFL game, the man would be recognized as a dirty player. Somebody hand O’Reilly a falafel loofah and send his ass to the showers.

8471: The History Of Hip-Hip For $300.

From USA TODAY…

‘Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey’ reveals a musical revolution

By Steve Jones, USA TODAY

Hip-hop now has a historical tome as bold and colorful as the larger-than-life people who built its history. Long before Jay-Z, Kanye West, Eminem or Lil Wayne ruled the billion-dollar-a-year industry, the path was paved by DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Grandwizard Theodore, LA Sunshine and Kurtis Blow.

Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey is a luxury, large-format book from ARIA Multimedia that traces the genesis, evolution and global influence of hip-hop culture since its humble beginnings in the New York City streets.

Given hip-hop’s influential 37-year history, “it needed to be celebrated in a size and scope that would be as impactful as the culture itself,” says editor in chief Jordan Sommers.

The 420-page, 16-pound opus is stuffed with hundreds of rare photos and 70 essays that cover 30 aspects of the culture and profile 40 icons, from Blow to Nicki Minaj, who “changed the game.” There are also more than 150 first-person accounts by participants in the movement.

“It was very important to us that this story wasn’t told by outsiders, but by the people themselves,” Sommers says. “The writers that we hired were, if not right smack in the middle of things from day one, people who had 15 to 20 years as documenters of hip-hop culture.”

The $300 book goes on sale Tuesday at hiphopculturebook.com. A book launch Tuesday night at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles coincides with the premiere of an Odyssey-based exhibit on view through May 4. It boasts portraits, video, interactive mixing stations, Tupac Shakur’s handwritten lyrics, Everlast’s private hip-hop sneaker collection and iconic outfits.

Afrika Bambaataa, the South Bronx DJ and former gang leader whose block parties helped spawn the culture, is credited with giving hip-hop its name. He also identified the elements of the culture: DJ music, breakdancing, graffiti art and MCs.

“The book did a great job of going from the true school days to the now school,” says Bambaataa, who wrote the introduction. “It gave attention to all four elements and also the fifth element, which is the quest for knowledge. We hope this book will keep people looking at the culture.”

Russell Simmons, profiled as a game-changer who managed seminal stars Blow, Run-DMC and LL Cool J and who co-founded Def Jam Recordings, says the book not only documents hip-hop’s growth but also examines its global reach.

“People want to talk about how hip-hop has expanded into fashion or sneakers or soft drinks, but let’s talk about how there couldn’t be a President Barack Obama without hip-hop,” Simmons says. “Hip-hop culture is what tore down so many of the racial walls in this country that would have otherwise stood in his way.”

8470: American Uprising Download.

From The New York Times…

Violence and Retribution

By Adam Goodheart

Two centuries ago last month, a traveler making his way by boat down the Mississippi toward New Orleans would have come upon a ghastly sight: a severed human head rotting on the end of a pole. And no sooner would it vanish around a bend than another appeared along the levee. Then another, and another — and so on without respite for 40 long miles down to the city.

What must it have been like to experience this? Did the horror build and build with each successive glimpse of those dreadful trophies? Or how many apparitions did it take — 10, 20, 100? — before they began to seem familiar milestones on the journey, ordinary features of the passing landscape?

In a sense, those heads were totems of an all-too-commonplace aspect of the American scene: the landscape of slavery and white supremacy. Each one had been cut from the corpse of a black man killed for fighting to be free.

Early in January 1811, along the same riverbank, a small army of Louisiana slaves had briefly faced a small army of slaveholders. It was, as described in “American Uprising,” Daniel Rasmussen’s chilling and suspenseful account, the culmination of a signal episode in the history of American race relations.

On a night just at the beginning of carnival season, black workers belonging to a planter named Manuel Andry broke into their master’s house armed with axes, machetes and sugar-cane knives. For Andry, surprised in his bedroom, it must have been the realization of every slaveholder’s worst fears. He managed to flee, but not before seeing his son Gilbert being hacked to pieces.

Perhaps, in those awful moments, Andry also registered shock at recognizing the ringleader in the assault: Charles Deslondes, a mixed-race slave driver on his plantation, a favored overseer entrusted with enforcing discipline among the field hands. Deslondes might have seemed the last person to strike back at the system, much less at his own master.

But Louisiana in 1811 was a place almost as different as can be imagined from the stable, tranquil Old South of legend. Newly acquired by the United States, the territory was a frontier in the throes of an economic boom, as sugar cultivation bred fortunes overnight. A weak, unpopular governor, William Claiborne, struggled to impose some measure of federal authority on the suspicious locals. Ambitious, hard-fisted men who had flocked to the Gulf Coast jostled against the established French colonial families in a bruising struggle for land and power.

Moreover, land and power were only two of the crucial ingredients of success. A third — more essential, in some respects, than the others — was black labor, preferably young, strong men who could survive the excruciating conditions in the cane fields. And so slaves poured into Louisiana: from Africa, from the Eastern states, from the West Indies.

Read the full story here.

8469: BHM 2011—Ebony And Macy’s.

Ebony, Fashion Fair Cosmetics and Macy’s honor Eunice W. Johnson here and here and at select Macy’s locations nationwide.

8468: HHWC XLV.

If you manage to collect some spare change via the Super Bowl—whether it’s from the office pool, your bookie or stiffing the pizza delivery boy—consider becoming a backer of Tahir Hemphill’s Hip-Hop Word Count. To learn more and show your support, click here now. Hurry, the game ends February 13, 2011.

8467: Agency Diversity Statement 22.

Dentsu doesn’t get a lot of attention in the U.S., perhaps because of its non-White roots. Regardless, the corporate website displays a basic policy on human rights and posters too. Job inquiries, however, can only be submitted in Japanese.

8466: GE Brings Bad Things To Life.

Why does this obnoxious, big-budget GE commercial try to position the corporation as high tech, yet depict people listening to an antiquated radio?

8465: White Kids Can’t Jump.

The people responsible for this lame Hillshire Farms commercial should be tied up and beaten.

8464: More Soul Food For Thought.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

City loses taste of history as Army and Lou’s closes

Another year, another iconic Chicago soul-food restaurant closes its doors.

Last Sunday, Army & Lou’s — renowned as much for its fried chicken and peach cobbler as for its famous clientele — became the latest to succumb to the economy and changing times.

Before that, it was Edna’s in 2010 and Soul Queen in 2009.

And now the owner of Captain’s Hard Time Dining says that South Side establishment is struggling, too.

The end of restrictions on where African Americans could live and eat, coupled with the economic pressures most businesses face, reduced the client base these restaurants relied on.

We know a restaurant can’t stay open for the sake of nostalgia or to preserve the memories of the politicians, musicians and civil rights activists whose pictures line the walls. Still, it’s a sad loss.

Army & Lou’s, in particular, held a special place of distinction for being one of the oldest black-owned restaurants in the Midwest and the favorite of the late Mayor Harold Washington.

The owners of the 65-year-old restaurant say they plan to reopen if they can find investors or a buyer.

Let’s hope they succeed.

Or the flavor of Chicago will grow a little more bland.

8463: Border Babies.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

Few illegal immigrants cross border to give birth

The vast majority of illegal immigrants who had children in the United States in 2010 had entered the country several years earlier, according to a new report.

The Pew Hispanic Center study found that 350,000 babies were born in the U.S. between March 2009 and March 2010 to at least one illegal immigrant parent. Of those parents, 91 percent arrived before 2008.

“It’s real concrete data that I think destroys this notion that immigrant women are crossing the border illegally [to have] babies,” said Angela Kelley of the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank.

Republican lawmakers in Congress and in more than a dozen states are trying to alter the interpretation of the 14th Amendment so that the children of illegal immigrants born in the U.S. are no longer granted citizenship.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe has claimed “hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens are crossing U.S. borders to give birth and exploit their child” to obtain citizenship.

Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, said that even if the number of people crossing over to immediately have a child is small, it’s still a problem.

“It isn’t a big enough deal that we should fix it?” he said. “It’s wrong to reward people for bad behavior.”

Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, which supports a process for some illegal immigrants to become citizens, said a baby born in the United States to illegal immigrant parents must wait until he or she is 21 to sponsor their parents for citizenship.

Illinois has an estimated illegal immigrant population of about 525,000, according to the study.

8462: Jetpacks Packs It In.

Where’s My Jetpack? is taking time off. Is it a coincidence that the blogger’s leaving on the same weekend that Royal Caribbean is launching a humungous gay cruise? Just kidding. For now, the blogosphere is losing one of its better personalities. All the best.

8461: BHM 2011—The U.S. Marines, Again.

The U.S. Marines re-launch this BHM ad every year.

8460: Kenneth Cole’s Cairo Comedy.

Admittedly not a Twitter enthusiast, so forgive the potential ignorance behind this post. Kenneth Cole has been taking criticism for a Tweet that made light of the situation in Egypt. What’s the issue here? Others are using the civil unrest for comic inspiration. Plus, like it or not, Cole has always injected political commentary into advertising. MultiCultClassics presumed the retailer was playing off the protestors brandishing shoes, tying it to sales of his fancy footwear.

8459: Fuzzy Facts And Figures.

TGIF with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent. Just to be clear, is that the White unemployment rate, or does it include the double-digit rates that have devastated minorities? Let’s not break out the champagne yet, folks.

• The U.S. Census reported New Orleans has lost nearly 1/3 of its citizens in the past decade. That’s a lot of truffles and bonbons missing and from the Chocolate City.

• This Sunday, the largest cruise targeting gays and lesbians will be launched by Royal Caribbean. There’s a joke involving “Royal” and “Queen” here somewhere. Or maybe “Super Bowl XLV” too.

8458: Lost Soul Food.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

South Side soul food legend Army & Lou’s closes

By Maudlyne Ihejirika

It was the late Mayor Harold Washington’s favorite restaurant — the booth where he always sat still bears his name. And its storied history goes beyond feeding the grass-roots political movement that elected the city’s first black mayor.

At its original Black Metropolis location, it fed the leader of another movement: the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the ’60s.

But South Side soul-food legend Army & Lou’s, 422 E. 75th St., thought to be the oldest black-owned restaurant in the Midwest, closed its doors for the last time Sunday.

“It’s really just due to the economy. People are not eating out as much,” said one of the five partners, Goldie McDuffie. “We had to close. We’ll see what happens in the future.”

For 65 years, Army & Lou’s has fed celebrities, politicians, business moguls and others who slid into its red linen-tableclothed booths for greens and ham hocks, catfish, chitterlings and peach cobbler. Celebs ranged from Cab Calloway to Muhammad Ali to former U.S. Sen. Charles Percy.

Washington, a bachelor, would eat there up to three times a week, and was partial to just about everything, longtime staff like waitress Betty Martin recall.

“We made everything from scratch,” McDuffie boasts.

Supporters are rallying to reopen the second black-owned restaurant of historical significance to call it quits in the past six months.

Edna’s, a West Side institution at 3175 W. Madison for 44 years closed in August after the death of namesake Edna Stewart.

“Her daughter was looking at her expenses and the income and they weren’t meeting in any kind of way,” Stewart’s brother, Sam Mitchell, Jr., explained.

Alicia Spears, executive director of the area’s Business and Economic Revitalization Association, lamented that lack of community support is affecting many small businesses.

“They need funds. They need willing parties to commit to use of the site. They need consistent support,” she said. “Since many African-Americans now live north of 63rd Street, they don’t want to come south. This is such a sad commentary after we fought and died for integration. Will we have any viable, trendy upscale black businesses after this recession?”

Home of to-die-for fried chicken, Army & Lou’s was originally opened by William and Luvilla Armstrong in 1945, in the historic Black Metropolis neighborhood, now Bronzeville, where most blacks coming north during the Great Migration settled.

The couple brought missed southern cooking to the relocated Southerners. The restaurant at 39th & Indiana was a frequent haunt of big-name musicians area jazz clubs.

“It was a fine dining establishment, and the first place that a lot of middle-class African-American families back then were taking their children where there were linen tablecloths and napkins, and there was live music,” McDuffie recounted.

Army & Lou’s relocated to its current site in the 1970s, following a different migration: Chatham was where many middle-class and affluent blacks were moving then.

It was bought in 1973 by another husband-wife team, Mary and Charles Cole, who retired and sold it in 1987. It flailed a little, then its last owner, Dolores Reynolds, purchased it with two partners in 1992. Two years later, tragedy struck. One of the partners was murdered at the restaurant by a former employee, and Reynolds was left running the restaurant on her own, until a year ago, when a group of younger investors bought in.

“We tried to rejuvenate the business,” said McDuffie. “Things started tapering off probably in May, but we held on. Then we just couldn’t hold on anymore.”

On its final weekend, regulars turned out for a farewell celebration, listening to live jazz with their favorite meals on Friday and Saturday, and enjoying the famous Sunday buffet.

“Everybody who is anybody in this town has been to Army & Lou’s. I’m very attached to this restaurant. My mother used to take me from a very young age,” said longtime regular CeCe Edwards, who is working with groups like Park Manor Neighbors and the Chatham Avalon Community Council to find help for the owners. “It’s very emotional.”

Longtime waitress Betty Martin was too overwrought to come in the last weekend.

”It was really sad. Our regulars came, including two guys who used to go to the original Army & Lou’s. They stayed ‘till long past closing. They were distraught,” McDuffie said. “But we expected more people, and that was just really confirmation that it was just time. Maybe when we’re gone, people will feel a longing for the business and then want it back. But right now, the support is just not there.”

8457: Park Planned For Harriet Tubman.

From EmpireStateNews.net…

Senators support creation of Harriet Tubman National Historical Park

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand introduced legislation to create a National Historical Park preserving and promoting the life of Harriet Ross Tubman, the most famous “conductor” of the anti-slavery resistance network known as the Underground Railroad. The Harriet Tubman National Historical Park and The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park Act would establish two parks, one in New York and one in Maryland. The National Historic Park in Auburn, NY would focus on her later years where she was active in the suffrage movement and established one of the first incorporated homes for aged African Americans. The National Historic Park in Maryland will trace her life on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where she was one of the leaders on the Underground Railroad. The National Parks Service (NPS) endorsed the legislation, determining through a multi-year study that Auburn is a suitable location for a national park to preserve and promote the life and legacy of Harriet Ross Tubman.

“This legislation will provide a big boost to our regional tourism industry as people from across the country flock to Auburn to visit the Harriet Tubman House,” said Senator Schumer. “Harriet Tubman is an American hero, and we should be honoring and preserving her life’s work so that it may inspire future generations. Thanks to this bill, the individuals who have been working so hard to protect her legacy in Auburn will get aide to help them maintain the site as a monument to the freedom and equality that we cherish.”

“Harriet Tubman is a remarkable American hero who continues to inspire me today,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Her unwavering commitment to helping others while risking her own life in the long fight for equality has left an indelible legacy. This national park in Auburn, NY would provide an important place where men and women of all backgrounds can come together and reflect on the significance of her life.”

In New York, the bill authorizes grants for the preservation, rehabilitation, and restoration of the many Harriet Tubman properties. The allocation of these funds would be determined by a locally driven planning process after the passage of the bill. The Harriet Tubman National Historical Park would include important historical structures in Auburn, New York. They include Tubman’s home, the Home for the Aged that she established, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church and rectory. The legislation would also help boost tourism in the region by providing funds for the development and construction of interpretive historical materials. Thematically linking several historical sites would help visitors better understand Harriet Tubman's important contribution to Central New York and the United States as a whole.

Harriett Tubman has a deep history in both New York and Maryland. Harriet Tubman was born in Dorchester County, Maryland, where she spent nearly 30 years as a slave. She escaped slavery in 1849, but returned for more than 10 years to Dorchester and Caroline counties where she led hundreds of African Americans to freedom. In 1857, Harriet relocated her parents from St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada to Auburn, NY. Soon after, she purchased land in Auburn and spent the rest of her life there. In 1913, she was buried in Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, NY.

8456: The Hip-Hop Word Count Countdown.

Tahir Hemphill’s Hip-Hop Word Count currently has 295 backers, for a total of $6,773. Take a moment to help him exceed 300 backers and reach the $7,500 goal. Hurry, the deadline is February 13, 2011—that’s only 9 days away.

Update: 301 backers as of 5:00pm CST, 2/4/2011.

8455: BHM 2011—GE.

GE is apparently operating on CPT, running an MLK Day ad during BHM.

8454: Eat Me.

This Edible Arrangements commercial features some seriously lame overacting. Imagine girlfriend’s reaction if she had received edible panties.

8453: Playing The Percentages.

Looking at the figures with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• A new survey shows 62 percent of Americans want major corporations to have less influence on the country, 24 percent want things to stay about the same and 12 percent want corporations to have more influence. Of course, the 12 percent are the leaders of major corporations who have all the power, so they’ll override the opinions of the other groups.

• U.S. Census estimates indicated that racial minorities accounted for about 85 percent of the nation’s growth over the past decade. The percentage is more than completely opposite of the growth on Madison Avenue.

8452: Is Progressive Exclusive?

This annoyingly awful Progressive commercial suddenly has the MultiCultClassics staff wondering if Flo has ever interacted with minorities. Can’t recall a spot where she has.

Oops. Found one.

8451: C’MON WHITE MAN! Episode 4.

(MultiCultClassics credits ESPN’s C’MON MAN! for sparking this new, semi-regular blog series.)

MultiCultClassics’ favorite futurist fraud—Marian Salzman—is back. Now the moron who takes credit for bringing us wiggers and metrosexuals is exposing a new femininity with a study entitled, “Gender Shift: Are Women the New Men?”

Salzman contends women are taking over the world. Um, has she noticed the disparity between guys and gals on Madison Avenue—particularly in regards to pay scales and power roles? Euro RSCG Worldwide, the agency employing Salzman, recently recruited a slew of creative honchos. All are stereotypical alpha males.

For some bizarre reason, Salzman thought it would be a good idea to videotape herself reading from the research document. Yo, Marian! Next time, just project the PowerPoint slides. A behavioral psychologist would have a field day analyzing your body language.

Anyway, Salzman believes gender lines are being blurred. So in keeping with the insightful revelation, MultiCultClassics proudly presents the first woman to be called out by this blog series.

C’MON WHITE MAN!

8450: BHM 2011—The U.S. Marines.

This BHM ad is becoming Black history, as the Marines have been annually running it forever.

8449: Do White Consultants Foster Exclusivity?

Advertising Age reported that Sonic awarded its creative duties to Goodby Silverstein & Partners, who bested a handful of White ad agencies for the prize. The review was overseen by Joanne Davis Consulting, Inc., which brings up yet another issue regarding Corporate Cultural Collusion. Specifically, what role do the consultants play in keeping reviews exclusively White? A quick peek at the consultancy’s website presents a few hints (Note: the following is not intended to be an indictment of the specific consultancy; rather, it is merely an examination of the overall process). For example, the place boasts a team comprised of former White agency executives. Additionally, agencies are encouraged to register with the firm, potentially building a vast pool of Whiteness. Even the consultancy’s international connections appear to be predominately White. Does the RFP process involve revealing the competing agencies’ records and commitments on diversity? Do the consultants ever introduce minority advertising agencies into the mix? Hell, have the consultants ever visited a non-White shop? Perhaps it’s time for the consulting experts to present their credentials on creating inclusive agency/client relationships.

Sonic Names Goodby Creative Agency of Record

Omnicom Shop Bested Cramer-Krasselt, Publicis in Review That Followed Drive-in Chain’s Split With Longtime Agency

By Maureen Morrison

NEW YORK -- After a 17-year run with independent shop Barkley, drive-in restaurant chain Sonic Corp. named Omnicom Group’s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners as its creative agency of record after a review. The agency beat out independent Cramer-Krasselt, Chicago, and Publicis Groupe’s Publicis, Dallas and Seattle.

Sonic in December tapped Publicis’ Zenith as its media agency of record, beating out WPP’s Maxus, Chicago, and Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Universal McCann, Detroit. Media and creative had been handled by Barkley. Joanne Davis Consulting oversaw the reviews.

“Every agency in the review did an amazing job,” said Sonic CMO Danielle Vona, who joined the company in July. “We selected Goodby not only because they are the right partner, they had amazing strategy and creative to bring to our business at an important point in the evolution of our brand.” Ms. Vona added that the primary reason she launched a review was “to make sure we had best partners in our marketing portfolio.”

Barkley and Sonic in October ended the majority of their 17-year relationship after Sonic said it was launching a review of its $100 million creative and media account. Barkley, which declined to participate in the review, ended up retaining a few portions of the business, mostly assignments in PR and a national cause-branding campaign. Independent Lopez Negrete handles Hispanic marketing; independent C3 handles Sonic’s children’s program. Digital will be handled mostly by Goodby, although Havas’ Euro RSCG, Chicago, Sonic’s customer-relationship management, menu, on-lot and packaging agency, will handle some digital duties as well. Goodby will also work on social media.

Goodby faces some marketing and turnaround challenges, as Sonic’s same-store sales have slid in recent years. For the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, Sonic reported a 7.8% decline in same-store sales, a 4.3% decline in same-store sales for fiscal year 2009, and only a 0.9% rise in fiscal year 2008.

Sonic, which has more than 3,500 drive-ins nationwide, spent $114.1 million on advertising from January through November 2010, according to Kantar Media. The company in 2009 spent $155.5 million, and $132.2 million in 2008.

8448: White Man Salutes Black History Month.

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson staged a Black History Month episode on Monday featuring Dr. Cornel West and George Clinton. Give Ferguson credit for presenting things with honesty and intelligence. Madison Avenue executives could benefit by following Ferguson’s lead and expressing the same amount of curiosity and courage. Catch clips at the CBS website.

8447: Gap Redesigns Its White Marketing Mix.

Advertising Age reported Gap has named a new Global CMO and AOR in moves that take Corporate Cultural Collusion to a higher level. The retailer named Ogilvy as its global agency of record, and simultaneously recruited an Ogilvy executive to be its global chief marketing officer. The late David Ogilvy always insisted on showing his allegiance to clients by literally using their products. So look for agency staffers to be sporting cheap t-shirts and khakis.

Gap Names Global CMO, Taps Ogilvy as New Agency in Series of Major Changes

North America President Marka Hansen Leaves, Seth Farbman to Run Marketing

By Rupal Parekh

NEW YORK -- Three and a half months after a massive branding fiasco that earned the name “LogoGate,” Gap is cleaning house and trying to start anew.

The retailer has named WPP’s Ogilvy its new global agency of record, supplanting longtime agency Laird & Partners, and it’s also swapping out 24-year company veteran and North American President Marka Hansen for Art Peck, who has run Gap’s outlet business for the past three years.

And in an unusual twist, Gap simultaneously plucked a chief marketing officer from its new agency. Seth Farbman, Ogilvy’s worldwide managing director and founder of sustainability practice OgilvyEarth, will serve as the first global chief marketing officer for the Gap brand. For the past couple of years Ivy Ross has led marketing for the Gap brand, and she is now taking on a different role elsewhere in the company, Gap spokeswoman Louise Callagy told Ad Age.

Gap is also shifting its global marketing operation to New York—where Mr. Farbman will be based—and has set up a new “global creative center” that will centralize public relations, design and production. Leading the new center will be Pam Wallack, the current president of Gap Adult North America, and also housed there will be well-known Gap designer Patrick Robinson.

The wave of changes was announced by the company in a press release sent out at midnight Eastern time; it was the second announcement out of the San Francisco-based retailer within 24 hours.

Earlier in the day, Gap issued an unusually candid press release announcing that Ms. Hansen was stepping down effective Feb. 4. “After several conversations, Marka and I agreed this was the right time for a change in the organization in order to take Gap brand to a new level,” Gap Inc. Chairman-CEO Glenn Murphy said in the statement. “I am grateful for all that Marka has contributed to the company.”

Ms. Hansen started at the company’s Banana Republic unit in 1987, rising through the ranks in top merchandising roles at both Banana Republic and Gap, and had a hand in the retailer expanding its footprint to Japan and Europe. In 2003, she was named president of Banana Republic and four years later, tapped to serve as president of North America.

She was also one of the most visible executives connected with Gap’s rebranding disaster in the fall. In October, Ad Age broke the news that within just four days of introducing a new Gap logo, which re-created the retailer’s name in a bold Helvetica font and perched a blue gradated box atop the “P,” the marketer caved to customer backlash on Facebook and on blogs and reverted to the old design.

The debacle was what many analysts viewed as another setback for the brand, which has been plagued with declining same-store sales for several years. It is expected to report new sales numbers on Feb. 3.

“I expect more from our Gap business in North America,” Mr. Murphy said as part of his most recent public statement. “The changes we’re making are intended to propel the brand to deliver the product and brand experiences our customers demand worldwide.”

According to Ms. Callagy, the exit of Ms. Hansen and the dismissal of Laird & Partners as Gap’s agency doesn’t stem from the logo controversy alone. “It’s a very thoughtful and deliberate plan and is designed to help return the brand to health,” she said. She added that talks with Ogilvy preceded Gap’s logo controversy, and that the agency and retailer have been holding discussions about potential work since an agency review the retailer called in the summer of 2010.

Between the two press releases and an audio file, in which Mr. Murphy verbally explains the changes to the public, Gap’s behavior has taken a turn-for-the-transparent. Asked what’s behind the new approach, Ms. Callagy acknowledged it was a conscious move on behalf of the company, and said: “There’s a level of transparency that’s expected now from consumers, who want to have a dialogue and not just be spoken to.”

Contributing: Andrew Hampp

8446: Give To The DJ Kool Herc Fund.

From The New York Times…

An Online Movement to Help D.J. Kool Herc

By David Gonzalez

The minute Jeff Chang heard that the pioneering Bronx hip-hop D.J. Kool Herc was having health problems, he knew it was time for payback. Mr. Chang, a prolific writer on politics and culture, was honored when Herc wrote the introduction to his hip-hop history book “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.” But this week he was alarmed that Herc, born Clive Campbell, was in financial straits because his lack of medical insurance was complicating his treatment for kidney stones.

Mr. Chang worked quickly and for free to set up a Web site to collect donations to the D.J. Kool Herc Fund.

“He has given so much to make our lives better,” Mr. Chang wrote on the site. “Let us do the same for him.”

Apart from addressing the immediate medical and financial issues, Herc hopes to use his predicament to bring attention to the lack of insurance and affordable health care.

“Now we are fighting for health care not just for me, but for everyone,” Herc is quoted as saying on the Web site. “I see this as another quest for me to shine light on a sensitive issue for the community.”

8445: Diversity Rings False With Kay.

This Kay Jewelers commercial utilizes heavy-handed diversity. But where are the Black and Native American couples?

8444: BHM 2011—Delta Airlines.

Can’t wait for the completion of the Washington D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial—but only so Delta will stop repurposing this ad for MLK Day and BHM every year.

8443: C’MON WHITE MAN! Episode 3.

(MultiCultClassics credits ESPN’s C’MON MAN! for sparking this new, semi-regular blog series.)

The New York Times reported that Jeff Goodby of Goodby Silverstein & Partners hired former Adweek columnist Barbara Lippert to serve as the shop’s curator of popular culture. Lippert had worked for 20 years as an advertising critic at the weekly trade publication before being recently dismissed. “We’d always thought it would be interesting to have someone on staff whose job it would be to stay in touch with popular culture,” said Goodby.

WTF. GS&P is recognized around the globe for employing account planners and creatives who not only stay in touch with popular culture, they actually influence and invent it. The haters commenting at AgencySpy were quick to label the move as a mercy hire. Hell, the typically mild-mannered David Burn at AdPulp remarked, “As for her new job, this seems like a pretty clear case of ‘We like Barbara, let’s find her a job.’ Why Goodby couldn’t just say that, I don’t know.” Um, because it would be an open admission that even progressive agencies like GS&P have prehistoric hiring practices rooted in cronyism and other old-school forms of exclusivity. Got an unqualified buddy who’s out of work? No problem. We’ll fabricate a fucking position for her from scratch. Yet when an unknown minority candidate shows up, you better have world-class credentials with a portfolio full of Cannes Lions.

C’MON WHITE MAN!

8442: Another Bizarre Report About GM.

Advertising Age reported that General Motors launched a global review of its ad agencies abroad and planned to consolidate assignments; plus, the trade publication even indicated much of the information for the story came from GM Global CMO Joel Ewanick. But check out the update at the end of the piece. The automaker declared, “Contrary to reports in Advertising Age, General Motors is not conducting a review of its global advertising agencies and has no plans to consolidate global agencies.”

Hmmm.

Despite emerging from bankruptcy, seemingly turning itself around and celebrating a 23 percent sales increase in January, the automaker still needs help coordinating its press coverage.

Remember when General Motors insisted it wouldn’t dump its U.S. minority agencies in 2007, but did anyways? Then in 2010, another GM marketing VP admitted she planned to dump minority agencies in favor of White agencies—until GM decided to dump the marketing VP instead. Now Ad Age says GM told them of plans to review and consolidate agencies abroad, yet the automaker insists such actions will not happen.

OK, but MultiCultClassics encourages all of General Motors’ non-White global agencies to watch their backs.

GM Opens Global Review With Eye Toward Consolidation

Process Could Take Year to Complete; Ewanick Says North American Agency Lineup Is Stable

By Rupal Parekh

*This story has been updated to reflect a statement GM sent Ad Age after publication denying a global review of its advertising agencies is taking place.

NEW YORK -- General Motors has kicked off a review of its global agency partners, with an eye at consolidating the automaker’s relationships with advertising agencies outside of the U.S., GM’s Joel Ewanick told Ad Age.

GM ranks as the fourth largest advertiser in the world, with $3.27 billion in measured media spending; about one-third of that figure comes from outside the U.S., according to Ad Age’s DataCenter.

The review will largely concentrate on streamlining the partners handling ad duties around the world for GM’s biggest brand, Chevrolet, which is marketed in 130 countries and sold an estimated 4.3 million vehicles globally last year. But agency relationships for other brands under the GM umbrella could be examined too. The process is in the early stages and is expected to take nearly a year to complete, Mr. Ewanick told Ad Age while on a whirlwind press tour in New York along with Chris Perry, who took over Mr. Ewanick’s former role as U.S. VP-marketing at GM.

The duo, who worked together at Hyundai, are in the Big Apple promoting GM’s plans for the Super Bowl this coming weekend, in which the car company will have an inescapable presence thanks to a total of eight 30-second spots positioned around the event.

Three major advertising holding companies and a handful of global agency networks work with GM around the world. Among them are: Interpublic Group of Cos.’ McCann, DraftFCB and Lowe; Publicis Groupe’s Publicis and Leo Burnett; and WPP’s Y&R.

One agency that could stand to benefit from the process? McCann in Brazil, which is churning out work for Chevrolet that Mr. Ewanick said he’s particularly proud of and is confident could translate easily into other markets. One goal of the review process, the marketer said, is to concentrate work with agencies that going forward could lead worldwide launches of products for GM rather than launching new cars on a regional basis.

The move comes shortly after Mr. Ewanick, 50, was promoted to global chief marketing officer having clocked just about nine months at the Detroit-based auto giant. He’s already largely finished putting his stamp on the automaker’s North American roster of ad shops.

After landing at GM last May, he made a flurry of agency changes—notably, without conducting reviews—that resulted in Omnicom Group’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners becoming the lead creative agency for Chevrolet in North America and Publicis Groupe’s Fallon taking on lead creative duties for the Cadillac brand. Mr. Ewanick said he believes the relationships with his current North American lineup is stable.

After publication, GM contacted Ad Age with this statement: “Contrary to reports in Advertising Age, General Motors is not conducting a review of its global advertising agencies and has no plans to consolidate global agencies. GM is always looking for ways to collaborate and coordinate among our global partners, but we are not conducting a review process and there are no plans for global consolidation.”

8441: Back A Black Inventor During BHM.

Just a reminder that instead of simply learning about Black inventors this month, you can actually support one. Make a generous donation to Tahir Hemphill’s Hip-Hop Word Count. Hurry, the deadline for contributions is February 13, 2011—that’s only 11 days away.

8440: Summer’s Eve No Longer Fresh…?

Adweek published the column below by Summer’s Eve senior brand manager Angela Bryant that clearly communicates the cluelessness of clients. Bryant obviously felt compelled to make amends for an awful and offensive ad, but she ultimately comes off looking like an idiot. Despite the column’s title, Bryant hasn’t learned any important lessons, and she now appears willing to let consumers tell her what to do. Or worse, she’ll instruct her agency vendors partners to bring her the next Old Spice or Dove campaign. Bryant opens by proclaiming, “Working for Summer’s Eve for nearly a decade, I’ve seen and heard everything…” Um, it’s safe to say she hasn’t seen or heard a decent Summer’s Eve ad in all that time. And she probably doesn’t truly realize her role and responsibility in the revelation.

Lessons Learned

By Angela Bryant

Working for Summer’s Eve for nearly a decade, I’ve seen and heard everything—every vaginal euphemism, every douche joke—even a Saturday Night Live spoof a few years back. Nothing fazes us. You learn quickly to keep your head down and focus on the brand, and turn a deaf ear to wise cracks.

As happens to many brands, we had unknowingly become creatures of habit. We had stopped taking the risks necessary to really get into our consumers’ minds to find that ownable place, and the result was a wrong-headed advertorial and eye-opening backlash.

When every product—from soap to toilet paper to insurance—is fighting for a space in the overcrowded consumer’s mind, staying the course just isn’t an effective strategy.

To come out ahead—to be heard—means taking risks. But how many of us really take those leaps?

Old Spice can certainly be credited with taking a major brand leap. After decades of being perceived as a stodgy product for older men and losing share, Old Spice reinvented itself as a young, hip and even irreverent brand. And while it seems like an obvious marketing strategy now that the campaign had seen significant success, the move away from the brand’s core consumer of the past was a risky move.

Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” was certainly a risk-taking endeavor as well and, yet, one entirely driven by consumer insights. Dove could have taken the conservative marketing approach, ignored the undercurrent of self-esteem issues surfacing among women, and focused simply on the nuances of beauty product positioning. Instead, it dove head first into unsettled waters and arose a hero among women—and their daughters. Dove embraced the fact that women, no matter the age, wanted someone to recognize that beauty isn’t just about what’s on the surface—that it runs deep. The campaign’s success speaks for itself.

True, it’s daunting to embark on a new brand direction, and I’d bet many brand managers question a) whether it’s worth trying to turn the Titanic, so to speak, with new creative, or b) whether the return on investment will be there long term, and choose not to because they’ve got so much invested in one direction. There’s certainly no one answer.

I think the bigger question, however—one we at Summer’s Eve learned the hard way—is whether we, as brand managers, are really hearing our consumers. Forget the risk, forget “turning the Titanic.” At the end of the day are we really moving the needle on our businesses and creating lasting relationships with our consumers?

Since this past September, we asked ourselves just that, and embarked on a multimarket listening tour. Our intention was to leave behind any historical approaches and preconceived notions and really listen—to gain insight into women’s understanding of the role hygiene plays in their lives, both practically and emotionally.

We talked to hundreds of women through focus groups and conversations across the United States, and in the process, learned a lot about women’s needs—and about ourselves as brand managers.

Our goal was to reset and recharge our brand communication. Today, we’re refreshing our campaign with a more modern look and feel. And only a few months from now in July, we’ll build on that refresh to launch a completely new brand voice. Our consumers will have to tell us what they think.

Either way, every step Summer’s Eve takes going forward will be consumer driven. We’ve committed to walking in lockstep with the people that use our products and could be using our products—to listen and to take risks if that’s what it takes to cut through the industry clutter.

Angela Bryant is senior brand manager at Summer’s Eve.

8439: Carol Moseley Braun’s Crack-Up.

From The Chicago Tribune…

Braun’s character

Late in the first joint appearance of the four leading contenders for mayor of Chicago, Carol Moseley Braun lectured on the importance of a mayor’s temperament. The date was Jan. 14, the setting was the Tribune editorial board, and the candidate on Braun’s griddle was Rahm Emanuel. Electing him mayor, she suggested, would import to Chicago a sharp-elbowed style of Washington politicking:

”None of us (opposing you for mayor) have a reputation for sending dead fish to people, … poking people in the chest, cussing them out,” Braun instructed a silent, attentive Emanuel. “I mean, the question is one of temperament — whether or not you bring that kind of temperament to the city of Chicago. This city is the ‘city of big shoulders’ and we’re considered to be tough Grabowskis and all of that. But we’re not mean-spirited and nasty. …”

With that last sentence Braun pivoted to her right, toward Emanuel, and gently dipped her head. She let “mean-spirited and nasty” expand to fill the high-ceilinged room. Her words and her body language sought to convey not only her relative propriety, but her nobility as well.

On Sunday, though, Braun abandoned any semblance of those attributes, real or theatrical. At a South Side forum, fellow candidate Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins criticized the former U.S. senator and ambassador for returning to politics after being “missing in action and lost somewhere” during years when parts of Chicago had struggled. As personal attacks go, this was fairly tepid and, coming from a candidate who barely registers in the polls, not so threatening to Braun.

Yet Braun retorted with a vicious, and evidently wrong, overreaction: “Patricia, the reason you didn’t know who I was for the last 20 years is because you were strung out on crack. Now you have admitted to that. You also were in a cult. You have admitted to that. … I was not strung out on crack. I don’t have a record.”

Watkins, 53, has told the Tribune she used marijuana and cocaine for several years as a teenager, has never used crack cocaine, and has been sober for 25 years. What she said in a subsequent statement rings true: “Carol owes an apology to me and to every person who has struggled with an addiction in the city of Chicago. This says a lot about her character and shows she is not ready to be a leader for Chicago residents.”

We’re slow to call on politicians to apologize for their wretched excesses. Each of us has voiced cruelties we regret. Had Braun apologized to Watkins on the spot, Chicagoans could relate not only to her ugly words, but to her contrition.

What’s remarkable is that, at this writing, Braun has displayed no regret whatsoever. With her silence, she has parlayed a momentary hurt into what’s now something more serious: a calculated refusal to get straight with Watkins and the people of Chicago. The people Braun aspires to lead.

That this campaign’s discussion of temperament started with Braun lecturing Emanuel is instructive: Emanuel employs a strong tongue and strong tactics, but we don’t recall any such outburst from him in any public setting.

So what is it, Ms. Braun? You say “We’re not mean-spirited and nasty”?

Are we, instead, reckless with our words and then too stubborn to say we’re dead wrong?

The question, you said Jan. 14, is one of temperament. Thanks for displaying yours now, when voters see it implode.

8438: Buying Into Economic Recovery.

Spending too much time with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Consumer spending rose 0.7 percent in December, the sixth straight monthly increase. The economic boost, however, will probably be attributed to the limited-time return of McRib® sandwiches.

• General Motors reported a 23 percent sales increase in January, selling 178,896 cars and trucks. The automaker probably could have surpassed 30 percent by offering free McRib® sandwiches with every test drive.

• Exxon Mobil reported 4Q 2010 net income grew 53 percent, marking its most profitable quarter since 3Q 2008. Wow, were they selling McRib® sandwiches at Exxon Mobil mini marts?

8437: National Black Theater Not In The Black.

From The New York Times…

A Harlem Cultural Hub Is Threatened by Debt

By Kevin Flynn and Felicia R. Lee

Theirs was a partnership built on vision and pride and rooted in a building at the very heart of black America.

In 2002 the National Black Theater, a cultural anchor of Harlem, invited the owners of Nubian Heritage, a growing beauty-care company with an African pedigree, to invest in its sprawling building at Fifth Avenue and 125th Street.

The theater, created in the turmoil of the civil rights movement, had owned the building for 19 years. But now it faced foreclosure, as large construction loans remained unpaid.
For the theater, its new partners held the promise of revenue and revival. For the businessmen, two former street vendors from Liberia, the building provided a flagship store in a historic neighborhood.

Nine years later, though, the store is closed; the partnership owes nearly $1.8 million in unpaid property taxes; and the theater is facing foreclosure yet again, a plight it blames on its partners, men it once embraced as kindred spirits and now in court accuses of mismanagement and fraud.

“This debt has placed the theater’s home at risk like nothing else ever has,” said Raymond N. Hannigan, the theater’s lawyer.

Founded in 1968 by Barbara Ann Teer, the theater was created to showcase productions by, and about, black Americans at a time when such stories rarely appeared on the mainstream stage. It has evolved into a cultural spawning ground, one that presents shows and workshops intended to foster respect for African ancestry and for black self-expression, and one graced over the years by artists like Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Nina Simone, Nikki Giovanni and Maya Angelou.

But the theater’s story is also a cautionary tale about what can happen when arts groups extend beyond their comfort zone to find revenue, as is increasingly popular in the poorly financed arts world. Ms. Teer was a pathfinder in such efforts. From the day in 1983 when she bought the building, a former jewelry factory, she hoped to finance her work with rent from the other tenants. “The real estate subsidizes the art,” she liked to say.

The men Ms. Teer later picked to be her lead partners in that effort, Richelieu Dennis and Nyema Tubman, began their careers on 125th Street, peddling organic shea-butter soaps, much like the ones Mr. Dennis’s grandmother once sold at village markets in Africa. Today they operate several companies on Long Island that make skin and hair care products derived from African ingredients, which they market online and through major retailers like Target. Dun & Bradstreet estimated that the primary company has $6 million in annual gross sales.

“My whole life has been about building community, building business in our community, empowering people in our community,” Mr. Dennis said.

Read the full story here.

8436: Black History Month Primer.

From AOL News...

Black History Month 2011: Facts on the Annual Celebration

By Torie Bosch

Today marks the start of Black History Month, when African-American history is celebrated in the classroom, on television and in daily life.

One of the running good-natured jokes about Black History Month is that it just so happens to be celebrated in February—the shortest month of the year. How did February become Black History Month? Surge Desk presents the history of, ah, the history month.

According to the Library of Congress, Black History Month has its roots in something called Negro History Week. In 1925, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, an African-American historian who founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, proposed Negro History Week as a way to encourage people to learn more about black history. He selected a week in February that included the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and black abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

The first Negro History Week was celebrated in February 1926. “The response was overwhelming,” says the Library of Congress. “Black history clubs sprang up; teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils; and progressive whites, not simply white scholars and philanthropists, stepped forward to endorse the effort.”

In the early 1970s, Negro History Week was rechristened Black History Week to reflect the changing language used to describe African-Americans. Then, in 1976, as America observed its bicentennial, Black History Week was expanded to the full month we celebrate today.

Every February since 1976, the U.S. president issues a proclamation declaring the second month of the year Black History Month or National African American History Month.

You can read Barack Obama’s 2010 National African American History Month proclamation here.

8435: C’MON WHITE MAN! Episode 2.

(MultiCultClassics credits ESPN’s C’MON MAN! for sparking this new, semi-regular blog series.)

AdFreak examined the evolving venture from former CP+B honcho Alex Bogusky. According to reporter Brian Morrissey, Common is an effort to “spark a consumer revolution,” and it’s “nothing less than a roadmap for reinventing capitalism.” Bogusky’s brainstorm is committed to “rapidly prototyping many progressive businesses that unleash creativity to solve social problems.” In a roughly hour-long presentation that can be viewed online, Bogusky and his cohorts projected slides trumpeting beliefs like, “Creative people must play a part in inventing the new capitalism,” and “From competitive advantage to collaborative advantage.” Plus, they unveiled the Common mission statement: “Design a capitalism that spreads love and prosperity to all stakeholders.” Another slide read, “Common purpose, common goals, common means, and common values. A common brand to encompass products, businesses, and ideas of the common community.” The final image spotlighted the Common logo and identified the group as “The New Industrialists.”

What. Ever.

Forget the potential copyright infringement lawsuit that may be filed by recording artist-actor Common.

It’s too early to predict what this pipe dream will potentially produce. But at first blush, the community leaders appear to be predominately White—which is so common of the industry that spawned the enterprise. Additionally, it’s a safe bet that the initial list of “social problems” to be solved does not include diversity on Madison Avenue. This is probably just as well, given that whenever the most creative people in our business collaborate to tackle the rampant exclusivity, the progressive answer always involves inventing a minority youth outreach program. And based on past events, Bogusky is incapable of moving beyond the clichés to deliver transformative thinking in this area.

It’s a shame. Bogusky seems to have undergone a spiritual rebirth, suddenly rejecting the injustices he’s witnessed and even co-authored over the years. Yet will he denounce the greatest crime in the history of Madison Avenue, or continue to ignore the White elephant in the room?

Right now, The New Industrialists bear an uncanny resemblance to The Old Segregationists.

C’MON WHITE MAN!

8434: BHM 2011—Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola pours out last year’s BHM ad—with an Ebonics-style typo in the headline. I use to think…?