10018: Cake And Cultural Cluelessness.

From NewsRescue…

Sweden Cultural Minister eats “Nigger Cake”

DailyMail—Sweden’s culture minister today faced furious calls to resign after she was pictured cutting a ‘racist’ black cake designed like an African tribal woman.

Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth had appeared at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm when she was invited to cut the cake which was designed like a naked African woman.

The Swedish minister cut pieces from the black cake, which had blood-red sponge and was designed to highlight the issue of female genital mutilation.

Despite the intentions of the bizarre cake, however, critics described it as a ‘racist spectacle’, and demanded Ms Liljeroth resigned for participating in the ‘tasteless’ event.

The 'artist' who made the cake appears above. Many regard it as an attack against Blacks, Women and humanity.

The Association for African Swedes said the cake was a crude racist caricature which ‘makes a mockery of racism’.

Kitimbwa Sabuni, a spokesperson for the group, told Swedish news agency TT: ‘To say that you did this for a good cause only makes the mockery of people who are victims of racism and of circumcision worse.’

Mr Sabuni told a Swedish newspaper Ms Liljeroth’s participation in a dubious event with cannibalistic overtones showed her ‘incompetence and lack of judgment’.

Makode Linde, the artist who came up with the cake, had placed his own head at the top of the cake and said it had been misunderstood.

The black cake, part of an exhibition on World Art Day, was intended as part of the artist’s project illustrating degrading stereotypes of black people through history.

Liljeroth, whose photograph cutting a piece of the cake was widely shown in Swedish media, said she understood why people would be offended by the incident.

She said in a statement: ‘I was invited to speak at World Art Day about the freedom of art and its right to provoke.

‘And then they wanted me to cut into the cake. I don’t review art, but I can very well understand that this whole situation was misunderstood.’

10017: Archie Loves Black Pussycat.

Interracial marriage hit a record high in the United States—and in Archie comics too.

10016: New Facts On Food Deserts.

From The New York Times…

Studies Question the Pairing of Food Deserts and Obesity

By Gina Kolota

It has become an article of faith among some policy makers and advocates, including Michelle Obama, that poor urban neighborhoods are food deserts, bereft of fresh fruits and vegetables.

But two new studies have found something unexpected. Such neighborhoods not only have more fast food restaurants and convenience stores than more affluent ones, but more grocery stores, supermarkets and full-service restaurants, too. And there is no relationship between the type of food being sold in a neighborhood and obesity among its children and adolescents.

Within a couple of miles of almost any urban neighborhood, “you can get basically any type of food,” said Roland Sturm of the RAND Corporation, lead author of one of the studies. “Maybe we should call it a food swamp rather than a desert,” he said.

Some experts say these new findings raise questions about the effectiveness of efforts to combat the obesity epidemic simply by improving access to healthy foods. Despite campaigns to get Americans to exercise more and eat healthier foods, obesity rates have not budged over the past decade, according to recently released federal data.

“It is always easy to advocate for more grocery stores,” said Kelly D. Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, who was not involved in the studies. “But if you are looking for what you hope will change obesity, healthy food access is probably just wishful thinking.”

Advocates have long called for more supermarkets in poor neighborhoods and questioned the quality of the food that is available. And Mrs. Obama has made elimination of food deserts an element of her broader campaign against childhood obesity, Let’s Move, winning praise from Democrats and even some Republicans, and denunciations from conservative commentators and bloggers who have cited it as yet another example of the nanny state.

Speaking in October on the South Side of Chicago, she said that in too many neighborhoods “if people want to buy a head of lettuce or salad or some fruit for their kid’s lunch, they have to take two or three buses, maybe pay for a taxicab, in order to do it.”

Mrs. Obama has also advocated getting schools to serve healthier lunches and communities to build more playgrounds.

Her office referred questions about the food deserts issue to the Department of Agriculture. A spokesman there, Justin DeJong, said by e-mail that fighting obesity requires “a comprehensive response.” The federal effort, he added, includes not just improving access to healthy foods but also improving food in schools, increasing physical education time, and educating people on the importance of healthy diets.

Some researchers and advocates say that further investigation is still needed on whether grocery stores and chain supermarkets in poor neighborhoods are selling produce that is too costly and of poor quality. “Not all grocery stores are equal,” said John Weidman, deputy executive director of the Food Trust, an advocacy group in Philadelphia.

Read the full story here.

10015: Bat-Shit Fever.

From The New York Daily News…

Ted Nugent not backing down from fiery Obama remarks: ‘I’m a black Jew at a Nazi-Klan rally’

Team Romney — who sought out Nugent’s endorsement — also weighed in after the DNC called on the GOPer to condemn Nugent’s remarks

By Aliyah Shahid / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Ted Nugent isn’t backing down from his fiery rhetoric about President Obama.

The Republican rocker and Mitt Romney backer stood by his controversial remarks, in which he called the commander in-chief “vile,” “evil” and “America-hating,” in addition to saying if Obama is reelected, “I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.”

“I spoke at the NRA and I will stand by my speech,” Nugent told the Dana Loesch radio show on Tuesday, adding he was being unfairly criticized.

“I’m a black Jew at a Nazi-Klan rally,” the 63-year-old gun enthusiast griped. “And there are some power-abusing, corrupt monsters in our federal government that despise me because I have the audacity to speak the truth.”

The Secret Service also entered the picture following his rant at the National Rifle Convention in St. Louis over the weekend. A spokesman said the organization would conduct an “appropriate follow-up” given the nature of the violent rhetoric.

Team Romney — who sought out Nugent’s endorsement — also weighed in after Democratic National Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called on the Republican presidential candidate to condemn Nugent’s remarks.

The presumptive Republican nominee’s spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement that “Divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from,” adding “Mitt Romney believes everyone needs to be civil.”

During the Dana Loesch interview, Nugent also went after Wasserman Shultz, calling her a “brain-dead, soulless idiot.”

“I am on the right track and she just encourages me to stand stronger,” he said.

10014: Omnicom Shows Its True Color.

Read the MediaDailyNews article below. A MultiCultClassics commentary immediately follows.

NYC Pressures Omnicom For Workplace Diversity

By Steve McClellan

The battle over diversity in adland is heating up again in New York.

The city’s Office of the Comptroller has asked four holding companies — Omnicom, Interpublic Group, WPP and Publicis — to publicly disclose detailed submissions required by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to show just how diverse — or not — their workforces are.

According to a spokesman for the Comptroller’s office — which advises funds with investments in the ad companies — only Interpublic responded.

The Office of the Comptroller, headed by John Liu, is taking the fight directly to the shareholders of Omnicom with a shareholder proposal that would require the company to disclose the EEOC filings that annually report a comprehensive breakdown of the company’s workforce by race and gender across all employment categories. The shareholder proposal suggests that this data be presented either in Omnicom’s annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability report, beginning this year.

In his letter to Omnicom chairman Bruce Crawford, Liu wrote: “I am deeply concerned by the underrepresentation of minorities, particularly African Americans, in the advertising industry. These disparities, which can negatively impact individual companies and their communities, persist despite the many diversity initiatives highlighted by the major advertising firms, including Omnicom Group.”

“I am writing to request that the board of directors adopt a policy requiring Omnicom Group to disclose annually the [EEOC report that] details the composition of the company’s U.S. workforce by race and gender across employment categories.” Liu said such disclosure would allow shareholders to “evaluate and benchmark the effectiveness of the company’s overall effort to recruit, retain and promote minorities and women.”

Liu cited a 2009 study that showed that the “racial disparity is 38% worse in the advertising industry than the overall U.S. labor market.” The same study, Liu noted, also found that black college graduates in the business earn 20% less than their “equally qualified white counterparts.”

Liu added that it “is incumbent upon Omnicom to vigorously promote a more diverse workplace. Disclosure is a critical step in this process that will encourage management to integrate diversity into the company’s culture and strengthen accountability to shareholders.”

When Omnicom did not respond to the letter, Liu’s office opted to submit a proposal to shareholders — which according to Omnicom’s proxy materials will be voted on at the upcoming annual meeting May 22 in San Francisco.

The company is urging shareholders to vote against the proposal.

In its proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Omnicom argued that the EEO data does not account “for any company or industry specific factors. It is designed to yield generalized data across all categories of private employers rather than information specific to Omnicom or comparable companies in the advertising industry.”

As a result, Omnicom said, the EEO data “is neither informative nor is it a reliable measure of our commitment to equal opportunity employment. We do not believe that disclosing it will meaningfully further the goal of workplace diversity. To the contrary, this information, which is susceptible to misinterpretation, could be manipulated by those with interests adverse to Omnicom’s and harm the company.

The company also cited steps it has taken in recent years to promote diversity, including the formation in 2007 of The Omnicom Diversity Development Advisory Committee (“DDAC”) to enhance diversity at Omnicom. It also cited its hiring of a chief diversity officer and the formation in 2009 of the Omnicom Medgar Evers Associate Program, which provides financial support and has created numerous internships and other opportunities for students with diverse educational, socioeconomic, political and cultural backgrounds.

The company said it supports Adcolor, an industry coalition, which creates networks of diverse professionals and “champions” of diversity and inclusion. And its Diversity Initiatives Group meets monthly to “share best practices and develop tools to efficiently and effectively incorporate diversity and inclusion initiatives at Omnicom offices.”

It also cited its G23 group, a strategic insights organization founded in 2008 that focuses on the economic and social impact of women in the global economy.

A source at the Comptroller’s office said those efforts were commendable, but that “without some transparency and data, there’s no way to know if the efforts are effective or substantive.”

Meanwhile, “the door is open,” at IPG for a potential dialogue, the source added — but declined to elaborate on what IPG said in its response. IPG officials couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

It was unclear how the city would approach WPP and Publicis — which, like Omnicom, did not respond to letters from Liu. But given that the companies are both based outside the U.S., the New York Comptroller’s Office does not have standing to offer shareholder proposals.

The Omnicom response and recommendation to its shareholders is nothing short of obscene.

“We do not believe that disclosing [the EEOC information] will meaningfully further the goal of workplace diversity. To the contrary, this information, which is susceptible to misinterpretation, could be manipulated by those with interests adverse to Omnicom’s and harm the company.” Leave it to adpeople to be concerned about someone manipulating the truth.

And what’s with the defense featuring all the patronizing smokescreens?

The holding company proudly created The Omnicom Diversity Development Advisory Committee. Um, what do the committee members have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

The holding company hired a Chief Diversity Officer. Um, what does Tiffany R. Warren have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

The holding company launched the Omnicom Medgar Evers Associate Program. Um, what do program participants have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

The holding company sends money to ADCOLOR®. Um, first of all, Omnicom hired the organization’s founder (Warren), so of course it’s going to fund the minority enterprise. But what do ADCOLOR® Award Winners have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

The holding company points to its Diversity Initiative Group. Um, what do the groupies have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

Hey, what does the diversity-loving PepsiCo client have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

Most importantly, what does concealing the EEOC information say about Omnicom?

10013: Oreo-No!

This ad sucks.

From Ads of the World.

10012: C’MON WHITE MAN! Episode 21.

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

Forbes published a peculiar perspective by Avi Dan titled, “Agencies Risk Becoming Irrelevant In A Multicultural America.” The full text appears below. Dan makes an argument for diversifying Madison Avenue, charging that agency staffs must reflect the nation’s multiculturalism.

MultiCultClassics admittedly doesn’t know Avi Dan from Diver Dan. Apologies in advance if the man turns out to be an underground revolutionary and diversity champion. But right now, the editorial smells fishy.

For starters, there is not a single new statement in the piece—from U.S. Census references to the closing declaration, “It is not just the right thing to do. It’s also the smart thing.” Dan even points out that minority advertising agencies are treated like the Negro Leagues, and almost never receive the opportunity to compete for AOR status on mass-market assignments.

Can’t help but wonder what inspired Dan to make a stand. After all, his bio includes holding senior-level positions at Saatchi & Saatchi, Berlin Cameron, Euro RSCG, Y&R and D’Arcy. Those shops have not historically displayed a serious interest in creating inclusive workplaces. Why didn’t Dan play the role of change agent in the many years he led such joints, when he had the power to demand action?

Dan’s comments about minority agencies are especially questionable. The man currently runs Avidan Strategies, LLC, a company that consults clients during agency reviews. Does Dan consistently recommend minority firms for AOR status on mass-market accounts? Has he ever?

It would be nice to see how Dan has walked the walk to validate his talk. It is not just the right thing to do. It’s also the smart thing.

C’MON WHITE MAN!


Agencies Risk Becoming Irrelevant In A Multicultural America

By Avi Dan

As ad agency honchos descended on LA last week for their annual convention, the executives would have benefited from a short ride to Hollywood Boulevard, home of the Kodak Theatre, for a moment of reflection. Just as disregarding the impact of digital technology led to making the Kodak brand irrelevant, general-market agencies are risking becoming irrelevant as well by ignoring the cultural and ethnic diversification of America.

Our society is moving toward becoming truly multicultural. According to the 2010 Census, the so-called minority population, mostly Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American, is rapidly rising and now makes up 35% of the population. It is an unmistakable trend that will make these multicultural groups the majority by mid-century. California, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Texas – as well as the District of Columbia already have so-called minority populations that have exceeded 50%.

While assimilation had once been the ideal of emerging cultures, minorities now seek integration without surrendering their ethnic identities. Society is being reshaped – from a melting pot to a cultural mosaic. Consumer tastes are changing. Food, TV shows, and even the language is adapting to the new society, yet advertising has not.

While some progress has been made without more diversity in general-market agencies, the notion that these agencies can have a relevant insight into various ethnic and cultural groups and engage diverse audiences had not proved itself. General-market agencies lack the insight and the ability to discern nuanced cultural influences.

Worse yet, multicultural agencies are often asked to simply translate irrelevant general-market campaigns for ethnic audiences, as if they were a foreign market, and call the process “adaptation.” This kind of generalization and irrelevancy of ideas is not respectful of the target audience and invariably leads to cheapening the brand equity and fray its relationships with these ethnic consumers.

General-market agencies are not diversified, but the industry is, to some extent. There are hundreds of specialized multicultural shops, and many new ones have opened in the last 5 years. This is a reaction to the inability of general-market agencies to connect with ethnic audiences effectively, and recognition by corporate America that these specialized agencies are filling a void. Until there is more diversity in general-market advertising agencies, there will continue to be a need for African-American, Hispanic and Asian multicultural shops.

Yet, these agencies are not treated fairly and they are not allowed to compete on an even playing field. While in a few categories you can see a multicultural agency landing an Agency Of Record, or lead agency, assignments, it is extremely rare for a multi-cultural shop to be retained as an AOR for general-market assignment. Marketers are seemingly willing to accept the failure of their relationship with a general-market shop every 3 years on average, but are not willing enough to retain an ethnic shop for general-market assignment, even though work created by multicultural agencies targeting ethnic audiences often resonates equally well with general market consumers.

The robust growth rate of so called minority groups shows how brands and agencies can lose relevancy over the next few years if they don’t align themselves with demographic trends better. It is not just the right thing to do. It’s also the smart thing.

10011: Strange Swan Song.

A story about a man killed in a swan attack was preceded by a commercial featuring grinning animals.

10010: Minority-Free Mad Men.

Secretary Dawn Chambers was presented via a panning headshot, quick comment and voice through the intercom announcing a caller to Don Draper. Other than that, the latest episode of AMC series Mad Men featured zero minorities.

To compensate for the dearth of diversity, feel free to catch a recent interview with actress Teyonah Parris.

10009: Getting Catty Over Catwoman.

The New York Daily News spotlighted Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and proclaimed “the character has never looked sexier.” Holy Diss! What were Eartha Kitt, Halle Berry and Michelle Pfeiffer, chopped liver? Seems like Hathaway is running a distant fourth in this catfight.

10008: Diversity Striking Out In MLB…?

From USA TODAY…

African Americans in MLB: 8%, lowest since integration era

By Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY

ST. LOUIS—Major League Baseball, celebrating Jackie Robinson Day Sunday, has the lowest percentage of African-American players since the earliest days of the sport’s integration, according to research conducted by USA TODAY Sports.

The African-American percentage in baseball this season has dropped to 8.05%, which is less than half the percentage of 17.25% in 1959 when the Boston Red Sox became the last team to integrate their roster. It’s down from 8.5% last season, and a dramatic decline from the peak of 1975, when 27% of all rosters were African-American. Even as late as 1995, the percentage was 19%.

“Baseball likes to say things are getting better,” says former 20-game winner and front-office executive Dave Stewart, who’s now an agent. “It’s not getting better. It’s only getting worse. We’ve been in a downward spiral for a long time, and the numbers just keep declining.”

Ten teams opened the year with no more than one African-American on their opening-day roster. There are nearly 30 more players from the Dominican Republic than the total of African-American players. Foreign-born players account for 28.4% of members of opening-day rosters.

The New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers account for nearly 25% of all African-Americans in baseball, while Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd is the lone African-American major leaguer in the city of Chicago.

“I don’t even know what to say,” said Byrd, the only African-American on the field Sunday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis during the 65th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier.

“I remember when I came up with the Phillies in 2002, we had six [African-American] players. I thought that was the norm. Now, you look around, and don’t see anyone.

“Will it change? I don’t know. I’m hoping it’s a different story four or five years from now.”

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, aware of the dwindling numbers, said the sport is diligently trying to reverse the trend with their urban academies and annual Civil Rights Game.

“We trying to get better. It won’t happen overnight,” Selig said. “And we’re very comfortable saying it will be better. We are doing great work with our baseball academies and working in the inner-cities. It’s getting better.”

While African-Americans are dwindling on the field, Selig said he’s pleased with the diversity of front offices. Still, Kenny Williams of the Chicago White Sox and Michael Hill of the Miami Marlins are the lone African-American general managers, and Dusty Baker of Cincinnati and Ron Washington of Texas are the only African-American managers.

“I remember Jackie saying 10 days before he passed [in 1972],” Selig said, “he wouldn’t be satisfied until we had a black manager and general manager. If he went through all of our front offices today in baseball, he’d be proud.”

10007: Skittles’ PR Perplexity.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

Candy conundrum: How should Wrigley handle Skittles’ link to Trayvon Martin killing?

By Candice Choi

It could’ve been Starbursts, Twizzlers or Sour Patch Kids. But when Trayvon Martin was fatally shot, he happened to be carrying a bag of Skittles, a product of Chicago-based Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company.

The 17-year-old’s death at the hands of a neighborhood watchman in February ignited nationwide protests and heated debate about racial profiling and “Stand Your Ground” laws.

For Wrigley, a unit of Mars Inc., the tragedy presents another, more surreal dimension. Protestors carried bags of the chewy fruit-flavored candy while marching for the arrest of shooter George Zimmerman. Mourners pinned the bright red wrappers to their hooded sweatshirts at memorial services.

On eBay, vendors sell $10 T-shirts with the words “Justice for Trayvon Martin” printed over a cartoon-like rainbow of pouring Skittles.

Wrigley issued only a brief statement offering condolences to Martin’s friends and family, adding that it would be inappropriate to comment further “as we would never wish for our actions to be perceived as an attempt of commercial gain.”

The company declined to say whether the Martin case has had an impact on Skittles sales. Even so, it is one of the most popular candies in the U.S.

Sales grew 7 percent over the past year to $213.8 million, according to SymphonyIRI, a Chicago-based market research firm that tracks sales at supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandise outlets, excluding Wal-Mart.

The best approach for companies is to maintain a low profile, says Katherine Sredl, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. That’s particularly true in the Martin case, where any action by Mars could be interpreted as insincere or opportunistic.

Sredl believes the Martin case could help to reinforce the buoyant image Skittles convey. “Skittles have always symbolized youth and innocence. They’re so brightly colored and almost pure sugar,” Sredl says.

That’s why the candy became such a vivid detail in the Martin case. In the public imagination, it underscored that the teenager was “just a kid walking down the street eating Skittles,” Sredl says.

Skittles isn’t the first popular food brand to find itself at the center of a major controversy. The term “don’t drink the Kool-Aid,” has its origins in the 1978 mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, where Reverend Jim Jones led more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple to drink a grape flavored drink laced with cyanide.

The powdered mix used to make the concoction was actually the lesser known Flavor Aid, based in West Chicago. Even so, executives at Kraft Foods Inc., which owns Kool-Aid, decided to let the matter go, rather than set the record straight.

“It would be like spitting into the wind at this point — it’s just part of the national lexicon,” says Bridget MacConnell, a Kraft spokeswoman. “We all try to protect the value of our brands. But this one just kind of got away from us. I don’t think there was any way to fight it.”

MacConnell added that Kool-Aid remains a popular drink and that the Jonestown tragedy has not overshadowed the brand.

AP

10006: Cosby On Crime And Culture.

From The New York Daily News…

Bill Cosby: Trayvon Martin case is about guns, not race

Legendary comedian says calling George Zimmerman a racist doesn’t solve anything

By Philip Caulfield / New York Daily News

Legendary entertainer Bill Cosby said the national uproar over the killing of teen Trayvon Martin should be over guns, not race.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that aired Sunday, Cosby said calling George Zimmerman a racist was pointless.

“What is solved by saying, ‘He’s a racist, that’s why he shot the boy’?” Cosby said.

Since first speaking out about the case earlier this month, Cosby has repeatedly said that the Feb. 26 slaying of the unarmed teen shows there is a need to get guns off the streets.

“When a person has a gun, sometimes their mind clicks, that this thing will win arguments and straighten people out,” Cosby told CNN.

“I’m not saying you can’t have it in your home to protect yourself… you’ve got to protect yourself in your own home,” he added.

“But I also believe that when you tell me that you are going to protect the neighborhood that I live in, I don’t want you to have a gun,” he said. “I want you to be able to see something, report it and get out of the way.”

Cosby also said during the interview, which was taped on Thursday, that he once owned a gun but no longer does.

In the past two decades, the 74-year-old comedian has become outspoken on issues of violence, parenting, education and drug use in black and minority communities.

His own son, Ennis, was shot dead by a Ukrainian restaurant worker while changing a flat tire on the side of a Los Angeles highway in 1997.

Last week, Cosby told NBC’s David Gregory, “When you have a gun, you may not realize it, but you put it on your person and you mean to pull (the trigger) and kill somebody.”

With News Wire Services

10005: Paula Patton Video Compendium.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray. But you may view better videos of Paula Patton being photographed for GQ, Complex and GIANT.

10004: Three Stooges Offend Catholic League.

From MSNBC…

Catholic League: ‘Three Stooges’ full of offensive nunsense

By Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter

The Catholic League is in an uproar over the way nuns are depicted in Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s redo of “The Three Stooges,” which 20th Century Fox opens Friday domestically.

In a terse statement issued Thursday, Catholic League president Bill Donohue takes issue with a “nun bikini” and large rosary worn by swimsuit model Kate Upton in the slapstick comedy as well as with Larry David’s character.

David, like Upton, plays a nun in “Three Stooges,” and his character’s name is Sister Mary-Mengele—named after infamous Nazi Josef Mengele.

“In the 1950s, Hollywood generally avoided crude fare and was respectful of religion. Today it specializes in crudity and trashes Christianity, especially Catholicism,” Donohue said. “Enter ‘The Three Stooges.’ The movie is not just another remake: It is a cultural marker of sociological significance, and what it says about the way we’ve changed is not encouraging.”

Fox disagreed that Three Stooges diverges from the original series. “The movie, in keeping with the spirit of the original TV show and its stars, is a broad, slapstick comedy,” a Fox spokesperson said.

“As the Stooges have proved over time, laughter is a universal medicine. The nuns that Mr. Donohue alludes to, are in fact, caring, heroic characters in the movie, albeit within the framework of a very broad comedy,” the spokesperson continued. “And as far as the nun attire, I think we did the audience a favor by letting Kate Upton wear the nun-kini rather than Larry David—it could have gone either way. We invite you to see the movie and decide for yourselves.”

The Catholic League is the largest Catholic civil rights organization in the U.S.

Donohue also criticized comments made Wednesday night by David on TBS’ Conan.

“He said to Conan O’Brien that dressing as a nun in the film makes it easy to understand why nuns are ‘so mean,’ “ Donohue said. “He explains: ‘You know, the outfits might have something to do with that. Forget about the fact that they never have sex. If you give me a chance of no sex or having to wear that outfit the rest of my life, I would definitely take the no sex.’”

Donohue’s statement included the e-mail address of a top Fox executive.

10003: An Open Letter To Whites.

From Ebony…

Dear White folks:

Between the racist comments, the constant use of the race denial card (this country’s most frequently used “race card”) and the absurd claims of White victimhood, you have really grated my last nerve.

Sure, we got teary during The Blind Side and Antoine Fisher; we maybe even gave money to KONY2012 and after Hurricane Katrina; we maybe even donned a hoodie to protest the murder of Trayvon Martin. I don’t even doubt there are individuals out there who are genuinely concerned about racism and injustice; I don’t doubt that there are many Whites that marched with Dr. King and whose “best friends” might be Black. None of this matters if African Americans continue to die at the hands of guns held by security guards and police officers all without justice

I have heard that “we are all Trayvon Martin” over the last few weeks, yet we are not Trayvon Martin—and we never could be. White America is never suspicious. White America can walk to the store without fear of being hunted down. White America can count on justice and a nation grieving at the loss of White life. We aren’t Trayvon Martin, we are George Zimmerman: presumed innocent until proven innocent.

I want you to close your eyes for a second, and imagine that your son or daughter, sister or brother, granddaughter or grandson, ventured to the corner store for some Skittles and tea but never returned? Can you imagine if Peter or Jan were gunned down right around the corner from your house and the police didn’t notify you right away? Can you imagine if little Sydney or Bobby sat in the morgue for days as you searched to find out what happened them? Can you even imagine the police letting the perpetrator go or the news media remaining silent? Can you even fathom learning about background and drug tests on your child? Can you imagine the news media demonizing your child, blaming your child for his own death?

Can you imagine the outcry if seven White youths had been gunned down by police and security guards in a matter of months? Can you imagine the extensive political interest, the media stories that would saturate the airwaves? Can you imagine Fox News or any number of newspapers reporting about a school suspension for one of the victims or doctoring pictures in an attempt to make these victims less sympathetic? Can you imagine a person holding up a sign calling these victims “thugs” and “hoodlums.” Just think about the media frenzy, the concern from politicians, and the national horror every time a school shooting happens in Suburbia or every time a White woman goes missing…can you imagine if women routinely went missing from your community and the news and police department simply couldn’t be bothered?

No, you can’t. And you don’t have to.

Yet, from Florida to Los Angeles, from Atlanta to Wisconsin, from Chicago to Ohio, Black families are burying the innocent and the future. Doesn’t that make you sad; doesn’t that make your angry? Our silence is telling. We can barely say their names much less acknowledge the epidemic in our midst: Stephon Watts. Trayvon Martin. Ramarley Graham. Wendell Allen. Dante Price. Bo Morrison. Rekia Boyd. Kendrec McDade.

All have lost their lives; and we don’t even say their names. All have died under similarly disturbing circumstances. All should have prompted national outrage and action; or at the least for us to say their names.

I don’t care if you cried during The Help and if the ‘feel good’ movie of the year featuring chicken-frying maids and affluent White women made you feel all post-racial tingly on the inside. Did you cry at the report of yet another lost Black life? If so, what have those tears done—have they led you to join a rally, to demand justice? I don’t care if you voted for President Obama; have you demanded dramatic changes to our criminal (in)justice system? It is time for us to check ourselves, to listen and demand a better America starting with ourselves. It is time to stop denying racism and defending White privilege, distracting and deflecting with “what ifs” and excuses. It is time to demand justice for the Trayvons and the Rekias, not because it could have been one of our sons and daughters—it couldn’t—but because it is simply the right thing to do.

Sincerely

A member of White America

David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He is author of After Artest: Race and the War on Hoop (SUNY Press, spring 2012).

10002: PepsiCo Hearts Omnicom.

Advertising Age reported PepsiCo consolidated its agency roster, dumping about 100 mostly smaller, non-Omnicom shops. Gee, what a shocker. Now all PepsiCo pitches—or more accurately, PepsiCo switches—will be staged between Omnicom agencies. In other words, don’t expect the food and beverage company to draw any interest from producers at The Pitch.

PepsiCo Completes Agency Reductions

Mostly Smaller, Non-Omnicom Shops Among Those Eliminated

By Natalie Zmuda

PepsiCo’s North America beverage division has completed the downsizing of its agency roster, eliminating many of the smaller shops.

A spokeswoman confirmed that the beverage group is working with about 50 agencies, after letting various contracts expire. She said the moves are intended to strengthen the company’s relationships with Omnicom Group, the ad-holding company with which Pepsi has long been aligned.

Various executives close to PepsiCo said the cuts were largely focused on weeding out smaller specialty shops that had been layered in over the years. Its move is counter to recent trends. Several large marketers, such as Kraft and Unilever, have increasingly entrusted smaller shops with bits and pieces of their brand portfolios.

Simon Lowden, chief marketing officer at PepsiCo’s Beverages, told Ad Age in February that the number of agencies the company works with had ballooned in the past two to three years.

“It’s grown because the agenda has gotten more complex and busier,” Mr. Lowden said at the time. But “when we look back on things, the vast majority of the work is still done by our core agencies.”

The spokeswoman identified those “core” agencies as Omnicom Group networks TBWA/Chiat/Day, BBDO and DDB, as well as Omnicom shop TracyLocke and Genesco, a sports-marketing agency with ties to TracyLocke. She added that an agency with a contract that was allowed to expire could be called on again down the road, if an opportunity arose where that agency was the right fit.

About 100 shops, or 65% of the division’s partner agencies, were removed. Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Huge, which did work related to the Refresh Project, for example, is no longer working with the brand. MDC Partners’ Anomaly, which had been slated to handle the relaunch of Pure Leaf, a premium tea brand, stopped working with PepsiCo months ago, according to an agency spokesman.

Independent Ruder Finn is no longer working with the beverage division, though a spokesman said it continues to handle a corporate recycling initiative. One Omnicom shop that’s not benefiting from the moves is Porter Novelli. The agency, which said it has handled projects for Pepsi’s nutrition group, no longer works with the beverage division.

But certain non-Omnicom shops, such as Dentsu’s Firstborn, WPP’s VML, Interpublic’s Weber Shandwick and independent Olson PR appear to have either retained or added to their PepsiCo business. PepsiCo declined to name any of the agencies that were cut.

Calling the approach “need-based, “Mr. Lowden said the roster hadn’t been pared based on a goal to have a certain number of agencies on each brand. Instead, various brand teams were told to focus on partnerships and programs aligned with business objectives.

The consolidation, announced at an investor meeting earlier this year, was billed as a bid to increase efficiency and shift into brand-building money allocated for things such as agency fees. The company has also said it would spend an extra $500 million to $600 million this year to advertise its brands, with a focus on North America.

Contributing: Alexandra Bruell, Kunur Patel

10001: Slavery Is Always In Style.

Gee, this campaign almost makes human trafficking seem fashionable.



From Ads of the World.

10000: KFC So Bad In Thailand.

From The New York Daily News…

KFC Thailand encourages people to rush home and order its chicken during tsunami scare

Parent company apologizes for ill-timed Facebook post

By David Boroff / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

KFC Thailand probably did not receive many “likes” on Facebook after encouraging people to rush home during a tsunami scare and order some KFC chicken.

“Let’s hurry home and follow the earthquake news. And don’t forget to order your favorite KFC menu,” KFC Thailand posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday after a quake and a series of aftershocks struck off the coast of Indonesia.

Reminded of the 2004 tsunami that claimed more than 230,000 lives overall and 8,000 in Thailand, people were less than thrilled. They took to Internet message boards in droves to voice their displeasure.

Yum! Brands, KFC’s embarrassed parent company, issued an apology, saying “KFC Thailand expresses its sincere regret for the improper post on its Facebook page and apologizes for the insensitivity and timing of the message.”

It is not the first time that a company’s use of social media to promote their products backfired.

After nearly 20,000 people were killed by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last year, Microsoft launched a Twitter campaign to raise money — but included a plug for the search engine Bing. Microsoft apologized.

Kenneth Cole used the Twitter hashtag “#Cairo” during the bloody Egyptian uprising in 2011 to promote his merchandise. “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo,” read the tweet. “Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available.” The tweet was later deleted.

9999: Seeking One-Person Shop For $40/hr.

This actual job listing seeks a branding copywriter with research, planning and strategic skills—as well as digital experience—to multitask for up to $40 per hour. Um, if you have all these skills, you’d be running your own highly profitable agency.

Hello Creative Circle! Here’s a new opportunity for you to check out.

Position: Offsite branding, strategic and positioning copywriter (with digital)
Location: Other Areas
Status: Freelance
Estimated Duration: Days
Starts: last week in April, first week in May
Rate: $30-40/hr. DOE

Job Description:
Our client is looking for a copywriter that can help them determine their positioning in the market, can conduct a strategic assessment of their brand, help them define their USP and then flesh out the marketing content on their web-site and in presentations that will help them sell their offering.

If you can review previous assessments, interview a couple of key stakeholders, write the positioning and then incorporate the brand recommendations into marketing content (web first and foremost) please apply with samples, resume.

There may be on-site kick off and review meetings in Chicago!

If you feel you are qualified for this position please send your resume (and samples if applicable) to: chicago62@jobalert.creativecircle.com

Best wishes!

Creative Circle

9998: Jackie Robinson Day Not Enough…?

From USA TODAY…

Robinson deserves more than one day

By Chris Lamb

Sunday is Jackie Robinson Day in major league ballparks, where the ballplayer and his legacy will be remembered with tributes and testimonials. All big-league players will wear Robinson’s number 42 on their backs, the only number in sports retired in perpetuity.

It is important to remember that Robinson broke major league baseball’s color line on April 15, 1947. But if we restrict Robinson’s influence to baseball, we do both him and what he accomplished a tremendous disservice. He was arguably the most important civil rights figure, and the integration of baseball the most important civil rights story, in the years immediately after World War II.

When he played his first game for the Dodgers on April 15, 1947, he carried the hopes and dreams of millions of blacks. If Robinson succeeded in baseball, as civil rights leader Roy Wilkins had earlier said, it meant blacks “should have their own rights, should have jobs, decent homes and education, free from insult, and equality of opportunity to achieve.”

Success vs. failure

Never before — and never since — had so much been riding on one athlete. If Robinson succeeded, he succeeded for all blacks. If he failed, he would affirm the belief of many whites at the time that blacks were inferior.

Nobody in sports ever had more at stake and no one ever suffered more. Nobody in baseball ever received such vile abuse from fans and opponents. Opposing pitchers threw at him. Opposing base runners spiked him. He received death threats routinely.

Robinson’s strength in the face of those threats and unspeakable obscenities demonstrated non-violent resistance long before it was practiced in places such as Selma, Birmingham, Montgomery and other Southern cities and towns.

The integration of baseball came years before the civil rights movement had a name and years before the country had heard of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks or Brown v. Board of Education.

Feat transcends baseball

King said that Robinson’s courage in confronting the color line in baseball helped lay the groundwork for the civil rights movement. “Back in the days when integration wasn’t fashionable,” King said, “he underwent the trauma and humiliation and the loneliness which comes with being a pilgrim walking the lonesome byways toward the high road of freedom. He was a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides.”

Robinson succeeded — and his success cured many Americans of their belief that blacks were inferior and convinced many others that blacks should have the same opportunities as whites.

“As their champion, Robinson had taken their hopes into the arena of baseball and succeeded beyond their wildest dreams,” Arnold Rampersad wrote in his biography of Robinson. “Neither blacks nor whites would be quite the same thereafter in America.”

If Jim Crow seems distant today, it is because of men like Robinson. We need to remember him for what he accomplished inside the white lines of baseball, but we also need to remember him for what he accomplished outside. His life teaches us that progress often depends on individuals willing to sacrifice themselves for something bigger.

Walking into the most hostile of winds for so long took its toll on Robinson. When he died in 1972 of complications from heart disease and diabetes, he was nearly blind and crippled, and his hair was white. He was just 53.

His gravestone reads: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on others’ lives.”

Chris Lamb is a professor of communication at the College of Charleston and the author of Conspiracy of Silence: Sportswriters and the Long Campaign to Desegregate Baseball.

9997: WTF DDB NY.

DDB NY demonstrates extraordinary cultural cluelessness with this PSA hyping safe sex to seniors. Could there possibly be a more irrelevant—and downright ignorant—way to communicate to the audience? DDB NY CCO Matt Eastwood said, “It was important for us that our creative response felt empowering to the 55, 60, 65+ demographic. Whether the younger generation likes it or not, our grandparents are having sex. We wanted to make a sexy ad that maintains a level of tastefulness and encourages seniors to enjoy their sex lives—safely.” Yo, douche bag, you failed miserably. The spot feels like the perverted fantasy of a drunken frat boy. Oddly enough, the key creatives responsible for this shameful shit are women. Somebody sign up these assholes for The Pitch. And why is the Black granny depicted with multiple partners?

9996: Beer Bottle Chaser.

Advertising Age reported Dos Equis has suspended a new marketing campaign because bottle defects ignited a nationwide product recall. Lesser men drink beer straight from the bottle. The Most Interesting Man in the World drinks bottle straight from the beer.

New Marketing Push Yanked as Dos Equis Ambar Bottles Recalled

Small Bits of Glass Could Be in Beer

By E.J. Schultz

A month after premiering ads for Dos Equis Ambar, importer Heineken USA is suspending the spots as it deals with bottle defects that have prompted a recall in 43 states.

Six- and 12-packs are being removed from shelves because of a problem that could cause “small grains or particles of glass to separate from the inside lip of the bottle and fall into the liquid,” the importer said in a statement. No injuries have been reported, and the defect is estimated to be in “significantly less than 1%” of the recalled batches.

The importer must essentially pull and check all bottles on shelves now in the states, which include big markets such as New York, California, Illinois and Texas, potentially causing supply disruptions. Heineken USA is “working as quickly as possible to make sure we can backfill inventory as quickly as possible,” a spokeswoman told Ad Age. The importer pegged the defect on an unnamed third-party supplier and said that it was caught during routine inspections.

The recall comes at an especially inopportune time, because the importer is making a new marketing push on Ambar, a dark lager that accounts for about 30% of Dos Equis’ total sales. The brand for the first time is featured in TV spots as part of the Most Interesting Man in the World campaign. Only the Ambar versions of the ads will be pulled; regular Dos Equis ads will run as normal. The Ambar ads account for about 30% of the total Dos Equis media buy. The brand spent $21.9 million on measured media in 2011, according to Kantar Media.

The same defect also forced a smaller recall of low-profile brands Carta Blanca and Indio, a Mexican beer Heineken USA just brought to the states in limited distribution.

9995: Harping On Penelope Cruz.

9994: Super Diversity.

From The New York Daily News…

Marvel Comics brings together two special versions of Spider-Man, including one who is dead ringer for A-Rod

Common villain to bring the two heroes from different alternate realities together

By Ethan Sacks / New York Daily News

Comic book geeks’ Spider senses are tingling.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man, Marvel Comics is bringing together two versions of the iconic character — one who is white and one who’s a dead ringer for A-Rod — in a mashup that pays homage to everyday New York.

A new five issue mini-series, “Spider-Men,” available starting in July, uses a common villain to bring the two heroes from different alternate realities.

“For the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man, what everyone was looking for was a Spider-Man story that mattered,” says series writer Brian Bendis. “Well, here you go.”

When Marvel introduced Miles Morales — a half-black, half-Latino teen — as the new Spider-Man in one of its comic lines last year, it made national headlines. Critics grumbled it was a character who would never make it alongside the original Spider-Man known to generations of fans since he was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962.

But Morales got a key stamp of approval from Lee. “Doing our bit to try to make our nation, and the world, color blind is definitely the right thing,” the comic book legend told The News.

Bendis agreed. “Someone had once said to me, ‘When I was a kid, I could only play Spider-Man, I couldn’t play Batman or Superman because my friends would say you’re not the same color, but I could play Spider-Man because when I fantasized about Spider-Man, he looked like me under the mask.’

“That was a big inspiration.”

Yet, despite the uncanny resemblance to the Yankees third baseman, Marvel Comics spokesman Arune Singh said “there is no A-Rod connection whatsoever.”

9993: Menthol Not Really Alive With Pleasure.

From USA TODAY…

Menthol cigarettes may increase stroke risk, study says

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- Menthol cigarette smokers are more likely to have a history of stroke than smokers who prefer other types of cigarettes, according to a new study published in the April 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers found that menthol cigarette smokers were more than twice as likely to have a stroke than non-menthol smokers. The risk was more than three times higher for women and non-blacks.

“One potential mechanism is that menthol stimulates upper-airway cold receptors, which can increase breath-holding time, which may in turn facilitate the entrance of cigarette particulate matter into the lungs,” said researcher Dr. Nicholas Vozoris of St. Michael’s Hospital, in Toronto. “Why smoking mentholated cigarettes would not result in an increase in forms of cardiopulmonary disease, other than stroke, is not clear.”

However the results of the study also indicated that mentholated smoking only increased the risk of stroke, and did not elevate the risk of developing other health conditions such as hypertension, heart attack, or lung disease.

Experts say that although the study highlights the potential health dangers for menthol smokers, other types of cigarettes are not much safer.

“There is no ‘good’ cigarette type,” Vozoris said. “Smoking any kind of cigarette is bad for one’s health, and serves to increase one’s risk for a variety of cancers, heart diseases and lung diseases. However, this study shows that smoking mentholated cigarettes may place one at even higher risk for stroke than smoking regular, non-mentholated cigarettes.”

Since the new study shows an association between menthol cigarettes and stroke risk but does not indicate a clear cause and effect, experts say additional research needs to be done before any specific conclusions can be made.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has more information on the dangers of smoking.