As you look at the below Pepsi commercial that aired during the Super Bowl, keep in mind, according to Target Market News, African Americans in the US spend over$3.2 billion dollars annually on non alcoholic beverages.
Also keep in mind that Black unemployment is at an all time high even among Black college graduates. Companies like Pepsi hire major advertising agencies to come up with creative ideas to sell their products. Most of these agencies hire very few Blacks, claiming that they are having a hard time finding qualified minorities to hire. This was the same claim when I was in college in 1973. Now finally some of these agencies are being threatened with a class action law suit.
Here are the initial lawsuit findings:
Blacks remain underrepresented on Madison Avenue, according to the report, “Research Perspectives on Race and Employment in the Advertising Industry,” which concluded that only 5.3 percent of managers and professionals at agencies in 2008 were black.
And those blacks who do manage to land jobs on Madison Avenue are significantly underpaid, the report said, earning 80 cents for each dollar earned by their white counterparts.
The economy worsens the problem, Ms. Ciccolo said, because “many training, recruitment and antidiscrimination programs come to a complete halt” in hard times. Even so, “recession is no excuse for discrimination,” she added. “Although African-Americans have found a place on Pennsylvania Avenue, they must have a place to work on Madison Avenue.” (read more here)
But real change will only come from these very companies that Black consumers spend their dollars with and the ad agencies they employ if we vote to withhold our dollars from companies that don't offer fair employment on all levels including the advertising departments. This also applies to the ad agencies they retain.
By the way this ad also got the "white pride" groups upset. But obviously for very different reasons. Blatantly racist Rush Limbaugh chided in by making it known that he thinks Black women are angry because they hate blond headed white women.
The marketplace will only begin to respect Black women and Black dollars when we use our collective financial and social power to make the marketplace fare for all people. Click here to let Pepsi know how you feel.
To read and excellent response on why the Pepsi ad was so hurtful and disrespectful of Black Women Click Here.
Actors: Bald-headed Black man #2. Why is it that most, if not all Black men on television are bald, without hair on their heads? The distinguishable curly, or Afro-textured, hair of Black People is missing, or 'deleted'. All Black men must be without hair on television, it seems. And all Black Women must have straight hair, not at all curly. Black Women must have the same hair as White Women, and all Black Men must not have any hair at all apparently. Aside from their skin, Blacks must not "look" Black. Native Americans feel the length of their hair shows how long they have been alive. It's bad enough that Black actors are not distinguishably Black. There is nothing discernibly Black in their characters. Blacks are mostly tokens on television. It is required, by Law, that there be at least one visible minority on any given television show (all the characters can not be White, or the same culture). They use the Black actors because Blacks are the most discernibly not White, they stand out in contrast the most. Asians, Indians, and other minorities are not 'dark' enough, so they use Black Peoples as their standby, go-to minority. But there is nothing particularly "Black" about these characters played by Black people. It's as though the 'character' is actually a White person, merely being played by a Black actor. Also, they are usually single, and apparantly have no friends, Black or otherwise. The "producers" of these television shows have gone as far as desiring that they not have Black curly, or woolly hair. Black males are to be without hair. Black women are to have their hair straight, like white women (why is it that women shave the hair off their legs, their underarms, their 'bikini' lines, but never their heads; and why is it that men don't shave their legs, underarms, or man-scape, but shave their heads? just an observation). Next time you watch television, count how many Black men have their heads shaven, and see if you can see one Black women with her 'natural' hair. BET doesn't count (how many white people on BET shows?). What's wrong with natural curly hair on Black women? Why are Black women trying so hard to be white people, denying their heritage? If Black men went about with nothing but straight hair, Black women would call them sellouts. Why is it different with Black Women? Just a question.
And, isn't calling for an end to Multi-Culturalism "racist"? It always seems to me that White People wish to dictate to Black people (i.e. non-whites) what is, and is not racism. Black people don't get to decide if they've been offended, only whites can judge that, "We'll tell you when you've been insulted.", sort of thing. The cowards in Quebec just banned the Sikh Kirpan. This was offencive, but White People refuse to see this as racist (even though the people behind the ban know exactly what they're doing; White people will "always" defend White people, that's what makes white racism so resilient, white collective guilt). The Kirpan is no different than wearing a Christian Cross, it's a symbol. The Cross, might I remind you, is not were Jesus was worshipped, or the shape of the table where they held a banquet in his honour. It represents the thing upon which the guy was murdered. It's like wearing a tiny guillotine or gallows around ones neck. The Cross represents death, after a fashion. Conservatives in this country want to roll things back to the way they were in the 1950's. Look at Canadian television. Shows like Anne of Green Gables, Wind at my Back, etc., these "period" pieces are just a slick way to delete visible minorities from Canadian culture. By making shows set in the 1800's, you can un-include people of colour because they weren't around much during those days, or were they?
The United States apparantly is more Melting Pot, rather than a Multi-Cultural Society. It is particularly hard for Black People to remain a distinct society in America when they are expected to "blend" into a larger, Whiter society. The overwhelming majority of Americans are White, of European extraction. Black African culture becomes watered down and eroded when Americanized-Africans are expected be part of a collective whole, as opposed to maintaining the cultural identity.
Canadians like to think of their Country as a mosaic, rather than a melting pot. The term "Melting Pot" is a Jewish contribution. It was apparently first used by Rabbi Samuel Schulman, who spoke of America as "the melting pot of nationalities" in a 1907 Passover Sermon at his New York Temple. A concept that a number of ethnic groups, cultures, and religions in a society will fuse together to produce new cultural and social forms. The idea was common in the USA in the first half of the twentieth century, and is exemplified in the motto on American coinage "e pluribus unum": one out of many. Homogeneity: Being of the same kind; Multiculturalism: Of or relating to a social or educational theory that encourages interest in many cultures within a society rather than in only a mainstream culture. During the deadliest war of the deadly Twentieth Century, the term multicultural emerged as an antidote to an -ism that had brought much suffering. The -ism was nationalism, the insistence that one nation was superior to all others and should impose its culture on the rest of the World.
Multiculturalism meant "respect for the ways of all Nations and Peoples," not just one's own.
Posted by: Maurice Rose | April 13, 2011 at 04:52 PM
“The U.S. has no friends, nor does it want to keep any, because the prerequisite of friendship is to come to the level of the friend, or consider him at par with you. America does not want to see anyone equal to it. It expects slavery from others. Therefore, other Countries are either its slaves, or subordinates.”
Posted by: Maurice Rose | April 19, 2011 at 02:37 PM