Wednesday, June 11, 2008

A 2008 Negra

Notice the little colored boy even has an afro! "Gotta be authentic!"


I have a college degree and I'm working on my Masters. I don't care how you cut it, this ad does not speak to me, or my circle. I will not go as far as to say that this ad is racist, but it is surely uninformed.

The sad part is that I cant even berate: the shop that conceived this surface creative or the kool-aid execs that cleared the storyboard. Because at least 90% of ALL ads that call themselves targeting minorities seem to be speaking to the least intelligent of us...or maybe thats how the agencies see all of us.

We are a much more complex people than the current spots give us credit for. Advertisers need to stop being lazy when it comes to selling to black folks. Stop taking the easy way out by doing any of the following:

1. Narrarating in poetry
2. Nararriting in the first person ("We are a strong people...")
3. Only casting black women with natural hair
4. Only casting those african models to represent african-americans
5. Setting commercials outside a club
6. Setting commercials outside a church
7. Setting commercials at a cookout
8. Setting commercials at "Big Momma;s" table
9. Playing Jazz music in the background
10. Speaking in slang
11. Using the slang wrong
12. Using slang from 94'
13. Spot shows 5 people, one is black
14. Setting commercials at a sporting event
15. Never casting a black in a position of power (supervisor...OWNER?)

This is why advertising needs more diversity. Somebody that'll stand up and say, "thats not what black folks act like." I mean I don't know where these folks are getting their information from...I just pray it's not BET.

But that's a whole 'nother rant. Till then, step ya'll game up.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great point kind sir, I agree, I feel it is about time for media in general to begin recognizing the different segments in the AA culture. But brother it seems like the two factors that we are leaving out are big business and black folk.

1.) Big business believes in the bottom line, cutting cost and increasing profit margins. So custom advertisements to reach select niche segments within a diverse black audience is not really on the to-do list (well unless there is an outside force, or outlet set up for them to do so). Especially when you are talking about mass production. They may see it as too expensive for only some people to connect to it.

2.) "We" -black folks, are okay with the advertisements fed to us. We bob our head to the jazz, cook-outs remind us of the good old days, etc. If not then our consumption of products advertised would not be so high.

Question for you (cause I am far from an advertising guru): Do you think advertisers are unfairly generalizing when it comes to producing advertisements targeting AAs. Or do you think generalizing or using stereotypes is a common practice that advertisers use in coming up with creatives for all people.

BTW-hope all is well with you homie