You Don't Say! Nielsen's State of the African American Consumer
It is not my intention to give a lot of commentary around this report, but it is difficult not to because "it's like fire shut up in my bones" as Jeremiah, said. "Makes me want to holler, throw up both my hands"- Thank you, Marvin Gaye and Nathan McCall.
Read it yourself before considering my comments:
MEDIA WARS ON THE FRONTLINE
Coming from Nielsen, although in collaboration with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), this is personally significant for me. As I worked in the capacity of a Public Affairs Director, with the title of "Public Affairs Manager" at a local broadcast affiliate (2004-2007), the Nielsen report from the new "people meters" came out and suddenly on a dime I was told to virtually stop plans to outreach to the Black community because the numbers just weren't there to justify any focus. Within a few months I was laid off and gradually in the local industry, there came a whitewashing of the gains of Blacks in media. Picked off one by one with no replacement in radio, television and print for reasons of "not being a fit," retirement (forced), and of course the economics, Blacks in corporate media are a trickle here in the Bay Area. There should be a report on that trend including the sell-out and dumbing-down of media. With the crumbling of the "Fourth Estate" there's no wonder why we find ourselves in the state we are in.
There is a need for Blacks and other minorities to be in media. Dr. Jerry Kang says the images fed to everyone from television news could attribute to why police pull the trigger of a gun so quickly on minorities.
"Trojan Horses of Race:" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=627381
But alas as we look at Blacks and other minorities in positions at corporations, in politics and academics, we find that too many totally ignore what I call the "Esther Principle." As the Jewish people were about to be annihilated in Babylon and Esther, who had hidden her race sat in her position of Queen of Babylon, Mordecai her uncle said to her when she seemed hesitate to help because she wanted to protect herself, "Do you not know that you were brought to the Kingdom for such a time as this; but if you don't take action God Almighty will bring salvation from elsewhere and you will stand destroyed."
DIVERSITY ANYTHING BUT BLACK
There was a time when Blacks in high places had to relate to their community. They knew they were in the position to make a difference for their people as they acted justly for all within the scope of their role. I could go on, but I will just mention what I witnessed a couple of years ago. In a packed meeting at the Foundation Center in 'multicultural San Francisco,' there was a discussion about diversity and in a glib remark, the Black man on the panel quibbled, "Well these days diversity is not about ethnicity. It's about whether you can speak another language or have some other distinction." Talk about "fire shut up in my bones." I had to leave early for an appointment, so I did not stay to address his comments possibly avoiding the resulting label of being a "hostile Black woman." "Please sir, do you not know that you would not be where you are today, if it had not been for Black people facing down firehouses, dogs, being shot in their front yards, hanged in trees as 'strange fruit' and facing other atrocities because of racism. The Civil Rights Movement liberated all Americans to begin to do the right thing to judge people by character not color. Hiring a dark-skinned Southeast Asian or a Black African for diversity does not pay that insufficient check that Dr. King spoke about. The sons and daughters of former slaves are far too often shut out due to your "new diversity."
"God loves justice." "Right is right and right don't wrong nobody" as my great grandmother, Momma Nora, used to say. So America will be judged until Justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream (AMOS 5:24). Occupy Wall Street, anyone? All these earthquakes lately, could it be Malcolm, Martin, Medgar and all who gave so much turning over in their graves?
This report makes me think of the "State of Black People" conversations, debates and knockout drag out verbal altercations I have had over the last few years with my colleague Jacquie Taliaferro, who is 'no holds barred,' 'take no prisoners' pro Black media. One of his projects with a San Francisco civil rights organization is testimony to his vision and fervor when it comes to Black media. A constant refrain is "corporate America should be doing business with Black businesses so we can help our own nonprofits and communities. They give so little to nonprofits and toot their horns as if they've done something big and our communities fall apart because no true commerce is generated." And of course, Taliaferro, reminding me that he's related to Booker T. (Taliaferro) Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute, vigorously argues "We don't' have to wait on Corporate America, we need to do business among ourselves. We have the power and don't have to wait on anyone to help us. We need to work together!"-Maybe as the 16th largest country in the world? Are the Africans seeing something we haven't seen, is that why there was that recent Delegation from Ghana in Oakland, CA, just days before the Nielsen report came out?
But alas, with this Nielsen report stating that Black Consumers with our $1.1 Trillion Dollar buying power would be the 16th largest nation in the world if we were a country, is this a case of the "White man's ice being colder." How many across the nation like Taliaferro, going to community meeting after community meeting and knocking on corporate doors, have been proclaiming what this Nielsen report has now indicated, "Thar's Black gold in them thar hills." Now that Nielsen is reporting what Danny Bakewell and the NNPA, Taliaferro and others have been saying all along, will there now be an acceptance? Will the trickling corporate dollars that were turned off because Nielsen and others signaled that growth was in the Asian and Latino communities be now turned back on again?
THERE IS HOPE:
Cloves Campbell, chairman, NNPA: "It is our hope that by collaborating with Nielsen, we'll be able to tell the African-American consumer story in a manner in which businesses will understand," he said, "and, that this understanding will propel those in the C-Suite to develop stronger, more inclusive strategies that optimize their market growth in Black communities, which would be a win-win for all of us." It should be noted that the Danny Bakewell, who recently challenged Toyota about its marketing, the former chairman of the NNPA, initiated the Nielsen collaboration resulting in the new report.
MARKETING WARS ON THE FRONTLINE:
Another personal experience here: about a year ago I was called upon to put together a marketing plan for outreach to Blacks in Southern California. I emphasized the need to use Black media companies as one aspect of the outreach. Ultimately although big dollars were portioned out for Asian and Latino Media, absolutely not one penny was invested in Black Media. "They're just not going to spend the money because they feel they can get to Blacks through general media. I just can't get them to see the opportunity they're missing," said the marketer who had hired me. So there was no money beyond the plan I developed to keep me on. As an aside Black nonprofits, churches, please don't throw away your power. Be leery of large corporations who want to partner with you (In-Kind) to have access to your membership, but they are not willing to invest financially with you or invest in Black media or other companies. Ask to see their record of community investment.
As far as nonprofits go, as a result of this report, can the minority-led nonprofits expect to receive those corporate dollars again? It's interesting to note that minority-led nonprofits got the short end of the stick from foundations, whose job it is to give out money according to a Greenlining Institute report. Of 29 of the largest foundations in the U.S. and California, eleven gave less than 3 percent of their grant dollars to minority-led nonprofits. Read the Greenlining Institute's Investing In a Diverse Democracy: Foundation Giving to Minority-Led Nonprofits.
I wonder if it was of significance that my colleague Mikael Wagner of Promotions West, without comment shared this Nielson Report (September 2011) with me on October 31?
We have the power to change our circumstances.
Harriet "Moses" Tubman: "I freed a thousand slaves and I would have freed more if they had known they were slaves."
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TRENDS FROM THE REPORT
· With a buying power of nearly $1 trillion annually, if African-Americans were a country, they'd be the 16th largest country in the world.
· The number of African-American households earning $75,000 or higher grew by almost 64%, a rate close to 12% greater than the change in the overall population's earning between 2000 and 2009. This continued growth in affluence, social influence and household income will continue to impact the community's economic power.
· African-Americans make more shopping trips than all other groups, but spend less money per trip.
· African-Americans in higher income brackets, also spend 300% more in higher-end retail grocers more than any other high-income household.
· There were 23.9 million active African-American Internet users in July 2011 -- 76% of whom visited a social networking/blog site.
· -33% of all African-Americans own a smart phone.
· African-Americans use more than double the amount of mobile phone voice minutes compared to Whites -- 1,298 minutes a month vs. 606.
· The percentage of African-Americans attending college or earning a degree has increased to 44% for men and 53% for women.