Ads and the Black Audience

As most of you know, I work in advertising. I also subscribe to a few magazines, one of which is Black Enterprise. I have to admit, it's a great read and addresses the issues that are of particular interest and relevance to the black audience. One thing I did notice, that was slightly disturbing is the ads. The content of the magazine (at least this month, October 2005) is focused on saving for retirement and in every issue there seems to be an underlying element of building wealth, but the ads are trying to persuade the consumers to purchase luxury goods like BMWs, Movado watches, stays at the Westin and Marriott hotels, Cadillacs, flights around the world, Audis. Now don't get me wrong, there is a fair share of ads marketing financial services and everyday items, but it strikes me that in a publication that is so forthrightly promoting saving and building wealth in a community that needs to hear that message (myself included), advertisers would promote products that clearly contradict that. And I know it's not so cut and dry, believe me, I know. Companies key demographics may lie in this market so they feel they need to reach them, and its the consumers decision to buy or not, but are these companies perpetuating the "keep up with the Joneses", this-is-what's-cool mentality?? Is that their goal? Is that wrong? Is it ethical? Is it okay?? All questions I don't have the answer to, but it struck a chord with me seeing these ads.

Also, some of the ads were just terrible. The advertisers were clearly trying to reach the African American market (hence the placement), but some of the ads simply replaced a white person with a black person. The message is the same, and potentially not as relevant to the audience...shame on you! Black people are not just white people with darker skin. We have a history and culture that is very different on many levels, and can cause us to relate to content differently. I have to give some companies credit though, there were some good ads in there (Pepsi, Pontiac, Mercedes, Movado, Hennessy and Infiniti).

Anyway, I thought I would sound off on the subject because I can. If you have any thoughts, feel free to leave me a comment. (NOTE: the two ads you see here were not in this issue, but are good examples of advertising to African Americans in my humble opinion)