12135: Bicultural Cluelessness.

OMG, there’s a new post at The Big Tent—which is not-so-big anymore. Marketers: Bicultural Hispanics Need to be Heard, So Give Them a Voice by Pulpo Media CMO Maria Lopez-Knowles opines, “Marketers need to understand the dynamics at play with bicultural audiences, and how communications can be interpreted differently in Hispanic vs. U.S. ‘general market’ cultures.” Good luck making it happen when there already aren’t enough crumbs to begin with—and schemes like Total Toyota are run by biculturally-clueless White people.

11969: The Big Tent Is Small.

Has anyone noticed The Big Tent is averaging about one post per month? Does anyone care? Then again, it looks like the plug has been pulled on all the Ad Age blogs. Didn’t catch the announcement.

11336: There’s Not An App For That.

At The Big Tent, BiTE Interactive Executive Vice President of Operations Joseph Farrell wonders, “Why aren’t brands making more apps for the Latino market?” Um, because crumbs can only cover pocos tácticas, amigo.

11206: Diversity Drivel.

At The Big Tent, Eric Mower & Associates Partner and HR Director Michael Slade posted a perspective titled, “We’ll Never Achieve Diversity Hiring Only From One Another.” Is the title supposed to be a warning/reprimand or merely a statement of fact? Slade’s column could have been written in 2003—or even 1963, for that matter—as it contains no new thinking. It’s always disturbing to see HR wonks not only regurgitating the same excuses (e.g., a lack of awareness of opportunities among minorities) and lame solutions (e.g., the 4As’ Multicultural Advertising Internship Program), but also openly admitting the industry engages in exclusive, discriminatory hiring practices. More outrageous is Slade’s admission that he has served on the 4As’ HR Committee for 15 years. Damn, it’s incredible the man hasn’t yet nabbed an ADCOLOR® Award. To underscore the audacity of hopelessness and cluelessness in Slade’s piece, take a peek at the executive leadership running his agency. ‘Nuff said.

10949: Is Latino Marketing A Ghetto?

At The Big Tent, Rincón & Associates President Edward T. Rincón wondered about the new Univision Agency and its implications. Rincón’s best line reads, “The Hispanic market industry is likely to become ‘ghetto-ized’ as the Univision Agency expands its reach to marketers who are looking for the lowest budget to launch their Hispanic advertising campaigns.” Um, isn’t the Hispanic market industry already a ghetto by virtue of being a “multicultural” player in a minority-unfriendly field? After all, “marketers who are looking for the lowest budget to launch their Hispanic advertising campaigns” pretty much sums up the entire category. Latino marketing has never received its fair share of investment from advertisers, with minority agencies consistently accepting crumbs for their efforts versus the piles of cash awarded to White agencies. And speaking of White agencies, minorities are marginalized under the guise of cross-cultural partnerships within the networks too. Plus, as Lincoln Stephens pointed out, “…the Hispanic/Latino demographic, our country’s fastest-growing minority group, represents 16.7% of our country, but makes up a mere 5.3% of those employed in the advertising industry.” So Latinos are getting screwed from an employment perspective as well. Rincón should know that the ghettoization has been around long before the Univision Agency appeared on the scene.

Beware: Univision Aims to Be a One-Stop Solution for Marketers

A New Internal Agency Offers Research, but How Objective Will It Be?

By Edward T. Rincón

Univision announced last week the launch of its new Univision Agency, which the company says “will be responsible for all cross-channel promotions as well as research and creative services for clients and internal divisions.” With a media empire of more than $500 million, including broadcast, cable and radio properties, Univision clearly wants to ensure its place in the growing Hispanic market as the one-stop solution for U.S. marketers.

Should we celebrate or mourn this initiative? Let’s look at some pros and cons.

Several trends suggest that the timing couldn’t better. The sluggish economy has placed considerable strain on corporate budgets and limited spending on advertising campaigns and research projects. Large advertisers have been shifting some of their business slowly away from ethnic to general advertising agencies, so why should Univision not join the crowd?

Marketers may find it especially enticing to save their research budget for other expenses, like Univision media. And Univision should find it easy to meet the expectations of future corporate clients, whose cultural intelligence continues to slide, with the absence of multicultural content at U.S. academic institutions. How perfect is this?

Concern has emerged, however. The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies stated that it was looking forward to continuing its partnership with Univision, but wanted to ensure that “the Univision Agency does not negate the use of Hispanic agencies.” The association has reason to be concerned about losing business to the Univision Agency. In my experience with corporate-research clients, they sometimes prefer to side-step the need to engage a Hispanic advertising agency because media companies like Univision can offer a turnkey package that is simpler and more affordable. This may be great for Univision, but not necessarily for Hispanic advertising agencies.

Overall, I am very skeptical about this new initiative for two reasons.

Lack of objectivity. Contrary to evidence from numerous independent research studies, Univision has been relentless in telling U.S. advertisers that Spanish was the best way to reach all Hispanics in the United States. Yet, in a reversal of this ideology, Univision is now in the process of introducing a television network in English, as its immigrant audiences are eroding.

Questionable talent. It is hard to imagine that the Univision Agency staff will be able to match the creative talents of the numerous Hispanic advertising agencies that have proven their value by their credentials and campaigns. While Univision may be able to recruit research staff with the right credentials, the staff likely will remain under pressure to produce promotional, not objective, research. Says Univision’s press release: “This totally self-contained Agency will define the promotional priorities and drive the creative advertising strategy and execution for the entire Univision family of networks.”

To marketers with limited advertising and research budgets, and perhaps lower standards in these two areas, the one-stop Univision Agency may be the perfect solution. I anticipate, however, that the quality of Hispanic research will take a step backward, as Univision continues to flood the marketplace with self-serving research. The Hispanic market industry is likely to become “ghetto-ized” as the Univision Agency expands its reach to marketers who are looking for the lowest budget to launch their Hispanic advertising campaigns. Indeed, there is little to celebrate about the new Univision Agency.

10926: Recoiling In Horrors.

Earlier this month, New American Dimensions President-CEO David Morse published a perspective at The Big Tent titled, “In a Culture of Mass Shootings, the Ad Industry Shares the Blame.” In the piece, Morse wondered about the responsibility our industry faced for promoting firearms in light of the continuing tragedies involving guns. The subsequent comments seemed to scoff at Morse’s opinions—yet perusing the latest issue of RECOIL magazine almost corroborates everything the adman wrote.

The 2nd Amendment remains a popular theme. Wonder if any of these advertisers have read what Thom Hartmann wrote at Truthout.

President Obama has been criticized for remarking about people who “cling to guns and religion,” but this ad apparently has no reservations connecting things.

Celebrity endorsements are utilized too. It’s only a matter of time before Betty White is hawking rifles too.

Morse highlighted the masculinity of gun culture, and RECOIL clearly displays the reality with pin-up style photography and a Girls section on its website.

10901: Why Hispanics Get Crumbs.

Isabel Valdes, President of Isabel Valdes Consulting, and Jake Beniflah, Executive Director of The Center for Multicultural Science, teamed up at The Big Tent to ask, “Why Can’t the Booming Hispanic Market Get Its Fair Share of Investment?” Valdes and Beniflah argued, “The answer lies in a seriously flawed system for gathering multicultural sales data.” Perhaps. Or maybe it’s rooted in the same reason why the booming Hispanic population can’t get its fair share of marketing jobs on Madison Avenue.

10718: ANA Multicultural Conference Notes.

The Big Tent published “Key Takeaways From the ANA Multicultural Conference” by Walton-Isaacson Chief Hispanic Marketing Strategist Rochelle Newman-Carrasco. The piece presented a few highlights warranting commentary:

• Florida Marlins Director of Multicultural Marketing Juan Martinez is “one of only a handful of multicultural marketers in baseball.” Newman-Carrasco noted the oddity, as baseball features diverse players appealing to diverse audiences. Major League Baseball does boast the standard Diverse Business Partners program. Ironically, the Cleveland Indians also show public support for diversity, including a video starring Cleveland Indians Owner and Chairman Diversity Oversight Committee Larry Dolan hyping the organization’s commitment. Um, you might want to consider finally dumping your racist mascot, Mr. Dolan.

• President and CEO of Ram Truck Brand and CEO of Chrysler de Mexico Fred Diaz is allegedly a staunch defender of diversity. According to Newman-Carrasco, “Diaz denounced ‘tolerating’ diversity, as opposed to embracing it. He is unequivocally proud of his Latino heritage and his bilingualism, a leadership quality that many Hispanics who have gone before him have had to sublimate as they climbed the corporate ladder.” Okay, but will Diaz take an approach like State Farm VP of Marketing Pam El and continue to conspire with White advertising agencies where exclusivity reigns—or will he demand change from his partners?

• President of Kellogg’s North America Bob Davidson “spoke about going to great lengths to spend time with Latino consumers and retailers and experience first-hand what it is to live in their homes, walk in their shoes, shop in their stores and eat in their kitchens. He has made cultural immersion mandatory for his brand managers as well.” Davidson declared, “If you’re not humble, you can’t learn.” Okay, but will Davidson take an approach like State Farm VP of Marketing Pam El and continue to conspire with White advertising agencies where exclusivity reigns—or will he demand change from his partners, including making cultural immersion mandatory for agencies too?

• Newman-Carrasco remarked, “Asian marketing is still getting short shrift in the multicultural marketing arena and at conferences like these.” Um, multicultural marketing gets the short shrift in the marketing arena. So does “getting short shrift in the multicultural marketing arena” essentially translate to receiving the leftover crumb (singular versus plural form deliberate here)?

• Newman-Carrasco also remarked, “Pepper Miller was a standout on the subject of marketing to black consumers.” No surprise. However, did anyone connected with a Black advertising agency or client have anything interesting to share? Seems like little progress is happening in the area of marketing to Blacks—as well as hiring Blacks.

10561: Interns, Interns, Interns.

At The Big Tent, Eric Buchanan—Talent Acquisition Manager, RPA, and President, Multicultural Advertising Training Program—published a post titled, “How to Attract -- and Retain -- a More Diverse Agency Staff.” The solution? Interns. In fact, Buchanan might have set a record for most mentions of the word “interns” in a single essay. Is anyone in the industry capable of coming up with an original concept to tackle the dearth of diversity? Regurgitating the same old idea feels like the work of, well, interns.

10527: ABAA + ANA = Lots Of A-Holes.

At The Big Tent, Pepper Miller presented a column on the #InTheBlack campaign. The allegedly revolutionary initiative combines the collective efforts of over two dozen Black media firms and advertising agencies to hype the wonders of targeting Black consumers. But the most surprising part of Miller’s piece involved a reference to a 2009 incident:

In 2009, a small group of black agencies formed The Association of Black Owned Advertising Agencies. Eugene Morris and Howard Buford, president and vice president respectively, of the association, wrote an open letter in [The Big Tent] to announce their organization and “request a meeting with senior leadership of the ANA in order to open a substantive dialogue about how to bring black-owned agencies into the mainstream.” We’ve not heard from them since.*

The last line of Miller’s paragraph was crossed out and tagged with an asterisk when Advertising Age editors revealed the ANA and ABAA had exchanged emails after the perspective/plea was published. While the original communication was an open letter, the Internet intercourse appears to be a private and closed conversation. Sources indicated the two parties exchanged pleasantries—which clearly didn’t help Morris, as his agency is seriously struggling to stay afloat.

MultiCultClassics has already questioned why the ABAA bothered reaching out to the ANA in the first place. Hell, the client group has publicly admitted its members dedicate insufficient funding, inadequate commitment and inferior performance measurement resources to multicultural marketing. In fact, according to the ANA, the majority of advertisers do not engage minority shops at all. Rather, ANA officials prefer to fund ADCOLOR® while they build armies of diversity defenders who ultimately go AWOL—or shoot bizarre videos of themselves. Confronting Black advertising executives will always be trumped by chores such as defending Big Tobacco or self-regulation for online advertising.

ANA cardholders call themselves Masters of Marketing. They seem to enjoy playing the role of master with multicultural marketing too.

To bring this post full circle, if the #InTheBlack campaign hopes to succeed, it will have to attack entities like the ANA. GlobalHue CEO and Chairman Don Coleman said, “It’s getting to the point of ridiculousness in terms of the budget allocated to the African-American audience.” Forget showing the obligatory pie charts displaying Black consumer spending power. Rather, expose the lack of spending ANA members have done with the segment—and the paltry budgetary pie crumbs they’ve served to Black ad agencies.

10417: Do The Locomotus With MGP.

From The Big Tent…

Marcus Graham Project to Transition to Year-Round Ad Incubator

Dan Wieden in Letter of Support for Locomotus: ‘This Must Be Done’

By Ken Wheaton

The Marcus Graham Project is transitioning from a summer-time boot camp to a year-round school in 2013. The announcement was made over the weekend at a gala celebrating MGP’s fifth anniversary.

The new “advertising incubator” will be called Locomotus and its first location will likely be in Los Angeles. The entity is the outgrowth of the success of the Marcus Graham Project said co-founder Lincoln Stephens. “We’ve proven our concept for the last few years,” he said.

As part of its five-year celebration, MGP unveiled a video featuring some of its alumni.

MGP, named for Eddie Murphy’s character in the movie Boomerang, was founded in 2007 in an attempt, according to Mr. Stephens, to address the lack of diversity in the ad industry. Since then, it’s grown in size and scope. “It’s not really so much about diversity as it is about education,” Mr. Stephens said in an interview, noting that the boot camps have been a place for networking, continuing education, portfolio building and even a place to learn what school can’t teach student—old-fashioned office politics, for example.

Part of MGP’s role, he said, is to show participants, “Here’s how the business works.” And if participants, after working with real clients in real agencies, find they don’t like what they’ve seen. “If you can’t work in a company,” added Mr. Stephens, “well, here’s how you go and do you own thing.”

Locotomus will expand upon what MGP has done so far.

“Locomotus takes the best of what portfolio programs and student-run agencies have and moves it to the next level,” said Dan Wieden, co-founder and global executive creative director of Wieden & Kennedy, in a letter of support for the project. Mr. Wieden, a booster of MGP’s efforts so far, didn’t make the gala event but did send along a video congratulating the program.

Mr. Wieden’s letter, addressed to the ad industry at large and calling the school a “model long-term solution,” ends with the phrase: “Simply put: this must be done.”

To do it will take money—about $2.6 million for the first year of operation. While it seems like a money, it’s a drop in the bucket for holding companies and other agencies who themselves have struggled with their own diversity issues.

Mr. Stephens, who’s lived with his parents as he and others have worked on a volunteer basis to make MGP work, was quick to point out that they’re “not looking for handouts.” It’s 38 alumni so far have been placed at agencies including Wieden, Rapp, Commonground, Weber Shandwick, Richards Group, Tribal DDB and elsewhere. Other partners include the 4A’s, Butler Shine Stern & Partners, Y&R and Omnicom.

“We want to return the investment,” he said, noting that he and the program would rather steer well clear of anything resembling quotas or “target numbers.” Past attendees and current and former ones “don’t automatically get jobs. They have to earn them.”

That said, there will still be a focus on diversity and that comes through in a promotional video for the next iteration of the program.

“We need to be mindful of the past,” he said, “but we need to be narrowly focused on preparing our workforce for the future.”

10374: Tanner Colby Is Odd—Maybe Dumb Too.

Last March, Tanner Colby presented painfully long and incoherent perspectives at Slate, declaring Matthew Weiner would delve into race-related areas during the past season of AMC series Mad Men. MultiCultClassics accurately predicted Colby was dead wrong.

Colby is back with fresh long-winded bullshit at The Big Tent, displaying his peculiar thinking while hawking his new book, “Some of My Best Friends are Black.” Amazingly, the Ad Age piece ends by claiming, “This interview has been edited and condensed.” Okey-doke, but it’s still over 3,000 words too long.

Fully examining Colby’s commentary would require rivaling his verbose style, ultimately putting blog readers into a catatonic state. Hence, MultiCultClassics will only address a few of the man’s bizarre and uninformed points.

Colby stated, “If you read the rest of my book, you come away with the conclusion that the problem for the advertising industry doesn’t exist inside the advertising industry. … If you want more black people in advertising, you fix housing and transit policies to get more access to jobs.” Hey, it’s not simply a matter of leveling the professional playing field; rather, the solution demands lifting the entire race. Imagine if Major League Baseball, for instance, had used this excuse to stall integration. Hang tight, Mr. Robinson, we’ll let you play after we’ve created economic equality. Even ADCOLOR® and the 4A’s would take a pass on attempting to tackle such a grand and noble endeavor. Hint to Colby: Fixing discriminatory and outdated hiring policies might be easier—and more effective—than fixing housing and transit policies. Just a thought.

Anyone who can decipher Colby’s ramblings about “minority set-asides” will receive a crisp one-dollar bill—which, by the way, roughly matches the standard “minority set-asides” doled out to non-White agencies.

Another Colby gem concluded, “… I think anyone who is being honest about the minority agencies would be frank to admit that they have to evolve. I’m not saying that you can’t take one of these shops and innovate. But something is going to have to change.” The man once again took a swerving turn and completely missed the real issue. Sure, the minority shops have work to do. But it’s grossly unfair to place the burden of progress on firms that have never exceeded 500 employees or held AOR status for $100 million accounts. If the budding author paid closer attention to Mad Men—contrasting Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce to modern counterparts—he’d realize that the White agencies are in far greater need of evolution.

Culturally clueless Neanderthals like Tanner Colby ought to try moving ahead on the Darwinian chart too.

10373: A Free Course In Multicultural Marketing.

At The Big Tent, Rincón & Associates President Edward T. Rincón argued that colleges should offer more courses in multicultural marketing. It’s a nice thought, but wildly impractical. After all, colleges and universities are mostly dedicated to providing instruction in fields where graduates might professionally flourish. Hell, students should first carefully research Ten Things the Growing Hispanic Market Needs To Know About Advertisers to learn the truth.

10357: Ten Things Latinos Need To Know.

At The Big Tent, Fernando Rodriguez typed a piece titled, “Six Things Advertisers Need To Know About the Growing Hispanic Market.” It’s a typical perspective on the value of pursuing the Latino market. Yet the article’s title—as well as recent revelations—inspired MultiCultClassics to create the following:

Ten Things the Growing Hispanic Market Needs To Know About Advertisers.

1. The overwhelming majority of advertisers do not support multicultural marketing.

2. The advertisers that do support multicultural marketing do a lousy job of it.

3. Advertisers let White advertising agencies—with a history of not hiring minorities—produce Latino-targeted campaigns.

4. Advertisers also let White advertising agencies invent Latino advertising agencies to steal work typically earmarked for real Latino advertising agencies.

5. Advertisers lazily recycle White advertising with Spanish-speaking voiceovers to target Latinos.

6. Advertisers lazily recycle French advertising to target Latinos.

7. Advertisers clumsily hijack Latino culture to create fake authenticity.

8. Advertisers force Latino advertising agencies to depict soccer and telenovelas, while White advertising agencies get to hire Sofia Vergara.

9. Advertisers think Latinas have talking vaginas.

10. Advertisers treat Latino advertising agencies like undocumented laborers.

10244: Free Refills On Soft-Drink Editorial.

Didn’t realize when posting a response to the David Morse editorial on multicultural marketing and the soft-drink industry that others had also questioned the author’s perspective.

Hamilton Nolan at Gawker and Gwynedd Stuart at Fresh Loaf presented thoughtful and amusing reactions worth perusing.

What makes it all most amazing? That people are actually bothering to visit The Big Tent.

10128: White Space Misses Target…?

At The Big Tent, Advertising Age Editor Ken Wheaton spotlighted the Muse Communications White Space video, which prompted a mini-debate in the comments section.

Russell Bynum of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, wrote:

It is 2012 and this fight has not [begun] to be over. The minority consumer needs to understand [its] purchasing power and refuse to shop at companies that will not hire black-owned and operated ad agencies. This industry is made up of mostly small shops that are more likely to hire those who look like them. Diversity must be intentional and must be driven by the client. The industry has no compelling reason to do it.

Mark Robinson of Ridgefield, Connecticut, countered by stating:

Minority consumers don’t “need to understand” anything. Please don’t put the burden of fixing this problem on their shoulders. They didn’t create the problem. Likewise, ad agency diversity should not be driven by the client. That simply positions a positive (diversity) as a negative being imposed on the system. Madison Avenue loves deflecting responsibility and action onto others. Ad agencies need to learn and grow and wake up and recognize that diversity is smart and in their self-interest.

Both Bynum and Robinson make valid points, although they’re regurgitating perspectives that have inspired little to zero meaningful change over the past 50+ years.

Attempting to ignite the ire of minority consumers has never gained much traction. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have not shown sustained interest in launching boycotts or protests. Plus, the industry remains private and hidden from the public, hampering any effort to rouse the masses.

The typically smart Robinson appears a tad delusional in thinking Madison Avenue should gain professional and spiritual enlightenment on its own. In contrast to other fields like, say, professional sports, the ad game doesn’t have official ruling bodies with the authority to mandate action. The concept of self-regulation is a joke. And again, because the industry operates in privacy and anonymity, the public is oblivious to the problems. On the Darwinian chart, Mad Men have not evolved a bit in regards to diversity—and there are no signs that progress is on anyone’s to-do list.

All of this makes one wonder about the potential effectiveness of the White Space spot. For starters, running a commercial on a program with low ratings is rarely a good idea—despite the fact that Muse may be getting more play on the message via outlets such as Ad Age and Agency Spy versus AMC. But what audience is White Space really targeting? Will the communication truly resonate with White adpeople? Hell, will the industry majority even understand it? On the other hand, will any non-advertising viewers comprehend what’s being stated?

Stay tuned.

9948: Banning Hoodies.

The comment thread for the Advertising Age story on Daniel Maree, the McCann staffer who helped kick-start the New York 1,000,000 Hoodie March for Trayvon Martin, featured a peculiar statement:

McCann Staffer,
Those of us who have children in the real world know that their schools prohibit “hoodies” as part of their dress code. Did you know that? Do you know why?

Old Ad Guy
Bloomfield Hills, MI

A quick Google search showed that some schools have indeed banned hoodies from the student dress code. However, the explanation is that kids were concealing their cell phones in the big pockets and texting each other during classes. Is there more to it than that? And why did Old Ad Guy feel the need to point it out in such cryptic fashion?

9888: From Linsanity To Linsensitivity.

From The Big Tent…

‘Linmania’ May Be Fading, But Its Lessons Linger

Words Can and Do Hurt People, And Poor Research Can Result in Demeaning Stereotypes

By Bill Imada

The media frenzy created by Jeremy Lin’s success as a basketball player, scholar, devoted Christian and American of Chinese heritage is fading as New York Knicks’ losses mount and opponents learn how to contain him. But the lesson of several weeks of “Linsanity” remains as powerful as ever. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is wrong. Words can and do hurt people, and we hear about the damage they cause all the time.

Derogatory words such as chink, jap, gook and a host of other negative terms do hurt people of all backgrounds, races, ethnicities and cultures. These hurtful terms belittle us as people, they categorize and single us out for ridicule, and they thrust unwelcome labels onto us that follow us, as Asian-Americans, from generation to generation.

When ESPN anchor Max Bretos used the headline, “Chink in the Armor,” to describe Lin’s nine turnovers in a Knicks loss to the New Orleans Hornets, I was astonished and dismayed. How in this day and age can any news anchor even think of using such a derogatory word in a nationally broadcast news segment? It is 2012, for heaven’s sake. Racial and ethnic insensitivity should be a thing of the past. Haven’t we learned anything over the decades about the use of insulting words, phrases and imagery in advertising, marketing and journalism?

Because I serve as a volunteer to a wide array of community-based groups, I have first-hand knowledge about the demeaning use of terms such as “chink.” That includes bullying and taunting of Asian immigrants and Asian-Americans at school and in other social settings; bolstering negative images of Asian-Americans and Asians living in the United States as being perpetual foreigners and never having a rightful place in American society; creating a hostile environment that can lead to vicious hate crimes in communities where people who may appear or sound different are treated with suspicion and disdain.

To add insult to injury, Bretos issued an apology by saying his wife is Asian, and he would never intentionally do anything to disrespect her or the Asian-American community. This apology reminds me of what others have said when they offended black Americans. The accused would defend themselves by saying: “If I offended anyone, I apologize. It was never my intent to upset African-Americans; some of my best friends are black!” Just because you have friends who are black or Asian-American doesn’t make those who are offended by derogatory remarks feel better.

It’s time to move forward and learn from all that has happened. I support and applaud ESPN for taking decisive steps to deal with those who used the word “chink” on air to describe Jeremy Lin’s overall play on the basketball court. I also accept their apology apology for making such a statement. But if the station truly wishes to set the record straight, it should consider airing a segment that clearly articulates why these words hurt and demean others. I therefore encourage ESPN to take an opportunity to explain what has happened and what steps they are taking to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. By doing this, they’ll teach others about this incident and how it can be avoided.

On to Ben & Jerry’s.

Ben & Jerry’s recently said it would produce a special ice cream in Jeremy Lin’s honor. On the surface, this is a thoughtful idea. The company said the product would include bits of fortune cookies, which elicited a strong and negative response from leaders and consumers of Asian-American heritage. Fortune cookies were invented in the United States and are closely tied to Chinese-American and other Asian-inspired foods. It also represents to many Asian-Americans that other people don’t have a wider and more knowledgeable view of Asians and Asian-Americans. We are a community of many cultures, backgrounds, ethnicities and beliefs, and do not want to be lumped together under the image of a specific food item—especially a fortune cookie. Fortune cookies were created for amusement and fun, the imagery behind them perpetuates an unwanted view that Asians are mysterious, exotic and whimsical.

Most Asian-American consumers aren’t upset with Ben & Jerry’s because it does so much good for the world. Since its founding, the company has been involved in a number of philanthropic causes that support a wide variety of diverse communities. The visible involvement has earned it a great deal of respect and admiration from consumers of all backgrounds and cultures. I and others appreciate Ben & Jerry’s quick apology and acknowledgement of the mistake, and all seems to be forgiven.

One final lesson that marketers, advertisers and public-relations practitioners should always remember: The very first step is to do the homework. Research, research and research some more. Ask yourselves a few questions about your plans to determine if your actions can be viewed as offensive, negative, condescending and/or demeaning. Taking this step early will save you a whole lot of time and grief.

Bill Imada is chairman-CEO of the IW Group, New York.

9754: Enter The Dragon.

At The Big Tent, Bill Imada presents a perspective on “what the Year of the Dragon will mean to the world of advertising,” along with a series of advertisements celebrating the Lunar New Year.

9611: Lowe’s Blow.

Don’t expect to see this banner ad on the Lowe’s website anytime soon.