15971: Champion Deserves To Play With Champs, Yet Settles For Chumps.

 

Adweek reported on a new campaign from Champion that hypes the brand as inventor of the hoodie. Sorry, but this does not feel like an accomplishment to tout for motivating consumer interest. A competent planner—and decent advertising agency—might have devised a better game plan. Besides, it’s tough to call out hoodies without thinking of Trayvon Martin, no?

 

Champion Invented the Hoodie Nearly 100 Years Ago. Now It's Ready to Talk About It

 

The brand is looking toward the future as it seeks to engage Gen Z consumers

 

By Leslie Blount

 

Champion is calling an audible on its penchant for modesty.

 

For the launch of its “Be Your Own” campaign, the centenarian athleticwear brand proudly proclaims “Champion invented the hoodie,” the wardrobe staple that’s transcended sports into music, fashion and popular culture since it was created by the brand’s founding family more than 80 years ago.

 

A new spot—produced by agency partner Energy BBDO—is slated to debut on ESPN during the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame football game on Sept. 3 and features a diverse cast modeling a colorful array of hoodie styles.

 

Amid quick cuts of the models playing various sports, the narrator channels his inner hype man to inform the wearer “we invented that,” before declaring they ultimately “make it their own” by wearing it.

 

In addition to ESPN, the campaign will run on linear TV, online and streaming video, in-store displays and across the brand’s social media channels.

 

While many brands might use archival footage to present receipts documenting historic achievements, Champion vp of global marketing John Shumate said the goal was to look toward the future.

 

“We wanted to reach a young consumer,” Shumate told Adweek. “Our data points revealed that [we were] skewing a little bit older. And we wanted to connect with that 14- to 24-year-old. We wanted to let the younger audience know that the hoodies they were wearing were developed and innovated and originated by the Champion brand.”

 

Shumate—who joined the brand a little over a year ago after stints with PepsiCo, MGM Resorts and sports teams including the Miami Dolphins and the Orlando Magic—acknowledged that millennial and Gen Z consumers may not be as familiar with the brand’s history, but they are digitally native, which presented an opportunity to challenge them to get to know the brand better—and to engage with it.

 

“This [campaign] is really just to grab attention, really have the energy. Get people excited and thirsty and hungry for more,” he said.

 

He describes this particular campaign as long overdue. “We have a very rich and strong heritage,” he added. “But one of the key things we realized is that we’re not telling anyone about it. We want to do a better job of storytelling.”

 

That’s in part because the word “champion” is typically associated with success, and the brand is looking to broaden that definition.

 

“We all know that there’s more to life than just winning,” Shumate said. “It’s about playing the game. It’s about the effort in the things that you did to be the best person, and sometimes it’s just going out and just doing your best.”

 

Legacy brand(ed)

 

Originally founded in 1919 in Rochester, N.Y., as the Knickerbocker Knitting Mills, the company was renamed Champion in the early 1920s when brothers William and Abe Feinbloom inherited the business and transitioned it from producing traditional knitted goods to heavy wool knit sweaters that protected outdoor workers from brutal Northeastern winters.

 

The sweaters would later become popular at military academies, before the brothers expanded their product assortment to include athleticwear and began selling directly to college athletes and coaches.

 

Those relationships led to the creation of the hoodie, which was designed in the 1930s through the input of athletes who wanted a warm-up garment to wear while sitting on the sidelines between games and practice sessions.

 

It was also in the ‘30s when the brand revolutionized the flocking process, which allows college logos and screen-printed letters and numbers to be added onto jerseys and other apparel.

 

In fact, the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired one of the brand’s oxford grey Reverse Weave hoodies from the ‘80s for its permanent collection of society-impacting fashion items in 2017.

 

“A lot of collegiate students get introduced to the Champion brand in the college bookstores with our Reverse Weave product,” said Shumate, who called it “the O.G.” of the brand.

 

“We’re a 100-year-old-plus brand, and we’re really trying to establish ourselves for the next hundred years,” he added.

 

Still in the game

 

In addition to celebrating the upcoming 70th anniversary of the Reverse Weave hoodie, Champion also has partnerships in the works with Disney and upscale street fashion retailer Social Status, with whom it is collaborating to design an HBCU capsule collection.

 

The brand was also featured in a challenge on Amazon Prime’s reality fashion competition series Making the Cut, which Shumate said resulted in strong online sales for both Amazon and Champion.

 

But sports are indisputably Champion’s specialty.

 

The company recently expanded its partnership with the Premier Lacrosse League to include the uniforms worn on the field during play, and will continue to work with high schools and small college athletic programs. In the coming weeks, the brand will also launch a page dedicated to merchandise designed exclusively for its college and university partners.

 

For Shumate and the brand, it all falls under a mission to bring community, comfort, celebration—and fun—to whoever makes Champion products their own.

 

“Champion is an authentic athleticwear brand,” he said. “[The Feinbloom brothers] came to the United States and really changed the game. They put the consumer first. And we want to continue to do that.”

11729: Zimmerman Versus WTF.

From Mediaite…

George Zimmerman Will Be Participating in a Celebrity Boxing Match

By Josh Feldman

George Zimmerman is back the news, and this time, it’s not for his brushes with the law or his artwork. No, Zimmerman will be participating in a celebrity boxing match for charity, TMZ first reported yesterday. Zimmerman’s participation was confirmed to ABC Action News, for a match that will take place on March 1st. Zimmerman will donate all his earnings from the match to charity.

The promoter of the event reportedly told TMZ, “We’re not looking at it as a race thing … We haven’t discussed purple, yellow, white, black.”

All this just begs the question: who should Zimmerman’s opponent be? Well, one person who wants a shot at taking a shot at Zimmerman is rapper The Game, who told TMZ he would “beat the f*ck out of” Zimmerman if given the chance, because, as he said, “I would not be boxing for me. I’d be boxing for the legacy of Trayvon Martin and for his family.”

11536: Scary Ignorance.

The Huffington Post uncovered the worst Halloween costumes of 2013.

11287: Blacks Happier Than Ever.

From The Los Angeles Times…

More U.S. blacks satisfied with how society treats them, poll finds

About half of African Americans are satisfied with society’s treatment of blacks, according to the Gallup poll, which was conducted before the George Zimmerman verdict.

By Emily Alpert

A new poll shows that black Americans have grown more upbeat about their treatment in society after the reelection of President Obama.

Earlier this summer, a record 47% said they were satisfied with how blacks were treated in the country — more than at any other time since Gallup started asking the question in 2001.

However, Gallup cautioned that the question was asked before George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin — an event that could dim that rising optimism. Civil rights leaders have called the controversial verdict a wake-up call to those who thought the election of a black president heralded a post-racial era.

The Zimmerman case “could prove to be a watershed event in how not just blacks, but all Americans, perceive society’s treatment of blacks today,” Gallup senior editor Lydia Saad wrote in a summary of the results. The research group surveyed more than 4,300 adults, including more than 1,000 black Americans, in June and early July.

Researchers and activists say the election of Obama buoyed hopes among African Americans, who saw his political rise as a sign of new possibilities for black advancement and acceptance. Some fear it also distracted attention from disadvantages blacks still face.

If the Gallup poll were done again this week, “I think sentiment would have been radically different,” said Shana Redmond, assistant professor of American studies and ethnicity at USC. She said the Zimmerman case, which centered on the killing of an unarmed black teenager, has made black Americans feel newly vulnerable.

Even before the Zimmerman verdict, more than half of black Americans remained dissatisfied with the treatment of black people, the Gallup poll showed. They were much more downbeat than whites and Latinos, a majority of whom said they were satisfied with how blacks were treated.

“It’s not as if when you’re in discussions with groups of African Americans, anybody is saying, ‘Isn’t it great how much better we’re treated now than in the past?’” said Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president and chief executive of Community Coalition in South Los Angeles.

Gallup found that black women were less satisfied than black men, with the sharpest differences surfacing among young people. Sixty-three percent of black women ages 18 to 34 were dissatisfied with the treatment of blacks in the United States, compared with 46% of black men in the same age range — a finding that surprised some scholars. b “The conventional wisdom would be that young black males are targeted and harassed and therefore should be the least satisfied,” said Franklin D. Gilliam Jr., dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. b Others pointed to the added burdens of sexism for black women. “Stereotypes they face are oftentimes accepted by members of even their own communities,” said Kimberle W. Crenshaw, a professor at the UCLA School of Law.

11276: Polling The Painfully Obvious.

Pew Research Center and USA TODAY polls showed a sharp racial divide on opinions regarding the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman trial verdict. Did someone really see the need to conduct a survey? Hell, Tanner Colby could have predicted the results—as well as the responses from thought(less) leaders Ann Coulter and Ted Nugent.

11275: Holder Doesn’t Hold Back.

From The New York Daily News…

Attorney General Eric Holder calls Trayvon Martin killing ‘tragic’ and ‘unnecessary’ as Justice Department weighs civil rights charges

In his first remarks since the acquittal of George Zimmerman, Attorney General Eric Holder describe Trayvon Martin’s killing as a “tragic, unnecessary shooting,” and urged the nation to use the case as way to try and better understand one another.

By Associated Press / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday the killing of Trayvon Martin was a “tragic, unnecessary shooting” and that the 17-year-old’s death provides an opportunity for the nation to speak honestly about complicated and emotionally charged issues.

In his first comments since the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Martin case, the attorney general said that Martin’s parents have suffered a pain that no parent should have to endure. He said the nation must not forgo an opportunity toward better understanding of one another.

On Sunday, the Justice Department said it is reviewing evidence in the case to determine whether criminal civil rights charges are warranted.

The Justice Department opened an investigation into Martin’s death last year but stepped aside to allow the state prosecution to proceed.

Holder said, “We are … mindful of the pain felt by our nation surrounding the tragic, unnecessary shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., last year.”

“I want to assure you that the [Justice] Department will continue to act in a manner that is consistent with the facts and the law,” said Holder.

“Independent of the legal determination that will be made, I believe that this tragedy provides yet another opportunity for our nation to speak honestly about the complicated and emotionally charged issues that this case has raised,” Holder said in remarks to the 51st national convention of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

“We must not — as we have too often in the past — let this opportunity pass,” he added.

The Justice Department says the criminal section of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, the FBI and federal prosecutors in Florida are continuing to evaluate the evidence generated during the federal investigation, plus evidence and testimony from the state trial.

The NAACP and others are calling on the Justice Department to open a civil rights case against Zimmerman. Thousands of demonstrators from across the country protested the jury’s decision to clear Zimmerman in the shooting death of the unarmed black teenager.

Also on Monday, the White House says President Barack Obama won’t involve himself in the Justice Department decision on whether to pursue civil rights charges against Zimmerman. White House spokesman Jay Carney said it would be inappropriate for Obama to express an opinion on how the department deals with Zimmerman.

11273: I Have A Hoodie.

From The New York Daily News…

Artist’s image of Martin Luther King, Jr. in a Trayvon Martin hoodie goes viral in wake of George Zimmerman acquittal

The image, titled ‘April 4th, 1968,’ — the date of King’s murder — was created by artist Nikkolas Smith and appeared on a website featuring posters promoting gun control.

By Philip Caulfield / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

In the wake of George Zimmerman’s acquittal, an artist’s chilling image of Martin Luther King Jr., in a Trayvon Martin-style hooded sweatshirt has gone viral, in an effort by some to link the teen’s death to the struggles of the civil rights movement.

The image, titled “April 4th, 1968,” was created by artist Nikkolas Smith and appeared on a Web gallery of posters promoting gun control.

The title references the date King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.

Former Obama adviser Van Jones retweeted the image after the verdict along with the hashtag “RIPTrayvonMartin,” sparking hundreds of retweets, The Huffington Post reported. Versions of it were quickly circulated on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

”Powerful! We all stand with #trayvonmartin!” tweeted author and former CNN contributor Roland Martin.

In an interview with Buzzfeed, Smith, a Texas native who works as a creative director at a design studio in Los Angeles, said he created the image a year ago as reports of the killing began to make national news.

“There was this whole national outcry, a hoodie movement and everybody was rocking their hoods and everything,” Smith told Buzzfeed. “Just trying to get that message out there about what is considered suspicious. Is my black skin considered suspicious?”

Martin, 17, was wearing a hoodie when he was shot and killed during a confrontation with Zimmerman inside a gated community in Sanford, Fla., in February 2012.

Since then, hooded sweatshirts have become a symbol of solidarity among Martin supports, many of whom accused Zimmerman of racially profiling the boy for having his hood up as he walked through the rain on a trip back from a convenience store.

Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter on Saturday.

11272: Trayvon Martin Perspective.

From USA TODAY…

Trayvon Martin’s story lost: Our view

The Editorial Board

For many who closely followed the trial of George Zimmerman, the verdict of not guilty spurred fury, heartache and, by Sunday, protests across the country. But the outcome should not have come as a surprise. Zimmerman’s attorneys managed to undermine the prosecution’s narrative that their client was the aggressor who followed Trayvon Martin and killed him with no justification. And the prosecution — which had the burden of proof — was unable to effectively refute Zimmerman’s story of self-defense.

But somewhere between Martin’s death 17 months ago in a gated community near Orlando and Saturday night’s verdict, the story line that matters the most largely got lost. It’s a tragically familiar tale of snap judgments by strangers, racial profiling and a black teenager’s needless death. And it’s the reason the trial attracted national attention and gavel-to-gavel coverage in the first place.

The verdict deserves to be respected and, as President Obama said Sunday, it should also serve as a reason for calm reflection.

Zimmerman’s successful defense depended on getting jurors to focus on the fight that occurred just before he shot the 17-year-old, unarmed Martin, and not on the events that preceded it. The lawyers established doubt about which man screamed for help, as well as other details of the confrontation — holes that invited an acquittal under Florida’s laws.

But the fact remains that Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer and cop wanna-be, instantly identified Martin as a “(expletive) punk” who “looks like he’s up to no good.” The fact remains that Martin was doing nothing wrong; he was returning from a snack run at a convenience store, heading for the house of his father’s girlfriend. And the fact remains that had Zimmerman stayed in his truck, as advised by the police, Martin would be alive today.

Those facts — and the authorities’ initial failure to charge Zimmerman — inflamed the black community. African Americans saw the case in a way that the jury of six women, five of them white and the other of uncertain ethnicity, probably couldn’t. Despite all the nation’s progress in burying its racist past, minorities are commonly stopped by authorities — or viewed by strangers as “up to no good” — for no other reason than the color of their skin.

Consider New York City’s “stop and frisk” policy, which allows officers to search anyone they see as suspicious: In 2011, 87% of those stopped were minorities. Or the shooting of three black men who did nothing more than venture into a white New Orleans community days after Hurricane Katrina. Or try to find an African-American man who hasn’t been stopped for “driving while black” or eyed suspiciously in a department store.

The Justice Department said Sunday it will weigh criminal civil rights charges against Zimmerman, as urged by the NAACP and others. That course would be satisfying on one level, presumably addressing the actions that led to the fight. But it’s no slam dunk. It raises fairness issues, and the case is too narrow to serve as an instrument for righting the racial inequities of the justice system, so long in need of attention.

Zimmerman’s fate was determined as it should have been, based on the evidence in a court of law, not the court of public opinion. But just because a verdict is legally justified doesn’t make it morally satisfying. Trayvon Martin’s death remains an avoidable American tragedy — one that Zimmerman set in motion.

10007: Skittles’ PR Perplexity.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

Candy conundrum: How should Wrigley handle Skittles’ link to Trayvon Martin killing?

By Candice Choi

It could’ve been Starbursts, Twizzlers or Sour Patch Kids. But when Trayvon Martin was fatally shot, he happened to be carrying a bag of Skittles, a product of Chicago-based Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company.

The 17-year-old’s death at the hands of a neighborhood watchman in February ignited nationwide protests and heated debate about racial profiling and “Stand Your Ground” laws.

For Wrigley, a unit of Mars Inc., the tragedy presents another, more surreal dimension. Protestors carried bags of the chewy fruit-flavored candy while marching for the arrest of shooter George Zimmerman. Mourners pinned the bright red wrappers to their hooded sweatshirts at memorial services.

On eBay, vendors sell $10 T-shirts with the words “Justice for Trayvon Martin” printed over a cartoon-like rainbow of pouring Skittles.

Wrigley issued only a brief statement offering condolences to Martin’s friends and family, adding that it would be inappropriate to comment further “as we would never wish for our actions to be perceived as an attempt of commercial gain.”

The company declined to say whether the Martin case has had an impact on Skittles sales. Even so, it is one of the most popular candies in the U.S.

Sales grew 7 percent over the past year to $213.8 million, according to SymphonyIRI, a Chicago-based market research firm that tracks sales at supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandise outlets, excluding Wal-Mart.

The best approach for companies is to maintain a low profile, says Katherine Sredl, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. That’s particularly true in the Martin case, where any action by Mars could be interpreted as insincere or opportunistic.

Sredl believes the Martin case could help to reinforce the buoyant image Skittles convey. “Skittles have always symbolized youth and innocence. They’re so brightly colored and almost pure sugar,” Sredl says.

That’s why the candy became such a vivid detail in the Martin case. In the public imagination, it underscored that the teenager was “just a kid walking down the street eating Skittles,” Sredl says.

Skittles isn’t the first popular food brand to find itself at the center of a major controversy. The term “don’t drink the Kool-Aid,” has its origins in the 1978 mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, where Reverend Jim Jones led more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple to drink a grape flavored drink laced with cyanide.

The powdered mix used to make the concoction was actually the lesser known Flavor Aid, based in West Chicago. Even so, executives at Kraft Foods Inc., which owns Kool-Aid, decided to let the matter go, rather than set the record straight.

“It would be like spitting into the wind at this point — it’s just part of the national lexicon,” says Bridget MacConnell, a Kraft spokeswoman. “We all try to protect the value of our brands. But this one just kind of got away from us. I don’t think there was any way to fight it.”

MacConnell added that Kool-Aid remains a popular drink and that the Jonestown tragedy has not overshadowed the brand.

AP

10006: Cosby On Crime And Culture.

From The New York Daily News…

Bill Cosby: Trayvon Martin case is about guns, not race

Legendary comedian says calling George Zimmerman a racist doesn’t solve anything

By Philip Caulfield / New York Daily News

Legendary entertainer Bill Cosby said the national uproar over the killing of teen Trayvon Martin should be over guns, not race.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that aired Sunday, Cosby said calling George Zimmerman a racist was pointless.

“What is solved by saying, ‘He’s a racist, that’s why he shot the boy’?” Cosby said.

Since first speaking out about the case earlier this month, Cosby has repeatedly said that the Feb. 26 slaying of the unarmed teen shows there is a need to get guns off the streets.

“When a person has a gun, sometimes their mind clicks, that this thing will win arguments and straighten people out,” Cosby told CNN.

“I’m not saying you can’t have it in your home to protect yourself… you’ve got to protect yourself in your own home,” he added.

“But I also believe that when you tell me that you are going to protect the neighborhood that I live in, I don’t want you to have a gun,” he said. “I want you to be able to see something, report it and get out of the way.”

Cosby also said during the interview, which was taped on Thursday, that he once owned a gun but no longer does.

In the past two decades, the 74-year-old comedian has become outspoken on issues of violence, parenting, education and drug use in black and minority communities.

His own son, Ennis, was shot dead by a Ukrainian restaurant worker while changing a flat tire on the side of a Los Angeles highway in 1997.

Last week, Cosby told NBC’s David Gregory, “When you have a gun, you may not realize it, but you put it on your person and you mean to pull (the trigger) and kill somebody.”

With News Wire Services

10003: An Open Letter To Whites.

From Ebony…

Dear White folks:

Between the racist comments, the constant use of the race denial card (this country’s most frequently used “race card”) and the absurd claims of White victimhood, you have really grated my last nerve.

Sure, we got teary during The Blind Side and Antoine Fisher; we maybe even gave money to KONY2012 and after Hurricane Katrina; we maybe even donned a hoodie to protest the murder of Trayvon Martin. I don’t even doubt there are individuals out there who are genuinely concerned about racism and injustice; I don’t doubt that there are many Whites that marched with Dr. King and whose “best friends” might be Black. None of this matters if African Americans continue to die at the hands of guns held by security guards and police officers all without justice

I have heard that “we are all Trayvon Martin” over the last few weeks, yet we are not Trayvon Martin—and we never could be. White America is never suspicious. White America can walk to the store without fear of being hunted down. White America can count on justice and a nation grieving at the loss of White life. We aren’t Trayvon Martin, we are George Zimmerman: presumed innocent until proven innocent.

I want you to close your eyes for a second, and imagine that your son or daughter, sister or brother, granddaughter or grandson, ventured to the corner store for some Skittles and tea but never returned? Can you imagine if Peter or Jan were gunned down right around the corner from your house and the police didn’t notify you right away? Can you imagine if little Sydney or Bobby sat in the morgue for days as you searched to find out what happened them? Can you even imagine the police letting the perpetrator go or the news media remaining silent? Can you even fathom learning about background and drug tests on your child? Can you imagine the news media demonizing your child, blaming your child for his own death?

Can you imagine the outcry if seven White youths had been gunned down by police and security guards in a matter of months? Can you imagine the extensive political interest, the media stories that would saturate the airwaves? Can you imagine Fox News or any number of newspapers reporting about a school suspension for one of the victims or doctoring pictures in an attempt to make these victims less sympathetic? Can you imagine a person holding up a sign calling these victims “thugs” and “hoodlums.” Just think about the media frenzy, the concern from politicians, and the national horror every time a school shooting happens in Suburbia or every time a White woman goes missing…can you imagine if women routinely went missing from your community and the news and police department simply couldn’t be bothered?

No, you can’t. And you don’t have to.

Yet, from Florida to Los Angeles, from Atlanta to Wisconsin, from Chicago to Ohio, Black families are burying the innocent and the future. Doesn’t that make you sad; doesn’t that make your angry? Our silence is telling. We can barely say their names much less acknowledge the epidemic in our midst: Stephon Watts. Trayvon Martin. Ramarley Graham. Wendell Allen. Dante Price. Bo Morrison. Rekia Boyd. Kendrec McDade.

All have lost their lives; and we don’t even say their names. All have died under similarly disturbing circumstances. All should have prompted national outrage and action; or at the least for us to say their names.

I don’t care if you cried during The Help and if the ‘feel good’ movie of the year featuring chicken-frying maids and affluent White women made you feel all post-racial tingly on the inside. Did you cry at the report of yet another lost Black life? If so, what have those tears done—have they led you to join a rally, to demand justice? I don’t care if you voted for President Obama; have you demanded dramatic changes to our criminal (in)justice system? It is time for us to check ourselves, to listen and demand a better America starting with ourselves. It is time to stop denying racism and defending White privilege, distracting and deflecting with “what ifs” and excuses. It is time to demand justice for the Trayvons and the Rekias, not because it could have been one of our sons and daughters—it couldn’t—but because it is simply the right thing to do.

Sincerely

A member of White America

David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He is author of After Artest: Race and the War on Hoop (SUNY Press, spring 2012).

9986: John Derbyshire’s Demons.

Recent events like the Trayvon Martin shooting have inspired Black parents nationwide to have The Talk with their children. This in turn prompted John Derbyshire to write The Talk: Nonblack Version at Taki’s Magazine. It’s hard to imagine what might have been rattling around Derbyshire’s skull while he typed the perspective, but he clearly is not among the 36% of Americans (FYI, Derbyshire is British-American) who would be most hurt over being labeled a racist. One must also question the sanity of the editors at Taki’s Magazine for their questionable judgment. The publication’s site boasts:

We at Taki’s Magazine take our politics like we take life—lightly. We believe political labels such as conservative and liberal are as outdated as flared trousers and nazis. Ideology is a false god, a secular religion that seeks vainly to create a paradise on Earth. Our only ideology is to be against the junk culture foisted upon us and mirages of a new world order. Think of us what you will, but read us. Our writers are never boring.

Ignorance masquerading as the intelligentsia is never impressive. Promoting hate for the sake of visitor hits is pathetic.

9982: Kraft Cuts From Conservative ALEC.

From The Chicago Tribune…

Kraft drops membership in conservative group amid protest

By Tiffany Hsu Tribune Newspapers

Kraft Foods joined Coca-Cola in bowing to consumer pressure this week to cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative lobbying group that has recently backed controversial voter ID and so-called “stand your ground” laws.

Kraft said in a statement that it has “made the decision not to renew” its ALEC membership, which is expiring. The company, based in north suburban Northfield, was opaque in its reasoning, citing “limited resources” and saying that its involvement with ALEC “has been strictly limited to discussions about economic growth and development, transportation and tax policy.”

Advocacy group Color of Change launched a boycott against Coca-Cola for its participation in ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board, but within hours, the soft drink giant issued a statement saying that it had “elected to discontinue its membership.”

The company blamed ALEC’s support of “discriminatory food and beverage taxes” instead of “issues that have no direct bearing on our business.”

“We have a long-standing policy of only taking positions on issues that impact our company and industry,” Coca-Cola said.

The withdrawals pleased ALEC detractors, which includes the Center for Media and Democracy. The liberal-leaning nonprofit said it had launched a protest campaign in tandem with Color of Change opposing what it said were ALEC’s efforts to deny climate change, undermine public schools and encourage laws that would require voters to present various forms of identification before voting.

Critics of the policies, which have already been implemented in several states, say that they are more likely to shut out minorities, the poor, the elderly and even college students.

Draft legislation from ALEC has also helped fan the debate over “stand your ground” laws, which have played a central role in the February shooting of unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.

Color of Change, an African American advocacy group co-founded by James Rucker and Van Jones, issued a statement saying that the group would direct its sights at other companies associated with ALEC.

ALEC helps corporations and individuals draft model legislation to send to politicians. Its website says that the group’s mission is “to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism and individual liberty.”

Other members of ALEC’s Enterprise Board include executives from Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, AT&T, UPS and ExxonMobil. In January, PepsiCo quietly pulled itself off the board.

9981: Talking The Talk.

From The Los Angeles Times…

For black parents in Pasadena, shootings give fresh relevance to ‘The Talk’

The fatal shootings of Kendrec McDade in Pasadena and a black teen in Florida renew the painful generations-old discussion about the need to swallow one’s anger and pride when dealing with the police.

By Christopher Goffard and Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times

When Martin A. Gordon talks to his 19-year-old son about the history of race relations in America, he invokes the Black Panthers, Martin Luther King Jr.and the watershed moments of the civil rights era. It’s a story of hard-won rights that fills the ‘60s-era activist with pride.

Then the conversation turns urgently personal, survival its theme: On the wrong street, at the wrong time of day, he tells his son, pride might be his undoing. “I know my son can be a moment away from being killed if he acts the wrong way, if he’s arrogant,” Gordon said. “He started to learn about this as a child.”

Gordon was speaking in a Pasadena church, blocks from where an unarmed black college student, Kendrec McDade, was fatally shot March 24 by two white police officers pursuing two men who they mistakenly believed were armed robbers. Police say the incident began when the 19-year-old McDade and a friend stole a backpack from a car, and the owner lied to police, telling them the thieves were armed.

The incident, which remains under investigation, followed the controversial shooting death of an unarmed black teen in Florida by a neighborhood watch leader. For many black parents, the shootings have given fresh relevance to a painful generations-old conversation. “The Talk,” some call it.

“Certain things are a reality for him — he needed to understand that early on,” Jim Collins, a longtime Pasadena resident, recalled of his conversation with his son. “The Talk is because they have to know what to do and not do.”

Parents say some version of the conversation, ubiquitous in African American life, is necessary regardless of how high they climb on the socioeconomic ladder. It is about learning to say “Yes, sir” and “No, sir” when a policeman pulls you over, no matter how unjustified the stop seems. It is about keeping your hands on the steering wheel and giving officers no cause for panic. It is about swallowing your anger and pride and coming home alive.

Gordon, an activist with the Pasadena Community Coalition, said he worries when his son stays out late. “If I wake up and he’s not there, I go, ‘Oh, boy,’” Gordon said.

He said he speaks at seminars, instructing black youths about how to handle themselves around police. He wants them to know their rights, but also to be respectful.

“Just because you asserted your rights doesn’t mean you won’t get your butt kicked,” Gordon said. “You can be dead and no one’s there to speak for your rights. That’s what scares me most.”

Read the full story here.

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?