TNJ - October 2000 - Editor's Note - Selling Out Cheaply?

Editor's Note
October 2000

Selling Out Cheaply
by Njeru Waithaka

The recent exclusion of black publications from Ford Motor Company’s wave of advertisements about the dangers of faulty Firestone tires is yet another indicator that certain corporations don’t care about black consumers; that blacks will never get anywhere with the corporations except by boycotts or lawsuits.

In spite of undivided loyalty by black consumers in purchasing Ford’s sport-utility vehicles, the company ran full-page advertisements in white publications throughout September expressing its concern for customer safety but it refused to advertise with black publications.

The efforts of individual publishers to persuade Ford to advertise were met with deaf ears although the refusal united about 70 black publishers across the country who threatened to boycott Ford products. The unfortunate thing is that Ford representatives preempted a boycott by acknowledging that the company discriminated against the black press and that it jeopardized the safety of its black customers.

This acknowledgement alone caused the publishers to call off a boycott but Ford has taken no measures to correct its ills. How much more cheaply can a people sell themselves?

Nor is Ford Motor Company alone. Coca-Cola Company is embroiled in a class-action lawsuit by its former black employees whom it discriminated against in wages and promotions. Again, Coca-Cola preempted all possibilities of a boycott with promises of settling the lawsuit and providing $1 billion over the next five years to support minority suppliers, banks and retailers. The employees are asking for a motley $176 million but the multi-billion dollar company wants to pay $100 million, $76 million less. Douglas N. Daft, Coca-Cola’s CEO, has promised to diversify the corporation’s work force but again little is being done and its board of directors has only one black member, Donald McHenry, and no Hispanics. Further more, blacks at Coca-Cola continue to be paid a median salary 44 percent less than that of whites. It is thus shocking that black leaders have chosen to be silent about the issue leaving the employees at the mercy of a notoriously unavailing company.

“When I realize the magnitude of disparate treatment, the blatant discrimination and the ripple effect that it [has on black] families, I am amazed that our black leaders continue to be passive,” said Larry Jones, Coca-Cola’s former human resources manager. Jones said that black leaders who counsel patience hardly understand the lengths to which some [corporations] will go to harbor wrong. “When is the right time? Should we wait until the suit is settled and the affected class is paid peanuts?”

To be fair, there are corporations interested in diversity and change as exemplified by such news networks as NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox which recently came up with programs to increase the number of minorities in the workplace. Even then, they too had to be nudged in that direction by the NAACP. Texaco faced a class-action lawsuit a few years ago but it is now a model employer and is busy cleaning its image.

The message across the board is clear—nothing except lawsuits and threats of boycotts will ever stop giant corporations from discriminating against blacks. That being the case, when will blacks be angry enough to refuse to be bought so cheaply?

Click here for January 2002 Editor's Note - A Bright Economic Horizon

Click here for November 2001 Editor's Note - Initiatives Rigged in Controversy

Click here for April 2001 Editor's Note - The Good Competition

Click here for February 2001 Editor's Note - The Perennial Debate

Click here for January 2001 Editor's Note - The Beleaguered Media

Click here for October 2000 Editor's Note - Selling Out Cheaply

Click here for September 2000 Editor's Note - A Question of Trust

Click here for July / August 2000 Editor's Note - Value In Differences

Click here for June 2000 Editor's Note - Be Wary of Numbers

Click here for May 2000 Editor's Note - A Sobering Reminder