The Chicago Sun Times article about our successful campaign to have advertisers divest from BET's B Girl page is up.
OH God bless Black Entertainment Television's delusional little hearts. They are trying to now claim that they had ALWAYS planned to remove the B-girl site.
The move was one that had been in the works and was unrelated to the blogger protests, a BET spokeswoman said. SOURCE
Uh huh. Right. Right.Well we are glad we were able to assist them in expediting the process. Too bad it wasn't before they tarnished their advertisers' good name by putting family-oriented advertising next to g-string clad women in sexually suggestive positions. Let me tell you how weak this company is. The fact that they can't even admit to making a move in response to complaints tells you how weak THEY think THEY are. Because if you are operating from a position of strength, you would have done what KRAFT did; admit that you had made an error in judgment.
Kraft Foods spokesman Basil Maglaris said Kraft last advertised on the page in October as part of a broad ad buy on the site to promote a black family-focused micro-site. But he said Kraft, which is chaired by CEO Irene Rosenfeld, should never have appeared on the pinup girl page. "We regret the unfortunate juxtaposition. The content is definitely inconsistent with what our site is about," he said.
Thank you KRAFT for having a corporate conscience. Something McDonald's does not have. Let me remind you that McDonald's loves them some misogyny. They wanted to pay hip hop artists money for each time their product was mentioned in a hip hop song AND they got into trouble last year for hiring Twista to headline a parking lot tour they organized. McDonald's is unrepentant and would be advertising on the B-girl page if it still existed:
McDonald's, though, stands by its placement with the suggestively posed beauties to grab an intended audience, said McDonald's spokeswoman Danya Proud.
"Different demographics and different audiences want to be communicated to in different ways, and we believe the content reaches the young adult audience that it is intended to reach," she said.
In other words, Black consumers can only be reached if you make Black women and girls props and prostitutes. Please stop by McDonald's corporate responsibility blog to let them know how you feel about them pimping Black women and girls to sell unHappy Meals. You will find their post about MLK ironic in light of their position that in trying to reach young adults, they have to pimp out Black women and girls.
At the end of the article, BET boasts that they still carry smutty pictures on their site. They should be soo proud.
Folks, I have always maintained that Black Entertainment Television is what it is because it was first. That's all they are is first. They aren't smart. They aren't creative. They aren't even edgy, they just got to the party first. My response to the "we're the biggest and the baddest" fascade is WOOLWORTH'S. Except BET's mindtrust isn't bright enough to transition into a niche market the way that Woolworth's did with Foot Locker. Just because they are big today does not mean they will be big forever. Especially if they keep trashing the name and reputation of advertisers like Kraft, General Mills, State Farm and Home Depot.
Until next time. There will be a next time because THAT COMPANY is and will forever be STUCK. ON. STUPID
Any advertiser that does not keep BET on a tight rain is negligent as well and we are going to stop accepting the "we didn't know BET was a misogynist smut peddling company" excuse.
Do take time to make your displeasure with Mickey D's known.
STOP FUNDING FOOLISHNESS!
