All Articles Tagged "campaigns"
Crossing Cultures and The Line: Is Multicultural Advertising Effective?
by Makula Dunbar
When thinking about advertising, the process behind showcasing a great product or service to mass consumers seems simple. First off, it helps to actually have a great universal product. Second, it’s strategizing and creating either a funny, identifiable or emotional message. Lastly, it’s placing the ad on TV, radio, print or the World Wide Web. Sound about right? Not exactly.
In actuality, advertising can be complex. Add a cultural approach to the equation, even more so. Unfortunately, a three-part checklist won’t do the trick. If only each and every consumer was one in the same, what an easy task it would be to get messages across. However, with an estimated U.S. Asian population of 15.5 million and a Hispanic population of 48.4 million, there’s no denying ethnicity and culture is a prevalent staple in everyday life—that deserves recognition.
“The number of corporations that do specific ethnic advertising is still relatively small,” says Burrell Communication co-CEO Fay Ferguson. “Making communications programs beamed at these audiences is not only necessary, but critical.”
McDonald’s Corporation —one of Burrell’s long-standing clients — is an example of one that outsources, allowing the agency to create advertisements for the African-American community.
Hard to Reach
With recent studies, advertisements and agencies pushing cross-cultural communications, it’s a blur as to what multicultural tactics are even effective. Should agencies stretch one message or slogan across cultures without alteration? Should advertisers reach out to individual ethnicities tailoring their brand so that’s it’s culturally relevant? Is it absolutely necessary for advertisers to reach out to every market?
“It’s definitely important for companies to understand that the Latino community is growing. The Asian community is growing as well and if they don’t tap into these communities, they’re going to find themselves in a very small segment in the actual market,” said Alfonso Covarrubias, creative director at multicultural advertising agency Maya.
Grand Jury Reviewing Gray Campaign
(Washington Examiner) — A federal grand jury is hearing evidence into accusations of election misdeeds leveled by a former mayoral candidate at D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s campaign, The Washington Examiner has learned. The U.S. Attorney’s office turned to the grand jury in April as part of its ongoing assessment of Sulaimon Brown’s charges that members of Gray’s mayoral campaign passed Brown cash-stuffed envelopes and money orders so he would stay in the race and keep up his verbal assault on then-Mayor Adrian Fenty, an attorney associated with the case confirmed to The Examiner. A law enforcement source confirmed a grand jury was involved in the case, but would not discuss it further.
Ex-Governor's Effort to Block Black Vote Goes to Court
(Baltimore Sun) — The Ehrlich campaign’s alleged effort to keep blacks from voting last November could have the opposite effect for years to come, according to political observers who said indictments over the automated phone calls would become election-season fodder for Democrats. Tantalizing details suggesting an organized strategy of black voter suppression emerged Thursday when Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich’s campaign manager and political consultant were charged with violating election laws. The details filled out a narrative that the Democratic Party went to great pains in November to promote: Maryland Republicans are dirty tricksters. At a news conference then, top officials, including Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, rehashed a series of election episodes such as busloads of homeless Philadelphians being recruited to hand out misleading campaign fliers in 2006.
Some Cry Foul as Mandela Enters Political Spotlight
(The Grio) — He looked older and frailer than many had remembered; his hair seemed to be a brighter shade of white. But the Mandela magic was still there; the sunny shirt, sunnier smile and enduring aura of the world’s greatest political icon. The video and images, released Monday, showed 92-year-old Nelson Mandela voting in municipal elections, two days ahead of the rest of the nation. He was photographed as a special ballot box was delivered to his Johannesburg mansion, so he didn’t have to travel to a polling station. It was the first sighting of the ‘The Father of the Nation’ since he was admitted to the hospital with a respiratory illness in January. Millions of South Africans were warmed by the images — and, perhaps few more than the leaders of his party, the African National Congress (ANC). They stand to benefit from the publication of the pictures.
Obama 2012 in Recruitment Mode
(AP) — President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is barely a month old, but Camille Gervasio and other volunteers nationwide already are hard at work. ”Are you with us? Are you in?” Gervasio asks into her iPhone, dialing through a call sheet resting on her laptop to line up supporters for an election 18 months away. In call centers like this one on the eighth floor of an office building, the president’s backers are trying to take advantage of a head start over the still-forming Republican field and the benefits of incumbency to rebuild a grassroots effort that mobilized millions of voters in 2008. Obama’s campaign has pledged to reach out to every voter it was in contact with during his first run, a herculean 50-state organizational effort to reconnect with its supporters — some of them now disillusioned with the president because of his policies — while giving it an early indication of any vulnerabilities among critical constituent groups.
Luke Campbell's Language Keeps Him Out Miami Debate
(News One) — As former rapper Luke Campbell continues on his campaign to become the mayor of Miami, he is unwittingly coming up against cultural tides that will affect the political future of all African-Americans. A recent mayoral debate for candidates in the Miami race was held at the publicly-funded Florida International University — but it was restricted to Spanish-speaking candidates only.
Judge OKs Carl Lewis' Run
(Time) — Track and field legend Carl Lewis finally found a court willing to help him get into the race for the New Jersey state Senate — but there’s a chance his run will be fleeting. A three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Lewis’ name should be included when the ballots are printed for the 8th Legislative District Democratic state Senate primary. While the three-judge panel granted that emergency request, it didn’t make a final ruling on whether he’s eligible for office. Lewis’ lawyer, William Tambussi, said that under the ruling, “the voters, not a partisan elected official, will decide who should be the state senator in the 8th Legislative District.”
Kwame Brown to be Deposed
(Washington Post) — D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown will be deposed Monday as part of the Office of Campaign Finance investigation into how he used and accounted for money he raised in his 2008 reelection campaign. Wesley Williams, a spokesman for the Office of Campaign Finance, said Brown (D) will be put under oath about 10 a.m. Monday in the office of his lawyer, Frederick Cooke. “This is just part of the investigation,” Williams said.
Orange, White and Anderson Win D.C. Special Elections
(Washington Informer) — Unofficial election results indicate that Trayon White, the executive director of Helping Inner City Kids Succeed, Inc., has scored an up-set in the Ward 8 School Board of Education race Tuesday. If the results hold, he will have defeated Phillip Pannell and seven other candidates. Pannell, a well known activist in Ward 8, was endorsed by the Washington Post and the powerful Gertrude Stein Democratic Club. White, 26, is a Ward 8 resident who graduated with honors from Bally Senior High School in Southeast. He also graduated magnum cum laude from the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. White, who received the endorsement of Ward 8 Council member and former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, managed to garner 33 percent of the vote by midnight in a special election marked by low voter turnout in many of the 143 precincts scattered throughout the District. Unofficial returns show that a scant 12.1 percent of voters made their way to the polls. The Ward 8 candidates had been jostling for position in a crowded race that hinged on who best articulated the desire to push education and education reform forward. The vacancy on the School Board came following the death of incumbent and longtime Ward 8 champion William Lockridge.
State Ruling Trips Up Carl Lewis Candidacy
(Wall Street Journal) — Olympic track star Carl Lewis hit a hurdle in his fledgling political career Tuesday after the New Jersey secretary of state ruled he hasn’t lived in the state long enough to qualify for the ballot. In her decision, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno—who is also the Republican administration’s secretary of state—said Mr. Lewis, a Democrat, can’t run for state senator because he will not have lived in New Jersey for four years by the Nov. 8 election. The decision, which drew partisan criticism, overturned a state judge’s earlier ruling that Mr. Lewis was clear to run. “The judge’s ‘conclusion,’ which can be fairly characterized as an abdication of his adjudicatory responsibilities, provided the Secretary with little, if any, guidance to accord proper resolution of this case,” she said in her decision. Mr. Lewis will appeal in court on Wednesday and has filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against Ms. Guadagno, his lawyer Bill Tambussi said.
