(05-10-2021 09:24 AM)Rice93 Wrote:  You are absolutely talking about race-based hiring.

SO let me ask you 93.... If you're trying to sell something to someone, do you think it makes sense to show someone like them using the product? Do you put men in women's clothes to sell the product to women? Or do you put women in them? Do you put 60yr olds in an ad designed to appeal to 20yr olds or vice versa? CAN you also appeal to 60 yr olds who want to dress like 20yr olds as well?? Of course. Are you likely to use a 20yr old to do that?? Or a 60yr old??

RACISM is about seeing someone else as 'inferior' to you and not merely 'different'. If you want to market to everyone, you try and get people from a variety of backgrounds (based on physical attributes, since you don't get their back story). Is it important to women and minorities to see women and minorities be successful??

There is a commercial out now for iirc a bank... and they have people talking about the sort of things they want to support/invest in... They have a 'hipster' looking guy saying 'invest in black owned companies' and a black guy (about the same age) saying 'invest in green companies'. They are clearly trying to say something by this choice... my guess is that people often aren't single issue, at least not the 'obvious' issue (again, based solely on looks). It's a minor thing, but I think it highly clever.

Does race play into the message they are delivering?? OF COURSE. Are they being racist/engaging in racism? No.

Anyone involved in marketing who doesn't consider the demographics of his market (and yes, race is part of demographics) is an idiot.

You seem to be implying there is something wrong with someone trying to appeal to his customers?? If nothing else, someone who opens a store in a neighborhood with a high percentage of minorities who doesn't then hire at least a few minorities is opening themselves up to criticism for not hiring people from the neighborhood... TAKING from the neighborhood, but not GIVING to it... I'd also hire Muslims in a Muslim neighborhood, Hindi's in a Hindi etc etc etc. It helps a business to be culturally sensitive.... and RACE can be part of a culture.

That said, you often face the challenge of competition and/or 'supply' of labor. It may be hard to hire local people for a poor neighborhood with limited educational opportunities where specialized training is required. In such a case, it might be worthwhile to consider appealing to the community by hiring someone from the community and funding their training.... and if the community is 70% minority, you have a 70% chance of selecting a minority.

Comparisons to things like BET, Miss (RACE) America or FUBU are often made, but they often miss the point. It's not about it 'being okay' to market based on race to minorities, but not to majority... its about recognizing the difference between recognizing race as a difference (like hair or eye color or height or weight or religion) that can impact choices... and seeing someone else as 'inferior' based upon that difference. The majority doesn't need to worry about this because a businesses desire to make MONEY will take care of them. That's not about racism either. It's about math!