Listen up. Black girls rule! Yet, Black women say advertisers don’t know how to talk to them. Surprise! “Eighty-six percent of African-American women say that advertisers need to do a better job of talking to them”, according to a Lattimer Communications study.
“Advertisers who think that they can target all Black women the same way are sorely mistaken. Historically, this is what’s been done but through our research you can see that this is not effective,” said Sarah Lattimer.
And yet, advertisers continue to ignore the huge spending power, which African American women wield. Especially in the beauty category. According to the American Health and Beauty Aids Institute, African-American women spend up to five times more on personal care products than the average consumer. So, hey… CMOs and creative teams? How about we just continue to show African-American women as one dimensional, “urban,” chicks who say things like “I know you’re not talking to me” all the time. How about we just continue to miss out on the money? P&G research found that 71% of black women feel they’re portrayed worse than other women in media and advertising.
By the way, P&G’s little plan for their Black Is Beautiful campaign? Cute effort, but their new team-up with BET Networks is a joke. It’s lip service. More of the same. The Lattimer results tell us that African-American women come not only in various colors, but with various mindsets, interests and attitudes. Oh hey! Just like everyone else! Neat. So, P&G decided to just tell Black women they are beautiful on THEIR network. Sure, confine your push to these marginalized women on one channel rather than through the diverse array of media options you have available to you.
The network itself says that its demo is in primarily at $50-$59,999 (Index 117), $40-$49,999 (Index 121) and $30-$39,999 (115). So, what about everybody over $60K and that number is in the millions? What about people without cable? What about folks who hate BET and there are plenty of those. BET will not save you. It will not. Get out of the box. You’re still making the easy plays. Here’s an easy lead – get digital. The stats for the P&G website are laughable. Call me. You’re hacks and it’s super sad.
The leader of the P&G, the very smart Najoh Tita Reid, effort has left the company. Where did she go? What happened and more importantly, who will keep the P&G campaign on its toes?
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