Sunday, February 6, 2011

#632. Super Bowl Halftime Shows

The Super Bowl. The penultimate American football game of the year, watched by more than one hundred million people in this nation alone. Many watch just for the creative advertisements, curiously crafted by cagey, inventive minds at agencies that lack in diversity:

No more white bands at The Super Bowl, please!

The report, titled "WHITE MEN DOMINATE ADVERTISING AGENCIES' CREATIVE DIRECTOR POSITIONS As Exemplified by Ads Aired During the Super Bowl," seeks to depict the current disparity in hiring practices that exists in the advertising industry regarding race and gender. There were 67 advertisements aired during the Super Bowl, 52 of which were produced by major advertising agencies. The other 15 were produced either by the companies themselves or by creative directors who were not professionals. At least one was produced by someone who won a contest. We were able to identify the race and gender of the creative directors for 58 of the 67 commercials that aired during the game.

Here's what we found:


• None of the 52 ads from Madison Avenue agencies was produced with a person of color as the lead creative director -- 100 percent of them were white.
• Furthermore, 94 percent of the creative directors on those ads were white males; only 6 percent were female.
• When looking at all 67 ads, including the 15 produced outside a Madison Avenue agency, a total of 76 creative/co-creative directors worked on these commercials, and only one was a minority: Joelle De Jesus, a Latino man who won a Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" contest. His ad, Doritos "House Rules," was considered by many to be a "top five" commercial in terms of popularity. This commercial was one of the few that had noncelebrity minorities in a lead role.
• Seventy of the creative directors were white males (92 percent); five were white women.


I have been doing media report cards since 2006, and I have been authoring report cards on the racial and gender hiring practices in the NFL, NBA, MLB and MLS and in college sport for more than two decades. In all those years, we have never reported on an industry group that is less diverse. The Madison Avenue ad agencies we researched are almost all led by white men. The hope in writing this report is that this baseline data will provide a mirror for self-reflection so Madison Avenue can embrace change and move ahead.
How horrid that white people dared to garner degrees in marketing, advertising, public relations and graphic design at rates that far outpace Black people pursuing undergrad degrees in those fields. Worse though is that these same white people then put up with pitifully low salaries as account coordinators and worked their way up the corporate ladder to one day have input as a member of the creative team that produces marketing campaigns.

Hard work will always supplant the person who was given a position based on an adherence to affirmative action, quotas or a need to fulfill unrealistic goals of diversity. The first casualty of these type of policies is creativity, team camaraderie and ultimately, the vitality of the organization.

The National Football League (NFL) is a league that is 70 percent Black, though the fan base is roughly 75 - 80 percent white. To reach the NFL, one must be the best at his given position because sports offer the appearance of the perfect meritocracy (don't tell Toby Gerhart or Peyton Hillis that).

Should the NFL mandate quotas to guarantee greater proportional representation of white players? Of course not, and neither should any organization that hopes to produce the highest quality product or service possible.

One service that many people believe has been outstanding - based on record sales and concert attendance for musicians and musical groups - has been the Super Bowl Halftime show.

A list of the musical groups can be found here that have entertained hundreds of millions between halfs football and commercials produced exclusively by creative agencies staffed by white people. Like those advertising agencies, the musical groups are normally white people.

In the past ten years The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, U2, Aerosmith, Phil Collins, Shania Twain, No Doubt, Sting and a couple of Black people (always accompanied by a Historically Black College marching band) have performed.

Why so many white acts? Outside of a wardrobe malfunction with Janet Jackson, Black people have been greeted with a white-out during the halftime show. Criticism came last year from a Black writer at EPSN:

OK, no disrespect to Roger Daltrey or Pete Townshend (he actually had an album named "Scoop" so I can never be mad at him), but this is getting out of hand.

When is a hip-hop group going to get a shot at performing a Super Bowl halftime show?


Ever since the infamous "wardrobe malfunction," the NFL has been more conservative than Ann Coulter in selecting who's going to entertain us between the halves. At this point it seems to be getting personal.


True, Diddy and Nelly were somewhere on the stage when Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake made their "mistake," but should all acts that never appeared on "The Midnight Special" be punished because of it?


Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, The Boss and now The Who. (Note No. 1: Prince performed in 2007 and really can't be considered conservative, albeit safe. Note No. 2: Ever since the Janet Moment, Don Mischer Productions has been responsible for producing the halftime shows.) The previous roll calla, all first-ballot Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. Now I know Gucci Mane or Drake may not be be quite appropriate for that stage, but damn, can LL Cool J at least get a look?


I'm not talking Will Smith or Will.I.Am. And for the record, Young MC, Coolio, the Sugar Hill Gang, Kid 'N Play and PM Dawn don't count either.


I'm talking about an act that would cause the same reaction people had when Three 6 Mafia won the Academy Award for best song. But until that tupocalyptic day arrives, here are some acts that the Super Bowl halftime selection committee should take into strong consideration … sorta, really.
The NFL is a league that enjoys a fan base that votes primarily Republican, and the owners are notoriously right-wing. Though hip-hop songs might sell on iTunes to high school and college students stocking their iPods with songs that will guarantee making white girls want to dance and potential hookup, not many people go out of their way to listen to hip hop or rap that aren't Black.

The New York Times profiled Super Bowl Halftime shows last year and discussed that bands do not get appearance fees for appearing. Perhaps this is one reason why so few Black musician or bands have appeared, as they both fail to appeal to a mass audience of white people and desire monetary compensation for lip syncing to music produced by synthesizers.

That might be it, or maybe those in charge of the NFL realize that rap/hip-hop sounds horrible live. This year The Black Eyed Peas will removed the tedious boredom and interrupt the mundane whiteness by performing at halftime:
OK, let's get the obvious out of the way right up front: We've got a feelin' this Super Bowl halftime show won't be as lame as last year's.


We sure hope so, because our ears have barely recovered from Roger Daltrey's off-key caterwauling in Miami.


Taking a tentative step toward making the mini-concert sandwiched between the second and third quarters relevant to viewers under the age of 60, the NFL signed up the Black Eyed Peas to handle the halftime duties today.


The league won't get a medal for bravery. Make no mistake, this is a safe choice.


The Peas, despite occasional dirty words and Fergie's sexy posturing, are mainstream and family friendly. And they've already performed in a Super Bowl pre-game show, back in 2005.


They know the drill. Sing the hits (usually in medley form, because time is so limited), hop around like you care and get off the stage so the real show can resume. Throw in a couple of surprise guests — look for Usher and Slash at this one — and you've got a perfectly respectable show that should appeal to a broad audience.


That's what the NFL wants. The league has been playing defense with its halftime show since 2004 in Houston, when Justin Timberlake ripped off a piece of Janet Jackson's top — the last time the Super Bowl was in Texas.


Fergie promises no wardrobe malfunctions this time.
In Black Run America (BRA), whiteness is as dull, boring, obviously racist and outdated. Black, however, is the color of choice: cool, hip, vibrant, edgy and always appealing.

Super Bowl Halftime shows have always been the Stuff Black People Don't Like, with boring, old white acts past their prime hogging screen time for commercials produced by all-white ad agencies. Black people just want to live in a Black world where everything is produced by Black people, with only Black entertainers.

Let's be honest: how many people actually think The Black Eyed Peas will still be producing music in ten years? These white bands that have been featured at Super Bowl's the past six or seven years have produced quality music for more than 30 years.

To feature Black rappers would require that they stay out of jail long enough to sign a contract and make bail for the show.

Now how do we make ad agencies hire more Black people? And what do we do about that pesky National Anthem that Black people hate singing so much?








35 comments:

Anonymous said...

They need Rammstein:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yydlX7c8HbY

Anonymous said...

The Aerosmith/Nsync halftime show was one of my favorites. With the exception of a couple token blacks, it was all White.

Anonymous said...

You misused the word "penultimate." It means:
"Second to last in a series." If the Superbowl is the penultimate football game of the year, then what comes after it?

joe-6 said...

Black Eyed Peas with megaSlut Fergie. I won't be watching. She's obviously been hooking up with black dudes for years and has inspired other white girls to do the same. That is the image she projects. It is irrelevant if she has made it with white guys, Chinese guys and cigar store Indians.

The game? Green Bay is colder, no dome, no Astroturf, is old school all the way and the Rooney's were Obama supporters. Go Packers!

Anonymous said...

As soon as I saw Black-Eyed Peas, I muted the volume until halftime was over.

Anonymous said...

Awful show. Great post. This nails it. I can't wait for the book.

http://soundcheck.ocregister.com/2011/02/06/black-eyed-peas-a-glittering-bore-at-super-bowl/43502/

Anonymous said...

I'm also glad that the 0bama fellating Rooney's didn't win another Super Bowl. Also, Christina Aguilara's national anthem was beyond pathetic. She refused to sing it white, and she made a fool of herself.

Anonymous said...

So, if the owners are overwhelmingly Republican, why didn't Rush get St. Louise?

Generally, I love this blog but this point makes me furrow brows.

Anonymous said...

Rush didn't even have a chance. The entire MSM went at him full bore to kill his chances of securing a minority share of that team. That episode illustrated the power of BRA more than anything in recent memory.

Stuff Black People Don't Like said...

http://stuffblackpeopledontlike.blogspot.com/2009/10/619-rush-limbaugh-owning-nfl-franchise.html

Wrote about this back in 2009.

Anonymous said...

Anybody catch that terribly racist Pepsi Max commercial? A black couple knock out a white girl and then run off. I mean this commercial could of been a SBPDL sponsored PSA warning. This was supposed to be funny, but anyone who's been around blacks know this was no joke. These incidents happen all the time.

On another point, the Super Bowl was predominately black this year. The commercials, the athletes, the performers, etc. Diversity was in full swing, but notice how terrible the half-time show was?

Anonymous said...

You mean this Pepsi Max commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX7oYAygWOQ

I did notice a lot of Black people in this commercials too.

Anonymous said...

"Anybody catch that terribly racist Pepsi Max commercial? A black couple knock out a white girl and then run off. I mean this commercial could of been a SBPDL sponsored PSA warning. This was supposed to be funny, but anyone who's been around blacks know this was no joke. These incidents happen all the time."


So, if the ad contained a white couple it would have just simply been a funny commercial. Remember it was clear that the chick was aiming for the guy and she missed.

I realize facts matter not, but I was just saying what you would have said if the racial dynamics of the Pepsi COMMERCIAL were reversed and a few blacks were complaining.

-Black guy

Anonymous said...

@ Black guy

The point is that the commercial was inherently racist, no matter how you look at it. It's racist to blacks and whites alike, but the point I was making is how it trivializes black on white crime. I do not think the commercial is redeemable at any level. You can not watch it without seeing the obvious racial and racist undertones. I'm not even sure if it is more offensive to blacks or whites.

Anonymous said...

The pepsi commercial also features the white girl sitting down and making forlorn lovey dovey eyes at the black man. People need to understand that nothing in these commercials is by accident. They are cast the way they are because the producers want them to convey a message. This is why there are so many black male/white female couples in these commercials. They want to push an agenda.

man on the moon > spear said...

The commercials made blacks look bad.

One black guy was supposed to take care of a white guy's pet fish and instead just sat on the couch for a week like a lazy nilbog. The lesson learned is don't trust any form of life in a black man's hands.

The black woman who hit the white woman with a Pepsi can showed zero sympathy and then ran away which is exactly what blacks do when they commit crimes against white people. The lesson learned is black people are prone to violence upon the slightest impulse.

I'm glad these companies were able to slip this stuff in under the radar.

But nothing beats a fat black guy rapping about McDonald's though. Pure unfiltered comedy gold. Bada bapa ba! I'm lovin' it!

Anonymous said...

Football in general and the Super Bowl in particular have become the ultimate opium for the masses.

Anonymous said...

"I realize facts matter not, "

It is great to hear you finally admit this, Black Guy. We have all just about exhausted ourselves trying to make this point on SBPDL.

Statistics and "Hate Facts" are truly things that black people don't like, as they continue to orchestrate the great PC information black cover up, living in complete denial about the destruction they have caused and continue to cause in America and around the globe.

Thank you for being so honest. It is very refreshing!

Anonymous said...

"The hope in writing this report is that this baseline data will provide a mirror for self-reflection so Madison Avenue can embrace change and move ahead."

This is funny. I have said here before that most blacks believe that white people keep all the good stuff for themselves and are just stingy with blacks. They have no perception of hard work and dues paid, they believe that the spoils of life are floating out there and free for all, but whites don't share.

If an organization is too white, it must be jazzed up with more black faces, no need to worry about their qualifications or experience. "Being Black" is an important skill that all employers must seek out. Once the quality starts to drop and the quality slip in the company, no one will dare admit the real reason. In BRA, each and every organization, company, school and city must properly and willingly "represent" the racial mix of our society and then some or be forced to. Except,of course, for church. Blacks like to keep themselves segregated on Sunday.

One must always keep a campaign going to pluck disadvantaged blacks from the bottom of the barrel and keep the racial quotas in check.

Anonymous said...

"I realize facts matter not, but I was just saying what you would have said if the racial dynamics of the Pepsi COMMERCIAL were reversed and a few blacks were complaining blah blah blah blah blah....."

Who cares? You are only clogging up the comments section once again with your backwards babble. You talk too much just like a chick. Are you a chick? Must you comment on every post? If you don't like it here, go over to NewsOne or some other pro-black site where you will fit in and agree with everyone and you can rant about your victimology and Black History Month. You are not changing any minds here.

Anonymous said...

Black guy, reverse the interracial crime rates. It wasn't funny (even slapstick) as a person who understands the breathtaking differences in interracial crime, especially rape. This commercial is made assuming all races are equally responsible/violent etc.

The butchering of the national anthem comes as no surprise. It's constantly cheapened, this time by a younger looking Cyndi Lauper. --the Man

Anonymous said...

How about that career building ad with the monkeys? WOW.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I didn't find the Pepsi ad racist.

To me, it was just the latest attempt in the neverending effort to portray the happily married middle-class black couple as the norm, when in reality, black family structure is virtually non-existent.

Percy Kittens Reloaded said...

I knew the Diet Pepsi Max commercial was going to be controversial the moment I saw it. It'll be interesting to see if the controversy has any legs.

My guess, when having first seen it, was that black women would be offended that the husband turned his head to look at a white woman, and whites would be upset (and blacks people as well) that a black couple assaulted a white person (even if accidentally) and were then seen running from the scene of the crime.

This was one ad I would have refused to put on air if I worked for Pepsi. The spot wasn't so great that it was worth generating any controversy.

Anonymous said...

With that particular ad, Pepsi cemented the fact that they are the black people's cola. 0bama's symbol is damn near exactly like a Pepsi symbol and apparently the geniuses at Pepsico are running with it. My advice to Coke: don't ever again put another black face or celebrity endorser in any of your commercials. By default you have become the cola for white people. Emrace that image. You'll crush the competition.

Anonymous said...

Black guy is a pisser, I'll give him dat.

As I said at an earlier time, black guy simply does not understand why his rap does not work here. He, as are all blacks, is used to face to face time with Whitey. He knows full well that, during said time, 99% of Whites want only to escape unharmed - even at work. Whitey will kowtow and squirm and take on black mannerisms, and do, well, pretty much anything, but argue with a black. Whites are THAT scared of blacks. And he knows this.

Here, however, his tactics are nonexistent. Because of that, he is left with a black fatal flaw - he must use logic. Not any "wachewmeeman?"

And no one here ever falls for that. Er, dat. The stupid laugh, the in yo face, the yoo a raysis! crap ain't not be workin. As another said, he is changin NO ONE'S mind here.

Jackass

Joe

Anonymous said...

How about this for a solution.

No more interracial commercials.

-Black guy

Anonymous said...

Well reasoned, Joe.

I've never seen a negro win a written argument yet. They seem to resort straight away to profanity and ALL CAPS ... lots of misplaced grammar and punctuation. It's off putting but not threatening. Fools like Mr. Negro Guy can call me a coward all day long for not expressing these thoughts to a live negro, but I have greater plan which doesn't involve being stabbed by an insecure negro.

So let me get this straight, SBPDL, if I donate 50 or more US dollars, you'll send me an autographed book? Please sign my book thusly: To The Engineer, God hates Mexican people, too. Kindest Regards, (your nom de plume).

The Engineer

Anonymous said...

There is a silver lining to the "controversy" over the Pepsi commercial. The possible effect this could have on interracial relationships platonic and otherwise.

Lets all stick to our own kind.

-Black guy

Robert said...

http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-national/love-hurts-video

OneSTDV said...

Peyton Hillis is a bona fide NFL player, but Gehrart is assuredly not. I know he's only a rookie, but many RB's show little improvement after that. He just doesn't have "it" to make it in the NFL.

Anonymous said...

"Lets all stick to our own kind." -Black Guy

How can YOU make such a statement?? You should know by now that blacks cannot survive without white people.

Besides, you are not allowed in the black ghetto anymore, remember? You would not last 10 minutes with REAL blacks. I woudl bet that you have lost your black race membership card by now 'cause you be talkin' so funny.

Anonymous said...

"Lets all stick to our own kind."

Oh goody!

This will require a huge shift in black America. Does this mean that you are going to stop trying to send your kids to white schools? Stop demanding the right to move into white neighborhoods? Stop fighting for equal representation and equal outcome? Stop attending white movies, restaurants, universities, hospitals, malls, neighborhood and national parks, stop buying cars made by the white man? Stop voting for white political candidates? Stop using products and services invented and funded by white people? Give up your cell phone? Stop banking? Quit your job at a white owned company? Stop allowing your black brethren to mooch from the white man for their existence? Stop drinking foreign beer with whites at white owned pubs? Stop watching white-owned media?

Are you going to move your family into the ghetto and live in squalor?, because that is what blacks will create. Are you ready to see the starving black children and old people and the filth and disease when the food wagon disappears?

How far are you really willing to go, Black Guy, please enlighten us. You are addicted to the white man's world. You are a victim of the white man and you will never be a free man. I think you are a coward and a liar.

I dare you to say this around a group of black people. Blacks love the Magicical YT's money.

Anonymous said...

"Are you going to move your family into the ghetto and live in squalor?, because that is what blacks will create. Are you ready to see the starving black children and old people and the filth and disease when the food wagon disappears?

I have always lived in a predominately black neighborhood here in Los Angeles, and it is far from being a ghetto. I attended predominately black schools from K-12.


"How far are you really willing to go, Black Guy, please enlighten us. You are addicted to the white man's world. You are a victim of the white man and you will never be a free man. I think you are a coward and a liar."

I believe I did just about everything I can do to limit my exposure to the "white man's world". I have no white friends. As a matter of fact I don't know any white people outside of work or school. I have never been involved in an interracial relationship nor do I have any interest to try.

No one is going to quit their jobs, drop out of school, abandon financial opportunities, or do anything that will put them in the poor house over some bullshit. I may not like you , but I'm a Capitalist before anything else.

I won't have a beer with you or watch the Super Bowl with you, but I will sell you my house.

-Black guy

Anonymous said...

Did you mean to use penultimate in the opening paragraph? I wouldn't qualify the Superbowl as "next to the best".