Category Archives: television

Did You See…….

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

…….Chris Rock on “The Tavis Smiley Show” joking with Tavis about Smiley’s annual “The State of The Black Union” gatherings?

I also liked Dyson’s response two days later (March 9), which I’ve posted below.

Tavis: Michael Eric Dyson is a distinguished Professor of Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania and the host of his own syndicated radio program. He is the author of a number of notable books, including one last year on Hurricane Katrina. His latest book is called “Debating Race,” a collection of memorable encounters and conversations about matters of race in America. Michael Eric Dyson, it’s always nice to see you, sir.

Michael Eric Dyson: Always good to see you, man.

Tavis: I don’t know you do it. Fourteen books in fourteen years. You’re cranking out a book every year.

Dyson: Well, you know, I’m just trying to stay on my game and trying to take the requisite time it takes to construct a book, as you know, having sold so many, to put the requisite effort into it to make sure that it’s clean and articulate and to make sure that it’s certainly representative (laughter) –

Tavis: – (Laughter) That sounded sort of Biden-esque, clean and articulate.

Dyson: And who knew that, when we talk about the influence of hip-hop culture on the culture, that Joe Biden, the senator, would have been influenced by “you’re so fresh and so clean?”

Tavis: (Laughter) Now there you go. I’m glad you went there because, two nights ago on this program, Chris Rock, comedian extraordinaire –

Dyson: – yes.

Tavis: – was on this program a couple of nights ago and your name just happened to come up.

Dyson: I see.

Tavis: Would you like to see this clip?

Dyson: Yeah, with him and the woman I owe child support to (laughter).

Tavis: (Laughter) Roll the Chris Rock clip from two nights ago on this program.  

[PLAYS CLIP YOU JUST WATCHED 🙂 ]

Tavis: So what do you think of that, Mike Dyson?

Dyson: Well, you know, how you’re living, Biggie Smalls, in mansions and Benz and giving ends to my friends and it feels stupendous, tremendous cream. Blink a dollar and a dream. Well, you know what? Chris can rock it. I’m just trying to Michael Dysonize my thing, brother, you know (laughter).

Tavis: (Laughter) On a serious note, though, do you ever get concerned that your profound intellect gets taken less seriously because of your style, because of your flow, because of the way you choose to do what you do?

Dyson: Of course, but that’s the dilemma of Black culture at large.

Tavis: Right.

Dyson: The point is that, if you have style and substance merged together in a seamless package, people always question the integrity of the fusion. So what we have to do is think ahead of time. We have to think anticipatorily. We have to look toward the future like Jesus did. “One day hopefully I’m going to rise. Got to go through some death right now. It’s going to be kind of funky and fowl and nefarious, but ultimately the triumph will be mine.”

So you have to have enough confidence in your skills and abilities that God gave you that the world might catch up twenty years later. You know what? In the midst of all that stuff, he was dropping some signs. I don’t have time to let people check it out now. The people who get it, they get it. I think I speak clearly and hopefully lucidly enough that they get that.

But people in the academy are always suspicious of people who are able to speak beyond jargon, beyond obscure discourse and dialog and language, to say something meaningful in five minutes that somebody out there in the world can actually understand. I don’t apologize for that. I got a PhD from Princeton not to please other critics, but to speak the truth to power in as lucid a fashion as possible.

By the way, Dyson announced on the program that he was leaving his Syndication One weekday radio show.

Black Dollars, Black Sense :)

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

 

Are books like this going to be regulated to history? Hmmm…….

Thought this was good enough to share in full.

Article published Mar 6, 2007

Procter & Gamble ads targeted to blacks paid off

By Cliff Peale
Gannett News Service

CINCINNATI — When Procter & Gamble Co. rolled out its Tide with a Touch of Downy detergent in late 2004, it included a special advertising campaign targeting black consumers.

“Nostalgia Dad” featured a black man lovingly cradling his sleeping young son. The ad was designed to convey warmth and fatherly caretaking, and the pair’s crisp white T-shirts seemed almost peripheral. It also was designed to counter stereotypes of fatherless black households.

“It was very deliberate to have a man with his son,” says Najoh Tita-Reid, associate director of P&G’s multicultural marketing unit. “It was very deliberate for him to have a wedding ring on.”

The heartwarming images are only the latest evolution of a 40-year movement inside Cincinnati-based P&G to try to reach more black consumers. The early efforts — in the 1960s, when racial tensions throughout the country were running high and white faces dominated nearly every commercial message — were not without risks.

Today P&G is acknowledged as a leader in creating advertising for black consumers.

“Without question, P&G has to be seen as one of the companies that other companies pattern their behavior after,” says Ken Smikle, president of Target Market News in Chicago, which tracks patterns of advertising to black consumers.

Along the way, reputations were made and enhanced. Crest toothpaste used a young Bill Cosby for a television commercial in 1969. In the 1980s, some Tide ads featured the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

In the past decade, the movement has accelerated. P&G spends at least six times more on media targeting black consumers than it did five years ago. And it’s constantly adding new ways to reach black consumers, such as a 2004 sponsorship deal with the popular Tom Joyner morning radio show.

Today you’ll see Queen Latifah on commercials and Internet sites pitching a Cover Girl line for black women. Angela Bassett promotes the benefits of Olay body lotion for black skin. Soon, Tiger Woods will tout the virtues of Gillette razors.

Black spending power is driving much of P&G’s strategy.

The $68 billion company has pledged to investors that it will add at least 5 percent to total sales every year, and the spending power of black Americans is an important piece of that growth, having reached $799 billion in 2006, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.

Procter executives say they want both marketing efforts and employee base to reflect the more diverse face of the 21st century American consumer.

“We need to define diversity broadly and leverage it to the hilt,” chairman and chief executive A.G. Lafley said last fall at an internal event. “Being ‘in touch’ is an attitude. To lead in this kind of environment, we need a balance of business skills and empathetic skills.”

Some Truth For The Day (From Jan. 31 and Feb. 6)

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

 

These can be real good sometimes. 

————- 

TODAY’S WORD ON JOURNALISM–Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007

2/6/07: News from the vast wasteland:
    “I’m here to propose that we replace the bad old bargain that past FCCs struck with the media moguls with a new American Media Contract.
It goes like this. We, the American people have given broadcasters free use of the nation’s most valuable spectrum, and we expect
something in return. We expect this:
   1. A right to media that strengthens our democracy;
   2. A right to local stations that are actually local;
   3. A right to media that looks and sounds like America;
   4. A right to news that isn’t canned and radio playlists that aren’t for sale;
   5. A right to programming that isn’t so damned bad so damned often.”
     –Michael J. Copps. Federal Communications Commission, 2007
(Thanks to alert WORDster Mark Larson)

* * * * *
TODAY’S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,500 or so misguided  subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered, send “unsubscribe.” Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em; I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. In theory, all contain at least a kernel of insight.) Responses and rebuttals welcome.

* * * * *
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University
“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” –Tom Stoppard,
playwright

TODAY’S WORD ON JOURNALISM–Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007

The press’s deafening silence on peace:
    “One day after an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., attracted a crowd estimated at 100,000 by the Los Angeles Times, the networks’ Sunday morning talk shows remained mostly unaffected by the expression of broad opposition to the war, keeping their discussions
confined to the narrow spectrum of Beltway elites.
    “Despite overwhelming public sentiment opposing the Iraq War—expressed in opinion polls, in the streets of D.C. and elsewhere
around the country—the network Sunday shows booked guests more representative of the center-right spectrum in official Washington.”
      –FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) 1/29/07
(http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3035)

* * * * *
TODAY’S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,500 or so misguided  subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered, send “unsubscribe.” Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em; I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. In theory, all contain at least a kernel of insight.) Responses and rebuttals welcome.

* * * * *
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University

“Don’t take life serious, Son . . . it ain’t nohow permanent.”
   –Porky Pine to Albert the Alligator, by Walt Kelly

What's Not Being Quoted Enough In The Obama-Dowd-Geffen Bruhaha

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

 

Ah, the joys of cutting-and-pasting.  🙂

Seen this full paragraph in the much-referred-to Dowd column?

They [The Clintons and Geffen] fell out in 2000, when Clinton gave a pardon to Marc Rich after rebuffing Geffen’s request for one for Leonard Peltier. “Marc Rich getting pardoned? An oil-profiteer expatriate who left the country rather than pay taxes or face justice?” Geffen says. “Yet another time when the Clintons were unwilling to stand for the things that they genuinely believe in. Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it’s troubling.”

And then there’s the full Obama response:

“We aren’t going to get in the middle of a disagreement between the Clintons and someone who was once one of their biggest supporters. It is ironic that the Clintons had no problem with David Geffen when was raising them $18 million and sleeping at their invitation in the Lincoln bedroom. It is also ironic that Senator Clinton lavished praise on Monday and is fully willing to accept today the support of South Carolina State Sen. Robert Ford, who said if Barack Obama were to win the nomination, he would drag down the rest of the Democratic Party because he’s black.” (My italics.)