Does McCruelty Specifically Target African-Americans? June 4, 2009
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African-American leaders and musicians have long played a major role in speaking out against cruelty to animals. Over the years, leaders like Rev. Al Sharpton, vegan hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, and even Wu-Tang Clan legend Masta Killa have all taken a strong stand against animal abuse.
One of the reasons many community leaders are so upset though, is that cruel companies like McDonald's and KFC frequently target the Black audience with intense marketing campaigns—particularly people in high school or college.
Well, African-American students are tired of being targeted. In fact, peta2 Outreach Coordinator Heather Norwood recently wrote an opinion piece on the topic, which has run in several student newspapers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Heather gathering petition signatures against McCruelty
Here's a sample of her recent piece, printed at Kentucky State University:
"Whether it is sponsoring a battle of the bands or a football halftime show, [McDonald's] uses its branding power to sell a product that it knows consumers would be hesitant to buy if they looked behind the scenes. As an African-American, it is frustrating for me to see our community exploited by a company that doesn't even have the decency to reduce the suffering of animals killed for its McNuggets.
...
McDonald's is a big company, but it relies heavily on the financial support of communities like ours. Let's send a strong message that unless McDonald's listens to animal protection organizations such as peta2 and makes some of the changes that are listed on McCruelty.com to reduce the suffering of the animals killed for its restaurants, we will take our money elsewhere."
Pretty great, eh?
What do you think? Does McDonald's target specific audiences more than others?
Comments
I think they do tend to target people that are from the lower income communities.
Posted by: Paige at June 4, 2009 4:02 PMIncome is irrelevant. Individuals of varying financial demographics choose to fund corrupt companies like KFC and McDonald's and profit doesn't have a color in the face of "Big Business."
As a minority I have noticed an increase of African-American and Hispanic actors in the ads of the aforementioned companies. However, look at any current advertisement. The face of America has undergone great change and "Corporate America" realizing this is seeking to maximize their profits.
What better way to move product in this commodity fetishist society then making the face of the dealer a familiar one?
Oh, I hate this race stuff. Would you prefer it if blacks/Hispanics were not included in these commercials at all? Then people would say they were being discriminated against! Al Sharpton is not a leader at all. Even my black friends say that.
Posted by: Ryan at June 5, 2009 2:11 PMI think low income families since all these fast food crapholes sell cheap crap.Certain vegan subsitutes tend to be way pricer damnit. It should be the other way around!
Posted by: Abby at June 6, 2009 7:21 PMAs an african-american myself, i have to agree but its not mcdonalds its other fast food chains too. since some black people have low income we're targeted.
Posted by: kyra at June 9, 2009 10:39 AMPost a comment
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i think they target ppl who don't roll in as much dough (which comes in handy for buying vegan food)...and if there's more black ppl like that, they'd be more targeted.
Posted by: cody at June 4, 2009 1:38 PM