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The Melting Blog

Musings on the Intersection of Marketing, Culture, and Research

Friday, February 27, 2004

The Post-Black Provocateur

Back on January 19, I briefly mentioned the release of Debra Dickerson's provocatively titled new book and the mixed reviews it was getting. Here's more on her from today's L.A. Times profile (sorry, subscription only):

It's impossible to label Dickerson. The message isn't conservative or neo-con, not radical nor middle of the road but politically provocative. Even when she refers to herself as "post-black," she does so with an enigmatic smile. "We need to give ourselves permission to think about other things other than our oppression," Dickerson says. "What I am saying isn't anything different than what our grandmothers have been saying since we've been brought here. But when did we stop believing in each other's capacity to respond to constructive criticism?"

Dickerson's book is a hot poker, aimed at shaking up assumptions on all sides. If she's succeeded in anything thus far, she's succeeded in that: getting people talking, for better or for worse, about race and race relations.

"People think that someone could be walking behind me in a Klan robe and I wouldn't notice it," she says. "People keep telling me, 'You want us to ignore racism. You don't understand the significance of racism.' No. It's what is the proper response to racism. That's the phase we should be in now. It's just a sin, a shame, a crime -- the ignorance, the poor health, the crime [in our communities] -- and we're chasing around someone who said 'niggardly' or we're looking at old pictures of Babe Ruth: 'He was black! Babe Ruth is black!'

After that previous blog entry, I went out and picked up the End of Blackness but still haven't gotten beyond the introduction (due to an accumulating stack of books competing for my limited attention -- that plus work). Since then, I've spotted her on C-Span and Bill Maher's show. Now, I also just noticed this past week that she's finally updating her blogs: Black Cinderella and Black Catharsis. She's no less a firebrand online than her writings and profile suggest. Check out her sharp missive on "Size-ism Works for Him" ...

UPDATE: Here's an interview with Ms. Dickerson from last week. Spotted at A Mixed Blog.

ANOTHER UPDATE: .. and another interview fresh off the virtual webpages of the upcoming Atlantic Monthly.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 3:31 pm

Livin' Large In The New South

Speaking of wealth (continuing the theme from my previous post): Today's Los Angeles Times examines the migration redux of affluent African Americans moving into Atlanta's suburbs. A snapshot:

Over the last decade, affluent, professional African Americans have poured into the Atlanta metropolitan area faster than any other region in the country, and many are settling in predominantly black suburbs, such as Lithonia, in southern DeKalb County.

As they grow, Atlanta's black suburbs have begun to accumulate both social cachet and political power. Populating freshly built neighborhoods, middle-class blacks can recognize "something really new, really different is going on here," said Roderick Harrison, a demographer.

"The entire black suburban experience in the north has involved urban pioneers integrating white neighborhoods," said Harrison, of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington. "Here, you're moving into territory that's essentially virgin. You're there, you come in, you enjoy your new status. This is real arrival. This is living large."

Between 1995 and 2000, Atlanta's metropolitan area took in a larger number of Northern college-educated blacks than any city in America, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. Frey's study shows that many newcomers end up in the Atlanta suburbs, which are now more than 25% black, compared with a national average of a little less than 9%.

There, the new arrivals are thriving financially. The black college graduates who moved to the Atlanta suburbs have seen remarkably fast income growth, Frey said — 22.6% between 1995 and 2000, compared with 13.4% in the rest of the country.

Read the rest here. Incidentally, look out for my upcoming TMB interview with the Brookings Institution scholar mentioned in the article: Bill Frey -- who is country's foremost demographic guru. The interview was conducted last month, and I've been swamped, but it's coming in the next few weeks... Stay tuned!

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 12:01 pm

Thursday, February 26, 2004

The Bling-Blinging Class of New Asian American Investors

From today's Wall Street Journal pages, a new study on the growing number of wealthy Asian American investors by Chicago-based Spectrem Financial:

Spectrem's study found that Asian-Americans now account for 5% of affluent U.S. households, up from less than 1% in 2002. Spectrem defines "affluent" as households with more than $500,000 in investible assets. Affluent households represent about 9.6% of the U.S. population, according to the study. The study surveyed U.S. households that described themselves as being "of Asian or Pacific Islands descent."

The average net worth of affluent Asian-Americans was $2.9 million, with $1.5 million of investible assets. Most of the subjects in the study built their wealth as accountants, physicians, dentists or technical specialists. The study said 5% of the affluent Asian-Americans were business owners, compared with 17% of the broader affluent population. Spectrem said most of the respondents earned their wealth recently, with very few acquiring their money through inheritance.

Here's something I'm wondering about: The study notes that these high-net worth Asian Americans are also big risk-takers and tend to shoo off professional financial advisors. Is it because they are also engaging in a little, um, recreational chance investments? They sure fit the profile! And I know many too.

Seriously, everytime I turn on the tube to watch ESPN's high-stakes poker tournaments, I see names like Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, Men "The Master" Nguyen, and a host of others...

(Spotted at Angry Asian Man)

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 6:36 pm

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Announcing SíTV

Introducing the newest entry to the English-speaking Latino Youth marketing and media sweepstakes, SíTV. I've noted this venture -- which has been a long time coming -- several times since starting TMB, and now the upstart network is the subject of an Advertising Age profile this week (subscription required):

SiTV is an ambitious attempt to reach one of the most elusive targets, young acculturated Hispanics who are often not regular consumers of Spanish-language media. They may not even speak Spanish.

As the U.S.-born Hispanic population now nears the number of recent immigrants, this is a young and fast-growing demographic. ``They're in a niche that is getting more and more attention from agencies and advertisers,'' said Jorge Pecovich, exec VP-managing director of Havas-owned media specialist MPG Diversity. ``There's not a lot of English-language or bilingual programming targeting Hispanics.''

Mr. Pecovich said SiTV has initial distribution of about 8 million homes, increasing to about 10 million by year end, but it won't be measured by Nielsen until late 2004 or early 2005. ``The only problem I see is timing,'' he said. ``A lot of advertisers have already committed their dollars. When we were in the planning process, there wasn't a lot to see.''

SiTV said it's already signed up General Motors Corp., Sears, Roebuck & Co., the U.S. Army, Sony Music and Wal-Mart. Besides ``Urban Jungle,'' which will air in April, programming includes the ``Latino Laugh Festival,'' a music video program called ``The Drop'' and a talk show about relationships called ``The Rub.''

For a long time, we've lamented the dearth of marketing vehicles targeting the coming Latino youth consumer. It's one thing when this group was shunned by Univision, but now there are a plethora of choices and options courting them. Can the market sustain all these new networks? We now have a chance to find out.

(Spotted by Costanza -- welcome aboard!)

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 8:09 pm

California, Portending America's Future

You've heard the axiom "As California goes, so goes the nation"? Well, I know some of you fear this means Arnold Schwarzenegger will become the next President of the United States, but let me assure you it can also mean something else when it comes to immigrant assimilation (this week's hot topic). Along with the frenzy kicked up by Samuel Huntington's essay earlier this week, the University of Southern California released a study Monday which futher deflates Huntington's core arguments that Hispanics aren't integrating into America's mainstream. Here are some highlights of that report covered in yesterday's Wall Street Journal (subscription required):

By looking at Census data going back to the 1960s, Dowell Myers and his team of demographers tracked the progress immigrants are making in the Golden State. They found that after about 10 years immigrants begin closing the economic gap with native-born Americans.

According to 1970 Census data, 17.7% of immigrants who arrived in California in the 1960s were living in poverty. Ten years later their poverty rate had dropped to 12.2%. By 1990 it had fallen to 9% and in 2000 it was 8.7%. This trend held true for immigrants who arrived in the 1970s, '80s and '90s.
---

Mr. Myers argues, it is important to distinguish between new arrivals and those who've been in the U.S. more than a decade. The longer an immigrant is in the U.S. the more he contributes. "Earnings, homeownership and voting participation all rise markedly with growing length of settlement," the study concludes.

This hasn't been obvious in recent years for two reasons. First, the number of new immigrants in California doubled between 1980 and 1990. About 1.8 million came in the 1970s, compared with the 3.5 million who moved in in the '80s. Lumping the new arrivals in with established immigrants swamped the data and made it appear that the poverty rate for the entire immigrant community was increasing.

Second, a relatively high percentage of immigrants who arrived on U.S. shores since the 1970s were poor. In 1980, the poverty rate for new arrivals was 24.7%; in 1990 it reached 27.5%. But they don't stay poor. The USC study finds that nearly 90% of those who've been in the U.S. more than 20 years have made it to the middle class.

You can download an entire copy of the brief in pdf here. These numbers are consistent with the trends we find in our own research as well. The USC study also goes on to note that California is increasingly absorbing a declining proportion of the nation's new immigrants each year -- one-quarter in 2000 -- down 14% from a high of 38% in 1990. According to the report's authors, this is a "permanent change" -- as 34 other states are starting to lure a greater share of immigrants. The Californization of the country has already begun.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 6:01 pm

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Post-Ethnic America: Quilt or Melting Pot?

This piece in today's L.A. Times by Pulitzer Prize winning historian Stanley Karnow represents a nice counter to the pessimism expressed in Samuel Huntington's essay about immigrant assimilation -- the topic of the previous post. (BTW, I think Huntington's essay and forthcoming book will be debated for years to come and won't be as easy to dismiss as, say, Pat Buchanan's diatribe). A few highlights from Karnow's editorial:

In contrast to the wretched, tempest-tost, huddled masses sketched by Emma Lazarus in her celebrated poem, many newcomers are educated, skilled, wealthy and fluent in English. They disembark attuned to the best and the worst of the U.S. from their exposure to its movies, radio programs and television shows, or from the Internet. Their teenagers sport baseball caps and Levi's, ride skateboards and are acquainted with Coke, Big Macs, Mickey Mouse, Madonna and Elvis. Others who come may fit Lazarus' description. But rich or poor, they come eager to work hard for a better life.
---

The "melting pot" concept, glorified as the paradigm, turned out to be an illusion, primarily because people sought to preserve their distinct identities. We are closer to the notion of "cultural pluralism" broached in 1925 by the Jewish philosopher Horace Kallen. Dismayed by the thought of dissolving his pedigree in an Anglocentric caldron, he suggested a "loose federation of nationalities … cooperating voluntarily through a multiplicity of autonomous institutions." Die-hard conformists vehemently decried his proposal as a gambit for championing "hyphenated" Americanism. But he was remarkably prescient.

The syrupy Norman Rockwell illustration of the country as an exclusive WASP domain has faded into oblivion as we evolve into a land of diverse minorities. The danger, however, is that unum may be eclipsed by pluribus, and we become a fragmented society. The phenomenon is apparent on college campuses, where student activists, prodded by their politically correct professors, stridently clamor for segregated dining halls, fraternities, lounges and curriculums. Immigrants are impervious to this trend.

For the sake of clarity, let me straighten out a few things here. I don't buy Huntington's thesis at all, but I do agree with him (and Karnow) on one very important point: the post-sixties immigration tide *is* different than previous waves of U.S. immigration. Not fundamentally different, but substantively different. As Karnow implies, the absorption process of today's multivaried immigrants into American culture differs markedly from their early 20th century forebears since they were mostly European. In addition, because ethnic identity today is something that is more openly celebrated than before -- it has cultivated a more favorable, nurturing environment for new immigrants and allowed their descendants to identify as "hyphenated" Americans.

Still, while the embrace of hyphenated self-identification and the trajectory of assimilation into U.S. society may differ from previous eras, immigrants and their offspring are unequivocally making inroads into mainstream American life -- just like newcomers have before them. The research we do bears this out. Whether we are conducting research for private clients or the public, the social and cultural data we gather consistently reveals a strong affinity and positive orientation toward American culture in general. These trends -- revealed in language use, aspirations, consumer preferences, and social values -- only increase with greater levels of acculturation and with each succeeding generation.

Now this *does not* mean ethnic identity is displaced by "American" culture completely -- we rarely observe any kind of wholesale cultural gentrification among immigrants and their heirs. But it does mean ethnicity gradually loses its power to chiefly determine exactly how an entire ethnic group will think and behave. Witness the strong generational differences exhibited between U.S.-born and foreign-born Latinos, for instance -- media habits, consumer behavior, socio-economics, self-identification, and language preference all vary widely.

So while I agree with Karnow that the "melting pot" may be a dated metaphor -- I don't think the idea of assimilation was ever meant to represent comprehensive identity displacement. As Tamar Jacoby writes in her introductory chapter to Reinventing the Melting Pot, "assimilation has always left room for a hyphen." So I don't care what you want to call it -- assimilation, acculturation, the melting pot, a quilt, or a salad bowl -- it still represents a headlong march into the American mainstream.

Thus, I won't quibble over semantics in terms of which terminology is the most apt or fitting. The point is, it's happening. Not only are new immigrants and their offspring entering the U.S. mainstream, they will -- in the process -- shape its future too. Just like previous American generations have before them.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 11:27 pm

Are Latino Immigrants Pursuing a Different Dream?

1960: Foreign-Born Population Living in the U.S.

2000: Foreign-Born Population Living in the U.S.

Do yourself a favor and read "The Americano Dream" in today's column by the New York Times' David Brooks. While I don't exactly share Brooks' politics, I think he is one of the most astute, spot-on cultural critics working in journalism today -- especially his pre-Times stuff in the Atlantic Monthly, which is how I've become familiar with his writing. In fact, one of the early motivations for me in starting this blog came after reading this piece from last September's issue -- and drove me to seek a forum for sharing my own reactions on the subject. Voila! The Melting Blog was born shortly thereafter. (Okay, a few months after).

Brooks' book "Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There," remains to me, the quintessential portraiture of American baby boomers and the culture they have spawned. It's a highly entertaining combination of biting social satire, keen witticisms and observations of contemporary American society, and scathingly hilarious cultural self-parody. In describing America's cultural and social zeitgeist, Brooks has few equals.

So what of his latest piece in today's Times? He takes on historian Samuel Huntington's latest screed that "the single most immediate and most serious challenge to America's traditional identity comes from the immense and continuing immigration from Latin America, especially Mexico" --- an excerpt from Huntington's forthcoming "Who Are We: The Challenges to American Identity." Brooks counters:

Frankly, something's a little off in Huntington's use of the term "Anglo-Protestant" to describe American culture. There is no question that we have all been shaped by the legacies of Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin. But the mentality that binds us is not well described by the words "Anglo" or "Protestant."

We are bound together because we Americans share a common conception of the future. History is not cyclical for us. Progress does not come incrementally, but can be achieved in daring leaps. That mentality burbles out of Hispanic neighborhoods, as any visitor can see.

Huntington is right that Mexican-Americans lag at school. But that's in part because we've failed them. Our integration machinery is broken. But if we close our borders to new immigration, you can kiss goodbye the new energy, new tastes and new strivers who want to lunge into the future.

That's the real threat to the American creed.

I don't believe our "integration machinery is broken" as Brooks says, but agree with much of everything else he has to say in debunking Huntington's assertion that Hispanics fail to assimilate. Nevertheless, the machinery of assimilation/acculturation is in need of some major renovation that accounts for the new realities of Latin American (particularly Mexican) immigration that is so radically altering America's demography, and there are no easy answers for that.

UPDATE: More reactions from around the blogosphere on Sam Huntington's controversial essay at Outside the Beltway, Daniel Drezner, and Priorities & Frivolities.

UPDATE, UPDATE: Gregory Rodriguez of New America Foundation emailed to tell me his reactions to Huntington's essay will be up in this Sunday's Los Angeles Times Opinion section. Look out for it.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 12:21 am

Sunday, February 22, 2004

The Immigrant Who Would Be President

For all you folks outside of California laughing at us for voting in The Terminator as our governor, beware: the man might become your President too!

Mr. Schwarzenegger, who immigrated to the United States from Austria 35 years ago, on Sunday endorsed an amendment to the Constitution to allow immigrants who have been citizens for at least 20 years to run for president. Mr. Schwarzenegger became a citizen in 1983.

Making his Sunday morning talk show debut on the NBC program "Meet the Press," Mr. Schwarzenegger was asked whether he would support changing the Constitution to allow naturalized citizens to serve as president. Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the Utah Republican, has proposed such an amendment.

"Yeah, I should look at that," Mr. Schwarzenegger said with his polished performer's smile. "It sounds really good."

Groping allegations, 'roid use, and orgy sex scandals be damned, dude's got his sights set on higher political ground! Guess that dispels the argument proferred by some reticent supporters during the recall that Schwarzenegger couldn't possibly use the governorship as a steppingstone to the presidency because he wasn't born in the country. Meanwhile, Arnold is already setting new fundraising records as governor and is working on crafting legislation that would grant driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants -- yes, that's right, similar to the same bill he repealed the day he came into office enacted by his very unpopular predecessor! I know, it's rarely boring here in California...

Since we're on the topic of immigration, here are more reactions to how well Bush's guest worker program is being received among the GOP faithful. Hint: it's not! And as I mentioned on 1/30, I don't hear a lot of Hispanic voters blaring the bullhorn in support for it either. Methinks this proposal may never see the light of day.

Maybe it'll happen when Schwarzenegger becomes Prez? Remember, there is precedent for Hollywood actors-turned-California governors-turned-President-of-the-United-States-of-America. I report, you decide!

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 11:31 pm

Friday, February 20, 2004

Strange Bedfellows

One man grew up in the Jewish Bronx ghetto and built a hugely prosperous clothing empire that is virtually synonymous with the upper-crust WASP lifestyle. The other man -- raised in Brooklyn's Marcy Projects -- has made a lucrative career spitting rhymes and tales about "Big Pimpin" and embodies the "bling, bling" ethos. One man started in his profession designing ties; the other man got his ignominious start as a drug dealer before rising to the top of the hip hop world as rap's Michael Jordan. One man was born Ralph "Lifshitz"; the other born "Shawn Carter".

The first man is now recruiting the second man because (as everyone now knows) you need hip street cred to sell threads to the kids today (they ain't buying polo playa schtick!):

Jay-Z gave you "The Black Album." Now we hear Ralph Lauren is trying to persuade the rap god to give you the Black Bedsheet.

Lauren, the man who brought WASP style to the masses, is said to be tired of watching Tommy Hilfiger and Sean Combs pile up dead Presidents by selling clothes to urban youth.

So, according to insiders, Lauren has made back-channel offers to Jay to lend his name to a line of men's wear and home furnishings.

Lauren's rep insists that there's been no direct contact between the two former Brooklynites. But a source tells us Lauren is attracted to Jay's new fondness for tailored suits. (The invitation to his L.A. party the other night told guests to dress "grown and sexy.")

Friends of the rapper say he hasn't decided whether a deal with Lauren would compromise his street cred.

He's already delivered disappointment to Donald Trump.

The rapper has decided against buying a Trump Place penthouse and is resisting offers to perform at one of Trump's Atlantic City casinos.

Read more about this potentially unholy alliance here and here.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 5:17 pm

What, Can't You Tell Us Apart?

Chances are, if you're Asian American, you've had exchanges like this one (hopefully without the racist overtones). Those chances increase exponentially if you live outside California or New York/New Jersey. It's what writer Frank Wu likes to call the "perpetual foreigner syndrome" -- where most folks just don't discern (or can't conceive of) a difference between native-born and overseas-born Asians. It happens to me rarely these days, but when it does, I really don't trip. Not anymore anyways. Heck, there are a lot of white folks who all look the same to me too.

But many Asian Americans themselves, on the other hand, like to claim they -- as chief arbiters of "Asian"-ness -- can effortlessly tell the difference between the multiple varieties of East Asian ethnicities and nationalities. I used to be one of those people until I took this test. Go ahead, try for yourself and tell me your score.

It's okay, I've come to live with the fact I suck at it. More on AllLookSame.com here.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 5:35 pm

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Preserving Ethnic Beauty

Fascinating, fascinating research being conducted at Washington University's School of Medicine:

A study by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery reveals that cosmetic and reconstructive surgery increased exponentially among minorities from 1999 to 2001 — more than quadrupling among Asian-Americans and African-Americans and tripling among Hispanics.

As the number of ethnic patients seeking plastic surgery continues to rise, understanding how to preserve ethnicity is critical to creating an attractive and natural look.

"Caucasian beauty is pretty well defined in our culture, so we know what's acceptable," Lowe says. "We also ought to know what's acceptable for other ethnic groups. What's attractive for Caucasians isn't necessarily beautiful for everyone."

Lowe and his colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine are among only a handful of scientists worldwide who are scientifically studying how to preserve ethnicity in plastic surgery procedures.

For the past three years, Lowe and his team have been researching aesthetic attractiveness for different ethnic groups.

By measuring the position of facial features, such as the lips, brow lines, cheekbones and noses, of people from different ethnic groups ages 18 to 65, the researchers are determining attractive facial features for each group. Lowe's study includes African-Americans, Middle Easterners, Hispanics and Native Americans along with a breakdown of Asian subcultures into Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Hawaiian.

"The goal of plastic surgeons should be to enhance or rejuvenate the patient's natural features," Lowe says. "But we can't make someone look 'natural' if we don't know what 'natural' is for them. Japanese people don't want to look Chinese, and Chinese people don't want to look American. Our goal is to really get to the depths of what is aesthetically acceptable and beautiful for each group."

For the study, Lowe and his team also are analyzing and taking measurements of ethnic models in fashion and other popular magazines to further help define the aesthetic for major ethnic groups.

Read On.

(Psst... hey Dr. Lowe, these images here are some of my personal suggestions...)

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 7:15 am

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Oh VOY

Let's see, thus far in this nascent year we've had the announcement of several new cable television ventures aimed at multicultural audiences: TV-One ("the Urban Entertainment Network" for the non-hip hop African American generation), ImaginAsian TV ("the First National 24-hour Asian American Television Network"), SíTV (set to launch next week, billed "America's New Latino Network"), and now we have VOY ("Latin Entertainment For A New Generation"). Not a shabby lineup so far. And they're all for English-language programming to boot.

VOY is set to launch July 19 and here's new information about the upstart network aimed at English-speaking Hispanics:

"It's an underrepresented market," Thau said Tuesday afternoon in an interview before the network's official announcement today.

There's certainly no denying the strength of Hispanics, which make up about 14 percent of the population, with about $653 billion in buying power in 2003. The size of the Spanish-language TV market has been increasing in recent years--growth outpaces other mediums, although it starts at a larger base--and the Hispanic market has caught the attention of both big-brand marketers and advertising agencies. But Thau contends that VOY Network can tap on an English-dominant audience that flips between general market TV and Spanish-speaking networks like Univision.

VOY will position itself as a lifestyle network, with talk shows, reality, travel, food, political, and documentaries, among others. The emphasis will be on original programming, since--as Thau points out--there aren't a lot of culturally relevant English-language shows for Hispanics.

This L.A.-based digital network is joining what is now a pretty crowded field -- not just with SíTV -- but with LATV (also going national) and Mun2. They're all pursuing the same English- (or Spanglish-) speaking Latino demo. The Melting Blog will be following these developments closely throughout the year -- with all the riveting details. So keep checking back.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 9:36 am

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Echoing Advertising Distrust

In today's age of reality-TV programming, instant messaging, and music downloading, Echo Boomers (born after 1979) are engaging media and advertising very differently than previous generations. They also exhibit a declining trust in advertising, according to new research from Yankelovich:

Sources Echo Boomers Trust ...

1999 2001 Today Trust A Lot

Magazine Ads 37% 30% 29% 2%

Radio Ads
29% 25% 22% 2%

Television Ads 24% 24% 22% 2%

Internet Ads 25% 23% 18% 0%

Source: 2003 Yankelovich Youth Monitor, sponsored by Disney. Echo boomers = person ages 12-17

We've seen this coming for awhile, haven't we? The research just confirms what we already know. This is a generation that's overloaded with ad messages and would much rather directly participate and interact with media and pop culture than become passive bystanders to it. Even if it means bucking the system.

Witness DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album as a case in point. You'll never find this acclaimed music in your local retail store because it culls protected copyrighted samples from Jay-Z's Black Album and the Beatles' White Album (get it? "Grey" album). So instead the kids are passing it along online. And we wonder why these kids aren't watching TV no more.

A hat tip to Adrants.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 2:57 pm

Ethnic Marketing or Ethnic Stereotyping?

I just finished reading this past Sunday's Newsday article about the ethnic marketing efforts of American automakers. While it packs in the familiar litany of reasons car makers are targeting U.S. ethnic consumers -- citing the same oft-quoted Census and Selig figures of acute minority growth (as well as the same sources of industry authority) -- it doesn't do so without a refreshingly critical eye aimed at the actual creative advertising, demonstrating there is a fine line between effective, culturally-competent marketing and simple ethnic stereotyping:

Celeste Hernandez of Bayside, a Puerto-Rican American and executive director of the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, says it's true that Latinos tend to have strong family values but says she's disturbed at what she perceives as an another assumption in ads directed at Latinos: that they respond well to sexual imagery.

"I feel put upon," she said, "that someone would make the assumption that that would be a common denominator for my culture to get them to walk in the door and purchase anything."

Yet much minority-targeted advertising is based on potentially offensive generalizations about groups that within themselves are diverse by age, income, educational level, place of residence, time in this country and national origin.

In a score of interviews, advertising and marketing executives selling cars and other consumer products say research supports those generalities and that advertising based on such data works. "If it's based on cultural stereotypes, it becomes bigotry, racism and all those other nasty things," Frankel said. "But a recognition of cultural values within a certain ethnicity is at its best the basis for clear communications."

Unlike typical stereotypes, those generalities usually are based on what's purported to be sound scientific research, such as a survey of 58,000 households done last year by Forrester Research Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., concluding that minorities are more style conscious than the American majority. Forrester said 15 percent of blacks, 17 percent of Asians and 13 percent of Hispanics said they are influenced by "what's hot and what's not," compared with 8 percent of whites.

Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say auto marketers 'stereotype' minority consumers by seeking culturally-relevant ways to appeal to them. But I do think -- at the risk of disparaging my own profession -- that ethnic marketing and advertising practitioners can be the worst offenders at perpetuating well-worn ethnic clichés. For instance, how often do we need to (over)state the importance of families and hardwork among immigrant Hispanics and Asian Americans? I think this kind of "let's-use-simple-ethnic-generalizations" thinking is out of touch, and arises out of sheer laziness, lack of imagination, and -- to a significant degree -- insecurity.

As the key selling point to corporate clients -- "culture experts" in agencies often default to specific ethnic typecasts and linguistic facility as the chief domain of their expertise, rather than offer strategies showing a fuller, more complete picture of the ethnic consumer marketplace simply because it's harder to do so. For instance, it's much easier to talk about immigrant in-language media preferences rather than, say, the challenge of speaking to the English-fluent second generation who are moving beyond the established cultural tropes of their immigrant parents.

I'm not pointing fingers here; we've been just as guilty of this ourselves at our own firm. But for the ethnic marketing industry to evolve, it must -- by necessity -- reinvent its approach beyond these trite notions and eventually wake up to the daunting new realities of acculturation.

More on this later. Hat tip to Negrophile.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 12:56 am

Monday, February 16, 2004

The Baron of Political Polling

If you're anything like me, then you have been obsessively following the latest tracking polls during this Democratic primary season to see how the presidential contenders are stacking up for this year's election. Okay, maybe you're not like me. But in my fanaticism, I've noticed one name that consistently pops up behind the polling numbers: Zogby. Until reading these articles, I didn't know much of anything about the man behind Zogby International -- much less that he is of Lebanese American descent (hence his name), nor that he is such a magnet of controversy due to his unconventional survey tactics. From the U.S. News profile in today's issue:

Ask just about anyone in the political world who the most controversial pollster is, and you'll get the same answer: John Zogby. Some in the political world swear by him; others swear at the mention of his name. Zogby admits that some of his methods are unorthodox. But his numbers have sometimes been far closer to election results than other pollsters', as when he showed the surge toward Al Gore in the last three days of the 2000 presidential campaign.

Zogby, 55, did not start off to be a pollster. He grew up in a Lebanese-American family in gritty Utica, N.Y. He taught history and political science at area colleges and was, in his words, "a left-wing political activist." In 1981 he and his brother James, now head of the Arab-American Institute, started a political consulting firm. They parted in 1984, and John Zogby became a full-time consultant, making political ads, advising on strategy, helping fundraising, and conducting polls in campaigns in upstate New York. As the demand for polling grew, he dropped the other work.

Following this profile is another interesting account from today's New York Times about the surge in campaign contributions by Arab Americans to President Bush's reelection bid, which seemingly runs contrary to a recent Zogby poll for the Arab American Institute showing a considerable decline in Arab American support for the President:

In a recent release, the Arab American Institute, a nonprofit organization representing Arab-American interests in government and politics, said Mr. Bush's support had fallen sharply since the 2000 election. A January poll conducted for the group by Zogby International, which is headed by John Zogby, a Lebanese-American, found that Mr. Bush's approval rating among Arab-Americans had fallen to 38 percent from as high as 83 percent in October 2001.

The biggest reason for this drop-off, according to the institute's poll, is concern over Arab-Americans' No. 1 issue, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. To many Arab-Americans, the administration's actions are seen as more pro-Israel than evenhanded, especially its support of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister.
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Even so, prominent Arab-Americans have kept the money flowing.

"It's like the Catholic Church," said Mr. Zogby, whose brother, James, is president of the Arab American Institute. "The total dollars are up, but the number of donors is down."

One reason may be that Arab-Americans are not a monolithic group. The term is used generally to refer to people from Arab countries, but they may have diverse religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, like Lebanese and other Arab Christians or Muslims from Egypt and Pakistan. Many Arab-Americans left their countries because of political and economic oppression and are now small-business owners or entrepreneurs who say the Republican Party best represents their values.

It appears that the same cultural and political heterogeneity found in other U.S. ethnic groups also applies to Arab Americans. In any case, keep your eyes on those Zogby polls during this year's Presidential horse race -- they've been frighteningly accurate in the last two races. Though he hasn't been without plenty of detractors either.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 11:51 pm