Music artist, producer, and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs has criticized General Motors for insufficient advertising spending in Black-owned media.
In an open letter published to Revolt.tv, the news and entertainment website for the music-oriented Revolt cable network that Combs launched in 2013, Combs calls on General Motors to invest further spending in Black-owned media outlets.
In the open letter, Combs outlines General Motors’ ad spending allocation, including with Revolt.
“While Revolt does receive advertising revenue from GM, our relationship is not an example of success,” Combs writes. “Instead, Revolt, just like other Black-owned media companies, fights for crumbs while GM makes billions of dollars every year from the Black community.”
Late last month, Allen Media Group issued a full-page ad in The Detroit Free Press pressuring General Motors to increase its marketing budget allocation for Black-owned media companies. The ad was signed by leaders of some of the largest Black-owned media companies in the U.S.
“Corporations like General Motors have exploited our culture, undermined our power, and excluded Black entrepreneurs from participating in the value created by Black consumers,” Combs writes in the open letter published on Revolt. “In 2019, brands spent $239 billion on advertising. Less than 1 percent of that was invested in Black-owned media companies. Out of the roughly $3 billion General Motors spent on advertising, we estimate only $10 million was invested in Black-owned media.”
The open letter goes on to demand that American corporations spend at least 15 percent of its advertising with Black-owned media.
“If you love us, pay us!” Combs writes. “Not a token investment. Not a charity check or donation.”
Following the full-page ad issued in March, GM CEO Mary Barra agreed to meet with Allen Media Group founder Byron Allen, as well as the owners and leaders of various other Black-owned American media groups. The group meeting was later cancelled in lieu of individual meetings with Black media executives. General Motors also agreed to increase ad spending with Black-owned media companies, estimating current spending at 2 percent, with an increase to 4 percent in 2022 and 8 percent in 2025.
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Comments
This literally extortion. Now even private companies have to pay reparations and allocate resource for every minority group. If you want to publish an ad you don’t seek the best media to reach most audience. No, you have to split your publicity budget among ostensible, shady minority outlets with no audience; blacks, asians, latinos, lgbt…and whatever the new, trendy, precious sexual deviance this morning revealed…
Do you see Marry? You can send every woke message, give black charities millions, exclusively put every black person and celebrities in every single GM commercial, seriously it’s like they’re selling cars in wakanda, but still it’s not enough, once they’ve sniffed the weakness…they will come for you.
The purpose of advertising is to promote your product through a channel that gets to the widest audience with the greatest amount of return. I studied advertising in the business school. Mr. Puffy doesn’t advertise his clothes in Field & Stream. It doesn’t matter who owns the channel.
What more can we give the black people. As of now they dominate the ad world. Do we give them a free pass on breaking the law. Free tickets to all events. Free cash monthly being that they are so oppressed. I’m sick of this.
They already get a free pass in violence and crime .
“Let he who has not sinned, cast the first stone”.
This isn’t about black people. This is Leftism. It will destroy the country if we don’t stop it. STOP VOTING DEMOCRAT.
Oh-oh, giving crumbs in advertising to thier people, stop the press the White Man’s time is up….🤭
They obviously hate freedom, so hard to manage it, maybe they want to go back to the all-inclusive Dixiecrat plantation paradise?
Bet you’d never say that at a Trump rally!
The corporate PR folks along with the ad agencies determine WHO reads the magazines and what the buyers of the products read. That is why every so often short surveys are sent after a purchase asking “How did you hear about us?” and asking which papers, magazines, TV programs, etc. the respondent accesses. Nothing to do with anything other than advertising to the demographics that buy the products.
Remember when the USA was a proud country? Sure seems like a Communist block today.
Wait a sec…. I’m gay, and I’m pretty much like a typical normal guy. I feel everyone here though with their thoughts and concerns on race…
Thanks for doing your part to keep the population from going extinct.
The world doesn’t have that problem now…. does it? It’s more so about overpopulation haha
And this is what happens when you cater instead of just running your business. Everyone wants a piece of the pie that isn’t theirs to begin with.
If these companies were good at advertising they would be busy working. Not busy trying to steal business by intimidation.
You spend your advertising dollars wisely. Not to give “rich blacks’ reparations.
Here we go again – blacks using the colour card – If they are a good media outlet and present a good value and outlet for anyone that wants to advertise then they have to compete (not assume they are going to get business because of colour). It has nothing to do with colour – Do these black media outlets employ white people?? If they do not then they are the ones that are racist – As a matter of fact this extraordinary demand to use their agency because they are black is PURELY racist. I am sick and tired of these people playing the race card and they are only hurting themselves and causing more resentment towards them- If I was a business owner and had a media company demanding business because they are black – they would be the last people I would hire- Nothing to so with race – just do not want to engage with a extremist group- It is little wonder that racism is becoming more predominant than ever and a lot of the blame rests squarely on the black community because they represent themselves as being special and deserving of special treatment. I know many people of colour that are very successful and are doing very well without walking around with a log on their shoulders- I hope GM does not bow down to these extortionists
It’s Leftists not blacks. This is what the Leftists want, to divide us along racial lines among other things. It’s all in Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. This is the Democrat playbook.
Why didn’t Diddy mention BMW, Mercedes, Lexus and Kia??? Those brands are their favorites, not Caddy!
I would also like to hear from pro-, or really just open to, Sean Combs mindsets here.
Thought proking comments: “Corporations… exploited… undermined… excluded” “fights for crumbs”.
Mr. Puffy is a corporation and his company makes a lot of money. In America, at least we thought, we live under the foundation of liberty. People and companies can choose what to make and how to sell their product. Liberty allows discretion. How one chooses to promote their product or service is at the heart of freedom. What the Leftists are promoting is tyranny. Someone started a company called FUBU (For Us By Us) for a certain demographic and that’s their choice. I don’t hear the Leftists saying anything about that huh?
What are you replying to?
I was making a request from guys like Guestt for a non-sardonic, sincere, interpretation of Mr. Combs’ statements.
I’ll bite, in a similar thread a few days ago I made a stance on if A.Americans want more control on advertising for Black buyers,so be it. The usual “those people ” comments came and I’ll continue to troll/make fun of racist counterpoints without a real answer.
I was responding to your incoherent reply.
More BLM bullsh$t. Go play with P Diddy!
Someone with more experience in marketing could probably answer this, but would GM even have any idea who owns marketing agencies when they contract with them? I mean I would imagine they just ask for bids for whatever marketing campaign they’re planning and go with whatever company gives them the best deal.
None of those people deserve special advertising until there is an official White History Month.
Isn’t it White History Month 11 months of the year now?
Quit bending over to extortionists…enough is never enough for these Biden-ites.
I will not buy another GM product if they meet with these thugs. I left the democrat party when I realized they were the ones who seceded and it was Republicans who freed us from slavery.
Funny that the wokest automaker in the world still isn’t woke enough for these Nazis
They are inciting a necessary mass revolt against their own cancerous wokeism – our (il)liberal biased media, (il)liberal biased Big Tech/social media and all the psychotic apologist cancel culture corporations and radical leftist organizations that have taken the country hostage controlling our nation’s dialogue with full support of the farcical puppet Biden administration. We need to restore sanity and free speech before disagreement becomes a criminal offense and our founding principles (our freedoms!) are forever lost.
The Resistance is growing stronger by the day. Out of pure necessity.
I don’t see any other car company spending numerous amount of dollars on black station advertising either. Just another pick on GM time to push the race card right, Puffy?
Sean GMC can spend what money they make from selling autos on what best suits them, buyers, shareholders.
The media loves to hate on GM, no respect for American companies. The fake media would rather back foreign brands. There is always two sides to every story, but the narrative is always one sided and prefers to champion products made abroad. Advertising is smoke and mirrors, perception of product is an art. Advertising agencies earn business based on results, the new Hummer ads are causing more than alot of interest. Sold out in advance of the start of production. GM can’t afford any misses in their marketing, if they are going to get a head start in the EV market. Tesla and GM have the most EV capacity near term, it’s now or never.
BLM is so unreasonable Mary is going to have to show up to work in blackface for them to be happy there isn’t a White person in charge.