Jesse Jackson Needs a Real Job

Jesse Jackson Needs a Real Job

Poverty pimp really isn't one. It seems that advertisers often specify in what markets they want their ads to run--and "No Urban Dictate" apparently means that an advertiser doesn't want to run ads on radio or TV stations that primarily target African-Americans as their audience. Jesse Jackson is very upset that BMW has joined a number of other advertisers in specifying this for their ad campaigns.

My first reaction to this is: "What?" I suppose if such stations are focused on a very poor population, then BMW deciding not to advertise on these stations makes sense: they are trying to avoid wasting money selling to an audience that largely is unable to afford BMWs. But there are a lot of middle class and even some rich blacks in the U.S.

Perhaps BMW (and others) have figured out that the stations excluded by "No Urban Dictate" really means, "those stations running hip-hop and generally targeting an audience both black and white that is desperately poor, and suffering from cultural values that mean that it is going to stay that way." In that case, I can see why Jesse Jackson is upset--it would be a reminder that there is a black subculture in America whose biggest enemy isn't white racism, but blacks who revel in cultural self-destruction.