>so you are saying that because black people (overall) are not
>media literate, marketing companies use unethical means to
>brainwash this group into buying things?

My question to you is: Who do you think is behind a good deal of the marketing that targets young Black people? How many of these young people are media literate? and

Where do these young people get educated to become media literate?

Overall, people are not media literate because media literacy is still not offered as part of most Americans' core education. It is my opinion that Black folks still get the "shorter end of the stick" and this means the stakes are much higher. I do not believe that victimhood is predetermined but I do believe it is conditioned. I believe that a healthy psyche and education creates more active consumers of media.

>what do you mean by
>unethical?

Well I think that ethics are not just about being good or right (morals).

"Assumptions about ethical underpinnings of human behaviour are reflected in every social science, including: anthropology because of the complexities involved in relating one culture to another, economics because of its role in the distribution of scarce resources, in political science because of its role in allocating power, in sociology because of its roots in the dynamics of groups, in law because of its role in codifying ethical constructs like mercy and punishment, in criminology because of its role in rewarding ethical behaviour and discouraging unethical behaviour, in psychology because of its role in defining, understanding, and treating unethical behaviour." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical

The environment that many of us learn and grow in is often not optimal to sustainability and health, esp. of our (Black) communities. Rather than see this as a deficit (for Black folks) I am putting the blame EQUALLY on the people who sit in the corporate board rooms coming up with the PR campaigns. Why? Because of colonialism, slavery, economics, power, etc. Economics distributes wealth (not $$$) to a few, politics allocates power to a few, society maintains the status quo, and law enforces it. As a result, people with wealth and power, links to politics and law make the key decisions that control the way media is seen and heard in this country (and others). Nowadays people let some unethical behaviors such as dishonesty go unpunished because it maintains this status quo and I have take issue with that.