>How old are these people?
>I know my parents and their friends (black parents and elders
>have more money than the children they support) don't want to
>watch UPN and the like.

- same here. my folks dont want to watch that shit. in fact, my pops watches nothing but movies now on DVD or on Starz...my mother watches A&E! they cant even stomach BET or "black" shows any more...

>So if you're coming up with an ad for "Swiffer", and you want
>to show it on Gospel Sunday on BET, do you call in Slim Thug
>to do the voice over? Do you call in Mos Def? Obviously not.
> You get Claire Huxtable or Lynn Whitfield, or someone that
>the people with the money identify with.

- I agree. and actually there are tons of commercials that showcase black folks in a positive/intelligent light (remember those fannie mae commercials?) but of course, things actually going in our favor and showcasing us in a positive light makes for boring convo...u aint a real activist if u cant nit pick and find something wrong in everything...

>I see you trying to box black people into a box, but I
>actually know black people, and don't exist in some sort of
>fake racially distorted vaccuum in which every black person is
>represented on the videos shown for 106 and Park.

- again. ratings speak for themselves, if bet 2night and lead story were bringing in huge ratings for BET, those programs would still be there.


>I know tons of black folks, from criminals I work with, to
>their church going grand parents who pay their legal fees. I
>know teachers, lawyers, mechanics, unemployed mf's, homeless
>cats....
>
>Blackness is diverse.
>To think otherwise is to close your eyes from the way of the
>world.

- blackness isn't as diverse as you are trying to make it out to be. if blackness was diverse condie rice and janice brown would be household names in the black community, as would colin powell and clarence thomas...hell, ron brown and vernon jordan are ???'s in our community too..how many black folks know who dr ben carson is? mae jemison? please...tupac, biggie, hov, 50 cent, bishop magic don juan? cmon now...u are asking for folks in the media to be blind and ignorant to how we are and what makes us move to buy products...shit i just saw lil john selling shades in a circuit city ad the other day, do u think that brotha from the west wing could push a product to black folks like lil john? oh, but we are a diverse thinking group..riiiiiight.


>Actually, what marketers want is to attract young people who
>have oodles and oodles of disposable income.

- wow. companies starting out too!? amazing i didnt know this...

>But if you stay on the topic and look @ the products that
>pulphustler was trying to promote, your generation is not
>going out in droves to scoop up some koolaid.

- last time i checked kool-aid is like water in the ghetto.


>And you know this because you sat in on the Viacom BET
>meetings, which were of course open to the public.

- lol. my bad..those shows were pulled up because some white men in black suits and shades told them to take off all programming that made black folks think beyond booty shaking and self destructive behaviors...DA MAN OUT TA GET ME!!!


>Actually I'm not waiting on anything.
>What is going to change the minds of black people, the ones
>you're talking about, about how they want to live their lives
>is not going to come from Madison Avenue.
>It doesn't come from Church, cause half the mf'ers out getting
>drunk and fucking on Saturday night, clean up for Sunday
>morning.
>It doesn't come from school, cause we've seen how much those
>things have been an abysmal failure.
>It's certainly not popular media, cause black people as a
>whole didn't suddenly start making moves when PE was running
>the airwaves.
>Life is far more complex than that.
>There's no one domino to tip over, an everything falls into
>place.

- u havent said anything new right here.


>You keep stressing personal responsibility, but you fail to
>see how little value PR is to folks who are still stuck in the
>same environment.
>The good kid still goes to poor schools and might catch a
>stray.
>Those same good kids go to college and can't compete with
>their suburban counterparts.

- nigga please. I did better than alot of those rich white kids at my college, i did WORSE than alot of them too but shit i wasnt in there struggling and about to quit...its funny, its okay for you 2 brush the entire black community with a broad stroke when it comes to victimhood but if i say we need to do better im in the wrong...amazing.

>The suburban black kids get tracked into sports and music and
>not math and science.
>And their 'educated" parents encourage lil Darnell to run
>track, and not run the debate team.

- my ex gilfriend and her sister come from the burbs, her sister is at florida state right now on the deans list.

>I could go on and on, but whatever problem you want to talk
>about, has lots and lots of factors - none of which lead to
>some sort of clear solution, that "if only black people
>did...."

- well puting 99% of the blame out outside sources...well...just look around you..