links for 2011-06-26

"It's not just black audiences who get short shrift on theater screens. Several recent studies also have shown that Latino audiences buy a lot of movie tickets. They might buy even more if Hollywood could go beyond its one-size-fits-all approach to reaching various segments of the Latino market.

"'It's sort of like comparing somebody from Texas to somebody from New York,' says Ivette Rodriguez, president of American Entertainment Marketing."

"'Hill staff—particularly those who serve with committees—are the gatekeepers to a very important part of the democratic process,' Rockeymoore says. She says that all-white staffers often lead to 'mainstream' experts being called to testify at hearings, and in this case, 'mainstream' translates into 'white' experts speaking on issues that disproportionately affect people of color, women, and the poor.

"When policy is being crafted post-hearing, the lack of diversity on staff 'creates sub-optimal policies that create sub-optimal results for people of color,' Rockeymoore says, which affect everything from education to job creation. 'What you get is a biased policy-making process that ends up undermining people of color.'”

"A recent analysis of the data found school neighborhoods were increasingly likely to have lower prices and more advertising for Newport cigarettes as the proportion of African-American students rose. The same was true of neighborhoods with higher proportions of children aged 10 to 17.

"The study 'shows the predatory marketing in school neighborhoods with higher concentrations of youth and African-American students,' by the menthol cigarette maker, researcher Lisa Henriksen said in a statement."

"Sonya Grier, an American University marketing professor who also studies race and sociology, said although a company has a right to have such a campaign, but 'some people may consider it unethical, insensitive or just in bad taste.'

"Such campaigns work by relying on associations already in people’s minds — in this case, orange jumpsuits have a strong connection to jails, and thus, crime and punishment, Grier said. 'At a theoretical level, it’s basic marketing.'

"But social context has an influence on the way such campaigns are perceived, leading to 'some unintended consequences'— particularly since there’s been quite a bit of research showing many people believe black men are more likely to commit crimes, she added. Marketing can reinforce that stereotype."

"'This could have been a beautifully brilliant opportunity for the Black Church to talk about molestation, our youth and young adults and how they must be protected,' says the Rev. Kevin E. Taylor, the openly gay New Jersey-based senior pastor of Unity Fellowship Church of New Brusnwick, a predominately black LGBT denomination. 'It could have been a galvanizing moment to separate the wolves from the lions. All of those opportunities were missed.'

“'The church has been pummeled by fondling, fear and secrets for generations,' says Taylor, who is also an author, activist and a veteran BET producer. 'And now with Eddie Long, the Black Church is doing what it’s always done: ‘Don’t Ask and Don’t Tell.’"