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Show 16 THE SIGNPOST Wednesday, May 9, 1990 ho e ads creating controversy (USAACIN) Looking street sharp and intimidating in a leather jacket, Los Angeles Laker Magic Johnson perches atop a vintage Cadillac in a Converse ad for the company's Magic line of athletic shoes. In another Converse ad, tennis ace Jimmy Connors cuddles his wife in a family setting. The Johnson ad campaign carries the caption "Chillin';" Connors' ad is called "Heartthrob." "Chillin' " is among a number of ads that demonstrate what critics say is a different marketing strategy for black athletes. They say the strategy glamorizes aggressive behavior and has the effect of encouraging some teens to steal or sell drugs to come up with money for the expensive shoes. "Do they have the right to hit that intensity spot (in kids) where you have kids killed over a $130 pair of shoes?" asked Wendell White, a Detroityouth drug abuse counselor. "They're raking in millions of dollars, but how many millions are worth a child's life?" George Boykin, a black advertising executive, said it's not unusual to find blacks seen negatively in advertising. "When white agencies are given the assignment of dealing with African-Americans they inevitably portray them in less than a positive manner," said Boykin, assistant to the president of Vince-Cullers Advertising, a black-owned advertising agency in Chicago. "We in the industry tend to be dismayed by the way we are portrayed by white agencies. We feel we have a responsibility to ourselves to portray ourselves in a positive manner." Against a backdrop of growing criticism among blacks, Nike and Reebok are changing their marketing and advertising strategies. The companies say, however, that the changes are unrelated to the controversy. Reebok last month reassigned its $40-million U.S. athletic shoe advertising account. Nike, which spends $60 million annually on advertising, announced last month that it will spend $5 million on television ads that attempt to sell kids on the classroom instead of shoes. "We try hard, andhave always tried, to make sure people featured in our ads are the best role models," said Nike spokeswoman Liz Dolan. "You would be hard pressed to find better models than Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson and David Robinson. We have always taken the extra step of making sure they are also great citizens." Persephone Miller, president of P. Hunter and Associates, a marketing research firm in Chicago, said the problem lies in white companies' lack of knowledge concerning black consumers. "Companies maintain erroneous perceptions (about black consumers) or make new ones," Miller said. "Subconsciously, ads with black athletes are more physical because that's the way they see us. They don't take time to listen to black ad execs." Bob Garfield, a media critic for Advertising Age magazine, said he sees no link between advertising for high-priced athletic shoes and crime. "Using Michael Jordan, David Robinson and any succession of blacks appealing largely to black purchasers is discrimination, but that's what marketing is," Garfield said. "(Companies) try to figure out what your audience is ... and try to sell to them. Advertising obviously stimulates demand and that's a good thing. "Now the problem is ghetto crime. While it's true people have been robbed for their shoes, it has more to do with the ghetto than shoes. People are looking so hard to find someone to blame for problems so deep-rooted." Richard Garrison, chairman of Ingalls, . Quinn & Johnson the white-owned Boston agency that created the Converse ads said, "I don't think it's fair to say the shoe manufacturers are the cause of the problem." At shoemaker L.A. Gear, Louis Zuckerbraun, print supervisor for in-house advertising, discounts claims that blacks, or any other ethnic group, are being singled out by mass advertising. "If you're talking about television in prime time, about 20 million people are going to see it," Zuckerbraun said. "For people to say you're targeting one group is ridiculous. Advertising in Ebony, Jet, or Hispanic Monthly, you're (spending) $10,000 as opposed to $250,000 to appeal to a much narrower audience. Our target audience is to reach as many people as we can. It doesn't matter who's buying the shoes." By MICHAEL JAMES Copyright 1990, USA TODAY Apple College Info. Network Sports Briefs MISSOURI HIT WITH 15 CHARGES: The Missouri men's basketball program faces 15 charges of NCAA rules violations, with at least two more pending. But coach Norm Stewart Monday classified many of them "minor" and said the Tigers came through almost 16 months of inquiry "in great shape." He did say, though, that he takes any violation of NCAA rules seriously. POISSON WINS SIXTH TOUR STAGE: French pro Pascal Poisson outsprinted Irish amateur Paul McCormack to win the 125-mile sixth stage of Monday's Tour de Trump. Poisson, riding for the "ZVKickers team, finished in 5 hours, 25 minutes and 29 seconds. Coors Light's Todd Gogulski of Boulder, Colo., finished third. Soviet amateur Viatcheslav Bobrik was 39th, but remains the overall leader. SIX HORSES EXPECTED: Only five other horses from the Kentucky Derby are expected to join winner Unbridled in the May 19 Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown. Many trainers say the Triple Crown campaign is too grueling for a 3-year-old horse. Others expected: Land Rush, Real Cash, Summer Squall, Pleasant Tap and Mister Frisky. jjhe Wilderness Recreation Center is moving to the new gymnasium and has. CAW" . -Jkl-V pplications are available at the WRC UB Room 273 pplications must be submitted before May 30, 1990 For more information call 6 2 6 - 6 3 7 3 |