Toyota has made and sold cars and trucks in the United States for almost 60 years, and the company states that two tenets guide all of its business practices, “continuous improvement and respect for people and all consumers equally.”
While
Toyota admits that recent data indicates that African American consumers have
strongly embraced Toyota products, the company doesn’t indicate to what degree
and what data substantiates those claims. More importantly, Toyota’s actions
don’t bear out those claims when we, as Black newspapers, receive less than $2
million a year in advertising from this corporate giant that spends over $1.2
billion a year in advertising and who Black consumers spend over $2 billion
dollars a year with on Toyota product purchases. Is that respect and equality?
Toyota
indicates that it works closely with their advertising agency of record in
developing their national media strategy and if this is the case, then there
must be limited recommendations and actions coming out of these discussions
based on what we see as efforts directed at Black consumers.
Toyota
and its executive level management “talks the talk” but does not “walk the
walk.” We as the Black Press of America seek nothing other than Fairness,
Reciprocity and Respect. Nothing more.
And we
will accept nothing less.
