WASHINGTON
D.C. – Toyota Motor Sales USA executives have angered National Newspaper
Publishers Association Chairman Danny Bakewell Sr. and America's preeminent
Black newspaper publishers after the troubled carmaker backed out of a
multi-million dollar advertising campaign targeting Black consumers. In a
letter to Bakewell and the NNPA, Toyota executives said that Black consumers of
Toyota products receive their advertising message from a number of media
channels which include mainstream media (white media), thus implying that
advertising in the Black newspapers was unnecessary.
This
decision comes after months of meetings between Toyota executives and the NNPA,
a network of 200 Black publishers which represents over 19.8 million weekly
readers, approximately half of America's Black population.
“This is
disappointing and intolerable behavior from a company who earned $2.2 billion
from Black consumers last year and who was all too eager to send us their press
releases asking us to write stories and editorials to influence Blacks to
remain loyal in their time of trouble,” said Bakewell. “But now that Toyota's pain has been
eased by a Federal Transportation Department and NASA report, once again the
Black consumer and the Black press have been forgotten.”
Earlier
this year, Toyota's president and CEO, Akio Toyoda said, “Everyone at Toyota
will continuously maintain a sense of gratitude to customers…”
“Based on
Toyota's actions,” Bakewell said, “it appears that Mr. Toyota's statement
applies to everyone but the Black consumer.”
The issue
first surfaced with Toyota's unwillingness to run “Thank you” ads in Black
newspapers. This was after Toyota spent millions advertising in white
newspapers after last year's safety recall.
“Black
people stood by Toyota during their time of crisis to the tune of $2.2
billion,” said Bakewell. “Where is the thank you to Black consumers for their
support and loyalty to Toyota? We just can't stand by and let Toyota disrespect
our people that way.”
NNPA
publishers plan to run full page ads in their newspapers beginning next week in
response to what they feel is another example of Toyota sending a clear and
direct message that Toyota disrespects, undervalues and takes the Black
consumer for granted.
The ads
will ask Akio Toyoda, to stop disrespecting and exploiting Black
consumers…their customers.
“Toyota
insulted us by putting those thank you ads in white newspapers and refusing to
address Black consumers in Black newspapers,” said Walter Smith, publisher of
the New York Beacon.
“What
Toyota is doing is reprehensible,” commented Robert Bogle, publisher of the
Philadelphia Inquirer. “If it's so easy for Toyota to dismiss the Black press,
no wonder they have no problem overlooking thanking their Black consumer base.”
Even
though African Americans contributed $2.2 billion to Toyota's annual sales,
this was the second time that Black newspapers and Black consumers were not
included in Toyota's advertising campaign - the first being Toyota's immediate
response to its sticky gas pedal defect which resulted in full page newspaper
ads in white newspapers in 25 cities.
According
to research from leading automotive marketing research firm R.L. Polk &
Company, Black consumers represent almost 10 percent of Toyota's American
market share - 15 out of every 100 Black consumers purchased a Toyota.
Last
week, Toyota's Vice-President of Product Communications James Colon left a
phone message for Bakewell instructing him that he planned to reach out
directly to NNPA's publishers in an effort to bypass the organization's
leadership and speak directly to the organization's member newspapers, an
unprecedented move which clearly violates protocol.
In an
attempt to defend the letter Mike Michels, Toyota spokesperson stated, “We
communicate with advertising media directly all of the time, so a communication
to a variety of news media one kind or another I don't think is unusual. The
discussion with NNPA chairman and his negotiating team hasn't had a
satisfactory outcome certainly for NNPA. And so the purpose of the
communication was to express our commitment to the African American community
and to reiterate that while it's being said that we don't have a commitment we
do indeed. Long story short, we wanted the members to know our side of the
story.”
“I wish
him good luck but I don't think that our publishers will break rank with me,
after all we're smarter than that,” said Bakewell. “That's what Toyota
executives don't give us credit for. We know all too well the history of the
Willie Lynch syndrome to divide and conquer.”
Peggy
Hunt, publisher of the Tri-County Sentry in California said that she was very
offended by Colon's suggestion that she break rank and not follow the strong
and unwavering leadership of NNPA's Chairman Mr. Bakewell.
“Mr.
Colon wouldn't and isn't going to get us to break rank and support Toyota,”
commented Hunt. “I was in the meeting when Mr. Colon committed to a partnership
with NNPA and he has clearly broken his word. For Mr. Colon to then come back
to the table with a drastically different proposal offering us less than what
we agreed upon while excluding prior conversations regarding an annual
advertising schedule with Black newspapers directed towards Black consumers
shows that he and Toyota are taking the Black press for granted.”
“I am not
surprised at Toyota's lack of commitment,” commented Smith. “Toyota has a long
history of insulting and ignoring African Americans. In 1985, the Prime
Minister of Japan Yasuhiro Nakasone said that Japan was more intelligent than
countries like the United States because they didn't have a lot of Blacks,
Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans. He
felt that ethnic minorities were low level and brought the intelligence quota
down, an unforgivable statement. So what Toyota is doing with the NNPA is of no
surprise to me.”
Currently,
Toyota's spends $1.6 billion annually advertising in America of which $20
million is spent in total in Black media, including radio, print, television,
and digital advertising. However,
Bakewell pointed out, the media Toyota uses to reach Black people is not always
Black owned even though Toyota claims to spend $20 million with Black owned
media.
Burrell
Communications, Toyota's advertising agency of record for the African American
market, has repeatedly claimed that Toyota's commitment to diversity is
reflected in their partnerships with many highly respected minority
organizations throughout the country.
And while
calls to Burrell's Co-CEO Fay Ferguson were not returned, Toyota's James Colon
was quick to point out in his letter to NNPA's publishers that through
partnerships with Black organizations, Toyota has demonstrated their commitment
to Black people.
Bakewell
says that given the $2.2 billion spent by Black consumers with Toyota, he's
issuing a challenge to Toyota regarding the amount of money they spend with
national Black civil rights organizations including the NAACP, Rainbow PUSH,
National Action Network, National Urban League, UNCF, NCNW and others. A good
start from Toyota would be to give each of these organizations $3 million
annually. They do the business of defending and enhancing the quality of life
for African Americans and our communities and they shouldn't have to do that on
a shoestring budget.
Ben Jealous,
president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
said, “The NAACP supports Chairman Bakewell and the NNPA. We hope Toyota will
see the value in partnering with the Black press every year. They are our most trusted publications.”
Many of
NNPA's publishers were shocked at the audacity of Toyota to bypass their
elected chairman and leader, a move many say illustrates the disrespect that
Toyota has for African Americans.
“It was
very disrespectful to contact our membership directly and not go through our
leadership which he (Mr. Colon) had been in constant contact with,” said
Michael House, president of the Chicago Defender and Chair of the NNPA
Marketing Committee. “For him to
disregard our leadership and our chairman and try to go to our publishers
directly was disrespectful in the sense that it- speaks to the old 'divide and
conquer'. Trying to reach to our
membership individually was wrong, especially after our elected leadership had
already spoken for our members.
“NNPA is
unified,” commented Mollie Belt, publisher of the Dallas Examiner. “We communicate with 20 million Black
people every week. We have the trust and respect of the Black community. We are
the voice of Black people and for Toyota to go around our elected leadership
directly to our members shows a huge sign of disrespect. That would be like
NNPA going over Toyota's American representatives directly to Mr. Toyoda in
Japan.”
Bakewell
says that he plans to call on the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus to
request hearings regarding Toyota's relationship and business practices with
the African American community.
“And we
will attempt to get a meeting with Toyota's chairman,” said Bakewell.
“…including going to Japan if necessary.” So if Jim Colon wants to play that game we can play it too. We will ask
the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus to lead a delegation of Black
newspaper publishers and leaders to Japan so that we can speak directly to
Toyota's leadership,” said Bakewell.
“Black
newspapers are tried, true, and trusted when it comes to Black people in
America,” the chairman said. “We are the gatekeepers for reaching Black
people. Ford and GM understand
that, as do other corporations like AT&T and Wells Fargo. When corporations want and need to
reach the African American consumer they see Black newspapers as the vehicle
through which to reach Black people. Toyota needs to stop trivializing the
power of the Black press and understand that all we want is for Toyota to give
Black people the same kind of respect and reciprocity that they give their
white consumers.”
“We will
not let up or relent until Toyota does right by our people and I am not alone.
I am 200 Black newspaper publishers strong, with the support of 19.8 million
weekly readers throughout America, “stated Bakewell on behalf of the NNPA.
Copyright
2011 NNPA
