Ebony & Ivory - The Essence of History?

Everyone looks at the reaction to the covers of Ebony and Essence and not the underlying problem. Yes, Essence advertised "black love" and had a man who didn't embody that quality gracing the cover and yes, Kimora Lee is half black, so she technically belongs on Ebony's cover. A bigger picture is in play here, though. There is a historical stigma attached to interracial relationships. It is usually more acceptable for a white man to engage in a relationship with a black woman because of the history of white men engaging black women behind the scenes plantation-wise. Black men were torn from their families, therefore the logic stands that once they were able to return and engage their beloved black women, they would not want any other race given the traumatic experience black men have endured during slavery. Black women as a result feel rejected because of black men that choose "the enemy" over them considering the struggle they have had to go through, which is psychologically the mindset of those who are angry to this day when a white woman is seen with a successful black man. We often forget the years of programming that blacks have been accustomed to and blame it on jealousy, further damaging the black woman's image. We can see the opposite reaction in the Tiger Woods story, where there was a survey taken by ABC viewers over who was the worst behaved celebrity in 2009. Over a celebrity who beat up his girlfriend and was charged with a crime in court, Tiger Woods was chosen as the worst behaved. Is it any wonder why black women are cautious but deemed paranoid when their country sees a black man who cheated on his white wife as worse behaved than a black man who beat his black girlfriend? Forget the reasoning behind PR and brand management and damage control. There is a message we're sending out to America's black women - and that is that "she" still has a ways to go.

Beat, Don't Cheat

There's something that I have been itching to say for the longest, but because of the controversy between all of my friends during the presidential campaign, I've tried to be neutral about this subject. Now, I've had a burst of my nonchalant mood and I can't hold it in any longer. Most of us have heard one way or another about the Tiger Woods scandal and have commented in secret or on postings or in public vocally. One thing most people keep dancing around concerning this subject is the "race thing." I would never mention it if I hadn't heard this with my own ears and seen on television with my own eyes. Towards the end of the year, ABC Nightline did a survey of the worst behaved celebrities of 2009. Included were the likes of Tiger Woods, the balloon boy, Letterman and Chris Brown. One cheated on his wife, one lied about endangering children, one had sex with many of his staff and the other beat his girlfriend to a pulp. Imagine my horror when the survey came back that Tiger was the worst behaved celebrity who didn't go to jail and Chris was not, the one who is on probation for what he has done. Additionally, Letterman, who did the same thing as Tiger, wasn't even tied. Deciding to place the two black men behaving badly side by side, I thought two things. One, the nation that voted basically is saying that it's ok to beat your girlfriend as long as you don't cheat. Two, over the last few years athletes and celebrities have cheated with women of their own race and there was never any big problem until Tiger crossed that precious line. Most of us can agree we're tired of hearing about it, but it's strange that it gets more airtime than most scandals out there. Historically, we who know the relations of interracial dating have been frowned upon if not violently protested can see that Tiger placed himself in a world of trouble just by marrying woman of another color in the public eye. He was ok, until he got greedy and decided to replicate his sexual preference into secretly dating over a dozen of the same. Remember, this was a national survey, even if this was done tongue in cheek. What is really funny is that I can find video of all of the segments of the awards show on ABC except for that one segment concerning Tiger. That is something to wonder about. Bottom line, are we telling our children that it's ok to beat our black women and it's not ok to cheat with and on white women? I'm just saying, that's what it looks like… Hmmm… What do you think? If you would like to see the youtube version of the celeb misbehaving award, click below: (The segment in question starts at 5:25) http://htxt.it/W4d1

Tiger Recovering from Scars

I've been asked what I think Tiger should do to recover after this scandal. He's obviously on the track to lose millions, even billions. In short, here's my answer: First of all, he needs to get a better management team and image/PR consultant. Allowing personal conflicts to smear his business brand was something that his staff could have mitigated. It seems that speaking publicly about something so private made it even worse, especially the part where he steps down from golfing. By stepping down from his position in the face of adversity makes him look weak and unable to take care of his personal issues and separate it from his business. To rebuild, he will have to get an image makeover, probably focus more on his athletic comeback and keep his personal business quiet. Additionally, he will have to stop addressing his mistresses and the media surrounding the hype. His image was built around his emphasis of family, especially during the building of his career when his late father accompanied him on tour. If he succeeds in saving his marriage, he must make a resolve to keep himself away from situations that may tempt him, i.e. throwing away numbers from groupies, spend more time with his family, bring his family along more often during touring. If Tiger gets a divorce, he should make it as private as possible and focus on his career. As for the sponsors that he lost, he really cannot do much but wait until this scandal blows over. Or, he can pick up sponsors that either do not require a squeaky clean image (Viagra or Trojan maybe?) or do public service announcements that emphasize his desire to rehabilitate (like HIV awareness).

un-Branding Tiger - Not Out of the Woods...

The branding campaign of an entertainment figure can be considered a lifetime project and depending on the decisions made by the individual, their brand is almost synonymous with their person. Whether the brand is Whitney Houston, Miley Cyrus, Mariah Carey, Jay Leno or Venus Williams, the entertainment audience’s response is the gauge of their success and the risk of new releases, ventures and popularity are at times volatile based on the media coverage. One such example of this is the last few months in the life of Tiger Woods. As a professional golfer, Tiger is no doubt the cream of the crop, however, being a successful athlete in today’s world is not just based on athletic skills but sponsorship by leading companies, which brings additional revenue and in turn popularity with the sports audience. At first glance, the Tiger Woods infidelity scandal has been for most an entertaining saga of saucy women and paparazzi-style media speculations between he and his wife. One reality remains – this three-ring circus has dealt a critical hit to the Tiger Woods brand business-wise. The risk of playing the field (pun intended) was high – to be an athlete, one will have groupies; to cheat on your wife as a man in high regard is playing with your career as well as your marriage. If Tiger were not married, none of this would matter, would it? He took the risk of exposing himself to opportunistic groupies by being one of the highest paid athletes, and he took the risk of scandal by engaging them. Buzz Bissinger maintains that Tiger throughout his career endorsed family as a priority, which made his scandal so much more devastating and discrediting. As a result, sponsors felt uneasy to have him endorse their products, because if he were to tell untruths about his priorities, then his endorsements about their products were shady as well. Several things could have been done to prevent the scandal, or the magnitude of the scandal. Of course, most point out that he either should have not gotten married in the first place, or at least made a decision to be faithful to his wife in spite of the many offers dangled in his face, even by his manager, which brings me to another solution – he should have had a better manager and/or image consultant. His response to the media after the scandal was presented was done improperly. The story would not have been as exciting if Tiger did not attempt to pay off one of the mistresses, especially knowing there were at least 14 more women that could also benefit waiting in the wings. As soon as he paid her, it was acknowledging that her demands were validated, in turn validating all the others, whether it was true or not. The last thing that could have been done differently was the public confession and departure from golf. Major athletes have been accused of infidelity for decades, but what separates Tiger from the rest is his confession to the world concerning a private matter between he and his wife. To allow the public in to private matters was a huge mistake and immediately after his sponsors started pulling their campaigns, a blow to the successful Tiger brand. Departing from golf further damaged his credibility, showing that he could not handle his business affairs (no pun intended) and personal life at the same time. According to the article Tiger Woods in Vanity Fair: Tiger in the Rough in the Washington Post, his brand will probably not be what it once was, meaning that his revenue will likely take a hit. Reference: Bissinger, Buzz. (December 2009). Tiger Woods in Vanity Fair: Tiger in the Rough. Washington Post Online. Retrieved January 10, 2010 from http://htxt.it/PzsH

is feeling so "Hebre

is feeling so "Hebrew National" right now... Someone hand me a hot dog!