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Companies/entrepreneurs are coming up with “innovative” ways to market and advertise to us, and it seems as if we can’t get away from cameras when we go out into the public domain. This will probably never change, but the fact that a computer program details what types of ads to show me based on what I look like (stereotypes)…seems, well, very biased.

I think I’d be ready to blow a gasket, if suddenly, based on my appearance-- weave, watermelon, and fried chicken ads appeared. I do like watermelon…no, love watermelon, and enjoy homecooked fried chicken, along with tons of other things, but you get my point.

“They are equipping billboards with tiny cameras that gather details about passers-by—their gender, approximate age, and how long they looked at the billboard. These details are transmitted to a central database. The goal, these companies say, is to tailor a digital display to the person standing in front of it—to show one advertisement to a middle-aged white woman, for example, and a different one to a teenage
Asian boy.” READ MORE...

Check out this video produced by Quividi, which produces audience measurement software. In the video, the video software captures the activity of shoppers while they browse and make purchases in a store. Quividi in Action

Check out Motomedia's StreetlevelBillboardsTM. Can you visualize one of those digital billboard ads changing (in front of your face) to another product based on what you look like? What I am reading is, the tracking is similar to statistical tracking website stat software does. But our browser can't see what color we are or how old we are or tell our age. Well...can it?!

Man oh man, I hope this isn't true. They are my favorite tennis players. But the reality is, there are many blacks that don't patronize other black owned services or businesses. There is an excellent interview over at Black Tennis Pros blog with blackprofessional tennis coach, Morris King, Jr., photo'd with Richard Williams. King has coached the sisters in the past and here is what he had to say on their hiring practices:

Q: What did you like the most and the least about working with Richard Williams and his daughters?

A: The opportunity itself is what I liked the most. What I liked the least I cannot say due to the agreement. But I will say that I don't like the fact that the sisters, since having reached their majority age (meaning that they make their own decisions due to adulthood) ONLY hire whites, unless the person is a family member.

I am one of those Blacks that was arrested in the 60's for protest marching so that there could be a Venus and Serena Williams as world champions. I was a mere 12 years old when I went to jail (juvenile shelter) so that our people could have the opportunity to achieve success. Does anyone actually believe that I and others placed our lives on the line so that Black folk could have opportunity, then, in turn, give away any resulting opportunities to others, when there are exceptionally competent, talented and professional Black folk available who need a break??? This is a very obvious manifestation of a hidden and deeper self-hatred.

Reference:
Black Tennis Pros

Photo Credit:
Magian10s.com

Critics of this ad are buzzing about the tight clothes and stilletos the young children wear in this advertisement. Do you see this as innocently creative advertisement? What about parents who buy these types of clothing for children, are they being irresponsible parents by buying clothes such as the child models have in Beyonce's House of Dereon children's clothing line? Do you find nothing wrong with the ad?

Conservative political pundit and columnist, Michelle Malkin's title of her column on the subject: "KIDDIE-PORN CHIC: BEYONCE'S TINY HO'S" was highly inappropriate, but I understand the point she is trying to make, and agree with most of her column. Beyonce, like most child stars, and I am speculating, may have missed most of her childhood due to performing, and probably matured quite fast and obviously sees nothing wrong with this ad, so I could see some justification as to why she would market her product in this fashion. I don't agree with how children are presented in the ad.

Malkin writes:

"If you thought the soft-porn image of Disney teen queen Miley Cyrus - wearing nothing but ruby-stained lips and a bedsheet - in Vanity Fair magazine was disturbing, you ain’t seen nothing yet. [The young models] are seductively posed and tarted up, JonBenet Ramsey-style, with lipstick, blush and face powder…The creepiness factor is heightened by the fact that women were responsible for marketing this child exploitation. So, what’s next? Nine-year-olds performing stripper routines?"
READ MORE...

His company offers a service similar to an insurance type plan or a AAA membership. Think along those line. First you sign up for membership, and once you become a member, your moving violation tickets will be paid.

Moving violations covered according to the website: red lights, stop signs, yield signs, etc. Sounds like a good service if you are addicted to traffic tickets or if you are a person who likes to have insurance for everything.


Trafficare costs $12.95 a month and you're allowed up to seven moving violations a year. And, the cost covers fines and increases in insurance premiums.

The advantages they list to becoming a member, especially if you are a serial ticket recipient include:

• Saves you money
• Saves you time
• No trips to court
• No time off work
• No attorney needed
• No court cost
• Traffic Tickets are paid guaranteed
• Increased insurance premiums paid guaranteed
• Defensive driving paid guaranteed
• Driver safety courses paid guaranteed

For more info visit: www.trafficare.net

The Fort Wayne, Indiana company settled an U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) age, race, and retaliation lawsuit. The company will have to pay total of $580,000 and up to $5,000 in settlement administrative expenses. It doesn’t pay to discriminate, IF you get caught.

According to the EEOC: “Renhill Services, Inc. violated federal law by failing to refer African American applicants and applicants age 40 for work assignments. Further, the EEOC said, Renhill unlawfully retaliated against employees who objected to these referral practices.” READ MORE...

HOW IRONIC? As soon as you click on Renhill's website there is a large image of a BLACK woman on the homepage, then photos of others flash. She's the first face you see.

Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis is featured in two EEOC Anti-Discrimination PSA. Follow the jump to see the video.

This story link was found in the Inside Black Hollywood magazine. According to website Six Shot, Nelly is business partnering to build a multimillion dollar athletic facility:

"Nelly and Larry Hughes of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, both St. Louis natives, have reportedly teamed up to build a multi-million dollar athletic facility in their hometown.

According to The St. Louis Business Journal, Hughes and Nelly’s development company, Nelly Inc., plan to build the massive athletic complex on 60 acres of farmland at Page Avenue, near the Maryland Heights expressway." READ MORE...

This is an old story from late summer which buzzed heavily on women, urban, black, and some law blogs, so I thought I would add it for those who did not hear about it. A Glamour Magazine junior-level editor lectured to women about corporate fashion at New York City law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Well, what she said did not fare well with some of the African American attorneys in attendance at the presentation.
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FolioMag.com reported:
“During the presentation the editor said that “political” hairstyles such as Afros and dreadlocks are a “Glamour don’t.” Several of the African American women in the audience took offense. Since then, the story—which was first reported in the August issue of American Lawyer—has been circulated in the form of a chain e-mail, a Glamour spokesperson says. The incident even led to a segment that aired on NPR. “

NPR adds (note: title drops from junior editor to staffer):
"The staffer suggested that certain hairstyles were not ideal for the workplace. During the talk she showed a picture of a woman with an afro, calling it "a real no-no." She moved on to dreadlocks, calling them "shocking" and claiming that those "political hairstyles really have to go."

Photo Credit: AP

The curtains have closed on Stanley. Well he won't be hurting for cash, since his severance pay package will be over $160 million dollars. With that kind of dough, at least he can feed his family.

Yahoo! News reports:

"NEW YORK (AP) -- The unfolding credit crisis has claimed its biggest corporate casualty so far: Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'Neal.

The announcement of his departure Tuesday came after the world's largest brokerage posted a $2.24 billion quarterly loss, its biggest since being founded 93 years ago. Merrill Lynch did not name a replacement for O'Neal, whose ouster had been expected, and who leaves the company with benefits worth $161.5 million." READ MORE...