The AC Phoenix
January 2006
Page 39
BLflCKonomics
Use Vour Spending Power To
Empower Yourselues
By: James Clingman
The news keeps coming out every week. Black folks’ so-called
“spending power” Is on the rise, and corporate marketers are devising
more ways to take advantage of this “newfound” treasure. The latest
news comes from an article In Black
Enterprise Magazine, Black Spending
Power Tops $630 Billion - Advertisers
respond to the steadily increasing econom
ic clout of the African-American consumer,
by Tamara E. Holmes. I call it “Black
spending weakness,” but let’s take an
In-depth look at our so called, “spending
power.”
Way back in 1986, I worked for a Black-
owned marketing firm in Chicago, and I
remember doing a sales presentation to
executives of a certain company that
would, if approved, give our firm a contract
to promote that company’s products. Of
course, we specialized in marketing to the
By James Clingman
Black consumer. I will never forget the attitude of one of the V.P.’s of
that company. He was just passing time listening to us, probably just
waiting to get back to his desk and file a report that said he had spoken
to a Black company, thus, having done his affirmative action thing for the
year.
I will also never forget one of the questions he asked, as well as the
implication of his question. He came with the preconceived notion that
his company had no reason to advertise or spend dollars on a Black
consumer marketing campaign, despite the consumption index of his
products by Black people being three times the average amount. Why?
Well, his question will enlighten you. He asked, no, he suggested,
through his question, that Black people don’t read anyway, so why
should he do more advertising and marketing? He also implied that
since Black people already spend large sums of their money on his prod
ucts and continue to be the loyal consumers they are, it would make no
sense for him to spend money for something he is already getting free.
And you know what? He was absolutely right. I was mad, but he was
right. I got no contract, and he continued to get millions of dollars in
sales from Black consumers. According to the article in B.E.: “Black
people’s spending represents the margin of profitability for a number of
consumer products. African-Americans have the capacity to use their
spending power to influence corporate decisions on employment,
investment, and purchasing practices that would benefit the Black
community, including Black businesses.” Oh really? Then why aren’t we
using that power?
The article goes on to say: “More than $1.5 billion is being spent on
advertising targeting African Americans by national advertisers,” says
Ken Smikle, president of Chicago-based research and information
company Target Market News. “Marketers are getting more and more
intelligent every day.” Did it take them 20 years to gain such knowledge
about their Black consumers? And, when you compare a measly $1.5
billion to Blacks’ $630 billion, (and even more by some reports) you have
to like the return on their investments.
Another interesting point made by Smikle is, “One of the indicators of
how well we’re doing and how important that growth is to African-
Americans can be seen in the increase of dollars contributed to political
organizations, political parties and political candidates.” My question:
“What about the lack of dollars going into Black business development,
entrepreneurship, and other economic empowering activities?”
Smikle also points to Russell Simmons’ threatened PepsiCo Inc.
boycott as proof of how seriously companies take the importance of
Black spending power and political and economic clout. The boycott
was averted after PepsiCo agreed to donate millions to youth
organizations around the United States. Cuestions: How many
millions? Donations to what organizations? Has anyone followed up to
see if those donations have been made yet?
My final question: What are Black people getting for our $600 billion
to $700 billion in “spending power”? Eirst of all, the only way'we can
have real power is to use it. Ctherwise, words such as “potential,”
“latent,” and “dormant” will continue to dominate when it comes to
African-Americans and our so-called power. How do you know you
have power if you don’t do something that exhibits that power? I
strongly contend that “Black Spending Power” is a misnomer, an
oxymoron. How can we be a powerful people simply by spending? As
the B.E. article implies, our power lies in the act of not spending.
Amos Wilson, in his book. Blueprint for Black Power, cites the words
of Thomas R. Dye, Power and Society: “Economic power is the power
to decide what will be produced, how much it will cost, how many
people will be employed (and laid off), what their wages will be, what the
price of goods and services will be, what profits will be made, how these
profits will be distributed, and how fast the economy will grow.”
Brother Wilson adds, “In capitalistic America the foundation of
economic power is private property whose ownership not only refers to
real estate but also to the ownership of ‘the means of production,’ of
accumulated capital, wealth, [and] surplus production. How can we
have power by spending our money?”
Black spending “power”? I don’t think so. But we could change
things by spending more of our money among our own businesses,
building them up, creating new jobs, and controlling a larger piece of the
overall economy. Power is only power for those who use it. Everybody
else is using our so-called spending power, brothers and sisters. So, in
order to prove we have power, we have to use that power to empower
ourselves.
James Clingman is the author of “Biackonomics.” Contact
James Clingman at (513) 489-4132 or via his Web site:
WWW. Biackonomics. com.
A Prayer For The New
Year
By: Roy Anthony Borges
May the peace, love,
joy and happiness of life
be with us throughout the
New Year. May all our
suspicious doubts and
fears be erased so that
Your light may shine forth
in us all.
Give us the strength to
stop blaming other people
for our problems and the
wisdom to check out our
selves first, for then we
will discover that a major
ity of our problems, sus
picions and wrong deeds
are our own fault.
Teach us to remember
that we pay a price for the
lessons that we learn in this
life and that no matter how smart or tough we think we are, we can be
had. The race of life is not won by the swift and the greedy. Let me be
able to be the same whether I have abundance or poverty.
No one owes us anything and no one in our life is going to be totally true
and faithful to us. So let us stop looking for it and recognize that no one is
perfect, that people are human and make mistakes. Add forgiveness to our
ways and rid us of all bitterness.
Replace in our hearts a desire to know You and a longing to please You,
for we know the rewards shall be great.
May we always be grateful for being alive and realize that no matter what
the problems or circumstances may be that You will carry us through them.