OPINION/ FORUM
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Chronicle
Ernest H. Pitt
Elaine Pur
Michael A. Pitt
T. Kevin Walker
Publisher/Co-Founder
Business Manager
Marketing
Managing Editor
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Press Association
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Do You have the
Oprah Effect
Within You?
Cheryl
Pearson
McNeil
Guest
Columnist
Oprah has left the building
- at least the one where "The
Oprah Winfrey Show" was
taped. And we're all aware
she's moved on to bigger (and
knowing Oprah, probably mo'
better) things. As a matter of
fact, I just hung up from
speaking with my mom who
is already quoting psycholo
gists from Oprah's cable network OWN. So chances are Lady
O will continue to have an ongoing impact on our lives.
At Nielsen, the world's largest market ingwssearch company,
we measure what consumers watch and buy globally. And over
the years we've followed Oprah a number of ways: from our rat
ings service, which measured her syndicated daytime show
(watched by approximately 7.4 million people daily, or 26 per
cent of all American households diring the first two weeks of
May this year) to our Nielsen Bookscan service which has
tracked the success of "Oprah's Book Club" picks.
As a cultural and media icon, the woman had a powerful
influence on some of America's buying habits. CNN even pro
duced a special about this phenomenon and the impact it had on
driving success for a company or product. It's known as The
Oprah Effect. Take Chicago-based Garrett Popcorn (which I
wish had a western suburb outlet because trekking into the city
whenever 1 have out-of-town guests who have to have it gets old
on Oprah. According
to CNN sales jumped
by 100 percent after a
December 2002
"Oprah's Favorite
Things" show. And.
consider that Atlanta
based Spanx (the fash
ionable body shapers
that make those of us
over 25 look like we
still have a 25 year
old's body... er. kinda...
) was almost unheard of
until the founder
appeared on Oprah and
netted the company a
subsequent $350 mil
lion in retail sales. Any
product that was good
enough for Oprah was
good enough for the
rest of us (which
explains why I have a
OWN Phoio
The iconic Oprah Winfrey.
stunningly beautiful pink and brown stripped chair in my guest
room that doesn't match anything in there, but I saw it in "O"
Magazine and had to have it). Oprah has style and over the years,
it rubbed off on the rest of us.
But of all the things I love about Oprah, it was her ability
to make reading "cool" again. I'm an avid reader, and in two
rooms of my home I have floor-to-ceiling built-in bookshelves
that are filial to the ratters with books to prove it.
Because of Oprah, suddenly I had girlfriends who hacki't
picked up books since our freshman English Lit class calling
me saying. "Giirrrl, did you read Oprah's book of the month?
Whew! It. Was. Deep. Honey!" And although I dich't person
ally read many of her selections (the ones I tried were actually a
little on the depressing side and 1 don't like books that make me
weep through more than one chapter). Nielsen's Bookscan
numbers don't lie - I was clearly in the minority. In the last
decade. "Oprah's Book Club" choices - which ranged from older
classics to lesser known works to Pulitzer Prize-winners -
translated into more than 22 million copies sold That's a lot of
readers.
For example. Oprah Pick #54 (September 22, 2005): "A
Million Little Pieces" by James Frey (which ultimately turned
out to be a fraud), made Frey a household name and sold a stun
ning 2.7 million copies in Oprah trade paperback; compared to
the hardcover, which sold 149.500. Another previously
unknown work. Oprah Pick #63 (September 17, 2009): "Say
You're One of Them" by Uwem Akpan, enjoyed a whopping
853 percent increase in sales after his appearance.
Not only did Lady O encourage America to read, she gave her
audience choices in how they could read. I'm old school - I like
my books with pages that I can turn down at the comers, cud
dle up with on a rainy day. and place in alphabetical order on one
of my bookshelves when I've finished Oprah raved about the
new electronic reading (eReadei>) devices like the Kindle. And
according to Nielsen. 61 perdent of eReader owners opt to snug
gle up in bed with this modem convenience, rather than a con
ventional book.
Oprah epitomizes what I write about (OK, sometimes I can
be a little preachy) regularly in this column: using our con
sumer power for good. If we could sprinkle a little of her fairy
empowerment dust throughout the land so that everyone under
stood the power of choices, there'd be no stopping the econom
ic impact we could all have on the world
Cheryl Pearson-McNeil is the senior vice president of Public
Affairs aid Government Relations for Nielsen. For more infor
mation and studies, go to www.nielsenwire.com .
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New Migration Needed for Blacks
George
Curry
Guest
Columnist
When two million Blacks
moved from the rigidly-segre
gated South to the North, West
and Midwest from 1910 to
1930, it was called the Great
Migration. When another five
million African-Americans fled
the South between 1940 and
1970, many seeking good jobs
and a better life in New York,
Los Angeles, Chicago,
Cleveland and Detroit, it was
called the Second Great
Migration.
U.S. Trade Representative
Ron Kirk thinks it is now
time for a Third Great
Migration, this one to far
flung cities around the world
He advanced that argument in
his office, which is directly
across the street from the Old
Executive Office Building.
"Whether you're Black,
White, Brown or whatever, the
No. 1 concern of American
families is: 'Where am I going
to find a job? More impor
tantly, where is this kid that I
just spent x amount of money
getting out of college going to
find a job?"' ^
The job market has under
gone a global revolution.
"1 don't know why my
friend* are upset when 1 say to
them, 'If all your kids do is
what we've been doing, we
haven't advanced the ball.'"
said Kirk, who served as mayor
of Dallas and Texas Secretary
of State. "Our kids are going
to live in London, in
Shanghai, or in Abuja
(Nigeria). It's just as likely
they'll be stationed in
Johannesburg as Detroit or
New York."
That migration to London,
Shanghai, Abuja and
Johannesburg has been pro
pelled by new
opportunities
opened up by
advances in tech
nology and the
international
removal of quotas,
tariffs and outra
geous export fees.
And there's
also Sutton's Law.
When bank robber
Willie Sutton was
asked why he robbed banks, he
reputedly replied, "Because
that's where the money is."
Sutton's law dictates that one
does not ignore the obvious.
"One way to create wealth
and a better life - assuming
you make something - is to
think about selling it to the 95
percent of the people who
don't call the United States
home," Kirk advised "If you
look at the Fortune 100 com
panies, the absolute common
denominator among them right
now is that they, for the most
part, are singularly looking at
how they are going to access
these hundreds of millions of
young people who are growing
Kirk
up in Africa, Asia, India, and
Latin America and are hungry
for something called, 'Made in
America.'"
Kirk said African
Americans have not exploited
their special connections to
Africa and the Caribbean.
"Corporate America real
izes, 'If I am going to go to
Brazil, 1 better find somebody
who speaks Spanish and under
stands the culture,"' he said.
"If I am going to Africa, I am
much better served
by having somebody
who understands the
values, reflects the
culture and knows
the ropes in Kenya,
Ghana and West
Africa. I want our
young people to
realize, 'You're more
marketable now in a
global, competitive
society than you
might have ever been.' But
you got to think globally."
Black businesses must also
look beyond the shores of the
United States, the trade official
said. He said the Commerce
Department and his office pro
vides assistance to small busi
nesses trying to engage in
international trade.
"The generation that grew
up on the Web - where they
live, breathe, educate and shop
- is a little less intimidated,"
Kirk said. "I tell people, once
you put up a Web site, you're
global. On the Web, nobody
knows whether you're a
woman. Catholic, Black, tall
or straight. All they want to
know is, 'I see you got a prod
uct. I think it might be able to
help me. How do I get at it?'
If you're not intimidated by
doing business over the Web, I
don't think it's that much of a
leap to begin thinking about
global trade."
Despite anti-American sen
timent in some countries, Kirit
said the U.S. is still a strong
brand
"They'll complain that
maybe our predicts cost a lit
tle more," Kirk said "They
will complain, 'You preach to
us too much. You come over
here and tell us about corrup
tion, democracy, rule of law
and, frankly, if we do a deal
with China, we don't have to
go through all of that.'
"But at the end of the day,
there is an implied value
proposition that if I buy this
from George and Ron, it'll
probably work the way they
say it will. It's not counter
feit. If something goes
wrong, America has a legal
system that can help me hold
them accountable.' That's a
huge advantage for us."
Kiric strikes a cautionary
note about international busi
ness. "It's a huge opportunity,"
he said, "but don't rush into
it."
George E. Curry, former
editor-in-chief of Emerge mag
azine and the NNPA News
Service, is a keynote speaker,
modentor end media coach. He
cat be reached through his Web
site, www.georgecurry.com .
The End of Homeownership?
Marc
Morial
Guest
Columnist
"A house is made of
walls and beams; a home is
built with love and dreams."
Homeownership, as we
know it, could be a thing of
the past if a proposed
Qualified Residential
Mortgage Rule (QRM) takes
effect. In a letter I sent last
week to the heads of the six
federal agencies charged with
developing risk retention
regulations under the Dodd
Frank Wall Street Reform
Act, 1 pointed out that the
proposed rule would be espe
cially damaging to the home
owner aspirations of minori
ty and working class citi
zens. Here's why.
The rule would require
prospective borrowers to
present a 20 percent down
payment, spend less than 28
percent of their monthly
gross income on housing and
have total monthly house
hold debt capped at less than
36 percent. Most people
can't afford to put 20 percent
down. And, when coupled
with an additional require
ment of near pristine person
al credit standards, these pro
posed requirements could end
the standard 30-year fixed
mortgage and replace it with
a new class of "high risk"
borrowers, formerly known
as the responsible middle
class borrower.
Housing industry experts
agree. In April, a coalition
of trade groups including the
National Association of
Realtors, the National
Association of Homebuyers
and the Mortgage Bankers
Association issued a joint
report, saying in part that it
would take 14 years for the
typical American family to
save enough money for a 20
percent down payment.
They added, "A 20 percent
down payment requirement
for the QRM means that
even the most creditworthy
and diligent first-time home
buyer cannot qualify for the
lowest rates and safest prod
ucts in the market."
John Taylor, CEO of the
National Community
Reinvestment Coalition
calls this a civil rights
issue. He said, "What has
been proposed essentially
creates a separate and unequal
system of finance for people
of color and for blue-collar,
working-class people where
regardless of your creditwor
thiness, or whether you're
someone who has a great
credit score and pays your
bills on time and plays by
all the rules, if you're not
well-heeled enough to come
up with 20% or if your
household debt to income
ratios are high ... you're
going to go into a separate
and unequal category of
financing where you're going
to have to pay more." We
agree.
Adding high minimum
down-payment requirements
will only exclude hundreds
of thousands of consumers -
including legions of minori
ty renters - from homeown
ership. And any rule or
action that further stifles an
already severely depressed
housing market for first-time
buyers, including many
minorities, will also nega
tively suppress the entire
housing indistry - realtors,
builders, retailers, suppliers
and many others. Clearly,
what is being proposed is
anti-jobs, anti-growth, and
in absolute contravention of
the American Dream.
The American home, by
definition, reflects much
more than mere property. It
represents the ability to
build wealth for all those
with a stable income and a
demonstrated history of
financial responsibility. It
is the foundation of family
and community and repre
sents the collective promise
of the chance to build pros
perity that lasts through gen
erations.
The National Urban
League believes this promise
must be reaffirmed and pro
tected in whatever form the
new housing finance model
ultimately takes.
Mart H. Morial is the
president and CEO of the
National Urban League.