Comments on: Does a Race have a brand?

By: iluvblackwomen

iluvblackwomen — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:46:02 +0000

That is an interesting question something that Wayne and i have talked about over the course of my short life on Twitter almost 1 year in 2 weeks it will be 1 year. I am iluvblackwomen on twitter along with whatblkmenthink, kulturefirst, urbanlitreview and other Black oriented Brands. I make money marketing strictly to African Americans and i have Major Black Brands for whom i manage their online social media presence. So i would definitely answer YES Race is a Brand!

However i would also say that like Football for instance you cant control what 1 or a bunch of ppl do that impacts negatively on your Brand if that Brand is generic and broad like BLACK or Football. You have your great days like when President Barack Obama spoke during his campaign on RACE or after the presidential debates. Then you have your bad days like during and after the BET Awards. That is why i tweet furiously against negative images that impact on my BRAND ie: BLACK and that is also why i promote ppl and things that are GREAT like @elonjames and his @weekinblackness and The Week In Blackness Youtube Channel.

I get the feeling that some feel twitter is becoming BlackPlanetish or Myspaceish to that i say it is a part of growth. I also believe strongly in the freedom of the INTERNET so while there are ppl wilding out in the middle of the day making negative/embarassing trending topics; the freedom of the internet allows ppl like me to combat that. I just wish that more Black Brands would take the protection of the Brand seriously. Some days it feels like its just me and blackweb20 LOL

By: LaVeda H. Mason

LaVeda H. Mason — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:00:02 +0000

I don’t have much to add, except to give an AMEN!

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:12:36 +0000

Hey Wayne. @kyraocity here and thanks for your post. Funny I have been working on discussing race as a “brand” for human beings since developing a TED Talk as a 2009 TED Fellow this year. My project is called RACISM AS A RESOURCE (YIMBY). =-O
Love the image of all the social media innovators. I participated and blogged about the #thatsafrican Twitter thread that caused Twensorship on Twitter. People are so uncomfortable with conversations of race/racism and they keep saying the same things or reacting the same way which is producing the same if not more results = more racism. Hmmm. Perhaps we should look at how we’ve been approaching this thing a bit more and stop trying to change somethign we clearly haven’t got a grip on yet. But you ain’t hear it from me. =-X

Just finished teaching a morning class in Black Studies titled THE EVOLUTION AND EXPRESSIONS OF RACISM (love that title!). I had a class of 35 students sit in a circle sorted by skin color. Then I gave the darker section the itemized list by Peggy McIntosh on White Privilege and gave a lighter section of the circle the book NIGGER by Randall Kennedy and had them read p. 17-20. They alternated between the two readings and segments of the racial spectrum. It was amazing. I am out to teach them how structural racism works on the local level but is constructed through laws and practices that everyday people even innocent children uphold.

Race may be a pigment of our imagination but resisting conversations of race/racism has more to do with how we talk and converse than skin color itself. But all this translates into very real privilege as the film TRACES OF THE TRADE generously reveals among an elite family whose ancestors owned more slaves than many other “property owners” of the past.

More to come on this given reactions to Obama on some many levels.

By: tonibradshaw01

tonibradshaw01 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:50:12 +0000

Thanks for sharing this commentary! We should all be thinking “personal” brand and what can be done to position our “personal” brand in an effort to achieve our personal and/or professional goals. If this approach is taken I don’t think our brand as a race would even be an issue.

The problem is most users of social media don’t have a clue…so education on social etiquette would be a start to changing how AA’s in particular are using social media.

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:04:25 +0000

You speaking the truth brother… I’m ashamed what we have become as a race at this time… Embracing negativity while allowing these entertainers, yes hip hoppers to dictate who we are…

By: Marlena

Marlena — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:37:31 +0000

Interesting post.

By: pinder

pinder — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:49:21 +0000

I completely agree with Tiffany. So what, some people are making jokes on Twitter. It happens…and it happens a lot.

Personally, as a black man in IT, I really could care less.

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:03:27 +0000

So if black people didn’t start trending topics on Twitter called #uknowublackwhen, white people would stop tweeting racist, offensive things?

By golly, if we just acted right all the time and everywhere because white people are watching, why we could erase racism overnight!

Needless to say I disagree with this premise that “If blacks / gays / latinos / women / other oppressed group did XYZ, then the majority would think we are awesome and stop oppressing us.” Doesn’t work in the real world. Won’t work on Twitter.

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:50:59 +0000

Great post! As a brand builder for former corporate clients and now a multicultural marketing consultant, you take on brand ahving a race is oh so relevant. I started watching the words of you and several others that you mention earlier this year. And, I as I connect corporate brands to multicultural audience builders, I am certainly looking to point them to experts such as yourself, Angela and Corvida!