We’ve all been watching Toyota back-pedal from the allegations that their car parts are as shady as Tiger Woods’ secret life. The company recently issued a massive recall of millions of vehicles, resulting from faulty accelerators, among other things. This is a PR crisis like no other for the company and is set to cost them a cool $2 billion.
There seems to be another tiny crisis for the company within the African American community. Hardy L. Brown, a journalist who writes for Black Voices News, a consortium of African American media centers, states that Toyota is ignoring the African American community in this recall and generally as part of its marketing strategy.
According to Brown “The executives have been on television, radio and even put paid advertising in major daily newspapers nationwide to inform their customers of the sticking gas pedal and to stay with them. General Motors and Ford have begun advertising the message, bring your Toyota product in for trade to our products. They are doing all of this while ignoring the owners of Black newspapers and radio stations which is an issue for me.”
Brown argues that African Americans, being the massive consumers that we are, should be more critical about the companies from whom we choose to make purchases. He describes the fact that at any black church in America, you might find more than a third of the vehicles being Toyotas. However, Brown says that while Toyota has a department that is focused on the Hispanic community, there is nothing in place for African Americans.
Here is why Hardy Brown is upset, and this is why I agree with him:
Black media is dying. Black newspapers are becoming a thing of the past, and even many black radio stations have been eaten up by brainless programming from national media conglomerates like Clear Channel. This kills our ability as a community to have a voice, since media is one of the few ways we can share a message that is not controlled by someone else. Major non-black outlets, such as CNN, NBC and others, are getting corporate dollars from Toyota. They are being funded and fueled by this money, since media outlets cannot survive without their corporate sponsorships.
In order for black media to survive, there must be a strengthening of the business model. In fact, I would love to see black scholars get involved, since we need their expertise. This is one that involves a commitment by the black community to be conscious and aware of corporations that are sponsoring African American media outlets in a conscientious way. While our community should not take money from anyone who offers it (peak out Tavis Smiley’s Wells Fargo relationship, which he correctly dismantled), we should hold companies accountable regarding whether the relationship is reciprocal.
I would love to see Toyota respond to Mr. Brown’s commentary. If it is indeed the case that they are not advertising their products through black owned media outlets, then it might behoove Mr. Brown and others to come up with a “black out list” of companies that are not advertising in black newspapers and magazines. If we are buying their products, then they should be sharing their wealth with the community, end of story.
By: Dr. Boyce Watkins
