July 26, 2007

Detroit Drops Ads from Hot Ghetto Mess

It appears that a number of villagers joined me in contacting Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau (DMCVB) about our disgust in seeing their sponsorship of the pilot episode of 'Hot Ghetto Mess'. I shared contact information for DMCVB and two other sponsors on last week's 'Hot Ghetto Mess' pilot episode.

My message to DMCVB simply stated,
'I am the immediate past president of Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA). We brought our national conference to Detroit in August 2005. If the decision was left to me today about whether to come back or not ... I would counsel against it based on the sponsorship that you/DMCVB provided to the pilot episode of 'Hot Ghetto Mess' on BET last night. I cannot begin to tell you the level of disappointment, bordering on disgust, that I felt when I realized that the DMCVB decided to use member dollars to fund a show that is so disrespectful to the African American community.
Who should I speak with to register my complaint about your marketing decision? My hope is that DMCVB will join State Farm and Home Depot in taking proactive steps to remove any future advertising dollars from this disrespectful show that is based on the Hot Ghetto Mess website. Please review the website and tell me how you/your organization thought that this was something worthy of your marketing dollars?'
I received a response this afternoon from Kathy Smith (DMCVB advertising manager). She wrote, I had to smile when the cable affiliate wrote,
"I work for the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau and it was
brought to my attention that the DMCVB was associated with a program called "Hot Ghetto Mess" - - - the DMCVB and our advertising agency of record (Berline) had absolutely no idea the DMCVB was listed as a sponsor of this show until
mentioned in your blog. The mistake has been corrected. Please see the letter
attached from the cable affiliate
.


'Please know that we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this situation may have caused. We will add 10 scheduled spots in acceptable programming to your current schedule. We appreciate your business and will work very hard to avoid any such issues in the future.'
I gotta give props to my peeps in Detroit for turning this situation into ten extra commercial slots on other shows. More important, I am pleased that DMCVB was open to constructive criticism about their advertising decision. I wonder what it will take to get the other advertisers on the 'Hot Ghetto Mess' to pull out?

Villagers, did you contact the advertisers on this show to let them know your disappointment?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

this post was funny as hell: http://averagebro.blogspot.com/2007/07/better-programming-dont-bet-on-it.html

Blu Jewel said...

people underestimate the power of the pen.

"the power of the pen is mightier than the sword"

I guess folk are realizing that now and the revolution is at hand.

Sleeperwithheavyeyes said...

Television and whats on it is something I'm not terribly passionate about. I don't usually like to expend energy on issues like "BET Uncut" or "Hot Ghetto Mess" and their morality, but I've got to say I respect your passion for the subject and your ability to pick a strategy that acheived your objective. Hitting the company in the pocketbook was a good move. Much respect

Unknown said...

Anon - Thank you for the post showing the reviews of the pilot episodes for HGM and other BET shows. It was interesting and I hadn't read AveragBro before.

Blu Jewel - It is remarkable to see the growing strength of Black bloggers. Hopefully, we will continue to figure out ways to work together on mutually agreeable issues.

Homeland Colors - Asante sana!

peace, Villager

Sleeperwithheavyeyes said...

Karibu

Tafari said...

AWESOME!!!

Bygbaby

Eddie G. Griffin said...

Again, Kudos. Great job. HGM loses another advertiser, and I believe someone else is working on the mattress company. Black Power has a new meaning.

Keith A. Owens said...

Villager,

You deserve HUGE props for this, brother. Great work.

Unknown said...

Eddie & Keith - Asante sana!

peace, Villager