[ExI] Stepping into a Pile of Crap (Maybe)

[Mike Dougherty]

On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 1:11 PM, Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hopefully this isn't too far off topic... but I know some of you have
> had run ins with bad PR in the past, and I thought this might be a
> good place to get some advice. You're the smartest people I know
> collectively.
>
> Recently, there has been a dust up about president Obama's web subsite
> for African Americans.
>
> http://www.barackobama.com/african-americans
>
> Some people, me included, think this is racist. To point out this
> fact, I am considering the creation of a parallel web site...

You know that McDonalds (likely other mega-corps) have "targeted"
marketing subsites?

from: http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/websites.html

http://www.365black.com/365black/index.jsp is "Deeply Rooted in the Community"
also: "At McDonald's®, we believe that African-American culture and
achievement should be celebrated 365 days a year — not just during
Black History Month."

You could also go here:
http://www.myinspirasian.com/html/english/index.html#/?slide=0
and take the Asian Phrases Challenge.  It makes me wonder if they
would target a Latino community by quizzing their knowledge of
Spanish.

Latino: http://www.meencanta.com/
Nope.  They do, however, provide a link to switch to English.  I guess
that's good.

In case you aren't fitting into a specific ethnicity though, you might
be a member of the children (http://www.happymeal.com/en_US/) or
tweens (http://www.mcworld.com/) demographic.  While there you (or
your unsuspecting children) will be subject to lines like "Hey kids,
this is advertising!"  (is that Truth in Advertising that it is
in-fact advertising?)

Kelly, I say go for it.  You are in good company.  If anyone objects
you can point blame at others and claim to only be doing what other
successful companies are clearly getting away with.