Black is the New Green -- or Should Be.

By CSRwire Contributing Writer Francesca Rheannon

Affluent African Americans are a huge new business opportunity for American marketers, but growing prosperity among all African Americans is even more important.



Too often, "African American" has been synonymous with poverty in the popular mind. Poverty and race have been more closely aligned than they should be. Most poor people in America are, in fact, white (48%), and most African Americans are not poor -- and the percent who are, is declining.

It's true that African Americans are disproportionately represented among the ranks of the poor, compared to their numbers in the population. Although African Americans make up only 12.8% of U.S. residents, 24.7 percent of them were poor in 2008, compared to 8.6 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

But there are a lot of affluent African Americans out there. And they form a market segment that has been ignored by the marketing divisions of many major corporations. That's the contention of Leonard Burnett, Jr. and Andrea Hoffman, co-authors of the new book, BLACK IS THE NEW GREEN: Marketing to Affluent African Americans. They point out that the buying power of affluent African Americans is currently $87.3 billion -- and "expected to reach more than $1.1 trillion by 2012 -- just three short years [from now] for a cumulative growth of 28.4 percent."

Burnett and Hofman say American business has been caught asleep at the wheel of this demographic and economic shift. The reasons, say the authors, are several: because marketing departments are unaware of the potential of this market segment; because they don't know how to reach out to it; or "have reached out in the past but their efforts were unappealing to the AAA [Affluent African American] audience."

I propose another reason: racism. The typical marketing tropes aimed at African Americans often reveal a racist bias, presuming, for example, that the black consumer is only interested in violence, holds misogynist views of women, and wears gangsta clothing. At least, that was the view of the record industry when it took over and distorted the progressive message of the vibrant, grassroots, hip-hop culture born in the 1980s. And that's not a message that's likely to be attractive to most African Americans.

But racist marketing cliches are merely the tip of the iceberg of a far more sinister bias, one that assumes that the African American consumer either is inconsequential or is a ripe target for exploitation and fraud. Whether poor, rich or in-between, African Americans are ill-served by America's business community.

From the historic practice of redlining by banks (illegal but still practiced) to the "food deserts" of inner cities that contribute to the obesity epidemic, to predatory practices by unscrupulous mortgage lenders, African Americans and other people of color have been the victims of marketing racism every bit as pernicious as the racism of human resource departments that practice discrimination in hiring. Lacking choice, they end up often paying higher prices for poorer quality goods and services than people living in white communities.

Even affluent African Americans, well-qualified for prime mortgages, were steered to subprime mortgages and their outrageous costs during the most recent housing bubble. They are also subject to credit card redlining, with higher restrictions on credit limits and subject to higher interest rates. Racism is also a factor in insurance company practices, affecting both home and auto insurance.

And since the collapse of the subprime market, redlining is making a comeback, according to a recent report out from the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project. The report states, "The financial crisis has led to significantly reduced access to mortgage credit for all borrowers and communities. In communities of color, however, where the foreclosure crisis has taken an especially severe toll, access to prime, conventional mortgage loans has declined precipitously."

Reversing discriminatory marketing trends against African Americans takes more than better marketing practices (although that helps). It takes organizing by communities of color themselves that address the core issues of racial (and economic) inequality. One exciting trend is another take on the slogan "black is the new green": the burgeoning of bootstrapping programs in African American Communities that stress green jobs and a greener economy as the route to prosperity. They are being spearheaded by a new generation of African American leaders.

Like Will Allen, the Macarthur Genius Grant fellow who founded Growing Power, operating first in Milawukee and Chicago and now around the country and the world. Growing Power's mission is to "provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities." It carries out the mission by helping "people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner."

Or another Macarthur "genius" fellow, Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx, who is developing markets in African American communities by developing good green jobs. The green route to prosperity is also being paved by green jobs guru Van Jones, founder of Green Jobs For All and author of the definitive book on green jobs: The Green-Collar Economy. He was Obama's green jobs advisor before becoming a target of a right-wing smear campaign.

Improving marketing to affluent African Americans is important. What's even more important is making sure that they are an ever growing segment of the African American community.

For more information about Black Is the New Green: Marketing to Affluent African Americans, click here.

If you are in the New York area on Wednesday, May 26, you can hear the authors of BLACK IS THE NEW GREEN speak in person at the Luxury Marketing Council. (The event is by invitation only, so contact the Council for more information.)

Click here to comment