re: ATL Hawks Owner Looks to Sell because of "Racist Email"

If people cannot point out a problem tactfully, especially in a position of power, then there will be a negative reaction.

And again, I'm not calling him a racist or saying he should have stepped down. There were a myriad of better ways for him to make his point, but at the end of the day I'm not ostracizing him for choosing to market to the demographic of his choice.

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Being against black people for economic reasons and not personal reasons, is still against black people. I don't think it is necessarily wrong every time. It's a business.

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Granted.

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Why should he have to worry about "fricking up"? It's a rambling internal email.

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He is in a position of power in a major organization. I don't care if it's a memo asking for an intern to pick up some decaf coffee, EVERY communique, no matter how "internal" in nature, needs to be treated as if it could eventually be seen by the general public. That's not paranoia, that's just good business sense, imho.

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He was ignorant, but not against.

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Meh, we're splitting hairs at this point, but I'll go along with that. Like I said, I don't believe he's actually racist or anti-black people, he just came off wrong in presenting his new marketing strategy.

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Un-black, and not anti-black.

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For some reason, "Un-black" made me chuckle. I have no idea why

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isn't it unfortunate he felt this would ruin him? Instead of us (society, the NBA, the media) having this rational discussion, he assumed the political culture would oust him. His assumption is not unfounded, this is already labeled a racist email. That sucks.

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I look at it more as it is his responsibility as a business owner to conduct his affairs in a manner that is above reproach to begin with. It's unfortunate, but a responsible owner needs to be as in touch with his constituency as possible.

Also, we don't know if that was his only foible, or if that email was the tip of the iceburg for other off-color incidents. If it's the former, then, yeah, that sucks, but blaming political culture for a business misstep is disingenuous. If it's the latter, then it was smart for him to get out of dodge before the situation blew up in his face. Of course, we'll never know one way or the other.

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I'm not a racist, I just don't like Basketball very much. Too much scoring.

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That's not racist, that's just a matter of preference.

I'm the same way about baseball (too little scoring/too much idle time for my taste), but I don't view it through a racial prism. Not saying you are (you aren't), but that's more a matter of what game appeals to you.

Would people really not go to a game because of the black crowd? If you lived in Atlanta what would you even do? Never leave buckhead?

I think that is the racist part. You want to cater to the season ticket buying demo, you just appeal to bros. You don't just focus on making it less black. A kiss cam being too black? What does that mean? A white guy isn't going to buy season tickets because a black couple is kissing? Dumb. And racist, IMO.

Whites are more affluent and more likely to buy season tickets. That's not racist, really.

I guess it comes down to his motives. Was it purely fiscal? Or did he feel it was too black of an environment? I'm not that worried about it. If this is where we are having race arguments now, we are in a much better place. Can you imagine how this email would have read 40 years ago?

Thanks, sm/bf.

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I look at it more as it is his responsibility as a business owner to conduct his affairs in a manner that is above reproach to begin with. It's unfortunate, but a responsible owner needs to be as in touch with his constituency as possible.

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I would argue this mindset but I think it would boil down to cultural sensitivity. Marketing teaches business-people to be prudent and sensitive to these things, and I just wish people weren't so damn sensitive, negating the need for these types of marketing exercises to begin with. I can't imagine this argument going far.

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Also, we don't know if that was his only foible, or if that email was the tip of the iceburg for other off-color incidents. If it's the former, then, yeah, that sucks, but blaming political culture for a business misstep is disingenuous. If it's the latter, then it was smart for him to get out of dodge before the situation blew up in his face. Of course, we'll never know one way or the other.

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Probably will end up being, as someone on the MSB said, "Look at me! I'm racist too! Now buy my team!" He just wanted a way out. My contempt for liberal PC culture influenced my initial assessment, but my contempt is still valid damn it.

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ETA: My point being, he may not have any ill-intent, but he just doesn't understand how to make his point tactfully. That's where the intern comes in.

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exactly. and i would correct TBird on his previous statement of "business ethics/PR issue" needing a brushup and rephrase that his business vocabulary needs a brushup.

i.e.

Let me make 2 statements.

1) We at Popeyes need to see what we can do to broaden our customer base. When we look at our demographics, we see that we are very under represented in 3 key demographics. We do not see many people over the age of 55 eating here. We also show that black families/ parties of 2+ have been loyal to our franchise over the last 3 years comprising 90% of our business. The town of Political Correctville has a demographic of 67% white, 18% black, and about 15% hispanic. We're obviously under represented in over 75% of our customer base. What can we do to find a way to hit other demographics and entice them to our restaurant while maintaining our current customers?

2) We at Popeyes realize that about 90% of our customer base is black people 16-55. What can we do to get more whites and old people into our restaurant?


yes i went fried chicken because i'm an a-hole

i used the exact same language in both, but you can bet they mean different things.

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Let me make 2 statements.

1) We at Popeyes need to see what we can do to broaden our customer base. When we look at our demographics, we see that we are very under represented in 3 key demographics. We do not see many people over the age of 55 eating here. We also show that black families/ parties of 2+ have been loyal to our franchise over the last 3 years comprising 90% of our business. The town of Political Correctville has a demographic of 67% white, 18% black, and about 15% hispanic. We're obviously under represented in over 75% of our customer base. What can we do to find a way to hit other demographics and entice them to our restaurant while maintaining our current customers?

2) We at Popeyes realize that about 90% of our customer base is black people 16-55. What can we do to get more whites and old people into our restaurant?

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Upvoted. This is exactly correct. Although the email reads a little more poorly than #2, mentioning ways to reduce one customer base in order to attract a different one.

Another like example:

1) While the 300 was initially marketed toward upper middle class whites 55 and up, we have had surprising success in the 18-35 black male demographic across all income levels. We need to re-examine the design for next years' model and see what we can do to increase our market penetration into the 18-35 black male demo, as the original target market hasn't responded as well.

2) The 300 is now seen as a 'ghetto' car, and this label is discouraging rich whites from purchasing it as an alternative to the more expensive Bentley luxury sedans. This isn't what we wanted, and we aren't seeing the profits we want because they don't spend as much.