Presidential hopeful Ron Paul published four newsletters a month for 10 years.  That’s 48 newsletters a year—or close to 500 newsletters.  That’s a lot of content and a lot of work to go out in your name.  Why would you do that if you never read it—suggesting you really don’t care what it says.  Marketing 101 says that’s really stupid.  Or Paul is lying.

You may have heard that the newsletters were rife with racist propaganda.  Here’s the issue as outlined in the Washington Post Biography Fact Checker:  “The national media latched onto the issue during Paul’s 2008 presidential bid, after the New York Times and the New Republic highlighted derogatory statements about blacks and gays from the bulletins…The issue resurfaced as Paul moved to the front of the GOP pack in recent weeks.”    Paul has denied any knowledge of the existence of the racist content, saying “I never read the stuff.”

The stuff he is talking about is four monthly newsletters published by his company, Ron Paul and Associates, and included Ron Paul’s Freedom Report, the Ron Paul Survival Report, the Ron Paul Political Report and the Ron Paul Investment Letter.   The newsletters included constant themes of racism against African Americans, Homosexuals and Jews.  While I prefer not to reprint them here (I hate perpetuating racism by repeating it), here’s a sampling of the awful things about which Paul said “I honestly do not know who wrote those things,” (to CNN in January 2008.)

Marketing 101

So for exercise sake, let’s step back from politics and the content of the newsletters, to strictly look at Paul’s statement that he never read and was unaware of the content going out in his name, from 1985 to the mid-90’s, through a marketing strategy lens.

As Director of Marketing, Communications & Business Development for Jewish Child & Family Services in Chicago, I am 100% accountable for everything that goes out the door, whether internally to employees, or externally to the public.  Strictly from a CYA perspective, somebody is ultimately accountable for the content that goes out to the public.  Somebody does the final proofing to make sure there were no typos, inaccuracies, or errors.  The CEO signs things that come from him, be they the “Message from the CEO” or communications to donors.

 Your print (and now increasingly online) publications are the vehicle to create your brand and position yourself as a thought leader in your field—they take too much time and expense not to have a pre-determined return on investment (ROI), usually to increase your connection to your constituents or followers, your clients and customers. 

In this case it’s not even Paul who says he doesn’t know who wrote the articles, no one seems to know who wrote them, including one suspect, Lew Rockwell, citing seven or eight free-lancers who wrote for the publications.  At a bare minimum it’s poor management and irresponsible, not good qualities for a Presidential candidate anyway.  

Things Happen as a Result of Specific Decisions

Janet Reno’s taking full responsibility for what happened in Waco Texas was the ultimate statement of accountability.  Daniel Mendelsohn, in his book “The Lost:  A Search for Six of Six Million,” said  “The Holocaust is so big, the scale of it is so gigantic, so enormous, that it becomes easy to think of it as something mechanical. Anonymous. But everything that happened, happened because someone made a decision.”  His book traces the specific people, decisions, that led to his family members’ deaths.  

Ron Paul Knew That

But, wait, it looks like I’m preaching to the choir.  Here’s Paul in a 1995 interview talking about his newsletters and their purpose and intent and how he uses them to spread is ideas to his followers.  Okay, maybe he’s senile and just forgot almost 10 years of his life.  Possible.   But, again, probably not a good quality for a Presidential candidate.

Any other Marketers?  Ever see a publication be created and distributed by magic (I wish!)?  Your boss ever give you free reign to write what you wanted, regardless of company image or branding?

Photo credit ibtimes.com

A look at statistics from the Black Star Project, a Chicago-based not-for-profit organization that operates with a belief in the strength of parental and community involvement in education to eliminate the racial academic achievement gap, confirms that as many ponder, the Obama presidency does not signify the end of racism, but a chance to bring discussions about race and community activism to the forefront.   

Along those lines, I would love to hear Damon Weaver pose his question to President Obama, as reported on NPR last month.  “My first question I would ask him is: ‘In my town Pahokee, I have seen a lot of shootings and fights, what are you going to do about violence and to keep me safe?” 

It’s a lot to put on a 10 year old, but he seems like the ‘man on the street’ version of the dream, ‘if you put your mind to it you can do anything.’  President Obama said on the Whistle Stop Train tour “we will fight for you because Joe and I are committed to leading a government that is accountable not just to the wealthy or to the well-connected but to you…to the children who hear the whistle of the train and dream of a better life…”  Damon is one of those kids, a hopeful link between the new era in US and World Politics ushered in by the Obama Presidency, and the day to day reality of public school life, low graduation rates, trying to get ahead, and creating a world of possibility.

And now, you’re “to do” list:

1.  Damon asks you to please go to change.gov and send a note to ask President Obama to grant his interview request.

2.  For everyone, see first hand how media coverage biases public perception.  Compare this amazing and positive report from the Palm Beach Post, to this one from Fox.  Is that the same adorable, never-give-up child? (Now question bias in every news report you see or read.)

3.  For professionals in the Chicago area, volunteer with the Black Star Project (for full disclosure, I’m a volunteer student motivator with them).  They schedule speakers at 15-20 schools every month, and the minimum commitment is only 2 hours, once a year!  You can’t say no to that.

4.  For parents, watch the videos and keep track of Damon’s progress with your kids. 

With ‘intra-cultural’ communication, or what’s thought of as Diversity Training, however, it’s more complex.  It’s less about learning a set of  habits or customs and more about sensitivity and understanding power structures-it’s not just about how to communicate with people who might be of different race, ethnicity, orientation, ability or other ‘line of difference,’ it’s about how to identify unconscious biases and to work toward fair hiring and promotion practices. 

While Diversity Training continues to be a multibillion dollar industry, studies abound on both sides as to its effectiveness, depending on the companies studied and metrics used.   Is it measured by the amount of loss that was avoided by complying with legal requirements?  Is it measured by the total dollars or percentage of total dollars spent on minority suppliers?  Is it measured by statistics on minority advancement?  By only tying diversity outcomes to the bottom line of the company, however, ultimately there’s no change in the paradigm of the power structure.

Which leads to the question, where is the intersection of measuring diversity as relates to the bottom-line, and embracing diversity in the sense of social justice such as anti-prejudice or anti-racism?

The arts have long worked to define business metrics to attract support and funding.  There’s the value of cultural tourism, tangible dollars spent on tickets and admissions, and a newer idea of cultural capital…that it benefits business to establish itself in a city with a thriving cultural community, as a means to attract the best talent.

In the area of diversity, however, it would behoove us to look beyond the bottom line, or to cast a broader net to define the value.  Jon Stewart and Daily Show correspondent Larry Wilmore jested that with the election of Barak Obama to the presidency, racism as we know it is over in the United States.  Yet just 15 minutes later, on the Colbert Report, guest Kevin Johnson, former NBA star and new Mayor Elect of Sacramento, cited high school graduation rates across the US (available also from the Manhattan Institute) at only 70% overall, and the graduation rate for African Americans and Hispanics hovered at only 50%. 

For diversity ultimately to work, there needs to be systemic change, and for dramatic systemic change, it needs to come from the bottom up as well as the top down.  For that to happen, inclusion needs to move beyond isolated management training to include staff at all levels, and institutions need to reach beyond their walls and into community. 

So whether you are employee or executive, offer to set up education and mentoring programs with schools under the program title “Diversifying Our Future Workforce.”  Volunteer at a nearby community organization, or set up on-site job-shadow days, defined in business terms as connecting with your customers.  In the world of fitness, the saying is that it takes about three weeks of action to form a habit.  Why not form a habit of promoting diversity and social justice with your every day habits to promote an inclusive workplace?

“Average American moron, IQ 60, drinking beer, watching baseball and CNN, and believe everything his President says.”

What’s interesting, beyond the question of his race, is the politics of class and food that the image conveys.  I noticed it when going from Newbury Street, Boston’s Rodeo drive, where only croissants and bagels were served at meetings, to working for City Government, where donuts were the more common fare.  Is the sauce on the pasta (aka Spaghetti) marinara, or tomato sauce?  Is the Friday night unwinding drink a glass of Merlot, or a cold beer?  The image of Joe Six Pack, rather than being a “median white guy” is more striking for his lack of education, two-dimensionality, and character presence based on his habits, these latter habits probably added by white people, to distance themselves from the stereotype.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions given Sarah Palin’s affinity for him, but I imagine she thought of this as a positive reference, a cheer for the common man.  As it turns out, it’s more of a warning of how use of stereotypes in advertising can and invariably will backfire.  What stereotypes do you continue to see popping up in ads or television?  Is the group leader a white man?  Is the black family dancing or saying “unh hunh” in their meal out?  How is the Latina dressed?   Nobody wants to be typecast or culled into a single qualifying characteristic.  While a handful of people may identify with the stereotype, most people, who are indeed more complex, will rebel.  

Particularly in the case of the impending election, the US is involved in two wars, we have a disastrous economy, and we face a natural environment in peril.  It’s not that we are colorblind and race doesn’t matter, it’s that mere blackness or whiteness alone won’t solve these problems.  Experience, intelligence, strategy, networks of experts, researched positions on important issues and empathy for multiple perspectives will help.  To think that all African Americans will vote for Obama simply because he is black or that all women will automatically support the McCain-Palin ticket is counter-intuitive and is not supported by the overall numbers in the polls.  

My guess is that if you listen to your sub-conscious voice you label every person you meet or pass on the street.  If you try to suppress it, you may find yourself thinking “he has an accent.  He’s Hispanic.  I’m not supposed to notice he’s Hispanic.  What if I slip up and tell him he’s Hispanic and I have nothing in common with Hispanic people and oh my goodness this is too hard and how can I disengage from this conversation?”  While you sit there getting nervous and beginning to sweat, it seems a lot easier to simply acknowledge your label, give it a little smile and then set it aside, so you can really listen and participate in your interaction.  Certainly for marketers wanting to know more about what a particular ethnic group is looking for in a product-they listen.  They ask questions.   They say “ah-ha, what a great idea, I wouldn’t have thought of that, I’m so glad I engaged with you.”

This election has prompted more Americans to talk about race, and that is a gift.  But for diversity training, multicultural marketing and intercultural communications to have long lasting, meaningful impact, they need to be built on the tenets of anti-racism:  a striving for equality, civil rights, and an acknowledgement/dismantling of majority advantage (aka White privilege.)  Remembering a list of “do’s and don’t’s” might effect public behavior for the short term, but it is practice in daily life, both outside and inside the home (take that, Bradley Effect!), that leads to lasting change. 

So temporarily turn off the valve from mind to mouth and silently shout “Hello Mr. White Man,” “Hello, Mr. Black Man, or “Hello, Ms. Asian Woman of unknown national origin” on your next encounter, and then immediately follow it with “he/she may bring a different perspective from my own, I better listen more closely.”