• News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
Sign up Now (For Free)

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!
News
Read Now
  • All News
  • Automakers
  • Automobiles
  • Auto Shows
  • Business
  • EVs & Environment
  • Guides
  • Lawsuits/Legal
  • Regulatory
  • Ride-Sharing
  • Safety & Recalls
  • Technology
Recent
  • Biden Admin. Makes EV Credits Available to More Buyers
  • Week Ahead: Chicago … that Toddling Town
  • The Rearview Mirror: Tailfins Take Flight
  • TikTok Reveals the Hottest EVs in the Industry
  • Millions of Older Hyundai, Kia Owners May Face Trouble Getting Car Insurance
  • Bugatti Chiron Profilée Sets New Auction Sales Record
  • Another Delay for VinFast Customers
  • Ford Making Return to Formula One for 2026 Season
  • Ford CEO Farley “Frustrated” by $2 Billion Loss for 2022
  • Hyundai Ioniq 6 Achieves EPA-Estimated 361-Mile Range
Editor’s Choice
    Reviews
    Read Now
    • All Reviews
      • Feeder
    • Classic Cars
    • Concept Cars
    • Convertibles
    • Coupes
    • Crossovers/CUVs
    • Diesel
    • Hot hatches
    • Hybrids
    • Luxury Vehicles
    • Minivans
    • Muscle Cars
    • Pickups
    • Sedans
    • Sports Cars
    • Super Cars
    • SUVs
    Recent Reviews
    • A Week With: 2023 Lexus GX 460 Black Line
    • A Week With: 2023 BMW X1 xDrive28i
    • A Week With: 2023 Kia Niro EV
    • A Week With: 2023 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy
    • A Week With: 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R 4x4 Super Crew
    • A Week With: 2023 Genesis Electrified G80 AWD
    • A Week With: 2023 Land Rover Defender 110 V-8
    • First Drive: 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport
    • A Week With: 2023 Jaguar F-Type R Coupe
    • A Week With: 2023 GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate
    Editor’s Choice
      Guides
      Car Warranty
      • Endurance Warranty Reviews
      • BMW Extended Warranty
      • Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
      • Extended Car Warranty Cost
      • Subaru Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Reviews
      • CarShield Cost
      • Aftermarket Car Warranty
      • CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
      • Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
      • Used Car Warranty Companies
      • Best Car Warranty
      • Is CarShield A Scam?
      • Mercedes Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Plans
      Insurance
      • How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
      • Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
      • State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
      • Dollar A Day Insurance
      • Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
      • Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
      • Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
      • Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
      • Car Insurance Florida
      • Full Coverage Auto Insurance
      • GrubHub Insurance
      • Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
      Shipping
      • Car Shipping Companies
      • uShip Reviews
      • Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
      • Montway Auto Transport Reviews
      • Cheap Car Shipping
      • Easy Auto Ship Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Miami
      • Auto Shipping To Alaska
      • Car Shipping Cost
      • Auto Shipping Hawaii
      • Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
      • Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Atlanta
      • Auto Shipping Boston
      • Auto Shipping. Chicago
      About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Affiliate Disclosure
      • Sitemap
      TheDetroitBureau.com

      More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

      Contact Us

      Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

        Media
        Listen Now
        • Headlight News: All Episodes
        More from TheDetroitBureau
        • Guides
        • Latest News
        • Auto Reviews
        • Podcasts
        Headlight News

        TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

        home > news > Automakers > GM Increasing Ad Spend in Black-Owned Media by 400%

        GM Increasing Ad Spend in Black-Owned Media by 400%

        Automaker cancels meeting with group of seven publishers. Will now hold a series of small meetings with more media executives “ASAP”

        Paul A. Eisenstein
        Paul A. Eisenstein , Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
        April 01, 2021
        GM announced it will increase its ad budget for Black-owned media by 400% between now and 2023..

        Facing charges of “systemic racism,” General Motors Wednesday evening announced a 400% increase in ad spending in Black-owned media by 2023.

        The move comes just days after a group of seven Black-owned media officials took out an ad in the Sunday Detroit Free Press to demand an increase in spending to promote “economic inclusion.” The group took direct aim at GM CEO Mary Barra suggesting she was racist and demanding her resignation if she didn’t respond.

        Following the publication of the advertisement, GM agreed to meet with the seven media moguls. But the automaker called off the event, which was to be conducted as an online Zoom meeting, late Wednesday. Instead, the automaker said it would hold “a series of meetings … as soon as possible” with a larger mix of Black-owned media publishers and other executives.

        GM expanding meeting invite list

        GM’s top marketing executive Deborah Wahl postponed a meeting with seven Black-owned media execs, and plans to reschedule it as a series of smaller “conversations” with even more leaders.

        “To ensure that our conversations are both substantive and constructive, we are going to postpone tomorrow’s group meeting and reschedule it into a series of smaller conversations that take place over the next few weeks,” GM global Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl wrote in an e-mail sent to the executives. “We also intend to expand the dialogue to invite our existing Black-owned media partners currently in the GM portfolio.”

        The issue of spending to support minority media, in general, has become a hot-button issue. In light of the Black Lives Matter movement and a broader focus on the African-American community, there’s been a particular focus on Black-owned media.

        According to the seven executives who signed the Sunday ad, GM currently devotes just 0.5% of its roughly $2.3 billion annual ad spend to black publications and other media. The automaker disputed that figure, claiming the current figure is closer to 2%, though spokesman Pat Morrissey said GM management agreed an increase is necessary.

        The signatories of the Sunday ad — including Weather Channel owner Byron Allen; rapper, actor and media mogul Ice Cube; and Junior Bridgeman, the owner of Ebony Media — were set to demand that GM devote a minimum $200 million annually to Black-owned media, with the figure increasing 5% annually during the next 10 years.

        Automaker’s spending plan

        Byron Allen
        Byron Allen, head of the Allen Media Group, which owns The Weather Channel, said GM was trying to “divide” Black-owned media executives.

        Under the plan GM announced Wednesday, it will grow spending from 2% to 8% of its total ad budget by the end of 2023. That would boost the figures from about $45 million to roughly $180 million over that period.

        “Mary Barra has the opportunity to be on the right side of history,” Allen said during a conversation with TheDetroitBureau.com midday Wednesday. He acknowledged his group would try to leverage any agreement with GM to win similar concessions from not only rival automakers but corporate America in general.

        “Every corporation in America will be held accountable if they don’t do business with Black media in a respectable way,” he said.

        Hours later, when the original meeting with the seven media execs was canceled he expressed surprise and anger. “What they’re trying to do is divide and conquer,” Allen said by phone. “They should be meeting with us.”

        The decision to hold multiple meetings with a broader cross-section of the Black media community was well received by others, however.

        Black-owned media response

        Benjamin Chavis
        Benjamin Chavis, CEO and president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a trade group for Black media, also wanted to meet with Barra.

        Benjamin Chavis, CEO and president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a trade group for Black media, said he also wanted to meet with GM Chairman and Chief Executive Barra and express his belief that it “and other corporations need to increase their advertising with Black-owned media.”

        Chavis was more upbeat on how the automaker and its CEO had been addressing the issue of systemic racism than the group sponsoring the Sunday ad. He said the carmaker has been “taking steps to deal with systemic racism — but it doesn’t happen overnight, or in one year.”

        Barra became the first female automotive CEO in January 2014. She has repeatedly promised to make GM “the most inclusive company in the world.” Just last week it appointed to its board of directors former Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman and Mark Tatum, the deputy commissioner and COO of the National Basketball Association. The GM board now is the first of any major corporation with a majority of female directors.

        After the death of George Floyd in police custody last May, Barra wrote a letter to employees saying that she was “impatient and disgusted” by the events and stressed the need to “individually and collectively” act. And on June 19 — known as Juneteenth, the commemoration of the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States — GM asked employees to observe 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence, the amount of time former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is recorded as having his knee on George Floyd’s neck during his fatal arrest, as a sign of solidarity with the black community.

        Ice Cube
        Rapper and media mogul Ice Cube was one of the seven signatories on the ad criticizing GM CEO Mary Barra.

        Newspaper ad shines light on issue

        But, in the Sunday newspaper ads, Allen and other Black-owned media execs were far less upbeat about such moves. “You stand on stage, after the death of George Floyd, saying, ‘Black Lives Matter,’ when you have refused to acknowledge us,” the ad says of Barra. “The very definition of systemic racism is when you are ignored, excluded and you don’t have true economic inclusion.”

        In a conversation with TheDetroitBureau.com, Allen said corporate America needs to recognize and support Black-owned media which has been struggling in recent years. Ebony, arguably the best-known publication in its field, was purchased out of bankruptcy by former NBA star Bridgeman last year.

        Complicating matters has been the shift from traditional — largely print — media to online publishing. Companies like GM often have cut back direct ad buys with media outlets, in general. Instead, they steer a large share of spending to digital ad services such as Google AdSense. As a result, said a senior Detroit ad exec on background, they’re often able to reach Black consumers without actually working with black-owned publications.

        How to Care for Your Car

        Cheap Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice

        Best Extended Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice
        Recently Published
        Biden drives Cadillac Lyriq at NAIAS 2022

        Biden Admin. Makes EV Credits Available to More Buyers

        Today
        ChevyCamaroZL1Welburn01.jpg

        Week Ahead: Chicago … that Toddling Town

        Today

        The Rearview Mirror: Tailfins Take Flight

        Feb. 04, 2023

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        Share this article:
        © The Detroit Bureau 2023
        • Guides
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms of Use
        • Affiliate Disclosure
        • Contact Us
        • Sitemap
        Follow Us: