Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 5, 1993 TAG: 9302050140
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLYNE H. McWILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LISTEN UP, ADVERTISERS; IT'S BLACK MONEY TALKING
There's a simple explanation for the lack of a variety among advertisers in magazines aimed at black readers."Pure racism," said Susan Taylor, editor in chief of Essence magazine.
Taylor said many companies don't realize the spending power of the black community, which the 1990 Consumer Expenditure Survey said is $213 billion a year.
"It's disturbing to see companies that advertise in publications that duplicate audiences," she said Thursday at Hollins College. "The black market is taken for granted."
Essence, which as been in on the newsstands for more than 20 years, is among a host of magazines that focuses its content to educated blacks who want to know more about their heritage and to find where their place in society today, Taylor said.
Taylor, who took this job in 1981, said she does what she can to increase awareness of the advantages of advertising in black publications, but she can only go so far in expressing her opinions because the magazine's advertisers would "clearly pay us back by exiting."
While she hopes the Clinton administration will focus more on the country's problems, Taylor said, the changes in our society will have to start with self-empowerment. "Whatever it is, we can do it" is the thinking we need to adopt, she said.
For the most part, this kind of thinking has been adopted by the new generation of blacks, who are more intelligent about the way they spend, Taylor said. They not only look at a company's advertising spending, but they "keep report cards" about employment habits and treatment of black people.
Groups such as fraternities, sororities and churches share this information with their members. This educates the largest groups of spenders in the country and can have a profound affect on a company's sales.
Because of the importance of money in our society, Taylor said, black people should start thinking more about owning their own businesses and spending in black-owned businesses.
Despite the lack of widespread advertising support, magazines such as Essence still are very much needed, she said.
"People of color have unique needs and issues that need to be addressed," she said. Mainstream publications "don't address racism and sexism." And as more people of African descent in the United States, Africa and the Caribbean become more educated, those needs will increase.
Essence, founded and published by Edward Lewis, reported subscriptions of 950,000 copies a month and newstand circulation of 5.1 million. The magazine recently bought another publication, circulation 400,000, geared to entrepreneurs in New York, she said.
Taylor said the magazine, which already produces the annual Essences Awards television show, will be expanding into radio and publishing a cookbook soon.