Black Culture, Inc. by Patricia A. Banks

Author:Patricia A. Banks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

The business model for McDonald’s is franchising: Individuals or groups pay a fee to open a restaurant. Through the 1950s, there were no Black-owned McDonald’s restaurants. However, this changed in the midst of urban unrest that swept across the United States in the next decade.14 The uprisings were sparked by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and broader frustration with the oppressive racial order under which African Americans were treated as second-class citizens. During the uprisings, property, including some McDonald’s restaurants, was vandalized and damaged. Partly as a strategy to protect McDonald’s restaurants, African Americans were given the chance to purchase franchises in the inner city. The thinking was that Black-owned eateries would be less likely targets of urban residents during bouts of social unrest. It was also presumed that Black customers would be more inclined to dine at Black-owned, rather than white-owned, restaurants.15

Government officials also believed that Black business ownership in the inner city would help to curb urban unrest. To encourage entrepreneurship in urban areas, the federal government guaranteed loans to small businesses via the Commerce Department and Small Business Administration (SBA). Many of the loans went to Black entrepreneurs seeking to buy into fast food franchises like McDonald’s.16 With these developments, the racial makeup of McDonald’s owner–operators shifted.

In 1968 Herman Petty became the first Black McDonald’s franchisee when he opened a restaurant in the heart of Chicago.17 By the end of the next year, there were 12 Black-owned McDonald’s franchises.18 In the early 1970s, Black owner–operators formed a professional group, the National Black McDonald’s Operators Association (NBMOA), to address the specific challenges that they faced.

One concern of NBMOA members was advertising. Like all owner–operators, Black franchisees contributed to a collective fund for national advertising. However, the ads paid for by this fund targeted the “general” or white market. Ads featured white models and messaging that was designed to appeal to this consumer segment. Generally located in Black urban neighborhoods with a Black consumer base, NBMOA members recognized that the ads that they were helping to subsidize would have limited success at building business at their franchises. Their advertising needs were addressed when Tom Burrell, a pioneer in advertising to Black consumers, was invited to a NBMOA convention.19 At the convention, Burrell provided an overview of his innovative approach to marketing. In his view Black consumers required separate marketing appeals that presented African Americans in an authentic yet affirming fashion. He coined this approach “positive realism.” Burrell reasoned, “If we could just show black life, portray it in a positive, realistic way . . . people will come to the product.”20 This pioneering approach was a stark contrast to the longstanding stereotypical depictions of African Americans in advertising.21

Along with lobbying the company to respond to their specific needs, such as developing national advertising that would appeal to their largely Black customer base, the NBMOA developed philanthropic programs aimed at inner-city communities. “Giving back” to communities was part of the McDonald’s business ethos. As Kroc explains in his

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.