Book description
Until now, most works on the history of African Americans in
advertising have focused on the depiction of blacks in advertisements.
As the first comprehensive examination of African American
participation in the industry, Madison Avenue and the Color
Line breaks new ground by examining the history of black
advertising employees and agency owners.
For much of the twentieth century, even as advertisers chased
African American consumer dollars, the doors to most advertising
agencies were firmly closed to African American professionals. Over
time, black participation in the industry resulted from the combined
efforts of black media, civil rights groups, black consumers,
government organizations, and black advertising and marketing
professionals working outside white agencies. Blacks positioned
themselves for jobs within the advertising industry, especially as
experts on the black consumer market, and then used their status to
alter stereotypical perceptions of black consumers. By doing so, they
became part of the broader effort to build an African American
professional and entrepreneurial class and to challenge the negative
portrayals of blacks in American culture.
Using an extensive review of advertising trade journals,
government documents, and organizational papers, as well as personal
interviews and the advertisements themselves, Jason Chambers weaves
individual biographies together with broader events in U. S. history
to tell how blacks struggled to bring equality to the advertising industry.
"The book offers perspective for those entering the industry
as well as those who don't understand what all of the fuss is
about."-Advertising Age
Jason Chambers Associate Professor of Advertising at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
