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Rating: 
Summary: an oppressed group confronts the capitalist market
Review: Professor Weems details and analyzes the history of advertising to black consumers and black consumer behavior from the beginning until the end of the twentieth century. This book is a quick read, but you can tell the author put substantial amount of time researching each paragraph and page. In his introductory chapter, Weems sums up the book. This will be helpful to overburdened undergraduate students. However, those who complete the text will be satisfied by it. The best chapter is the one on African-American consumer action. In that chapter, he discusses how black folk often fought racism economically. For example, he stated that black customers caused the store closing of the family of Emmitt Till's murderers. This chapter illustrates the fresh studies and perspectives still left for African-American scholars to bring forth in their (some woudl say) already crowded field. This book would be an important tool for ethnic studies majors, business professionals, and historians. It's a wonderful text that should make the author worthy of tenure anywhere. I love the way that he refuses to think of the African-American community as a monolithic blob: differences in class, gender, and living environment are addressed here. The book is not perfect. It never mentions Madame C.J. Walker, the first black millionaire. It never discusses how white business people often fail to advertise their products in black publications for fear that the product will be perceived as "a black thing." Further, topics are introduced, but their history is often not elaborated upon. For example, in the chapters on the 1970s, black film is brought up. However, black films go back to Oscar Michaux and others. It makes little sense that the topic was not brought up in the beginning, rather than the end, of the book. Still, this book is worthy of a read from many, black and non-black, inside academia and outside of it.
Rating:
Summary: an oppressed group confronts the capitalist market
Review: Professor Weems details and analyzes the history of advertising to black consumers and black consumer behavior from the beginning until the end of the twentieth century. This book is a quick read, but you can tell the author put substantial amount of time researching each paragraph and page. In his introductory chapter, Weems sums up the book. This will be helpful to overburdened undergraduate students. However, those who complete the text will be satisfied by it. The best chapter is the one on African-American consumer action. In that chapter, he discusses how black folk often fought racism economically. For example, he stated that black customers caused the store closing of the family of Emmitt Till's murderers. This chapter illustrates the fresh studies and perspectives still left for African-American scholars to bring forth in their (some woudl say) already crowded field. This book would be an important tool for ethnic studies majors, business professionals, and historians. It's a wonderful text that should make the author worthy of tenure anywhere. I love the way that he refuses to think of the African-American community as a monolithic blob: differences in class, gender, and living environment are addressed here. The book is not perfect. It never mentions Madame C.J. Walker, the first black millionaire. It never discusses how white business people often fail to advertise their products in black publications for fear that the product will be perceived as "a black thing." Further, topics are introduced, but their history is often not elaborated upon. For example, in the chapters on the 1970s, black film is brought up. However, black films go back to Oscar Michaux and others. It makes little sense that the topic was not brought up in the beginning, rather than the end, of the book. Still, this book is worthy of a read from many, black and non-black, inside academia and outside of it.
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