American automaker General Motors said they desire to be ‘the most inclusive company in the world.’
The automaker has vowed to boost its advertising dollars that go to Black-owned media companies.
The move comes after Byron Allen and some other Black media executives took out a full-page ad in several newspapers alleging GM CEO Mary Barra, of racism for declining to meet with them “consistently, over time and after multiple requests”.
“You stand on stage, after the death of George Floyd, saying, ‘Black Lives Matter,’ when you have refused to acknowledge us,” the ad noted. “The very definition of systemic racism is when you are ignored, excluded and you don’t have true economic inclusion.”
The automaker responded to the allegations of racism by making announcement of the plans to boost ad spending with Black-owned media from its present 2% to 4% by 2022 and to 8% by 2025.
“Black-owned media are an important component of our marketing mix, and we reveiw our spend for media partners through several core metrics, including transparency, innovation, ad quality, audience delivery, and brand safety,” General Motors said on Thursday.
The company intends to further empower its relationship with diverse media outlets by presenting an “upfront” process in May that encourages partners and possible partners to submit business proposals and will be accredited by a third party to guarantee fairness and transparency.
In a statement addressing the allegations of racism, the automaker said it “aspires to be the most inclusive company in the world, and that includes how we allocate media spend”.
“We have increased our planned spending with both diverse-owned and diverse-dedicated media across our family of brands,” the automaker added.
