As a California transplant, I’ve been hearing (and reading) a lot about conflict between Black and Hispanic communities. (Come to think of it, I often heard similar rumblings in my hometown of Chi.) Think: Rival gangs, rival communities, and individuals rivaling over a relatively small number of quality jobs and economic opportunities, etc.

Well, now I’m seeing the same thing on Madison Ave.

Without getting into confidential specifics, I’ve spent parts of the last two years consulting on several campaigns, pitches and marketing initiatives in which General Market clients identified their primary ethnic audiences as Black and Hispanic. And while that’s not unusual, in these cases a trend has emerged: the General Market client has shifted their “multicultural” budget—which was no more than 4-5% of their mainstream budget—from Black creative efforts and media buys, over to the Hispanic agency and media buys. Also, the correlating strategies have been about reducing their African American agencies to taking what appeals to Hispanic/Latino origins and finding “commonalities” among African American audiences.

The result is creating a dynamic where the Black shops I’ve been at have had to tailor their work to fit first the General Market’s campaign, and now the Hispanic shop’s version of said effort. In short: make a copy of a copy, whether the copy it’s relevant to black consumers or not.

I’ve taken informal surveys among colleagues at varying shops and sectors all over the country; and according to them I’m late to this party. Whether thru malice, bias, accident, laziness, pure “business decisions”, GM clients and their partnering agencies are slowly shifting their limited resources from African-American efforts with their newfound Hispanic efforts. They’re pitting groups against each other over the same economic and cultural cache crumbs.

In fact, according to ADWEEK (7/11/08) ad spending in Spanish-language media reached $5.78 billion in 2007, up 3% from $5.63 billion in 2006, with cable TV showing a 76% jump, buoyed by the addition of Fox Sports en Espanol and Telemundo's mun2 as measured media, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Conversely, Nielsen also reported that spending on African American media for the period Oct. 1, 2006 thru Sept. 30, 2007 totaled $2.3 billion—that’s $3.3 billion less than what’s being spent on the Hispanic market. Both budgets pale in comparison to the estimated $141 Billion clients spent in 2007 focusing primarily on White, so-called “mainstream” consumers. (Adage.com)

Now you could make a “business argument” for the disparity—until you consider how close the numbers are: The Hispanic American consumer, which is 41 million strong spent an estimated $863 billion on consumer goods in 2007; while Black American consumers—an estimated 39 million deep, spent an estimated $847 Billion in 2007. So the numbers don’t justify the huge chasms being created by general market clients and their anglo-led Agencies Of Record.

So as we move forward—310 million Americans and growing, 100 million of who are ethnic/cultural minorities and expanding, along with still-90% Anglo/ethnically homogenized marketing industry (and dying?) I wonder how bad this problem is going to get before we get it right? Will African American, Hispanic and Asian American consumers and marketing pros remain forced to fight over table scraps as mainstream clients and agencies continue to view white “mainstream” consumers as the bread and butter worth embracing and protecting at all costs?

In the end, true multicultural efforts can’t be about replacing one group’s efforts with another, or forcing one culture into the confines and precepts of another’s. No, it’s gotta be about a larger collective, where everything coexists and isn’t force-fitted. And where all are viewed and valued on the same level.

Unfortunately, if the last 12 months are any indication, clients and agencies alike are still a long, long way off.