Hazel Trice Edney, NNPA
- It is estimated by the Chicago-based research firm, Target Market News, that African-American consumers will have spent $2.8 billion on new General Motors cars in this year alone.
According to industry statistics, GM’s models, which include Chevys, Cadillacs, Saturns, Buicks, Pontiacs, and GMC trucks, represented just above 18 percent of all the new cars purchased by African-Americans in just the first seven months of this year.
Yet, published figures from national research sources found that GM spent only $29.9 million on advertising in Black-oriented media in 2008. That represents a meager 2.4 percent of the $1.17 billion of all of GM’s advertising expenditures. Market experts are baffled.
”Clearly there is a discrepancy in how GM allocated marketing dollars to target Black consumers,” says Ken Smikle, president of Target Market News. ”One has to wonder why one of the top five advertisers in the world would not invest more in reaching a segment of customers that represents desperately needed growth. The imbalance between patronage and marketing budgets is especially puzzling in a recession when companies need to be competitive and strategic with every dollar they spend.”
