I am not smiling with Coke and Nivea isn't being civilized.

I don't think that I will be having a Coke and a smile anytime soon. (Not that I would. Those sodas are bad for you.) My good friends from Atlanta decided to invest four billion dollars in China. That's FOUR BILLION with a B!

Those "emerging markets"  sure have a lot of clout. I guess since corporations are people according to our friend, Mitt Romney, Coke just wanted to show that they have friends of all races and nationalities.     

"Kent said the company is even considering listing its shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, adding itself to the list of mainstream brands listing their depositary receipts on exchanges outside of their home base. Massachusetts luggage maker Samsonite opted to list in Hong Kong in the second quarter rather than do its initial public offering on the NYSE. The new China investments will focus on innovation, infrastructure and expansion of its production capacity. The company now has six manufacturing centers in the country."

"Expansion of its production capacity." I think that means more jobs for my friends who just put a beat down on those Hoyas.

I wish my friends at Coke all the best.

And then there is the latest little racial controversy here in A-merry-ca brought to us by yet another clueless advertising executive:

"Skincare brand Nivea’s popular “Look like you give a damn” campaign went very awry this week after they released a new print ad that showed a well-groomed, clean-shaven black man about to toss away a rubber mask of his earlier self with facial hair and an afro.

Over the model, words in giant font read: RE-CIVILIZE YOURSELF.
The public outrage over the ad was immediate, with many calling the ad racist. “The message couldn't be clearer,” wrote Nona Willis Aronowitz at Good, “natural hair on a black man isn't a style preference or a nod to afrocentrism — it's straight-up uncivilized.”

Questlove, a musician who often tweets about race issues, was angered by the ad, tweeting Thursday: “Lotion with a 38-year-old stripper’s name really wants my head off. Uncivilized? #[expletive]Nivea.”

Within hours, Nivea had apologized. On its Facebook page, the company wrote: “This ad was inappropriate and offensive. It was never our intention to offend anyone, and for this we are deeply sorry. This ad will never be used again.”
The ad is already printed in the September issue of Esquire, and Nivea still runs other variations of the ad, including one that features a white male model and rubber head, with no text about “re-civilization.” [Source]

Questlove, I feel you homie, that head in the brother's hand does look a lot like you. I can see why folks are upset. I get the message that this campaign sends, and it's not a good one. Civilized is a relative term, so where the hell does Nivia get off implying that some dude who looks like Questlove isn't civilized and the dude with the J. Crew v-neck, is civilized?

I am not even going to call them racist, just stupid. Their advertising agencies need to start putting some added flavor in their board rooms, and get out of this Procrustean approach to all of their products. Mad Men is a nice television show, but it's just that; a television show. This is 2011. Nivea, please feel free to join us whenever the spirit moves you. The time you spend apologizing for this type of faux pas could be well spent developing better products. (BTW, your Q10 moisturiser for men sucks. Or, as my white friends like to say: "Sucks balls"! )

Questlove, time for the Roots to drop another classic and show those fools over at Nivea that just because you rock your hair like their definition of uncivilized; actually listening to your music is as far away from uncivilized as it gets.