EthnicMajority

(Examiner.com) Sofia Vergara, star of the highly-acclaimed television seriesModern Family, is expanding her Kmart product line with the launch of a home collection. It is part of the retail chain’s attempt to offer a diversity-based approach to attracting customers.

Vergara was recruited by Kmart to introduce a line of apparel with a Latin flavor last year. The successful launch last fall led to this new product line to be in stores later this year.

"The expansion of the Sofia by Sofia Vergara collection into Home provides our customers with yet another beautiful design option when decorating," said Nick Grayston, SVP and president footwear and home for Sears Holdings.

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(MediaPost) Rare are those TV efforts that intend to start up new traditional television networks these days — but ABC News and Univision News plan to achieve this with a new English-language news channel targeting bilingual Hispanic-Americans.

The two media organizations did not disclose a name for the network or details such as distribution, but did say they plan to launch a Web site, mobile and social media content this summer — and that the TV channel will debut in 2013.

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(Guardian) While the debate about the all-white casting on HBO's Girls has been garnering attention on the blogosphere, it's surprising there hasn't been a similar dialogue concerning the portrayal of Asian-Americans in US sitcoms.

E4's latest aquisition, 2 Broke Girls, is the most problematic. Created bySex and the City's Michael Patrick King, it's the story of two white waitresses (Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs) who work in a Brooklyn restaurant whose boss is Asian-American Han Lee ( Matthew Moy). Short, asexual and work-obsessed, Lee is ridiculed for his broken English and failing to "get" US culture. In one episode Dennings' character says, after a run-in with Lee: "You can't tell an Asian he made a mistake. He'll go in back and throw himself on a sword."

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(The Guardian) Twenty years ago this week, the final episode of The Cosby Show aired. At its mid-80s peak, the sitcom spent four years as the most-watched programme in the US. But the lack of a televisual legacy for the show about the residents of 10 Stigwood Avenue, Brooklyn Heights, prompts the question: why didn't it pave the way for a new wave of African American sitcoms?

When it began in the autumn of 1984, The Cosby Show broke multiple TV moulds. The Huxtables were an African American family whose race and upper-middle-class socio-economic position weren't factors in thecomedy or the drama, but just facts of the narrative. Cliff was a gynaecologist, Clair was a high-powered lawyer and their eldest child, Sondra, was at Princeton – but the thrust of the show didn't hinge on these elements; it was about the normality of their day-to-day lives.

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(Hispanic Business) Los Angeles-based agency Hollywood Branded Inc. this week announced the launch of its Hispanic Consumer Marketing Division servicing the entertainment, corporate and consumer lifestyle sectors. 

HispanicBusiness caught up with Hollywood Branded founder and CEO Stacy Jones to pick her brain as to why this move was so critical for her company. 

With the Hispanic market's growing buying power, it would seem that most agencies are creating these types of subdivisions within their companies to cater to the diverse community, but Jones has a different perspective. 

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(MultiCultClassics) Earlier this month, Target Market News reported NASCAR is seeking an advertising agency to help it reach minority audiences. There is no plan, however, to engage minority shops for the push. In fact, a NASCAR marketing official stated, “In a perfect world, we’re looking for a full-service agency to do it all.” Newly-hired NASCAR Director of Brand and Consumer Marketing Kim Brink is a 20-year veteran of General Motors, another corporate entity that has made questionable decisions regarding the choice of White agencies to handle multicultural duties. In 2007, NASCAR CEO Brian France declared, “If we don’t get diversity right, this sport will not achieve what it needs to achieve from a popularity standpoint.” Maybe Drive For Diversityshould be renamed Jive For Diversity.

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It had all the makings of a feel-good hockey moment – except the guy who scored the goal was black.

Soon after Joel Ward eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins on Wednesday with a Game 7 overtime goal for the Washington Capitals, Twitter erupted in a shower of n-words and other racial insults.

"Go play basketball, hockey is a white sport," ''4th line black trash" and "white power" were some of the nicer phrases tweeted by angry Boston fans. One said that the fact that a black player scored "makes this loss hurt a lot more."

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(Nielsen Wire) In the U.S., Hispanic consumers’ usage rates of smartphones, television, online video, social networking and other forms of entertainment make this group one of today’s most engaged and dynamic populations in the digital space, according to Nielsen’s recent State of the Hispanic Consumer: The Hispanic Market Imperative report.  Mobile presents a significant avenue of opportunity for marketers looking to reach Hispanic consumers – Hispanic mobile users send or receive 941 SMS (text) messages a month, more than any other ethnic group.  They also make 13 phone calls per day, 40 percent more than the average U.S. mobile user.

Social is another platform where Latinos are especially active and rising in numbers.  During February 2012, Hispanics increased their visits to Social Networks/Blogs by 14 percent compared to February 2011.  Not only are Latinos the fastest growing U.S. ethnic group on Facebook and WordPress.com from a year ago, but also Hispanic adults are 25 percent more likely to follow a brand and 18 percent more likely to follow a celebrity than the general online population.

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(Citizen of the Month) There are quite a few articles today about a controversy revolving around the new Lena Dunham- created HBO show, Girls, and the lack of diversity in the cast, particular with African-American characters.  One of the reasons for the outcry over this show rather than the countless other all-white shows is that critics have been wetting their pants over the show, calling it the VOICE of the twenty-something generation of women.

Whenever something is crowned “the voice of a generation,” those who don’t fit into the demographic always feel left out.  We should retire that expression.

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(Daily Online) A Burger King commercial featuring Mary J. Blige singing about fried chicken has been pulled after it was branded racist.

In the ad – which premiered this week – the Grammy winner sings soulfully about chicken snack wraps, leading some in the African American community branding it as stereotypical. 

But the fast-food chain is blaming music licensing issues for the decision and not criticism of the ad.

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