Posted on 12/16/2022 6:54:42 PM PST by simpson96
McDonald’s will have to defend itself against a $10 billion lawsuit from media mogul Byron Allen over an allegation that the fast food chain doesn’t advertise with Black-owned media.
A federal court ruled last week said that Allen and his company, Allen Media Group, can try to prove in court that McDonald’s violated civil rights laws.
Allen said in a press release that only a small portion — about $5 million of McDonald’s $1.6 billion annual advertising budget — goes to Black-owned media and that the company has “refused to advertise” on his networks, which include the Weather Channel and Comedy.TV.
He also accuses McDonald’s of relegating his TV networks to an “African American tier” that has a smaller ad budget and deprives the channels of millions of dollars in annual revenue.
“This is about economic inclusion of African American-owned businesses in the US economy,” Allen said in the press release. “McDonald’s takes billions from African American consumers and gives almost nothing back. The biggest trade deficit in America is the trade deficit between White corporate America and Black America, and McDonald’s is guilty of perpetuating this disparity.”
In response, McDonald’s lawyer Loretta Lynch, who was US attorney general during the Obama administration, said that the evidence will show that the company doesn’t discriminate and that Allen’s claims are “meritless.”
“Their complaint is about revenue, not race, and plaintiffs’ groundless allegations ignore both McDonald’s legitimate business reasons for not investing more on their channels and the company’s long-standing business relationships with many other diverse-owned partners,” said Lynch, (snip)
The case heads to trial in May 2023.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Yes, that Byron Allen.
Take that, Putin! We have the best suing lawyers in the world! Greatly helps our economy, people suing each other non-stop...what could go wrong?
But we can’t sue the Chinese?
He leans conservative, as I have heard.
An Uncle Tom, married to a white woman, worth $800 million, bitching about racism in America
I’m so tired of “people who annoy you”.
I see what you did there.
https://news.yahoo.com/billionaire-media-mogul-byron-allen-145739304.html
Billionaire media mogul Byron Allen buys $100 million Malibu estate
Welcome to the $20 Big Mac.
maybe because their customers don’t watch that crap???
Free advertising for McD’s! They can now save 1.6 billion and not advertise with anyone!
I grow weary.
I admire his earned wealth, but I think less of Byron Allen after this move. It seems like extortion to me. Who says McD has to advertise on your stations? That is not racism. A burger and fries snack is not a necessity of anyone’s life. Maybe some demographs have more disposable income than others, so that is who the sell to. McD is an internationally known brand anyway. They don’t have to advertise to be patronized. I hope they fight this.
McDonalds has an advertising budget. They are in the business of making money and do not give a damn about the racial characteristics of the stations they advertise on. They want to get the most return on their advertising dollars. If they are losing money by not putting enough advertising dollars with black stations, they are stupid. You do not build a worldwide company like McDonalds worth 143 billion dollars if you are stupid.
McDonalds will win this suit. I hope the countersue for big bucks.
PS
Most of their stuff on their menu is okay except that damn slime sauce they put on their hamburgers. I always get a fish or chicken sandwich.
Right?
I am amazed anyone still watches The Weather Channel.
It was cool in 1997. Today? Not so much. If you can’t get better information, quicker, from the weather apps in your news folder on your smartphone, you suck at the smartphone & Internet.
If I owned McDonald’s the I would just announce that I was shutting it all down. No more McDonalds and no more of its jobs. The public would get the message of the damage our corrupt system causes.
yeah, but there's no ROE for the ads
We all do.
Weird case. They advertise enough on Black media to get the customers they want. Then they advertise on non-Black media to get more customers (who also may be Black). No point in oversaturating Black media with McDonald’s ads when they’ve achieved their goal.
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