Discussion: Blacks Spend More On Fashion Compared With White Counterparts! Should This News Be Relevant?

Nielsen just released a consumer report, where it says that people of color are buying more luxury goods than ever. With black buying power expected to to reach $1.7 trillion by 2017, the report notes how increasingly important it’s become for brands to market to black people. Sadly, getting companies to realize this has been a struggle. According to the report, $75 billion dollars was spent last year on television, magazine, internet, and radio advertising, yet only $2.24 billion was spent on media focused on black audiences. Is this a GOOD reason why the black consumer should no longer be ignored? Discuss after the jump:

You wouldn’t believe it if you looked on the runway, at an ad campaign or somewhere else but it is revealed that blacks spend more on luxury items (clothes, cars, jewelry) than their white counterparts.

In the past fashion activists sent out letters to the governing fashion bodies in each major fashion city (New York, London, Milan, Paris) stating that it can “no longer be accepted” that designers “consistently use one or no models of color.” The result of using an all-white model cast, is “racism” regardless of the reasoning behind it.

We’ve heard it all- from reasons of “aesthetics” to pointing the finger at modeling agencies for not having enough black girls to choose from in the first place. Another popular narrative says that brands are looking to sell to their customer base, which doesn’t happen to be black. But NOW this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The emerging community of “black diamonds”—wealthy African professionals—is also taking a notable interest in designer goods. A 2012 Reuters story documented several of these “black diamonds,” detailing their fondness for Gucci jeans and Mont Blanc bracelets. Given that Africa has the fastest-growing segment of high-net-worth-individuals (a marketing term for really rich people), it’s not surprising.

there’s certainly a willing, spending audience there for high-end brands to cater to. And this spending audience wields a lot of cultural influence. According to the Nielsen report, 73% of whites feel that blacks influence mainstream culture, even though they make up a much smaller segment of the population.

Too be honest, I dont think fashion should be marketed for a special race , IT SHOULD BE MAKETED FOR EVERYONE, I mean there´s not only a black faces ban on most of the campaings latin and arabian people are left out too, the fashion bussiness is at the moment just focused on the caucasian and oriental market right now and this as an strategy is WRONG!

What is your take on this matter?