From equity to equality

Prior to that, Masterfoods had been running a multimillion-pound advertising campaign promoting Galaxy Ice cream. The ad entailed pots of ice cream and three spoons of differing sizes with the catchphrase "eeny, meeny, miney, mo ..."

We had received a deluge of calls from offended black and white people about the use of a nursery rhyme that used the "N" word and which also had its history in US racist lynching. I contacted the managing director of Masterfoods and politely informed him of how offensive this particular campaign was to many, and that they should consider removing it, otherwise we would call for a boycott of all their products.

His response was short but polite. "I could do whatever I wished. Masterfoods would change nothing."

So I did. The call for a boycott, supported in just a few hours by many hundreds, was echoed in the black and white media, including this paper. Twenty-four hours had not gone by when the external affairs manager called me, asking me to wait by the fax machine to receive a letter that would announce the "immediate removal of Galaxy Ice Cream advertisements", explaining "Masterfoods has today issued instructions to remove all posters and apologise for any offence caused to the black community".

The moral argument was never going to persuade Masterfoods to do the right thing - even though they realised it was offensive. Having the potential, however, to hit a big company such as Masterfoods where it hurts most, either in their pockets and/or to their reputation had immediate and dramatic effect.

That's why the 1990 Trust, OBV and other organisations have joined forces with Rev Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Push coalition to form Equanomics, a project that will focus on racial justice through economic equality.

For many years and for obvious reasons, our organisation have focused our race equality agenda on national and local government legislation and also campaigning for greater political representation. However, given that the overwhelming majority of people are employed within the private sector, it is right that we should also seek to achieve race equality in big business. Without access to jobs, promotion, business loans and procuring lucrative contracts, a meaningful level of racial justice within the private sector and society in general can never be achieved.

Some of our initial ideas will focus on how we can hold big business to account. We have talked about targeting 25 UK-based multinationals in which we feel black consumers have particular spending power, such as in; banks, insurance companies, food manufacturers, mobile phones, drinks, electronic goods and clothing. We will seek to buy shares in many of those companies and, as shareholders, begin to demand that their rhetoric of diversity and opportunity is matched by reality.

Our central and positive argument will be that for the private sector to ignore the deluge of talent within black communities is simply not good business. When many more people in society can fulfil their employment potential everybody wins. But as consumers and shareholders, if gentle persuasion makes not one jot, we have the right to choose where we spend our money.

Rev Jackson's blueprint has been: research, what is the make up of the company; education, explaining what diversity means in practice; negotiation, how and when the status quo should change; and demonstration, if a company is unwilling to change its practice, then the use of boycotts and/or litigation can be used. If the latter is used, then reconciliation must also be part of the plan.

One can imagine an all-white senior management at Masterfoods, using an all-white advertising agency, ensured the racist nursery rhyme simply slipped through the net. The result cost the company millions of pounds, and tarnished the reputation of both itself and the ad agency. Greater understanding of a company's consumer base not only avoids these pitfalls, but also brings in a dynamism that is not there.

On Rev Jesse Jackson's last visit to the capital, he convened a meeting with the corporate giants, to persuade them that "as in politics, big business should understand that diversity works." Equanomics seeks to take that message nationwide.