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Leibish email--Once you go black

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Elizabeth35

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Sep 24, 2011
Messages
755
Just received an email from Leibish with subject line "Once you go Black, you Never go Back!".
I was taken aback. To me, that is a saying that is not suitable for using in email advertisements.
Feel free to tell me I am being over-sensitive or simply lacking a sense of humor.
 
I agree.
The saying is about how black men have larger penises, and after you have enjoyed one you can't go back to men of a race with smaller penises.

Obviously this is not appropriate for advertising, and I'm absolutely certain Leibish (not being in America where that phrase originated) had NOOOOOO idea!

I'll email them.
 
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Thanks Kenny. Did not pass my sniff test-not something I would be comfortable reading with a black friend.
 
Thanks so much Elizabeth.
I've also reported this thread to admin asking them to delete this thread.
Leibish obviously had no way of knowing the hidden meaning of this phrase.
 
Marketing is changing, and companies are pushing limits with ad campaigns these days. I just passed a bus in town plastered with a huge "SIZE MATTERS!" banner. I did a double-take and learned it was for an apartment complex. Several months ago I received an email from KMart with a picture of a baby wearing only a diaper with the poop emoji imposed on top of the baby's backside. They were promoting a diaper sale.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Leibish slogan. It makes me uncomfortable, but if I saw it I would definitely remember the product advertised.

I wrote a radio spot last year for seamless guttering. And yes, I made an innuendo about having one's mind in the gutter. The company actually had to pull the ad 3 days into the campaign because they were overwhelmed with business. My ad was attention-getting and it pushed limits here in Conservative-Land. And it worked.
 
Monnie, if I'm wrong in my assumptions I owe apologies to everyone.
 
Ugh.

Just. Ugh.
 
I mean, it's a double entendre designed to stand out among a million other emails in one's inbox. I assume they're advertising black diamonds. Is it crass and probably inappropriate? Yup. But it got the reader's attention.
 
monarch64 said:
Marketing is changing, and companies are pushing limits with ad campaigns these days. I just passed a bus in town plastered with a huge "SIZE MATTERS!" banner. I did a double-take and learned it was for an apartment complex. Several months ago I received an email from KMart with a picture of a baby wearing only a diaper with the poop emoji imposed on top of the baby's backside. They were promoting a diaper sale.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Leibish slogan. It makes me uncomfortable, but if I saw it I would definitely remember the product advertised.

I wrote a radio spot last year for seamless guttering. And yes, I made an innuendo about having one's mind in the gutter. The company actually had to pull the ad 3 days into the campaign because they were overwhelmed with business. My ad was attention-getting and it pushed limits here in Conservative-Land. And it worked.
Click to expand...

Yup, I thought this ad on tv was pushing the limits memorable, especially because it was Kmart.
 
That commercial is brilliant! :lol:
 
The largest part of my unhappiness with this email is that it is race-related.
Therefore---not funny to me personally. Not any more funny than a tagline that targets Mexicans, gay people or any religious, racial or ethnic group.
I guess I found it insulting, and not part of any thought-provoking intelligent rhetoric or editorial content.
 
I have heard back from Leibish via email and it was 100% a culturally-based misunderstanding.
Any dictionary can translate words, but complex or nuanced meanings (such as this one) are impossible to just somehow magically know when you don't live in the originating country and culture.
Keep in mind that Leibish does sells black diamonds.
The people who sent the email were unaware of the other meaning and I was told there is no way Leibish would have sent out that email if the right people had been aware of it.

That's all the fire-extinguishing I feel it is appropriate for me to do at this time.
Even with this, I hope I have not crossed a line.
Leibish can speak for itself.

Often new sayings get started and catch on in a culture, and today social media accelerates this and shoots things around the world in less than a second.
Even being an American and living in America I struggle to keep up with meanings behind many sayings.
I can only imagine how impossible it must be for non-Americans to pick up on all of the possible connotations of phrases that young folks use today.

I think we should cut Leibish some slack here.
I'm absolutely certain no offense, or anything racist, was intended.
I'm certain!
 
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I call BS on Leibish not knowing the background and meaning of the saying, "Once you go black..." And it certainly doesn't reference mostly undesirable diamonds.

I heard this saying when I was in high school in 1977 so its not a phrase originated by "young folks today."

It was ugly in 1977 and its still ugly today.
 
Benji Margolese oversees all angles of email marketing, so...there's your guy who should've approved (er, not approved) the email, including subject line, before it was distributed. My guess is that some very tone-deaf marketing intern was tasked with using whatever mass email program they use and decided to make the subject line super catchy. Whomever they are as well as Margolese at the very least should be reprimanded if not let go. Tough lesson to learn, but that's life.
 
Just a heads up from a non - native speaker who has spent some time in the US, but acquired the language in GB / Ireland:
That mail from Leibish did not have that undertone to me on first glance when I received it. Outside of the US it is not a known saying.
Once everyone here explained here, yes, I see the problem.
I'm sure if it's a non-native ad campagn team they are mortified.
 
Lebish is not in America.
They are in Israel.

Saying they made an honest mistake by not proof-reading well enough for one of the email's target countries/cultures would be fair.
But criticizing them as if they intentionally sent out a racist email is not fair and frankly I'm disappointed to sense that here in this community.
... and naming names and calling for termination of employees? ... Really? :nono:
 
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Same here, as someone outside the US, I had heard the saying before (maybe on TV or in a movie?) but didn't know it had a negative connotation. Not everyone outside the US will know the detailed nuances of American culture.
 
As a Brit, the saying is known here, with all its sexual/racial connotations.
 
I'd never heard the phrase before and I've lived in the US for decades... and I don't live under a rock. I wouldn't expect someone from a company based in Israel to know the connotations associated with the phrase. Should they have done a google check, before hitting that "send" button though? Probably.
 
I imagine depending on how much exposure you get, someone might not know what the phrase means. Like the term "netflix and chill."

There is also something on Twitter that the younguns are using about letting someone choke them to death. Apparently it means to admire a certain celebrity a lot. Anyway it is rather disturbing but they use it a lot on Twitter and it's a "good" thing! I was horrified when I first saw it thinking these poor millennials must really have issues!
 
mellowyellowgirl said:
I imagine depending on how much exposure you get, someone might not know what the phrase means. Like the term "netflix and chill."

There is also something on Twitter that the younguns are using about letting someone choke them to death. Apparently it means to admire a certain celebrity a lot. Anyway it is rather disturbing but they use it a lot on Twitter and it's a "good" thing! I was horrified when I first saw it thinking these poor millennials must really have issues!
Click to expand...

Hahaha I'm a millennial and I don't know many of these terms! Although not in the US so maybe that's why.. :))
 
I’m in Europe, but I haven’t interpret this email the way it was interpreted here. I think this is just in the USA a problem, we don’t read it that way.
 
mochiko42 said:
Hahaha I'm a millennial and I don't know many of these terms! Although not in the US so maybe that's why.. :))
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hehe I learn all sorts of things from Twitter and forums! A while back they told me what a "happy ending" was! :oops:
 
monarch64 said:
Please read:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/danielle-cadet/once-you-go-black_b_5198599.html
Click to expand...

This is interesting and confirms what one of my girlfriend always says. She is black and we joke about black don't crack etc. She is in her 60s but could pass for 40 no problem. Anyway she says these things to me and I never take offense. Maybe because she is black she can just like I can do Jewish jokes? IDK the "right" answer but I would rather err on the side of conservatism here and not offend anyone. I cannot speak to the intentions of Leibish so I won't attempt to interpret their motivation here.


I will add that advertisement by H & M was disgusting and I hope they lose lots of business because that was truly horrible. This Leibish advertisement doesn't feel like the same thing to me especially given what Monnie linked here but again I cannot say anything regarding intent because we simply don't know.
 
Just to quote part of the article Monnie linked for those who might not like clicking onto links.

snip...she's ignorant to the colloquial nature of the statement within black culture as a whole. it has evolved into an empowering statement that represents a prideful celebration of how wonderful African Americans really are. In short, black people are so great, once you love one of us you will love all of us. It is a phrase that celebrates blackness in the same way the phrases “black don’t crack” or “black girls rock” do. People who use it are not looking to put other races down; they are simply complimenting a race that has historically been subjected to criticism for centuries.
Click to expand...

But I stand by the fact that it is better to err on the side of conservatism and not offend people and because many find it offensive it needs to be removed.
 
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I stayed up way too late last night researching Leibish’s marketing team. The last person to hold the social media and pr manager position was a twenty-something female in Calabasas who attended university in Israel. Anyone can infer from that what they wish, but I am of the opinion that Kenny is right, this is a faux pas based on culture and any negative connotation was unintentional. The person I mentioned was no longer with the company when the email was distributed, but I also found out they use MailChimp (mass email tool) as I suspected. MailChimp prompts the user to come up with a catchy subject line that will stand out among tons of other promotional emails people receive. This was catchy, alright, but to me at least clearly meant to be a play on words with zero understanding of the phrase’s actual origin.

As I said above, tough lesson to learn and whomever holds the position currently as well as their supervisor I’m sure has been dealt with. In the words of Inigo Montoya: “that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.”
 
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