The NAACP, once America's premier civil rights group but now even less influential than PETA, has sent a letter to America's biggest advertisers demanding that they hire agencies that have black executives. Does anyone care?

The advertising industry: it's run by whites! And it probably always will be, unless the high powered civil rights attorney who's planning to sue their ass is successful. Is the NAACP more powerful in the age of Obama, or less, because the whole overt "Post-racial" bullshit gives corporate America a neat way out of the standard black vs. white dynamic? (The answer is "less powerful, every year.")

[The letter] speaks momentarily of previous diversity efforts attempted in the agency world before declaring them ineffective. "To address the issues raised in the report, it is important Procter & Gamble [the biggest advertiser anywhere] understands that such responses are inadequate and, in some cases, counterproductive. That is why we wish to assist you in designing your approach to this issue. ... We would like for you to instruct your advertising agencies to use diverse teams in creative and account-management positions."

Your cause is strong but your bargaining position is weak, NAACP. Ad agencies can claim recession reasons for not hiring anyone, and P&G can shrug and direct you to their customer service hotline, and everybody else is too busy worrying about their own jobs to care much about protests right now. Come back when you can get their balls in a tighter vise. [Ad Age]