U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin ruled that there was sufficient evidence to take McDonald’s to trial over allegations that the fast food giant violated civil rights laws by placing Byron Allen’s media networks in lower advertising tiers, typically reserved for content targeted to Black audiences. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Olguin noted it was a “close call,” but evidence suggests that Allen’s companies, Entertainment Studios and The Weather Channel, were excluded from McDonald’s larger general market budget, allowing the case to proceed to a jury.
Allen believes there is “overwhelming evidence” of discrimination by McDonald’s.
“It is time for the McDonald’s Board of Directors, stockholders, and civil rights organizations nationwide to call for the resignation of CEO Chris Kempczinski, who was caught sending racist text messages about Black and Hispanic people,” he said of the case going to trial.
McDonald’s has since responded with a statement welcoming the trial on a discrimination lawsuit they cite as “utterly baseless.” The fast food giant believes the trial only shows “that neither party met the high standard for dismissal.”
“We are prepared to show that this case is utterly baseless,” it added. “McDonald’s invested in media properties that aligned with the company’s business strategy and, like any other rational business, declined to invest in those that had low ratings or failed to reach the company’s target audiences.”
“The parents failed those kids, which I know is something you can’t say,” he wrote. “Even harder to fix.”
In his lawsuit, Allen accuses McDonald’s of using a multi-tiered advertising strategy in which its general market tier, managed by OMD Worldwide, allocates funds primarily to white-owned media companies. Meanwhile, a separate, smaller budget—allegedly overseen by a different ad agency, Burrell, is reserved for companies producing content for Black audiences.
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Source: Black Enterprise
