"SER VING THE
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STATE'S AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY"
MAY 10 - 16,1987
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By James Bala Baptiste
DETROIT-The Miclripn
Chronicle per in ita
May 9 . ue displayed a half­
page �t for a Rcv­
Ion product despite a national
boycott led by Operation
PUSH against the hair care
manuf cturer.
·It's a d commentary. It
o insensitivity to the
Black cause," said Rev. Jim
Holley, pastor of Little Rock
Baptist Church aDd president
of Opecation PUSH-Detroit,
about the adwrtiacment.
John H. SenptaCkc, the
Chronicle's publisher, said in
a phoae intcrlicw y 6 from
. Chi Defender
newspaper office that be
unaware of the a . eat,
Senpta e' president of
Amalgamated PubJisbera, Inc.,
the national dvcrtisement
es representative for the
Chronicle and 100 B
owned D pape.
"If the .. Chronicle
to run it (a Revlon ad),
. its decisioD, cke
. d. • API docs n io-
wIYed in boycotts..
PUSH called for the
boJtoU av.!, 1986
after Irving BottDer, pr . dent
of Revlon-Realistic Profes-
sional Prod Inc., publicly
said the bea aid m c-
turer would shut down Black
hair care pr'DmXU
because Revl
superior.
In response, � organiza-
tion of 24 Black manufac­
turers, the American Health
and Beauty-eaid Institute
(AHAB!), created a Bl c
woman's silhouette as a logo
to' ntify products of Blac
man en.
"SiDce the boycott, Revlon
bas been trying to buy off the
Black press: said Willie Bar­
row, Dational president of
Oper lion PUSH.
"The boycott is alive and
well We are saying to our
brothers and sisters, all of us
need to cooperate.
According to Barrow, the
four demands of the boycott
are for Revlon to:
-increase hiring of Blacks
in administrative positions,
-begin joint venture
projects with Blacks,
-purchase goods and ser­
vices from Black businesses,
-end the plans to dominate
the Black hair care market.
Sengstacke is the founder
and past president of the Na­
tional Newspaper Publishers
Association (NNP A), which
urged its member newspapers
to observe the boycott.
The Michigan Chronicle is
a member of NNP A.
In launching the national
boycott, PUSH staged mock
funerals for Revlon products
with participants throwing the
merchandise in caskets.
The Detroit chapter joined
these demonstrations with one
held at Little Rock Baptist
Church.
The remarks of Revlon's
Bottner ere first published in
ewsweek Magazine. The
story was picked up by the na­
tional media.
