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Marketing the Dream

Companies promote black history by selling products from Malcolm X hats to checks

What do baseball caps, T-shirts, buttons and checks have in common?

The answer: These are products carrying the images of influential leaders or historical moments in black history.

Last October, the Deluxe Corporation, the world's largest supplier of checks in conjunction with Intellectual Properties Management Inc., an Atlanta based licensing company, introduced a new line of checks that feature photographs of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement.

The checks are the latest marketing product featuring the image of an influential African American leader.

Several years ago, with the release of Spike Lee's movie about the life of Malcolm X, hats and T-shirts bearing an "X" quickly became a fashion fad.

Engineering senior Shawn Ward said he wore a Malcolm X T-shirt then because the leader's image "stands for strong black men to stand up for themselves."

Britches, a Virginia-based clothing store, sold X hats to add variety to the store's product line.

Cathy Manuel, a merchandise manager for the store, said Britches decided to sell the hats because they "add a little spice and controversy to our mix."

Do these products exploit the images of King and Malcolm X?

Herschel Coleman, a spokesperson for IPM, says no.

"When someone says that we are being exploitive of King's image, they have a poor understanding about how America works," Coleman said.

"In order to get the message (of King) out you have to cooperate with corporations, it's the American way," he said. "It's exploitive if you allow it to be."

IPM has exclusive worldwide rights to license King's image. This summer, King's image will appear in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga.

IPM and Deluxe decided to release checks with King's image because "checks are a communication vehicle to reflect and remember," Coleman said. "As people use checks everyday, they get a chance to reflect on the history and the times that affected America."

The photographs on the check were taken by Flip Schulke, a white photographer who worked on assignments for Ebony and Life magazines during the 1960s.

"King's face on a check would promote King's vision," Schulke said. "The more people see the pictures it would encourage them to use non-violent strategies."

T-shirts and sweatshirts bearing the messages of October's Million Man March in Washington, D.C., were another new marketing product.

"The shirts represent all about what went on in the march," said Levancie Lofton, who sells Million Man March T-shirts at the Judiciary Square Metro stop in Washington. "They carry the message of the march."