American Airlines’ Black Atlas

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:00:40 +0000

American Airlines just launched a website for the black travel experience and I hate it. Now, I won’t deny that one of the reasons that I hate this thing is because I had a similar idea years ago that I kinda started so I know that this can be much better than it is. However, that’s not the only thing. I find the site completely unrelatable (is this a word? seriously, is it?). It’s possible that it’s because Nelson George is their traveler at large. I have very little in common with a 52 year old black man. It’s also possible it’s because of the way they pitch it:

1. The Black Experience: What exactly does this mean? All black people don’t think alike. During my travels, I would personally like to know of different reggae clubs and maybe check out some hip hop, but all black people don’t like those things. And furthermore, it’s not the reason why someone travels. I’m weird enough to want to see the similarities but it’s the differences that drags me to new locations.

2. Money Focused: This is run by an airline, so of course their main reason for doing this is to make money. (They say it isn’t and their goal is to build brand loyalty with Blacks….errr, that’s the same damn thing. Please remove the wool from my eyes. It’s warm enough in here.) So to accomplish this, they focus on people that already make a certain income and are already avid travelers. Which is fine, I guess. Actually it’s not. If they really care about making an impact, they should focus on black people that don’t necessarily travel because the more people we have traveling the better it is for the world. It helps to break down stereotypes. But, I suppose that this does nothing for their brand.

Whew, glad I got that off my chest. Kick rocks Black Atlas. You can’t just dress something up in blue and red and say it’s for me AA. It’s really just for you.

Shannon S. Evans » black atlas

American Airlines’ Black Atlas