Inside Intel Is There A "Slave-Ship" Agenda?

I almost fell out of my seat when I saw Intel's new advertising campaign. It shows six bowing African American athletes before a chino-clad, oxford-shirted white manager with the slug: "Maximize the power of your employees." This ad reminds me of a slave-ship, and it's hard to imagine the same imagery did not come to mind for the savvy ad exec that created it.

The Intel ad demonstrates the company's gross insensitivity to issues of racial and economic discrimination. And Intel's political activity in California could throw what's really inside Intel into a national spotlgiht. Now it's time to send Intel a message that it needs to respect our mores and rules of law.

Intel is not just promoting insensitive images, it's also leading a signature drive for a California ballot measure that would eliminate class action lawsuits over civil rights issues. Intel's board of directors have been sent 25,000 faxes calling upon the company to withdraw that pending ballot measure. You can add your voice here.

Intel has already apologized over its advertising campaign and is withdrawing it. Now Intel must recognize the insensitivity of its attack on class action system, where the rights of victims of discrimination are vindicated. Denny's Restaurants never would have gotten the message to stop discriminating against African Americans, but for a class action lawsuit.

Intel's pending ballot measure would destroy those protections. Shame on Intel. The public will begin to see inside the company's decisionmaking process if it doesn't change course.