GM TO PUSH CADILLACS ON BET AWARDS

General Motors may have pulled out of the Super Bowl and Facebook, but it appears to be funneling the money it saved from those disengagements into more elaborate and focused sponsorships. Advertising Age reported today (Thursday), that GM’s Cadillac division plans to sponsor the BET Awards for the first time this summer. Often criticized in the past for ignoring the black media while successful African Americans were buying Cadillacs almost as a rite of passage into wealth, the company appears to have shifted course. Cadillac’s vice president of marketing, Don Butler, an African American himself, has asserted that he intends to lift Cadillac to the top of the hierarchy of luxury cars again. Cadillac’s involvement with the BET Awards, will go beyond merely placing commercials in the telecast, the company indicated. For example, the new Cadillac XTS will be seen on the red carpet and will be used to shuttle celebrities to and from the pre-dinner.