Luther M. Ragin, Jr., Deborah Fish Ragin, Renaye B. Cuyler, Jerome F. Cuyler and Open Housing Center, Inc. v. The New York Times CompanyLuther M. Ragin, Jr., Deborah Fish Ragin, Renaye B. Cuyler, Jerome F. Cuyler and Open Housing Center, Inc. v. The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company (“the Times”) appeals under
BACKGROUND
The Times is the publisher of The New York Times, a nationally known newspaper. The individual plaintiffs are black persons who have been looking for housing in the New York metropolitan area. Plaintiff Open Housing Center, Inc., is a not-for-profit New York corporation, one of the primary goals of which is to eliminate racially discriminatory housing practices.
On January 12, 1989, plaintiffs commenced this action under the Fair Housing Act,
During the twenty year period since the Act was passed ... advertisements appeared in the Sunday Times featuring thousands of human models of whom virtually none were black.... [Wjhile many of the white human models depict representative or potential hоme owners or renters, the few blacks represented are usually depicted as building maintenance employees, doormen, entertainers, sports figures, small children or cartoon characters....
* * # * * *
[T]he Times has continued to ... publish numerous advertisements that picture all-white models in advertisements for realty located in predominantly white buildings, developments, communities or neighborhoods. It has also ... published a few advertisements that picture all black models in advertisements for realty located in predominantly black buildings, developmеnts, communities or neighborhoods.
The use of human models in advertising personalizes the advertisements and encourages consumers to identify themselves in a positive way with the models and housing featured. In real estate advertisements, human models often represent actual or potential purchasers or renters, or the type of potential purchasers or renters that the real estate owner has targeted as desirable occupants.
Therefore, the repeated and continued depiction of white human models and the virtual absence of any black human models ... indicates a preference on the basis of race....
The real estate display advertisements featured by the Times indicate a preference based on race through the use of human models reflecting the predominant race of the advertised building, development or community.
With respect to the claim under
The Times’s appeal is pursuant to
DISCUSSION
Like any party moving to dismiss a complaint under
A. Statutory Issues
To ... publish ... any ... advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference ... based on race.....
Beginning our analysis with the statutory language, the first critical word is the verb “indicates.” Giving that word its common meaning, we read the statute to be violated if an ad for housing suggests to an ordinary reader that a particular race is preferred or dispreferred for the housing in question. This standard has been adopted by the Fourth,
see United States v. Hunter,
The second critical word is the noun “preference.” The Times asks us to read that word to preclude liability for a publisher where the ad in question is not facially discriminatory and the publisher has- no other evidence of a discriminatory intent. We share that general view but with important qualifications.
The Times’s conception of what kinds of ads might be deemed by a trier of fact as facially suggesting to an ordinary reader a racial preference is intolerably narrow. At oral argument, suggested as examples of such a facial message were real estate advertisements depicting burning crosses or swastikas. We do not limit the statute — not to say trivialize it — by construing it to outlaw only the most provocative and offensive expressions of racism or statements indicating an outright refusal to sell or rent to persons of a particular race. Congress used broad language in
Moreover, the statute prohibits all ads that indicate a racial preference to an ordinary reader whatever the advertiser’s intent. To be sure, the intent of the creator of an ad may be relevant to a factual determination of the message conveyed,
see Saunders v. General Services Corp.,
Keeping these general, and fairly obvious, propositions in mind, we turn to the allegations of the complaint. Those allegations focus upon the use of models of particular races in real estate advertisements. A threshold question is whether
The next question is whether and in what circumstances the use of models may convey an illegal racial message. We begin with another proposition that seems to us fairly obvious: namely, that a trier of faсt could find that in this age of mass communication and sophisticated modes of persuasion, advertisers target as potential consumers groups with certain racial as well as other characteristics. In some circumstances, such targeting conveys a racial preference, or so a trier might find. We live in a race-conscious society, and real estate advertisers seeking the attention of groups that are largely white may see greater profit in appealing to white consumers in a manner that consciously or unсonsciously discourages non-whites. They may do so out of simple inertia or because of the fear that the use of black models will deter more white consumers than it attracts black consumers. In any event, a trier plausibly may conclude that in some circumstances ads with models of a particular race and not others will be read by the ordinary reader as indicating a racial preference.
The Times does not deny that advertisers target groups but rather vigorously presses the claim that if
We do believe, however, that the Times’s concerns are overblown. The quota controversy principally concerns selection of persons for competitive opportunities, such as employment or admission to college. These are circumstances in which opinions differ whether individual skills or purely academic qualifications should govern and whether a race-conscious decision is itself an act of racial discrimination. The use of models in advertising, however, involves wholly different considerations. Advertising is a make-up-your-own world in which one builds an image from scratch, selecting those portrayаls that will attract targeted consumers and discarding those that will put them off. Locale, setting, actions portrayed, weather, height, weight, gender, hair color, dress, race and numerous other factors are varied as needed to convey the message intended. A soft-drink manufacturer seeking to envelop its product in an aura of good will and harmony may portray a group of persons of widely varying nationalities and races singing a cheerful tune on a mountaintop. A chain of fast-food retailers may use models of the principal rаces found in urban areas where its stores are located. Similarly, a housing complex may decide that the use of models of one race alone will maximize the number of potential consumers who respond, even though it may also discourage consumers of other races.
In advertising, a conscious racial decision regarding models thus seems almost inevitable. All the statute requires is that in this make-up-your-own world the creator of an ad not make choices among models that create a suggestion of a racial prefеrence. The deliberate inclusion of a black model where necessary to avoid such a message seems to us a far cry from the alleged practices that are at the core of the debate over quotas. If race-conscious decisions are inevitable in the make-up-your-own world of advertising, a statutory interpretation that may lead to some race-conscious decisionmaking to avoid indicating a racial preference is hardly a danger to be averted at all costs.
Moreover, the Times’s аrgument would prevent a trier of fact from scrutinizing the selection of models and inferring from that selection and from the surrounding circumstances a race-conscious decision. The creator of an ad may testify, “Gosh, I didn’t notice until this trial that all the models for tenants were white and the model for a custodian was black.” However, a trier may justifiably disbelieve such an assertion in light of all the circumstances, much as triers of fact are allowed to draw inferences of racial intent in other contexts,
see, e.g., McDonnell Douglas Comp. v. Green,
Given this scope for fact-finding, the present complaint cannot be dismissed for failure to state a claim for relief. It alleges a long-standing pattern of publishing real estate ads in which models of potential consumers are always white while black models largely portray service employees, except for the exclusive use of black models for housing in predominantly black neighborhoods. Finаlly, it alleges that this pattern reflects a targeting of racial groups. Given the ordinary reader test, it can hardly be said that these allegations are insufficient to enable plaintiffs to prove that the Times has published, and continues to publish, some discriminatory ads.
In the proceedings to follow, the standard for liability will no doubt be sharpened in the context of the parties’ evidentiary submissions. We believe it useful to make some preliminary observations on that standard, however. First, we agree with the Times that liability may not be based on an aggregation оf advertise
Second, as stated, liability will follow only when an ordinary reader would understand the ad as suggesting a racial preference. The ordinary reader is neither the most suspicious nor the most insensitive of our citizenry. Such a reader does not apply a mechanical test to every use of a model of a particular race. An ad depicting a single model or couple of one race that is run only two or three times would seem, absent some other direct evidence of an intentional racial message, outside
B. Constitutional Issues
The Times argues that
The Times аlso claims that the district court’s interpretation of
The Supreme Court has made clear that “[t]he Constitution ... accords a lesser protection to commercial speech than to other constitutionally guaranteed expression.”
Central Hudson Gas & Elec. v. Public Serv. Comm’n,
In
Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Human Relations Comm’n,
[a]ny First Amendment interest which might be served by advertising an ordinary commercial proposal and which might arguably outweigh the governmental interest supporting the regulation is altogether absent when the commercial activity itself is illegal and the restriction on advertising is incidental to a valid limitation on economic activity.
As was the case with the Pittsburgh ordinance prohibiting employment discrimination and ads indicating such discrimination in
Pittsburgh Press,
the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in the sale or rental of housing,
see
We do not agree that in the instant matter it is circular to determine that a particular kind of commercial speech is illegal by referеnce to the very statute that is the subject of the constitutional challenge. Such circularity would exist only if there were doubt about Congress’s power to prohibit speech that directly furthers discriminatory sales or rentals of housing. The Times understandably shrinks from such a bold and fruitless challenge to the Fair Housing Act. Given that Congress’s power to prohibit such speech is unquestioned, reliance upon the statute to determine the illegality of ads with a racial message is not circular but inexorable.
The Times also raises a number of arguments concerning purрortedly unconstitutional burdens imposed by
Second, the Times contends that the press cannot be compelled to act as an enforcer of otherwise desirable laws and. that such an obligation imposes unconstitutional special burdens on the press. The Times relies upon
Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel,
Third, returning to the model of the obtuse publisher, the Times asserts that the press is ill-equipped to conduct the monitoring of advertisements that
The Times thus admits that it presently reviews advertising submissions to avoid publishing ads that do not meet its “Standards of Advertising Acceptability.” These Standards provide inter alia:
The Times will not accept:
1. Generally
—Advertisements which contains [sic] fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading statements or illustrations.
—Attacks of a personal character.
—Advertisements that are overly competitive or that refer abusively to the goods or services of others.
2. Investments
Advertisements which do not comply with applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations.
3. Occult Pursuits
Advertisements for fortune telling, dream interpretations and individual horoscopes.
4.Foreign Languages
5. Discrimination
Advertisements which fail to comply with the express requirements of federal and state laws against discrimination, including Title VII and the Fair Housing Act, or which otherwise discriminate on grounds of race, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status or disability.
6. Offensive to Good Taste
Indecent, vulgar, suggestive or other advertising that, in the opinion of The Times, may be offensive to good taste.
This list is not intended to include all the types of advertisements unacceptable to The Times. Generally speaking, any other advertising that may cause financial loss to the reader, or injury to his health, or loss of his confidence in reputable advertising and ethical business practices is unacceptable.
Given that this extensive monitoring — for purposes that are both numerous and often quite vague — is routinely performed, it strains credulity bеyond the breaking point to assert that monitoring ads for racial messages imposes an unconstitutional burden.
Moreover, the Times’s argument is a policy argument that, if accepted, would undermine other civil rights laws. For example, the Times is prohibited by Title VII from discriminating on the basis of race in employment.
See
We do view one of the Times’s arguments with a degree of sympathy, although it does not affect the outcome. The individual plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages for emotional injury resulting from the ads in question, and the
Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.
Notes
. We draw additional support in this regard from a regulation issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD”). This regulation, which was promulgated pursuant to HUD's statutory authority to enforce the Fair Housing Act and based on
Use of human models. Human models in рhotographs, drawings, or other graphic techniques may not be used to indicate exclusiveness because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. If models are used in display advertising campaigns, the models should be clearly definable as reasonably representing majority and minority groups in the metropolitan area, both sexes, and, when appropriate, families with children. Models, if used, should portray persons in an equal social setting and indicate to the general public that the housing is open to all without regard to race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, and is not for the exclusive use of one such group.