Thomas J. "Tom" Burrell (born March 18, 1939) founder and chairman emeritus of Burrell Communications, became one of the first African Americans in the field of advertising.

Early years

Burrell was born in Chicago, where his father owned a tavern and his mother worked for a beauty parlor. He switched high schools to avoid being near "the wrong crowd" and it was in the second one that a teacher encouraged him to look into the field of advertising. He then went to

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The university enrolls arou ...

, majoring in English and with a minor in advertising.

Career

Burrell was "the first black person to work in a Chicago advertising agency." After ten years of advancing, he and Emmett McBain opened their own agency, Burrell McBain Advertising. Part of Burrell's pitch was that "black people are not dark-skinned white people," referring to differences in music preferences and other cultural differences. Burrell bought out his partner in 1974 and renamed the agency ''Burrell Communications Group''.

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

and

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

were early clients. In 1999 he sold 49% of his firm to fund expansion, and subsequently stepped aside, becoming ''chairman emeritus'' of the agency; Burrell was later inducted into the

American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame The Advertising Hall of Fame, operated by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), began in 1948 as a result of a proposal by the New York Ad Club and its president, Andrew Haire, to the Advertising Federation of America, the predecessor organiza ...

. He also authored two books, ''Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority'' and ''Brainwashed: Erasing the Myth of Black Inferiority''. One post-retirement recognition of his professional accomplishments came in 2017 from ''The One Club''.

Personal

He and his wife Madeleine Moore Burrell live in Miami. Burrell has donated to and benefitted from Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind since being diagnosed with

macular degeneration Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred vision, blurred or vision loss, no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no sym ...

References

External links

Video, oral history, Thomas J. Burrell
1939 births Living people American company founders African-American company founders African-American business executives 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people {{US-business-bio-1930s-stub