• by Les Luchter , July 7, 2023

Doritos has launched a one-minute ‘Solid Black’ spot to celebrate three of its 2023 Black Changemakers, part of a three-year-old program developed in partnership with the PepsiCo Foundation. Each of sixteen nonprofit leaders get a $50,000 grant, plus leadership development training and one-on-one fundraising coaching.

The Frito-Lay brand debuted the Walton Isaacson-created ad a couple of weeks ago during cable’s “BET Awards” and will be running it into September on such linear channels as BET, ABC, NBC, CBS and FX, as well as online platforms like YouTube and Meta. OMD is the media agency, with D3 handling social.

“Doritos created Solid Black in 2021 to help fuel the initiatives of black leaders seeking to drive real change,” says DJ Mr. Rogers to open the spot. Rogers, one of 2022’s Changemakers, is co-founder of Houston nonprofit The Relief Gang.

Rogers then goes on to introduce Alvin Irby, founder of New York’s Barbershop Books, “and his vision to spread literacy, literally” with a library-barbershop;  Marvin Pierre, co-founder and executive director of Houston’s Eight Million Stories, “who’s empowering our youth with skills that raise the opportunity gap”; and Jessica Johnson, founder of Atlanta’s The Scholarship Academy, “whose dedication and dreams help make college a reality” for kids whose education would otherwise stop at high school.

The names of the 2023 Changemakers were revealed in February.

"Many Black community and nonprofit leaders face roadblocks in gaining access to capital to start, sustain and/or scale up their work,” explained C.D. Glin, president of the PepsiCo Foundation, in a press release. “The Black Nonprofit Changemakers program, seeks to narrow that gap and provide participants with the assets they need to not only survive but to adapt and thrive."