ent recruiter was awarded $225,000 in punitive damages and a former collections representative received $47,000 in punitive damages; both also received additional compensation with the total award reaching nearly $300,000 (Owens, 1996, p. 55).
In mid-1996, while the lawsuits were in progress, the NAACP called for a "selective buying campaign" against Circuit City; the organization refrained from using the word "boycott" for legal reasons. In calling for consumer action against the company, the NAACP noted that approximately 800 of Circuit City's 3500 employees are black, but that only 11 hold what the NAACP considers the company's top 362 positions ("NAACP Va. Branch," 1996, p. 14). Since the lawsuits were decided in late 1996 (Circuit City has announced plans to appeal), a federal judge has ordered the company to promote at least one African American employee and ordered a diversity plan be implemented at the company. The diversity program will be developed by an outside director in accordance with the court's decision ("Circuit City was Ordered," 1997, p. 16).
The most obvious cost to Circuit City of the judgments is that the company must pay the awards and implement a diversity program. These are quantifiable costs which can be measured in terms of the dollars associated with the awards, the salary associated with the diversity director, and similar measurements. It is more difficult to measure the amount of money that the retailer lost in terms of the consumer action called for by the NAACP, the loss of the public image that the company suffered, and the concentration of resources that the company committed to fight
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