Diversity – Susan X Jane

How Not to Be H&M

If you heard a rumble in the jungle yesterday is was the internet coming full force at Swedish retailer H & M for this offensive ad selling a child’s sweatshirt:

The ad was taken down after a twitterstorm of critique, 960,000 news articles and spokesperson The Weekend announced he was breaking up with the brand. The damage is done. This isn’t H&M’s first rodeo, either. They caught similar heat for using all white models in South Africa. They had a wake-up call and apparently hit snooze. In this latest all-too-predictable episode, alarm and outrage from consumers were met with a tepid apology from H & M:

“We sincerely apologize for this image,” the company said in a statement. “It has been removed from all online channels and the product will not be for sale in the United States. We believe in diversity and inclusion in all that we do.”

Yes, that is correct. They believe in diversity but will still be selling the t-shirt somewhere where you snowflakes won’t whine about it–namely in the UK. So H&M hit snooze again. That barely passes the apology test.

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The association between black people and monkeys, an association used to dehumanize black people and justify atrocities ranging from slavery to lynching to police brutality is perhaps one of the most well know negative stereotype of black people. The global domination of American media means that even in Sweden, the images of white supremacy are familiar. As many people tweeted, someone should have caught this.

We have to move beyond the outrage machine. Advertisers are experts at advertising, but that doesn’t automatically make them experts in cultural consciousness. So what can ad agencies do to avoid these missteps that can cost billion-dollar companies big in terms of boycotts and brand damage?

Start at the top

Thinking about diversity and inclusion should start long before the pitch. Connecting with consumers is the very heart of advertising, and connecting with diverse audiences should be at the heart of your agency’s values. Women, minorities, people of different backgrounds and abilities make up the majority of America–and the world.

Senior management sets the tone. This means that executive teams should model the inclusiveness they seek for the whole agency. Agencies looking to do diversity right need to be sure executives have the time, knowledge and tools needed to make sure that diversity and inclusion isn’t just a value on paper. Training your management team and arming them with a strategic plan with specifics will ensure they are prepared to turn inclusion from a buzzword into an action verb.

Get the right people in the room

When bad ads come out, people often ask who was in the room. Chances are high that there was little diversity: people of color remain underrepresented in the creative workforce. While there has been an increase in gender representation since the Mad Men days, racial and cultural diversity remains an elusive goal for many agencies.

Having a diverse group of people working at an agency isn’t just about doing the right thing, it is about assembling a team that will have the skills needed to thrive in a complex cultural environment. According to Adobe’s recently released report, Creativity’s Diversity Disconnect, lack of access and information about potential careers in advertising are a part of the problem, but the same report also indicates that creatives of color found barriers to success even once they were in the workplace. Diversifying your workforce should include pipeline development, hiring, and most importantly retention and promotion strategies. This is a long game–despite widespread agreement in the field that diversity is important there is a long way to go and it will take time. But it won’t happen at all if agencies don’t develop and execute strategic plans to make the shift.

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Make Everyone Responsible

Lots of critics of H&M asked why the parents didn’t step in. I suggest you don’t depend on the parents or the model to protect your billion-dollar brand. Making sure you have people who can spot an error before it goes out the door is key. That doesn’t mean scuttling your current workforce, it means training them. While you are working on growing diversity in-house, give all your employees the tools they need with training in culturally-conscious production. Regular training, as well as opportunities to keep current and learn from others’ wins and losses, can help ensure there is always someone in the room ready to ask the right questions.

The data is clear–America is becoming more diverse. Diverse audiences are looking for advertising that respects and reflects their experiences. Not only that, when advertising reproduces old racist ideas, audiences have the tools to quickly organize, calling for boycotts and trashing offending brands. This isn’t a trend, it is a new day. Agencies need to shift their thinking about diversity from an add-on to absolutely critical and find ways to support diversity efforts beyond the hire date. Leadership that models and values diversity, processes that consider culturally-conscious production, and time for training and discussion can make diversity everybody’s business, a value that will reflect in the work.

Dove: Diversity Done Wrong (and What to Do About It)

Dove caught those Twitter fingers again this weekend in a flurry of criticism unleashed by this facebook ad:

The ad was reposted again on Twitter. Well deserved criticism was followed by the predictable cycle of the ad being pulled, an apology, a promise to do better; I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw Dove announce some diversity initiative in the coming weeks with a press release entitled “We’re getting better”, or some such PR-speak. Of course, this wasn’t Dove’s first round in the hot seat.

This 2015 ad caught heat for the not so subtle suggestion that lighter skin was better. Dove is not alone in bad ads touting white as right. This ad from Nivea was pulled for reasons that should have been obvious to the creative team before the ad went live. What happened?

In a world of increasing diversity, advertising is also showing a rainbow of representation. Everywhere you look are crowds carefully staged with one of each race, laughing over beer or nail polish. These one-of-each ads are about catering to a variety of audience segments at once. Diverse representation ensures consumers of any race can see themselves as potential users of the products. Too often these ads trivialize minorities, positioning them in ways that reinforce old stereotypes, or use them as background to the real focus. The presence of diversity alone does not mean the ads are better, or even that the people producing these ads know the best way to represent our multicultural landscape. Behind the ads we see, advertising is one of the whitest industries, and it’s struggling to adapt to a diverse consumer audience.

This may sound funny to say, but people that make ads are professional advertisers. They are not race and gender activists. While some, of course, hold political and social positions that look towards justice, to appoint them arbiters of the new ways to represent race in a rapidly changing cultural context is a setup, at best. Advertising is created by teams of creative professionals under budget constraints and deadline–do they all have the time, knowledge and resources to think deeply about how race is described and typified in the work they create?

Without diversity in the industry’s workforce and a priority in the creative process, it will be hard for brands to connect with their audience. Millenials especially expect a level of racial sensitivity advertisers may not be used to. Who is in the room matters. Increased diversity in the advertising industry will help brands stay sharp, and benefit from diverse perspectives before they put out some racist work that costs them brand appeal and cash.

Advertisers should spend a little to save a lot: spend the energy to ensure their workforce is diverse; spend the afternoon it takes to engage in some education about what’s happening now–a lecture, a consultant, a TED talk, for god’s sake, to keep your ideas about who you are selling to current; and spend the resources to double check ads before they go out. It’s 2017: that “we-forgot-to-not-be-racist” apology will get you canceled. Just ask Dove.

Hero With A Thousand Faces: Deal With It

Yesterday, in case you didn’t feel the ground shake, the full length trailer for the New Star Wars movie premiered during Monday Night football. First, enjoy…

Fans of Star Wars crashed servers watching the hell out of the trailer, but it didn’t take long for the interwebz to raise one of its uglier heads. A hashtag # BoycottStarWars appeared just hours after the trailer debuted, accusing the film of promoting White genocide. Why the freak out?

The main character, played by John Boyega is –wait for it–a black man. The idea that a black man is a lead, a hero and alive in outer space seems to be sending some people, well, into outer space. Now, of course, these boycotters should feel stupid; it’s 2015, Black people are not some situation that Jim Webb controls and so you are going to see–thank God–some diversity in film.

But when you’re done shaking your head at how cray-cray these boycotters are, consider this: they are right in pointing out the significance of casting Boyega in the lead. We know already that there is a real drought when it comes to lead actors of color playing the hero. Go ahead–quick–name 5 movies with hero of color….I’ll wait while you Google it……..

The UCLA diversity report released in 2015 looked at films 2011-2013 and found that whites are overrepresented and minorities are underrepresented.

When we look even more closely at the most iconic heroes conquering the silver screen, there are even fewer characters of color. When Idris Elba’s name came up as a possible casting choice for the new James Bond, strong backlash erupted, and not just from internet trolls. James Bond author Anthony Horowitz called Elba “too street” to play Bond. Hey, hey, he wasn’t being racist, just saying that Idris- friggin-Elba is “not suave” enough. What?!

But I digress…. Celluloid heroes have always been white, sometime even when they were not supposed to be. Remember that above all, studios are looking for products they can bank on.

Rest easy, Star Wars producers. Casting John Boyega as the lead is not only a good move to increase the now-dismal diversity in Hollywood films, it turns out its also good for business. The same UCLA deviltry report found that films that featured 40% characters of color did better at the box office. Turns out, trolls, that diversity pays.

Hollywood and the smaller tubes around are taking note of the importance of embracing diversity in order to reflect an increasingly diverse audience watching in the real world. I’m not saying Hollywood is getting it right, but they have at least identified it as an area in need of improvement. In an increasingly diverse country, It makes good business to get out ahead of an unstoppable trend.

Make no mistake; Star Wars is no ordinary film. It is modern myth. Based on the work Hero With a Thousand Faces by anthropologist Joseph Campbell, Star Wars is not just the story of a hero, it is the story of all heroes. It is the right thing to do to create myths that reflect our culture. We live in a world with heroes of every race, and film is long overdue to reflect this.

Boycott if you want trolls–that just leaves more seats for the true fans–those who know space has no limits.

Scandal, Selma and a Black President

In the round up of 2014’s mass media themes, many critics pointed to an increase in diversity. Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal magic, lovely Lupita and Selma marching into theaters it seems like a flood of great media representations of black, right?

Sure it’s great to see characters from all different back grounds displayed across network TV and in the wondrous world of scripted cable drama. Yea. But if it sounds like I’m doing the slow clap its because I can’t help but feel like our forward progress may be an illusion at best, and at worst? Well, keep reading.

The past year has seen its share of memorable milestones towards a more diverse media: SNL cast its first woman of color in seven years; the major networks aired shows with minority lead characters—like ABC’s Blackish and How To Get Away With Murder, NBC’s crime drama ensembles and even Fox’s Octavia Spenser drama.

Directors and show runners like the ubiquitous Shonda Rhimes, rising star Tim Story (Think Like a Man) and Hollywood heavyweight Tyler Perry proved that there is even some color behind the camera. With these high-visibility success stories, audiences may increasingly feeling like they already see a post racial America on their screens at home.

Except, its not true.

Remember when we elected a black president and believed that this would magically bring about racial harmony and understanding? It did’t. In the same way, seeing a few black faces on your screens may make you think that we are entering a post racial Hollywood. The truth is, it won’t.

People of color continue to be woefully underrepresented and misrepresented in media. A comprehensive survey of mass Media published last year out of UCLA showed that minorities are underrepresented in Hollywood films by a factor of 3, and in TV by a factor of anywhere from 2 to 7 . Behind the camera of your favorite TV show is even worse with minorities directing on 4.2% of all broadcast comedies and dramas.

When it comes to the best films—those that take home Oscar gold—100% of winning directors are white. That’s right, in the Academy Award’s 85 years a person of color has never won for best director. If the Selma snub at last nights Golden Globes is any indication we are unlikely to break the streak this year either.

Underrepresentation is just half the story. Accurate voice and representation is about number in front of and behind the camera, but its also about the quality of representation. Even if the number of minorities on TV were a dead match for census numbers, if those stories continue to reinforce old stereotypes, then we can’t call it progress.

On the quality front, 2014 was looking more like 1974—a black woman serving up sex for her powerful master, happy faces shucking and jiving to a laugh track, and Queen B twerking for the teens. And these aren’t the B and C-listers—this is what A-list black stars do to get that check.

The illusion of progress that we toasted at the end of the year masks the steady restabilization of racist narratives of the past. We end up celebrating just a fiercer crop of mammys and jezebels. Don’t settle just for Scandal. We need a diverse media that reflects out increasingly diverse country, but unless the industry starts making some changes in front of the camera and behind—especially in those writing rooms—we might find ourselves raising a glass to the same old same old.

Before you trash the idea of better media with your resolution to hit the gym, there is a glimmer of hope. You see, the same UCLA study that put numbers to the lack of diversity also showed that shows with more diverse casts are more profitable. Media is made by for profit companies, so listen up suits! It seems that more color equals more green.

Supporting media that celebrates diversity make sense. Vote for better media with your dollars. Go see Selma, and rent those series that get it right. Finally a New Year’s resolution you can keep? Watch TV and movies with diverse casts!

Sore Winners Suck

Despite my recent plea to educators to get in the game of growing a less racist generation, this weekend saw another incident in this long losing season for hight school sports. This week sore winners from the Howell, Michigan joined the parade of racist tweeters in the too-crowded pool of racist high school athletes after their recent win against rivals Grand Blanc. According to the Flint Journal, tweets included:

“Not only did we beat Grand Blanc but we’re all white. Howell’s the definite winner tonight.”

“All hail white power. #HitlerIsMyDad”

“Tonight was probably one of the most racists nights of my life. I heard so many slurs and expressions. I also said a few things…”

Hastags with other tweets included #kkk, #lightthehcross, #rosaparks, #wewhite.

The tweets were followed by outrage, concerned hand wringing, and reports from Grand Blanc players the they were called the N word during the game, not just after on twitter.

Thankfully, Coach Nick Simon is on the case. He told Flint Journal reporter Aaron Mc Mann his team had not ever said that, and he would have heard any such name calling.

Looks like you shouldn’t hold your breath for an apology.

Teachable Quarters

High school sports are an important part of the teen experience, teaching young people character, sportsmanship, cooperation and…racism? If you’ve been frequenting the high school sports scene, you may have noticed that racism has been added to the after school curriculum.

Take , for instance, the hostility leveled at players during and after a game in Mahopac, New York. Fists flew in the stands following taunts of the visiting team, including the N word. When Mount Vernon, New York players took the game 43-40, the racial slurs from Mahopac players continued in the Twitterverse.

Mahopac is not alone. At a high school girls’ basketball game in Bedford, Indiana, Lawrence North High School players were greeted by Bedford North Lawrence High players wearing gorilla suits and safari gear. Adults in this school dismissed criticism, saying costumes were worn throughout the season., giving students a quick lesson in doubling down rather than open up to listen.

Or take the case of the Phillipsburg boy’s wrestling team. The boys posted this picture after beating their rivals from Paulsboro High School. The picture, featuring two of the wrestlers wearing pointed hoods, drew criticism, followed by a team apology.

What is interesting isn’t the frequency–though that is worth noticing in what too many think is a post racial world–but what follows these events. Out come tempered apologies as if their actions came as a surprise to the perpetrators themselves.

Young people in the process of learning to become adults make mistakes. That “not knowing any better”, “not noticing “, and “not meaning anything” continue to be accepted as apologies for racist behavior seems to be a mistake the adults are making. Besides, such statements strike me as insincere: racist words and images are used precisely because of the power they wield. Saying you don’t notice is at best an indicator of your ignorance of others’ and at worst a lie.

As America continues its inevitable march to being a majority minority country–meaning the majority of American’s will belong to a group we now consider minorities–educational institutions need to do what they can to foster greater understanding of race and culture. Since you cannot understand what you don’t notice, people need to learn to see cultural difference with respect instead of fear or loathing. Being aware of images and symbols of race is not hypersensitivity, it is cultural literacy, a key skill for every educated individual living in a multicultural country. Schools seem like a perfect place to start.

Diversity: No Pie For You

Vanity Fair’s Hollywood issue seems to show the joyous post-racial status of Hollywood. But hold on to your popcorn. The fine people from Lee and Low books put together an infographic breaking down the diversity–or lack there of–in the Academy Awards. The numbers show when it comes to Hollywood, you may need a passport because it’s a different country.

The numbers clearly show a lack of diversity. Numbers, though, are just the beginning. Both quality and quality are key to better media representations.

Scandal-less: Black Women Throw Down Behind The Camera

There’s lots that can be said about the need for more diversity in front of the camera. An equally important issue that goes to the root of diversity in media is diversity behind the camera. Having opportunities for writers, directors, producers and actors of all backgrounds helps to provide fertile ground to grow new kinds of stories with fresh voices. Enter five fabulous black women making interesting and fresh stories representing some typically unheard voices. Since mainstream media isn’t really open to being that fertile ground, these ladies have made their own space to grow.

Their candid conversation here on their experiences making some of their breakout hits informs, educates and inspires, so take the time to listen to these queens.

Shasheer’s Here But Drake Takes the Cake

This week Saturday Night Live debuted their latest cast member, Shasheer Zamata. Her addition to the 39 year old comedy ensemble came after well-publicized and deserved criticism led to the show ~~bowing to pressure~~ listening to the criticism and—surprise, surprise—finding the talent they thought was so elusive. Shasheer brings the total women of color on the show to 4 of 138 cast members over 39 years, or almost 3%, still well below the 18% that women of color make up in the general population. Hype bubble busted.

Shasheer’s talent is undeniable, but let’s take a look at the actual episode. First let us say that this talented young actress has earned her spot on the show, with a solid track record in comedy. Shasheer appeared in several of the opening skits to satisfy the hungry eyeballs. But making media diversity work is about two things—the number of people of different races and also the quality of the character that they portray. While Shasheer did make it into 4 sketches with 5 characters—more than some of the other new cast member added in the fall–I’m not so sure we really got to see her stretch her wings.

In her debut episode, Shasheer played Keenan Thompson’s wife at a bar mitzvah, a dancing smoking Rhianna-as-Blossom, Two Chains’ younger sister, a backup singer, a girl hosting a slumber party and a student in detention. Ground breaking? Not yet. So while SNL did ~~finally get it together and try to do the right thing~~ incorporated more diversity into their line-up by adding a black female, the jury is still out to see if they will provide the opportunity for her to play characters that go beyond stereotypical roles.

Here’s the bigger story: stealing the diversity card for the show was the guest host Drake. Of course he appeared in more sketches, but what made the night his was the diversity of roles he played. Drake himself has a background that breaks stereotypes: rapper but not gangster, Canadian, multiracial and, as he told us, polite. Because we know him to be all these things, SNL played with the kinds of characters he portrayed with barely a nod to playing a chain-wearing gang banger.

It seems like SNL was able to write interesting roles for Drake that asked us to question racial boundaries as we laughed. The range of charters he played brought a sparkle of diversity into an otherwise typically stereotypical episode. Now if they can just learn to keep those roles coming for their regular cast members, they may be on to something.