By Kim Tang In early October, Dove released a three-second body wash ad showing a black woman changing her brown-colored shirt and “transforming” into a beige-shirted white woman. Although the next frame showed the white woman changing into an Asian woman, the company was slammed for the racial insensitivity in the first transition. Previously, Pepsi’s ad featuring Kendall Jenner was also a hot-button topic this past April. People were upset and frustrated at Pepsi’s shortsightedness with respect to the complex issues of police brutality and injustice. Dove is known to be a progressive brand that has succeeded in the past with socially diverse and empowering advertisements; so the fact that the company can widely “miss the mark” on what appears an obvious infraction is startling at the very least. However, while it is meaningful to highlight diversity in all forms of marketing, diversity in marketing shouldn’t just be celebrated for diversity’s sake. Rather, companies should first be promoting the inclusion of race, gender, and ethnicity within their own corporate cultures and employee constitutions. Striving to have a more inclusive workforce can help companies promote the ideals they set out to achieve, recognize obvious offenses in their advertising content, and consistently create genuine messages. With this in mind, it may be worthwhile to examine the corporate makeup of PepsiCo and Unilever (Dove’s parent company), using their 2016 annual reports. PepsiCo’s diversity statistics, per their 2016 annual report, were:
Comparatively, Unilever’s diversity statistics as of 2016 were:
Beyond statistics, the differences among the language used in each report underscore each company’s degree of emphasis. A quick keyword search in PepsiCo’s report shows that “diversity” appears three times; the same search in Unilever’s report yields twelve results, four times PepsiCo’s mark. Furthermore, Unilever’s discussion of diversity goes beyond just stating that they strive for it, and provides in-depth explanations and information about the steps the company is taking to be more diverse. It also includes a hyperlink to their Board Diversity policy. Significant stakeholder diversity is a reason why Dove may have succeeded with its past campaigns, which have focused on body positivity, diversity, and inspiring confidence in women. Comparatively, PepsiCo, while not entirely lacking diversity, does not seem to have the related initiative as a core component of its culture. Therefore, the oversight with the Kendall Jenner commercial appears less of an outlier. It is possible to create content without having a diverse staff, but the chances of these advertisements overlooking obvious infractions could be significantly higher. Proactive companies may have the more diverse opinions and viewpoints needed to be able to properly execute their advertisements. The process by which advertisements are created, critiqued, and released to the public is unclear, since in retrospect many of them feature underlying, and often blatant, racist and sexist content. Most likely, these oversights are a combination of lack of social awareness within the company, and a review panel for ads commissioned from outside agencies that lacks in race, gender, and political diversity. In any scenario, time could also be an issue. One thing that is important to remember is that companies can, and do, make mistakes. In today’s age where it is easy to get swept up in a mob mentality and echo chambers of social media, taking a step back is important. For instance, the Dove advertisement did have a third and final woman involved; and did not just depict a black woman being “cleansed” and becoming white-skinned. Yet, a common reaction was that there were only the first two women in the ad. Perspective and fact-checking is critical, especially in a time where information can be easily manipulated and spread, even if it is false. A week later, the actress in Dove’s ad even came out and stated that she felt that she is “not a victim” in this controversy. Did Dove fall below the equality standard it strives to achieve? Most likely, yes. This ad was not intentionally malicious, but nonetheless, the anger and disappointment from people are justified. But does this advertisement negate the other positive impact or diverse initiatives the company has been known for? The answer will vary depending on whom you ask; but ultimately, when deciding whether or not a brand is still worth loyalty and purchasing, it is important to consider not just one advertisement a company releases, but its entire corporate culture and brand history. Digging a little deeper before coming to a decision provides a clearer consumer perspective, and beyond that, provides for a more informed customer and citizen.
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