Written By Andrea Henderson
As an MBA Intern I worked for a food brand in their Marketing department. I was introduced to a campaign seeking to embrace their staple fried chicken, as many other restaurants and food brands were moving away from fried foods due to health concerns. The campaign was “Pride in Fried” and the agency developed a commercial showing Black people dancing on a street corner with pieces of fried chicken in their hands. Another shot showed a group of Black people in a flat bed truck with buckets of chicken enjoying a meal. I shared my thoughts about the campaign saying that it did not resonate with me and was borderline offensive. I was told that the campaign was intended to resonate with “regular Black people,” not Ivy League Black people like me. I shut down. I felt that my input was not welcome. I was earlier in my career and didn’t feel empowered to advocate more strongly for my opinion. While the campaign didn’t receive the clap back that it might have today, with the proliferation of social media, that creative wasn’t a resounding success either.
I was reminded of this experience recently when my network shared other messages about marketing campaigns that have upset my community and others.
Pride Whopper
Ramadan Bacon Flavored Pringles
There may have been Black marketers involved in these campaigns but I wonder if their voices were heard? I wonder if they felt empowered to speak their truth? I wonder if they might have shut down, like I did as an Intern?
As many companies are invested in building diversity programs, I encourage them not to overlook the importance of Inclusion & Belonging as well.
What can companies do to foster inclusion & belonging to avoid these missteps:
1. Create a culture that values Tough Conversations. “Polite culture” kills. What if you were on a bike, about to ride around a curve and there was a wall that you couldn’t see? Polite culture would have your colleagues tell you to “be careful and enjoy.” Tough conversation would empower colleagues to tell you to “watch out” because there’s a problem ahead that you can’t see. Instead of being angry, you should be grateful.
2. Value the people who seek to poke holes in an idea, not because they’re being negative, but because they’re seeking a better outcome. Appreciate those who are willing to pressure test ideas. Encourage differences of opinion. THAT is diversity. Black people aren’t dark white people. Women aren’t little men. We have different lived experiences which inform our perspectives. It doesn’t make our perspective “right” but it is often inherently different.
3. Internal communications and training should reinforce the concept that Inclusion isn’t simply making the team. It means that I can play on the team. Belonging means I can bring my full self, all of my knowledge, skills & abilities and be appreciated, even celebrated, for adding them. Ensure that everyone understands this and is aligned.
4. Invite authentic voices to the conversation. This is actually a metaphor for including diverse (BIPOC, women, LGBTQ) founders & products into your portfolio vs trying to replicate inauthentically or retrofit mainstream products. This type of “capitalism as colonization during opportune times,” as one friend described it, is disingenuous, offensive and serves to perpetuate the systemic issues we are working to dismantle.
That said, Happy Juneteenth & Happy Pride Month!