Not growing up black but growing up overweight and with hair that frizzed into a wild puff as soon as I stepped out into the St. Louis summer humidity no matter how long I spent blow-drying and ironing it, the first thing I noticed when I saw the “Before” and “After” images in this ad for Dove Visiblecare Crème Body Wash, is that it went from fat to thin, from kinky hair to straight hair. 

But the ad is about skin.  The copy clearly states: “You’ll see visibly more beautiful skin in just one week;” from “Before to After;” from “Bad to Good.”  

And, if you match the copy with the visual image of the ad (which is generally the intent with an ad), from African-American, to presumably Hispanic, to Caucasian.  From “Black to White.”

It doesn’t surprise me that Donna Stringer, Ph.D. Founder Emeritus of Executive Diversity Services, and the person who sent me the ad (I saw it firsthand in People Magazine this week as well) would be magnanimous, drawing on a top rule of the engagement and inclusion curricula she developed:  Assume Positive Intent.  But that rule is followed by another tenet:  Intent does not equal impact.

“While I doubt this was intentional (or even conscious), I find the implicit racism of perfection going from dark to light skin highly offensive.”

Giving the benefit of the doubt, it probably was unconscious.  But that’s some pretty potent unconscious bias.  And therein lies the problem with unconscious bias.  It’s a natural phenomenon.  That’s why having a diverse team to begin with makes the difference.

Is the Doctor old and White, the patient female or a person of color?  Is the teacher the white man, helping the students of color?  Who is the Janitor?  Which student is characterized with the learning disability? 

The thing with multicultural marketing is that you can’t just check off race, ethnicity or cultural markers and assume you’ve done the ad well.  You have to look at what the people are doing in the ads—the roles they are playing and how people are placed in relation to one another…that’s where the unconscious bias can creep (or explode) in.

P.S.  Donna does invite all who were equally offended to send a personal note, you can find the address at the bottom of this page, and send something like:

I was recently sent a copy of a Dove Visible care ad from a magazine with before and after pictures:  the before is a black woman with a wall-sized picture of cracked skin behind her; the after is a white woman with a wall-sized screen of clear skin behind her.  While I suspect there was no ill-intent, the subtle message that perfect (white) skin is the ultimate goal of using Dove offends me.  This message is inconsistent with your stated goals regarding self esteem.  I will not be using Dove until I know you have recalled this ad and will ask my friends to take the same action.  Thank you for any information you can provide me about the development, distribution, and recall of this ad.

When I first saw the Duncan Hines Hip Hop Cup Cake ad last month, I first wondered why advertisers would make food geared to kids so creepy (a la the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cannibal ads); and that the icing would never work…the microwave would make it too gooey or too hot to be practical.

As Ken Wheaton over at Adage  points out in his great article last month entitled “Duncan Hines ‘Hip-Hop Cupcakes’ Shows Necessity of Diverse Work Force (you can view the ad embedded in the article):

“Some folks will look at that and simply see harmless cupcakes. Others will look at it and wonder, “How is that hip-hop?” And many others, including Source.com and many, many other sites, will look at it and see cupcakes in black face.

It is amazing that with such a strong reaction, no-one, from conception to execution to release, ever stopped and said “do you think anyone might think this is offensive?”  And that’s why it’s critical

1. To have diverse teams and multiple perspectives in the workforce,
2. There’s an environment where people feel comfortable opening conversations involving race (Was there not even a “Do you think they look black?” with the last word whispered and furtive glances all around) and
3. People work on their own comfort level and vocabulary about talking about race.

As I took five weeks from the time of seeing the ad to actually “fess-up” to not seeing the initial racial images (people would think me racist if I admitted that, right?), I’m reminded of a post I ran almost at the outset of Intercultural Talk.

Almost three years later, looks like my love of lifelong learning is rewarded…there’s still lots to learn! (the original post is below)

Family Values:  Identifying Racial Stereotypes in the Media

ScienceDaily.com reported on April 2 that “Fear of Messing Up May Undermine Interracial Contact.” The report was about “a provocative new study from Northwestern University,” which “suggests that whites who are particularly worried about appearing racist seem to suffer from anxiety that instinctively may cause them to avoid interaction with blacks in the first place. Study participants indicated that they worry about inadvertently getting in trouble for somehow seeming biased.”

But I would argue that we all invariably are influenced by biases that are created by images we receive in the media everyday, and that confronting, defining and overcoming those stereotypes is essential in moving toward being more bias-free.

For example, unrealistic images of women in media have been discussed and challenged so often that intellectually we know all women are not that skinny and blemish-free. Some advertisers, such as Dove, have used that to their advantage by using ‘real’ women to promote their products.

How does this relate to representations in the media of race, ethnicity and culture? Let’s take a look at this monumental event:

One day I got out of my car and walked into a building, passing a man and a woman holding hands with a small child between them on the way.

As my little sister would say “that was a really good story.” But it was.

Because in that flash of a moment, as I defined and categorized what I saw, as we all do to unconsciously absorb and understand our world, my mind said “mom, child…who’s he?” Boyfriend? Uncle? Friend? Not “I see a mom and a dad with their child.” And I knew in that moment that if that couple had been white, I would have assumed that they were the married parents of that child, but because they were black I didn’t.

Am I afraid to tell that story because I might seem prejudiced? Maybe, but more because of the reaction to the story, not because I believe it makes me prejudiced. In fact, in that moment’s epiphany I realized that something that I had unconsciously been taught by the media and perhaps even my own upbringing to be universally true, was indeed stereotype and prejudice. It was only in that realization and the telling of it, that I grow.

As I watched the buff and scantily clad Brad Pitt and Eric Banna fight each other in the movie Troy the other day, I found my mind wandering to the Chicago based “Babes with Blades,” self described as “a company of women wielding weapons.”

At first I thought, “Oy, I’m old that this is what I think of when staring at Brad Pitt,” but then I realized that wasn’t the point (no pun intended or probably even noticed).

It was that as Helen and Polydora languished and  looked beautiful, the men fought to protect their honor and virtue.  They were completely helpless in and of their own right.

The movie was I imagine historically accurate, and women’s roles in both life and movies have thankfully expanded over the years.

And that’s the connection…In Chicago, it’s the “Babes with Blades” who are best known for choreographing awesome fights with swords, knives, and other sundry weapons.

We defy society’s limitations of women’s roles, including the preconception that strength and power are inappropriate in women. We challenge the traditional definition of femininity and shatter divisive stereotypes…

And while they do it locally, women actors continue to push the boundaries in film as well, with Uma Thurman, Halle Berry, and Angelina Jolie among Parade’s list of the Top 10 Female Action Stars.

In the world of Intercultural Communications, perhaps unconsciously I was registering the overwhelming stereotyping of gender roles in the film, and countering it with strong vibrant images.  Or maybe it’s just that as a strong vibrant woman, I can’t imagine sitting around pining if the person fighting on my behalf (aka Orlando Bloom as Paris) was doing so poorly.

Nothing wrong with a little well-placed “I am woman, Hear me roar!”

Photo credit Broadway World Chicago, from Babes with Blades’ All Female Macbeth.

Photo credit Flixter.com

I found this fun parody of the new and wildly successful Old Spice spokesman, a promotional piece for the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young Univisity on adfreak.com last week.  While it should have been a simple, pithy post, I’ve obsessed for seven days about whether or not to post it.

Why?  Because my immediate reaction, related to combating stereotypes in advertising was:  Oooh.  Look.  A Smart Black Man.  Then the unconscious bias kicked in…Seriously, is it such an anomaly to find a Smart Black Man that you have to make a big deal out of it.  What does that say about YOU and YOUR biases?

On the one hand, there is often disparity in positive representations of African Americans in Media, so the opening image of the lead, Stephen Jones (who also c0-wrote the piece), holding his A+ paper saying “Look at my grades, now look at yours, now back at mine,” is powerful.  The final shot shows a traditional painting of a BYU founding father and the tagline “Study like a scholar, scholar,” as though welcoming our friend into the BYU family.

However,  on a closer view, it looks like Mr. Jones is the ONLY African-American student in the library that day.  And, according to a report on collegeprowler.com, that may actually be everyday.  The college review website gives BYU a C- for diversity, citing 0% African American students, and 0% African American Faculty.

So maybe I’m just pointing out that it’s a great piece, clever, funny and with a few great messages–students should go to the library, Universities should make sure their policies and practices do not discriminate, and it’s okay to acknowledge your unconscious bias, because may that’s how you learn something new.

What ad images have you seen that provoked an uncomfortable reaction for you?

The spot was written and produced by the Harold B. Lee Library Multimedia Production Crew, which consists of two full time employees and ten student employees.  You can get all of the details at the official blog for the project.

I teach a cardio-kickboxing class on Tuesdays, and there’s one member who often wears a t-shirt that says “# 1 Grandma!”  I’ve joked with her, asking if she’s coming to learn new discipline tactics (always adding, “seriously, folks, don’t try this at home!”)

So it’s not like the image in the Simply Potatoes ad above is an awful and offensive stereotype of grandmas and I’m suggesting grannies of the world unite in protest.  It’s more that I question its relevance.

Just like “it’s not your father’s Oldsmobile,” today’s granny is not necessarily the white-bunned sweet old lady who spends her day in the kitchen.

Certainly not this “hip hop” granny.

You’re at a black tie event.  You’re looking for the restroom.  Who do you ask?

“Me,” joked our new friend who spontaneously joined us at our table at a recent black-tie-event, jovially laughing at the third time in the last 10 minutes he’d been asked for directions.  “It’s hard to be a black man in a tuxedo at a formal event—everyone assumes I work here!”

Which is absolutely ridiculous, when you look around and realize that ALL THE MEN at the event are wearing tuxedos.

Our friend made light of the situation, playfully making fun, but it does belie unconscious bias/prejudice that may accompany first, immediate reactions to others.

So how do you combat your own biases?  How do you ‘humanize’ others around you?  Just for fun, listen to your gut, and then do or say the exact opposite.  Such as…

1.  At a very fine event, ask the older woman who’s dressed the best where to find the bathroom (or step out of your comfort zone…ask the person who’s least like you.)

2.  At restaurants, events, etc., ask your server’s name—he/she too is a person, and actually has a big influence on your enjoyment of your evening.

3. If you meet someone from Brazil (or fill in country name or neighborhood in City, etc.) don’t say “I would never go Rio, I’ve heard the crime is terrible.” (Yes, it has happened enough that it warrants mentioning.)

4.  When speaking with someone with an accent, listen for content.  “And treat them like a person, not an accent,” adds my husband, a native Portuguese speaker.  And never say “don’t you speak American?” (Yes, I’ve overheard that, too)

What other things have you seen others do (or fess up, what have you done?) that reveal an underlying bias?  What was the reaction?

Turns out he was right, less because of my perhaps disdain for polygamy (for me), but more because I was perpetuating a stereotype without actually knowing any Mormons.

And apparently I may not be the only one.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has launched an advertising campaign in nine cities aimed at countering negative stereotypes of Mormons.

According to the Pennsylvania AP news (Pittsburgh is one of the test cities) “the ads feature upbeat music playing as a surfer, artist or skateboarder talks about his or her beliefs about life, followed by the tag line ‘And I’m a Mormon.’”

But ABCnews questions if the ads are a “Mormon” makeover or “misleading.” In response to the ad quoting a woman saying “a woman’s place is not in the kitchen,” self-identified progressive Mormon John Dehlin says indeed that according to Mormon gospel, it’s the man’s job to work, and the woman belongs in the home.  He ads that Mormon gospel is full of sexism and racism.

As with any group, it’s never wise to stereotype based on simplified, exaggerated characteristics.  Dehlin himself runs a series of podcasts at mormonstories.org where he interviews prominent Mormons about Mormon life, events and culture.

And, while there’s no denying that the Mormon Church was a key player in the passage of Proposition 8, the ban on gay marriage in California, several news outlets (npr, NYTimes, and Newsweek) also carried the views of Mormons who do support Gay Rights and Gay Marriage.

Is the campaign pure propaganda, a reminder to beware of unconscious bias and stereotyping, or just a ‘big business’ working on its branding?

At a bare minimum, perhaps I’ll stop, listen, and ask questions next time I meet someone who is Mormon, rather than say “oohhh…” and fill in the blanks.

What do you think?  What do you think prompted the campaign?  Do you think it can work?

Lack of diversity in Board Rooms really isn’t any cuter when it’s emulated by 5-year-olds, as seen in this ad by agency TBC for Haribo’s Gold-Bears gummy candy.

And, as Just Sayin points out  in the comments on the original post on adfreak, the ladies are not fairing much better either:  “all the boys are given kudos for their statements, but both of the girls, not so much. One gets “corrected” on her data and the other receives no good mention of her online data.”

I suppose since when I was 5 playing dress-up, we wore fake curlers and bath robes to be “play-house-wives,” things are getting better, but still a long way to go!  Sigh…