I am reminded of this as I help to prepare volunteers for an event I have planned for a client coming up this weekend, The “Art” of Living with Parkinson’s Disease, which will feature original artwork by 30+ artists living with this disease.

I broached the subject with my client, the director for the American Parkinson’s Disease Association’s Midwest Information and Referral Center.  As always, when wanting to understand another’s culture and not wanting to inadvertently offend, I opened with “I hope you don’t mind my asking.  I want to be sure I do the right thing,” and “I haven’t worked directly with this population before.  My goal is to serve them and to prepare the volunteers to serve them.  I’m concerned that because of the physical manifestations of the disease (e.g. tremors, shaking, etc.) that people might think there is a mental deficiency, but I know that is not the case.”

“Bingo!” said the client.  “That’s a great misunderstanding about the disease!”

It’s also a misunderstanding, not only to be cognizant of when speaking to someone with Parkinson’s disease, but when communicating to people of different backgrounds or particularly among people who speak different languages. 

We are looking forward to a great, free event this Sunday, August 24, from 1 to 4:30 pm at the Bernard Weinger JCC at 300 Revere Drive in Northbrook, IL (in case you are in the area).  But in the meantime, there are a few great lessons to consider from this that apply to Intercultural Communications:

1.  Never be afraid to ask questions.  Particularly when framed from the point of view of “I want to help” and “I want to learn,” people are generally willing and actually eager to help and share something of themselves.

2.  Different doesn’t mean unintelligent.  It’s worth the time to slow down and try to understand the essence or meaning of what another person is trying to communicate.  Being impatient or speaking louder doesn’t solve the problem.  Looking for contextual cues, providing feedback or asking a question does.

3.  Take their lead when on their ‘turf.’  In other words, if it’s an event serving people with Parkinson’s disease, it’s a good idea to get into their rhythm and flow, rather than expecting them to adapt to your own.  That’s really no different than a basic marketing tenet:  Know your audience.

Have you ever been in a situation when someone from another culture was speaking, and you had difficulty understanding?  How did you feel?  Did you feel angry or frustrated?  What did your body language say?  How might you have changed the situation?

 One ad that gets it right is the Kellogg’s television ad “Higher” for the kids snack product Gripz.  Two kids at school are competing to see who can toss their Gripz snacks higher and still catch them in their mouth.  The snacks go so high they pass the window of an airplane, and the pilot is African American.  On top of that, he’s wearing a casual shirt, so, he’s a leisure pilot, all of which suggests intelligence, professional achievement and affluence-in that quick momentary shot. 

If your product, audience, constituent base, etc. is multicultural, and you want to make sure you are reflecting the diversity you serve, here are some pointers to consider to do it effectively:

1. At the end of the day, it’s still an ad to sell your product or communicate your message.  For the Gripz ad, my 7 year old could recite the product by name after seeing the commercial once, and won’t stop asking now until I buy it-the focus is on the product and how fun it is to eat.
2. Do the images in the ad relate to one another-is there interaction or parity?  In this case, the pilot is part of the story-line.  As a ‘bad example’ I’m reminded of an ad for Minute Maid Lemonade.  There’s what looks to be blonde Caucasian woman in the front, an African-American man on a bike in the back, and a Hispanic man and his child playing in the middle.  There is no interaction among them, and they seem to be set up in a hierarchy.  It feels forced and distracts from the product message.
3. Finally, be sure not to perpetuate stereotypes. “I’ve seen enough ‘know-it-all-black women bobbing their heads’ in ads to last me a lifetime,” says Michelle, a 30-something African-American colleague.  The ‘all-knowing’ Confucius inspired Chinese man also has been big lately, to the point that Snapple’s new TV ad for White Tea is simply unoriginal, on top of relying on stereotypes.

Inside the U.S. people of different backgrounds do not live in silos, so intercultural marketing, where diverse people interact in ads targeting multiple audiences makes sense.  Can you find the hidden stereotypes in ads that you see everyday?  How might you mix things up to integrate diversity without perpetuating stereotypes?  Maybe start by acknowledging the stereotype…and then set it aside.

I learned today that indeed has been listening and does understand when he called me on it.  I was pressing my front side into the cold milk on the second shelf as I strained to reach the lone can of Diet Dr. Pepper all the way in the back on the top shelf of the dairy section at the grocery store, when a very tall man turned the corner and came sauntering down the isle.  “Oohh, Mr. Tall Man, can you help me?” I asked with excitement.  It just slipped out, and I apologized and told him that wasn’t right, I was so glad to have his help, etc., but I realized what if he is sensitive about his height?  I pointed out to Dylan that what I said could offend someone and that it wasn’t appropriate to identify someone or define them by their appearance.

Luckily my friendly helper made it to the check-out counter while we were still there, and I said, “I’m sorry to have identified you by your appearance.  I certainly didn’t mean it as an insult, but then my son asked me how I would feel if someone addressed me as ”Mrs. Short Woman,” and I realized I probably wouldn’t like it.” 

He just smiled at me, and then looked at my son.  “Thanks buddy for looking out for me,” he said. 

(Note to Anti-racist parents-I realize this isn’t about race, but it is a question of embracing difference in people and not defining people by their difference, and communicating this in a way to teach my child.  Note to grocery store/in-store promotions team-who drinks more diet soda? Women.  Why is it all the way in the back on the top shelf?) 

1. If your company is targeting multicultural/multiethnic consumers, hopefully you already have a good diversity program in place and have diverse representation among your senior managers.  Do start here; otherwise more ‘team building’ type programs might not be viewed as sincere.

2. Assuming number 1 is good, then host a Brown Bag Lunch or morning coffee series with senior managers and invite all staff to attend.     But, please, while you purposely will make sure your speakers are of varied backgrounds, don’t say “and today we are speaking with African-American leader John Doe”-speakers should speak about their area of expertise, about projects or initiatives that are of interest throughout the organization.  Their cultural background or race is part of their identity, not the content of the presentation. 

3. Start a company wide book club.  Many cities have the “One Book” program, where the library promotes discussion of a single book across the city.  In Chicago authors reflect the diversity you want to have in your company book club.  By hosting your club after your City’s, you might be able to get free books as an added incentive (call your local library).  Have your CEO or top management participate for an added morale booster.

4. Does your company have a cafeteria?  Schools for Philippino dance or Ballet Folklorico abound for parents who want to teach cultural traditions to their children. Many of your employees might have children involved in classes to learn ethnic dance or music.  Why not invite them to perform during lunchtime, perhaps on day when kids are not in school?   

5. Host a “Potluck Lunch.”  Invite employees to bring a dish representative of their cultural heritage.  Ask each to write the name of the item, the country or culture it represents and a sentence about its significance to the culture on an index card that can be posted next to the food item.  During the lunch, let each employee say something about their dish and its relationship to their heritage. 

What does your company do to showcase your commitment to diversity internally?  What would you like to see your company do?

On a hunch, I went to the InBev (the reported as Belgian but really Brazilian company that just bought Anheuser Busch) website to see if Hoegaarden was part of the InBev family, and indeed my hunch was right.  Brazilian advertisers seemed to have understood the universality and immediacy of big, bold images in advertising for a while.  In downtown Sao Paulo it’s common to see skyscraper-sized billboards of single giant images (often scantily clad models) promoting this or that product.  (BBC reported in 2006 that the Mayor of Sao Paulo had actually banned such billboards, but as of a personal visit last year there didn’t seem to be an effect from that). 

So in less than 10 seconds driving by in my car, I knew the product and sensed the ‘brand’ of the parent company.  As a marketer I’m green with envy.  As a multicultural marketer, I appreciate the more global approach.  Historically multicultural marketing has focused on segmented markets or visions of ethnic consumers existing in isolated silos.  The fact, however, is that we live in a global society where people of all different nationalities and backgrounds interact in a single environment at the same time, all the time. 

T.S. Eliot once said “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.   And to me, the short, simple, universal product message works.  What about for you?  The English was included on the Billboard in parenthesis at the bottom, almost as an afterthought.  Is using a foreign language as a ‘visual’ element to convey a feeling effective?  Does this ad succeed in transcending the individual cultural identities of the many diverse individuals who will drive by and experience it, to convey one single, strong message?       

Subject: FW: Survey on Language and Identity

You are invited to participate in an interesting and entertaining survey about language. Essentially, we’re asking about the spread of Yiddish (and some Hebrew) among English speakers in North America.  We’re turning to both Jews and non-Jews to answer questions like these: Who uses Yiddish words like “shmooze” and “daven” and phrases like “Money, shmoney.” Why do some people say “temple” while others say “shul”? Who prefers biblical names for their babies? Your responses will help us answer these and other questions, and you might learn something about yourself in the process. Please set aside 15-20 minutes, and click on this link to participate.

 Please share this link with your friends and family. We are hoping to get thousands of responses from people of all religions, ages, and regions of the United States and Canada. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor sbenor@huc.edu or Prof. Steven M. Cohen
Steve34nyc@aol.com
Sincerely,
Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor
Prof. Steven M. Cohen

Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion

 The New Yorker defended the choice by saying it’s meant to make fun of how white conservative republications are trying to position Obama.  But you wonder if they really just believe in the old adage from the marketing field, “even bad publicity is good publicity.”  The problem is, is it good for us?  Is it good for our society, for our image in the world, for how we get along with one another in our day to day lives where we hope to rise above bigotry and prejudice and violence?  It more makes me feel like we’re falling into a sink hole.  At any rate, here is the immediate response and discussion it generated,  from two of my favorite anti-racism blogs, Racialicious (same blogger as antiracistparent, which I really like) and allaboutrace.  I added one from culturekitchen as well.  (Liza’s really hip although the analysis is from guest blogger Andrea.)

I’ve written before about being more attuned to unconscious bias, working to be an anti-racist parent and to teach my child to be anti-racist.  Apparently, especially related to setting an example for my child, that means that my actions and words need to match.  Go figure…something related to integrity.   Well, somehow my subconscious has registered this and is taking over, and it’s kind of making me mad.  All of a sudden I know clear as day I have to write the letter and I have to boycott the beach if it’s not addressed properly and I can’t stop ‘til it’s done.

Something’s changing, and a process has started that I can no longer stop.  I’m excited, but scared, as I apparently grow into the next stage of anti-racism after talking and research:  the reluctant activist.

Here’s the original letter and response.  My previous days in media made me remove the name of the village–I thought they addressed the issue…

The Response:

The … Park District policy on harassment is as follows:

“Each and every employee, officer, official, director, agent, volunteer and vendor of the … Park District, as well as every person using property, shall refrain from harassing any other person because of his or her race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, marital status, handicap, citizenship status, military status, unfavorable discharge or record of arrest.  Any such harassment is illegal, unacceptable, and will not be tolerated by the District”.

This policy is included in both our full-time and part-time policy manuals that are issued to all employees and they sign off on receipt and review.

I can assure that we will be reviewing this policy with staff at tomorrow’s in-service training.  We will provide examples of what is inappropriate so all staff understand.  Mr. … will speak with staff that worked on Sunday so that know what qualifies as acceptable and unacceptable beach gear etc…  We will also cover this with all staff.  We issue guard suits, t-shirts, sweatshirts.  They will be told that if they wish to bring other gear, it needs to be appropriate for all.

I am sorry for this and hope that you are able to enjoy your time with us this summer.  If you have any other questions or comments, please let me know.

The Letter:

First, please let me compliment you on your outstanding care and stewardship of the … Beach.  We are season pass holders, and are delighted at how clean and accessible the beach is.

That said, I did want to write and understand your policy and planned response to something we saw while at the beach yesterday (Sunday, July 6).  One of the lifeguards was using a beach towel that was the image of the confederate flag, a known symbol of racism.  According to the National Council on Community and Justice, “Some people assert that the Confederate flag is a symbol of their heritage, however, for many people of color and religious minorities across the United States and other communities around the world, the Confederate flag represents hatred, bigotry, racism, and anti-Semitism. This symbol is a very powerful nonverbal communication tool that, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), generates deep meaning, intent, and significance in a compact, immediately recognizable form.”

(http://www.nccj.org/nccj/nccj.nsf/subarticleall/352)

At first I thought that perhaps the young man (I do not know his name, he was one of two young, tall, thin, Caucasian, blonde-haired guards that day, working at least while we were there, from 10:30 to 2:30, at the center lifeguard stand) somehow did not know the powerful, bigoted message conveyed by the image of the confederate flag, and thought perhaps to explain it to him.  But then a young woman of color walked by, and he swiftly picked up the towel and draped it, image side hidden, on the lifeguard stand.  To me this clearly indicated he knew what message he was conveying.

While unfortunately bigotry and hate falls among our First Amendment protected speech, I have to hope that the Village of … has a policy against discrimination while working for the Village or even perhaps while engaging in activities on Village property.  This young man was an employee of the Village of …, was in his Village/Lifeguard uniform, and was blatantly parading and image of hate for all to see.

Please 1.) Let me know what your policy is and 2.) Let me know how you will address this occurrence so that, assuming it does defy your policy, it doesn’t happen again. 

I look forward to your quick response, and hope that you are equally shocked and saddened that this would happen.

Kai has lived in the US for the last 11 years, 10 of them working in corporate America.  He left the corporate side to fully pursue his dream of being a filmmaker a year or so ago, to devote his attention to finishing the feature-length documentary he co-directed with Avishe Mohsenin.  Their website describes the film, which debuted at the Asian American Showcase at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago last April, as:

Part musical documentary, part personal meditation, Someplace Else is the engaging portrait of a soul-blues-funk musician (Vance Kelly and his Backstreet Blues Band) from the South Side of Chicago through the director’s personal film journal.

Weaving the narrative, photographic and lyrical content of the music in an unconventional and rhythmic way, this feature debut transforms the visual experience of a documentary into a fresh captivating journey of many facets.

Kai’s mom managed to escape from Cambodia’s Killing Fields to France with Kai, then 1, and his siblings, then 3 and 4.  Kai’s father escaped his torturers twice, thanks to his mom taking Kai with her to see the torturers and asking them to spare his life.  He died after crossing the Cambodese-Vietnamese border from exhaustion and disease that ensued from the long journey out of Cambodia.  (Many of his uncles, aunts, and cousins weren’t that fortunate and died quickly after the invasion in April 1975.)  “Someday I will tell the story of my mom when I can afford a full fledged production because I feel her story like many others is part of our human heritage.”   

Here are Kai’s thoughts on interculturalism and cultural identity:

Intercultural themes are definitely part of what I’m interested in, as you may have noticed “Someplace Else” includes a wide array of ethnicities, from the filmmakers being Asians (I was born in Cambodia of Chinese descent, lived in France before emigrating to the US. My co-director is Iranian born in France, lived in Iran before coming to the US around the same time as myself) to the lead and his band being African-American, the club owners quite a few of Italian descent, and all the fans/interviewees spanning the wide interracial spectrum of various genders and ages.

As an Asian, I’ve faced many difficulties often overlooked, as the media often portray things as white vs. black and tend to trivialize it that way… things are changing with the word brown coming in the spotlight in recent years… and also Muslims and yellow also taking some kind of acknowledgement these days in political speeches for instance, those of our dear Illinois junior senator.

One of the things that I’m interested in these days is that there are more and more people of multi-ethnic or multiple-country backgrounds that transcend this white vs. black vs. brown vs. yellow classification or just the simple notion of Diaspora and immigration from one country and the sense of being just say American, or just French for instance. What also is interesting is that there are also many hurdles for these populations to overcome as a result of this… a search for identity and roots that isn’t as easily defined as in the past.
And even in Europe, I was dating this wonderful person who was of multiple country-backgrounds within Europe being Czech-French-Swiss born in Austria, and she told me it was hard for her to define really where she came from and say for instance that she was from this country or another, or had this culture more than the other. Ditto for me, I can’t really say I’m Chinese since I never lived there, nor did I fully embrace its traditions having lived in France ever since I was 1-year old and absorbed the model of integration most known over there for its desire to remove any cultural heritage other than that of being French as in being white French, nor can I say I’m Cambodese because my only attachment to Cambodia was that it’s the country I was born in and had to escape because of Pol Pot. People in Paris then would call me Americanized, whilst here in America, people would have a hard time understanding that I’m French… They would say “But you’re Chinese!”… Deep down inside, I don’t know… I know I value some traits of my Chinese heritage (not all), some from my French upbringing, and some from my American adulthood experiences… not a single one is better than the other in globality, or inherently.  Some say I should fully embrace my Chinese look, but I don’t always value the cultural standards in traditional Chinese families, and I’m more westernized for that matter.

The next screening of the Someplace Else is at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, August 5-10, 2008.