Two weeks ago, the hand lotion hit the fan when a Dove ad ran on Facebook that appeared to have a black woman turning into a white woman after using a Dove product. In the longer version of the ad, which most people did not see, the white woman then turned into a Middle Eastern woman.
In the aftermath, the model featured at the start of the ad has said she didn’t feel she was subject to racism but plenty of the public did feel it was problematic, at the very least.
The whole episode raised questions around what checks and balances advertising agencies have in place to prevent such stuff-ups. On a wider level, we might ask, do these things happen because advertising is still dominated by white men at a creative and management level?
Jane Caro is an award-winning writer, novelist and documentary-maker with many years experience working in advertising. When I asked her how something like the Dove fracas occurs, she said:
“Because agencies are stacked to the gunnels with white blokes with absolutely no idea that they have absolutely no idea. Dove’s huge mistake was going from black woman to white woman, obviously. Had they even for five seconds thought about it and changed the order of the women in that ad, it would have been so much less gob-smackingly — ‘Oh my god, does this say soap scrubs the black away?’.”
“I regard these things generally as stupidity, ignorance and a lack of imagination. It’s not done deliberately but its because these people have not listened when anyone has told them about stereotyping or what it means. They have ignored it and now its bitten them on the bum and they deserved to be bitten for it.”
Bec Brideson has been in communications and advertising for 25 years. The author of Blind Spots, Brideson has built a significant career helping clients to successfully reach a female client base and keep them.
Like Caro, she believes Australian advertising isn’t doing enough to address diversity in how it hires, and Brideson points to some recent efforts including a survey of 1200 staff across 15 agencies in the last year.
The results demonstrate clearly that the industry, particularly the creative side, is dominated by white men, with women a majority in support and administrative roles; 85% of the survey respondents were Caucasian, 15% non-Caucasian, 6% Asian, and just one Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander. Not 1% — just one. In management, the contrast is even more stark, with only 16% of CEO and managing director roles being filled by women.
Brideson says the global consumer economy of women is valued at $28 trillion, whilst the overall consumer economy totals $35 trillion. That means women control 80% of consumer purchases globally. A 2015 Ernst & Young report showed that by 2025, women will be responsible for 75% of discretionary household spending, and yet the advertising industry is male-dominated. So where are the the female creatives and CEOs who might instigate a cultural change in advertising?
Brideson says eight years ago there were no HR departments or talent specialists within that agency landscape.
“Now there definitely are a lot of those people will take it on and take it seriously and try to change it. But I feel that’s window dressing. I would say that is diversity dressing your agency.
“It’s a response to two things. One is the social pressure that we’re hearing more and more we as a society are expecting to see affirmative action on diversity. And the other thing is that we are seeing pressure applied by our clients and and it’s always been whispered to me ‘We will care about diversity when our clients start telling us that diversity is a problem’.”
Caro’s view is less hopeful.
“Look, even if they hire someone who doesn’t look like a white bloke, unfortunately it will be someone who conforms to the white bloke rules, they will have had to drink the white bloke Kool-Aid because to get ahead you have to reflect the bosses back to themselves at twice their natural size and the problem with that is anyone who is different, anyone who says ‘Hold on, there might be a problem with this idea’ is seen as difficult and told they are not a team player.”
Brideson believes the solution may lie with major brands putting their agencies on notice, and says internationally Pepsi and HP software have done just that.
At the time of writing it was not possible to know if any of the models from the Dove commercial knew that Unilever, who owns Dove, also makes and sell a skin-whitening product called Fair and Lovely sold in over 40 countries as pointed out by Dr Liz Conor of La Trobe University.
Identity “politics” richly deserve(s) the quotation marks.
What if this was the idea of a female creative?
“Had they even for five seconds thought about it and changed the order of the women in that ad, it would have been so much less gob-smackingly — ‘Oh my god, does this say soap scrubs the black away?’”
No, Caro, the reverse order would be equally targeted for apparent racism and guilty also of cover-up (no surprise for a cosmetics company). The agency might be guilty of stereotypes, but the client has the veto. Blame Dove.
I think I might need some help “understanding” this article and for the purpose of the ease of instruction (for my part) let’s consider some of the remarks contained within the article :
” Because agencies are stacked to the gunnels with white blokes with absolutely no idea that they have absolutely no idea.”
no idea about what ? The “idea” isn’t mentioned or referred to but one could assume that the firms that although the firms are “stacked with white blokes” – any Asians or Muslims (or both) ? – the firms do amount to an economic “going concern” for their shareholders and any female CEO would concede that nothing else matters.
“Dove’s huge mistake was going from black woman to white woman, obviously. Had they even for five seconds thought about it and changed the order of the women in that ad, it would have been so much less gob-smackingly”
oh – I see: Dove got it the wrong way about. I recall an advertisement from Persil, circa 1962, when TV was just becoming prevalent in NZ; “Persil washes whiter” ( see : advertising works even after 55 years!) where a child of dark complexion removed its noticeably whiter hand from a bucket containing a solution of Persil and water. Clearly the stunt is anything but new.
“Like Caro, she [Bec Brideson] believes Australian advertising isn’t doing enough to address diversity in how it hires, and Brideson points to some recent efforts including a survey of 1200 staff across 15 agencies in the last year. The results demonstrate clearly that the industry, particularly the creative side, is dominated by white men, with women a majority in support and administrative roles; 85% of the survey respondents were Caucasian, 15% non-Caucasian, 6% Asian, and just one Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander.”
That is nice : it seems that the last paragraph addressed the inherent questions (on composition) contained in the earlier paragraphs. Now were it the case that women comprised greater than 50% of the employees of the magazine or the advertising company, particularly in positions of responsibility, would the “problems” – particularly those about having “no idea” disappear?
I know nothing of the internal composition of Women’s Day or New Idea but I am able to comment upon the standard of grammar and punctuation (which, having thought about the adjective, is dreadful). As an aside, if the former magazine is intended to appeal to all women then the title ought to be Womens’ Day (in comparison to the singular). Having made that point the standard of grammar and punctuation is not that high in this august publication.
Lastly, does the author assume that there are significant differences between CEOs that are male and female? The managerial evidence suggest very little difference. Companies, particularly in the USA and Canada, that are governed by CEOs that are female do not have significantly more benefits for females with families that those governed by a male CEOs. Indeed what provisions are available for female employees is more a function of culture of the country than the gender of the CEO. In both cases the shareholders tend to come first.
Oh good, more postmodern intersectional drivel. All white men think alike you see, and so if only we had more “diversity” of gender and race, we’d have diversity of ideas and competence. Hang on, but I can’t say all asian women think or act alike? What about black gay Muslims? No? I can’t just declare that the differences between groups are greater than the differences between individuals within groups? Oh I see, that would be racist and reprehensible (and wrong)!
I can’t decide which is more damning: the incoherence and hypocrisy of the white privilege/tear down the patriarchy ideologues, or the resentment so clearly behind their one-dimensional argument.