The ingredients of an effective and even spectacular campaign are many, but one critical consideration for any promotion must be diversity. In fact, when a marketing or public relations campaign falls flat, many times it’s because diversity and inclusion weren’t part of the equation.
The diversity factor is not simply about creating advertisements or messaging that represent people from a variety of backgrounds. After all, the target audience must be considered, and sometimes that group has very specific characteristics. However, in terms of the people who are developing campaigns, diversity is also necessary. This inclusion helps ensure that promotional activities reflect the society that they are a part of, and avoid offensive references to race, gender, sexual orientation or religion — thereby, increasing the chances that audiences respond to the call to action.
To understand how the lack of diversity is impacting campaigns, let’s take a look at some industry demographics. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, although women hold 72.8% of public relations (and fundraising) management jobs overall, only 10.7% of roles are held by those who are black, 3.1% by Asians, and 3.1% by Hispanics or Latinos. Marketing and sales managers share similar demographics, with blacks making up 6.7%, Asians 5.4%, and Hispanics and Latinos 9.7%. Women managers, overall, make up 47.6% of the industry.
Ultimately, because of the diversity shortage within these industries, the perspectives of various groups are not heard, resulting in ongoing, image-damaging blunders that hurt the advertiser’s bottom line.
Take the example of Dolce & Gabbana’s video ad series, which came under fire for portraying a Chinese model trying to eat pizza and other Italian dishes with chopsticks. Many were offended by this portrayal of Chinese consumers as being unrefined and inexperienced with regards to Western culture and food. This led to the company’s products being removed from many websites and the cancellation of the company’s Shanghai fashion show because models and stars no longer wanted to be associated with the brand.
PepsiCo also made a serious public relations (PR) gender blunder. In an interview, the company’s CEO Indra Nooyi said that women and men didn’t eat Doritos the same way, and the company was planning “male and female versions of chips.” “Lady Doritos” quickly received a flood of criticism.
