Missing the Mark?

Julia Black

Juliablackjack@gmail.com

 

Diversity and the constant lack of it in media and advertisement: It seems that there is always a new hashtag on Twitter trying to boycott a company for this exact reason. Why is that? Did cancel culture become a new normal today?

Firstly, we are living in a weird time at the moment. However, there has been a lot of growth within people all around the world, fighting for justice and equality. It's 2020, should we not have been seeing this type of growth years ago? Racism, colorism, sexism -- are we not tired of seeing this portrayed everywhere still? 

How is it that big companies can release a new product or advertisement, having a whole advertising, marketing and PR team that go over it, and still have to apologize later claiming they "missed the mark". How can they feel confident enough to release something and still miss the mark? Again, we are in 2020, this should not be happening anymore.

Every year, well known brands will come under fire online for just "missing the mark". The thing is, you probably could stop, take a few seconds to think if you know of any cases of this, and realize just how common the lack of diversity still is to this day in many brands.

Let's imagine you thought of many examples of diversity issues considering these issues cover a wide variety of topics. Some of the most present issues are lack of diversity in race, gender and sexual orientation among many others.

Back in 2017, one of the big companies to come under attack was Dove, a company that sells toiletries. The Washington Post was quick to catch all the negative attention Dove was receiving online after releasing a new campaign on skin care with a very wrong concept. The campaign portrayed a woman of color suddenly changing into a white woman.

Dove later apologize with one simple, short tweet included in the Washington Post's article that said, "An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of color thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offense it caused."

How nice would it be if all went back to normal after a short and sweet apology? Sadly, this is not how it works. Companies and big brands should be held accountable in every necessary way in order to eliminate this lack of diversity and anyone else just "missing the mark". So much damage can be done when signs of racism or sexism or other diversity issues, are shown in brands that we trust or are trusted by many, and for some reason, we keep seeing it happen.

Another big issue is how transgender people are wrongfully portrayed many times to others by brands. The New York Times released an article that explained what transgender people look like as portrayed by stock photos. It mentions how they are bringing more transgender people in as if to check a diversity box, but immensely lacking the correct representation of transgender individuals.

Picture source: Third- most- used photo.

"The most used stock photos are close- ups of their hands holding the symbol for transgender pride, without their faces or other defining features visible", is one of the main things described in the article about how wrongfully these individuals are being represented to society.

How are we still allowing diversity issues represented everywhere we look, go, shop or follow? Have we not learned anything at all about being decent human beings who are respectful and loving to each other regardless of their differences? Let's start by not "missing the mark" and believing an apology will solve all our problems.