Insights & Strategy at Reddit • Author of 𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 • Cultural Theorist • Brand Strategist • Social Critic • Revolutionary. Unbought & unafraid. Order my book ⬇️!
Marketers cannot put out truly culturally fluent messaging until we understand two things. 1️⃣ Marketers are not just stewards of brand-driven business but also producers of mass media, much like pop culture or entertainment. 2️⃣ Representation isn’t just who is represented on the screen or who is casted in an ad. It’s what (messaging, ideas, norms, narratives) is being communicated and disseminated to audiences. When we talk about “representative” media in advertising, marketing, and entertainment, that nuance is often lost on us. Not to dismiss the importance of visibility where previously there was none or very little. But stopping at the “who” is represented is what leads to tokenistic and performative approaches to socially conscious and, as my friend Lola Bakare terms it, *responsible* marketing. 👀 Why do we talk about media production in marketing through the lens of responsibility? Because for far too long, the advertising industry has neglected—and even outright rejected—the responsibility that comes with disseminating media to masses of people at scale. Mass media, which includes advertising, implicitly communicates to us messaging and stories that conceal standards, norms, and expectations about who belongs and who doesn’t, whom we value and whom we don’t. 🪄This is how brands participate in the making of meaning in culture. And with great power comes great responsibility to wield that power well. Without this deeper understanding of #representation, otherwise well-intentioned marketers who genuinely want to to be more equitable and inclusive are simply reproducing a little more “diverse” version of the status quo. 📖 My book “Cultural Intelligence for Marketers: Building an Inclusive Marketing Strategy” (Kogan Page) is coming to your bookshelf this spring and is now available for pre-order. 🎥: Advertising Week New York ••• #consciousmarketing #culturalfluency #brandstrategy #culturalintelligence
Love this! It's hard to see us getting to a place beyond the who when there is such push back happening right now. But I do think/hope more conscious brands will start leading the way and that customers will help to drive this change over time.
Forgive me for disagreeing. Much of what what is included in this discussion is solving the ultimate problem of inequity by representation. If that were working well why would inequity continue to exist?The problem is inequity is not about dignity of visibility but the inequity of wealth.
Well said. Media, by design, tells the world what to strive for. For better or worse, marketers are today’s managers of meaning. Yet that enormous responsibility tends not to be taken with care it deserves. 2024 is a new year and a new chance to be at least incrementally better.
This is great analysis Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel, PhD. For years I've thought of throwing in the white flag in my advertising career but at my core I've always understood the immense responsibility and opportunity in being part of "participating in the making of meaning in culture" as you've so nicely written. I'd add that work that goes out to the world with this deeper understanding of representation also comes easier when the same level of representation exists within the internal ecosystems in which the work is created. Whether it's your agency, your clients, your vendors and production partners; when all the humans within those internal engines are aligned with the "responsibility that comes with disseminating media to the masses", that is really a great feeling.
Definitely agree with this analysis 👏 And the thing is that consumer are expecting and participating in this shift. We re seen more and more companies being scrutinised critically and called out for representing marginalising values and belief systems. There is a lot of work to do but I think many are ready just need to find the tools and take the risk to go all in
What we normalize in our private life, becomes normalized in society, becomes reflected, in the way that we accept our government governing our lives. Ultimately who we are individually, and collectively bleeds in every aspect of our life and the world around us.
Yessssss. And how representation / cultural norms work in media ends up being fleshed out and entrenched on the ground in domestic and work spheres ... continually circling and promoting narratives that are outdated and harmful keeps producing/reinforcing bs on the ground
I agree marketing can play a significant role in ideology making, look forward to reading your new book.
Im sorry, Im distracted by the drip ❤️
CMO Advisor l Author “Responsible Marketing” | Adweek Creative 100 2023 | Anthem Award-Winning Inclusive Marketing Strategist | Keynote Speaker | Moderator | Workshop Facilitator | Linkedin Top Voice in Marketing
5moHmm is there an article by you that should also be linked here? Asking for a friend! ☺️✊🏾