Multicultural Marketing as a Means to Address Systemic Inequalities

When the COVID-19 outbreak expanded into a pandemic, P&G took action. We used our voice to create public service messages for hand sanitizing, social distancing and mask wearing. We helped communities in need by expanding existing disaster relief operations to donate tens of millions worth of products, cash and PPE through 200 relief organizations worldwide. And we chose to use our voice to address systemic inequalities that exist and help those hardest hit like the Hispanic and Black communities with our films – “Estamos Unidos,” “Circumstances” and Old Spice’s Saving Our Selves call to action.  

And as you know, it got worse. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd. Rayshard Brooks, and too many more. The brutal reality of systemic racism was laid bare and could no longer be ignored or set aside. P&G stepped up for equality, justice and action. We used our voice to spark conversations about systemic racism and inequality by:  

• Re-releasing “The Talk” and “The Look” to illustrate the bias and racism that the Black community faces in America;  
• Producing “The Choice” to encourage the often-silent majority of the white community to step up as allies, advocates and activists;  
• Establishing our “Take on Race” fund and resource site; and  
• Supporting longtime partners like CBS, BET, and John Legend. 

Olay and My Black is Beautiful brands also used their voices to accelerate the movement for equality and justice with the release of “Stand With Us -- Tiara Brown” and “MBIB Two Evils."

As the world’s largest advertiser, P&G has a responsibility to step up with determined action. So, along with 600 companies, we signed the AIMM Commitment to Equality, Inclusion and Systemic Change pledge. And together with our brands, we’re taking action to implement several steps that not only promote equality, but accelerate multicultural marketing to be a more powerful force for good and a stronger force for growth. The time is now for us to lead the way with multicultural marketing and address the systemic inequalities that exist – and this is how: 

Step 1: Achieve equal representation in the creative and media supply chain. Equal representation leads to greater creativity and innovation, builds access to opportunity and leads to equity in income and wealth creation. That leads to purchasing power, which leads to market growth and multicultural marketing.  

Take Old Spice. For years, we did not have equal representation on our brand team, agency, and production crews. We were convinced we had advertising that was appealing to Black consumers with what we thought was hilarious over-the-top humor from Isaiah Mustafa and Terry Crews. It was funny to some, but not to Black men. So, we changed the composition of our team to better represent the people we serve and went to work on getting relevant and resonant insights. This new team went on to develop advertising that signaled to men that “you’re speaking to me, and you really get me” by portraying men as sophisticate and smooth, instead of brash and loud, while highlighting benefits like moisturization – because “men have skin too.”   

Old Spice is now growing among Black men ahead of the national average. And it’s appealing to all audiences, as the entire brand has grown in double digits during the past year. 

Step 2: Eliminate systemic investment inequalities in the creative and media supply chain. An estimated 5% of marketing industry spending is invested in businesses owned by Black, Hispanic, Asian-Pacific or Native Americans. At a combined 40% of the U.S. population, we’re clearly under-investing.    

We’re working to eliminate systemic investment inequalities by directly reaching out to Black-Hispanic-Asian-Pacific-Native American-owned and operated media providers to give them full access to P&G. It’s starting to make a difference with new investments in BET, Central City Productions, TVONE, Telemundo, Univision and LATV to name a few, but there’s much more to do. Our aspiration is to double spending, then double it again because when we invest in these enterprises, we not only increase media and advertising effectiveness, we directly invest in the communities. 

Step 3: Eliminate bias and racism and promote equality by accurately portraying all humanity in advertising and media. Ads affect perceptions of how people see each other and see themselves. We are committed to accurately portray all people – across gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, ability, religion, and age. And while it starts with representation, portrayals must also be accurate, relevant and resonant to increase trust and purchase intent. We want more advertising like these brand examples:   

We’re also pushing the TV media broadcasters to improve representation and portrayal of race and ethnicity in programming. We want to advertise on programs that are representative of society and accurately portray all people.  

The images in advertising and media matter. So, we’re stepping up to promote the representation and accurate portrayal of all people in all of our ads and media programming. 

Step 4: Eliminate hateful content online. There is too much hateful, denigrating, and discriminatory content online, and there is no place for it. It erodes trust, drives bias and racism, is bad for society and bad for business. 

Last month, the ANA Board met with the digital platforms to review plans and timelines for eliminating hateful content. As we have with media transparency, we’re holding digital media providers accountable. We want to spend more time on creativity, innovation, doing good, and driving growth instead of wasting time dealing with harmful content.  

Step 5: Join forces to create content for good. In the past several months, we worked together with agencies, broadcasters, and platforms to create fifteen powerful programs, supported by more than 15 thought-provoking ads and helped to raise more than $150 million.  

One of those programs was “Can’t Cancel Pride.” With the pandemic lockdown, Pride celebrations were being cancelled everywhere. And when the racial injustice conversation came to a boiling point in June, some companies chose to opt out of Pride completely. Not P&G. We decided to actively support Pride and show our sustained commitment to address bias, racism and marginalization in ANY form by hosting a virtual benefit with iHeart to drive visibility and support for LGBTQ+ people and donate to relief organizations. We chose to use our voice to celebrate all people and inspire us all – including allies – to lead with love: 

The events of 2020 have brought clarity to what matters, and multicultural marketing is more important than ever. Let’s all step up together and lead with truly inclusive, multicultural marketing as a force for good and a force for growth.