‘People are Looking for Companies that Stand Up for what they Believe’

DUNTON, UK - The theme for LGBT History Month 2023 was #BehindTheLens , looking at the huge creative industry that provides us with media and entertainment, but who you probably don’t ever see on screen. To find out more about how the LGBT community exists behind the lens, Ed Rogers, the UK Chair of Ford Pride, spoke with Joe Shields at Ford’s marketing agency, H+K.

Joe, it’s great to sit and chat with you, can you tell us a bit about you and how you came to be in the industry?

“I’m a Creative with H+K, who are an international PR Agency. My role is to find ideas, rooted in creative strategy, that help brands and organisations tell their stories in new and interesting ways that garner conversation in the media and beyond.

“As a kid I was interested in science at first, but always knew I had an interest in media, and branding specifically. I realised that I wanted to do something in the creative industry but didn’t really know what. Thanks to a lecturer at college, I found that being a Creative in advertising and PR is a thing, and I went on to do a vocational course at university in creative advertising. This helped grow my interest in the media, commercial creativity and brand storytelling and shaped the way I see brands and their place in the world.”

I think most people can look back and say, ‘this person was a big influence’ or ‘these people helped me on the way’. Who influenced you in your journey?

“I was very lucky to have close friends along the way who supported me and who helped me figure out what I wanted to do. I also found I was drawn to LGBT icons, often subconsciously. At the time, Frank Ocean had just released his debut studio album ‘Channel Orange’, and it became a core part of my playlist. The album was about his coming to terms with his queer identity and, as a brand and media entity, I was enthralled by both him and his music.”

LGBT people have a long and rich history with the media, but for a long time their presence was essentially blocked. The Motion Picture Production Code, commonly known as the Hays Code, ran between the 1930s and the 1970s; it effectively prevented films from portraying ‘perverse’ acts including homosexuality. Often where characters did appear they were villainised or charactered.?How do you think this impacted societal understanding of the community?

“Growing up there were token characters where their queer identity was often the only distinctive thing about them. They rarely had any depth, were often the butt of jokes, and were frequently stereotyped.

“The Hays Code is comparable to Section 28[1]; if queer identities are not shown, they cannot be recognised or talked about, then we don’t learn about them and they become something to be afraid of, something unspoken. If they are not acknowledged in mainstream media, we are presented with an extremely skewed version of reality.

“For people who are queer, being unable to see yourself in mainstream media can have a seriously negative impact on your mental health, and your acceptance of your own being.”

It has been over 50 years since the Hays Code was used, how do you feel queer characters are now portrayed?

“Character portrayal and the diversity of characters has definitely improved; however, a lot of stories still fall foul of trying to squeeze queer characters into a box built around struggles, being excluded, or not being oneself. There is a sad truth in that portrayal, and it is a relatable experience for so many people in the community, but it always shows our lives as a negative and there is now a real hunger for more joy in the LGBT stories that we see.

“It is important to strike a balance though, especially in the retelling of historical events such as in ‘Milk[2]’ or ‘It’s a Sin’[3]. We shouldn’t just brush over the realities of the struggles people have been through. It’s also not just about acted portrayals or fictional characters, but also about how we see real-world individuals being themselves and represented as themselves within media.

“It seems to be far easier for queer men, especially queer white men, to be open and visible with their identities. It is definitely harder for women to represent their true identities. We really need to work on increasing visibility of the verticals within LGBTQ+, to show bi people, trans, non-binary, and so on; as well as the incredible intersectionality of LGBTQ+ people of colour, with disabilities, of different religions.

“It is still very hard for celebrities to be in this space, exploring their identities and having the freedom to explore, all whilst having their every move and word reported on in the public eye.”

Polari is a form of slang or cant, widely used throughout the LGBTQ+ community as a way of communicating without being identified by the wider population. What are your views on the community having to use an almost secret, coded language; and how do you think its use in more mainstream media such as the ‘Carry On[4]’ films helped to introduce it to the wider population and almost normalise some of the phrases?

“There are a lot of negatives and positives here. People in oppressed environments will find and cling on to any positive they can find but being oppressed in that way builds a huge amount of shame and forces invisibility. However, it allows those people to find strength in their community, their commonality of language; it bolsters them against discrimination and helps to build strength”

Ford has a long running support of the LGBTQ+ community. Its Pride network has existed for almost 30 years now. How do you think large companies like Ford play a part in creating acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community, especially through things like its media campaigns?

“It’s a truth that our society is largely constructed around brands; campaigns and communications from companies – whether they are officially released or just reported on – build ideas for people of what is and what isn’t supported and socially acceptable. They provide an indication of the direction of movement.

“That’s not to say that brands are the first to do these things, typically communities do lead, but big brands then need to be authentically part of amplifying those ideas, by being present in those communities.

“We often come across issues with commercialisation of pride, or ‘rainbow washing’, and a lot of companies do often get it wrong. What needs to be remembered though is that often those campaigns or initiatives come from people within the companies who have the very best of intentions. What is sometimes missed by organisations, though, is speaking to their employees who represent the community they are trying to support. Those people should always be consulted and engaged with during the process; the campaign must be for the community, not using it.

“It’s also important to stand for what you stand for. You can’t say one thing and do another, or back down from a difficult conversation. Therefore, actions should be for the community first, not a corporate benefit which can be wrapped in a social responsibility.”

The #VeryGayRaptor was a huge campaign for Ford, and I understand you were the initial creative force behind that. Can you tell us a bit about where that started, and why it was so important to create #VGR ?

“The catalytic moment for #VGR came when a comment was posted on a Ford of Europe video for the launch of the new Ranger Raptor on YouTube. The viewer commented saying the vehicle was cool, but that the blue was ‘very gay’. It was a comment that could quite easily have been passed over, but as someone who has grown up hearing, and sometimes even using, the word ‘gay’ to mean bad, or unwanted, wrong, or weak, I guess it stuck in my mind.

“I couldn’t get the comment out of my brain, and I just walked around the local park thinking about it. It felt personal and I began to think about how I would have reacted to it. I tend to respond with humour and, as a creative, I quickly storyboarded the idea and took it to my creative directors. We moved quickly to show the Ford team as we knew we had to respond before the momentum was lost. It was a concept that could so easily have been turned down, but the client must be brave in situations like this and take that stand. Luckily the Ford team believed in it and championed it all the way through to production.

“I think?#VGR was an important moment because was an opportunity to show how brands can stand up for acceptance. There are different moments where you as a company can fight and take a stand, to show support for a community. I had a sense that there was something in Ford’s own values which stood with the LGBTQ+ community anyway, and so I knew I could run with it. Looking deeper I found out about Ford Pride and the work it had done mostly internally to the company. This was a chance to help the network take a step forward and work on a wider public campaign those same values.

“It was about them almost taking their?[Ford’s]?support, and this cause that they believed in, to the next level; showing that Ford is not a place where discrimination is accepted. We want the automotive industry, starting with us, with Ford, to be a place that stands for inclusivity and belonging”

Looking to the future, Joe, how do you think the media needs to adapt and change for a modern societal portrayal of the LGBTQ+ community?

“I don’t think the change ever really stops; we’ve come a long way but there are many conversations still to be had and, to be honest, there are many that I don’t think we’ll ever have. The media needs to continue to broaden, but at the same time it needs depth and specificity. Stories need to be told in greater variety, but we also need to provide depth to the characters and their experiences.

“This is where you need to work with the people you are trying to represent. As an example, on our Behind The Lens theme, Russell T Davies has his own life experiences and insight to call upon and this is evident in his shows such as ‘It’s a Sin’, but even he would need the input and support from other members of the community to ensure inclusivity, empathy and authenticity.

“At the Cannes Film Festival, the Chief Strategy Officer for OMD, Chrissie Hanson[5],?said that ‘The aperture of inclusivity is ever widening’, and we need to ensure that we now create stories for these diverse characters that are more than their queerness or minority-defining characteristic, to allow them to have the same full storyline as we have historically done for ever other character.”

As a final question, how do you think Ford, and other big companies, can best support the LGBTQ+ community going forward?

“I think the big difference is between a company being pro the community versus being actively anti-discrimination. The latter is far more active and can put the company’s neck on the line if it calls out its customers or employees. However, people are looking for companies that stand up for what they believe, to put themselves at the front of the crowd.

“One of the things companies can do is ensure they recruit and retain a diverse workforce, and then talk to them. Authentically help and support the community and engage with them for the long run. Active Allyship, it’s all about calling out discrimination, doing something for the community, not exploiting it for yourself.”

Joe, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today, it has been wonderful hearing your insights, and thank you for everything you have done to support the LGBTQ+ community, and the Ford Pride network.

[1]?Section 28 was a piece of UK legislation that prevented the “promotion of homosexuality” and effectively stopped schools from teaching anything about queer identities and forced many support groups to close or self-censor. It was in effect from 1988 to 2003.

[2]?Milk is the 2008 biographical film based on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk

[3]?It’s a Sin is a UK series following the lives of a group of gay men during the HIV/AID crisis in London

[4]?Carry On is a British comedy franchise comprising 31 films released between 1958 and 1992

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ABOUT ED ROGERS AND JOE SHIELDS

• Ed Rogers is the chair of the UK chapter of Ford Pride, Ford’s Employee Resource Group for sexual or romantic orientation and gender identity and is the vice-chair internationally. He has worked for Ford, in a number of IT roles, since 2016 and routinely speaks on diversity topics across the company. In 2021, Ed founded Driving Pride, a cross-automotive LGBTQ+ network aimed at sharing best practice, championing inclusion, and helping to develop diversity strategy across the industry.
• Joe Shields is a Senior Creative at Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K), and has worked as a creative on Ford within WPP creative agencies since 2018. He’s an active member of UNITE within H+K and WPP – the organisations’ LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group. For LGBT History Month, H+K UNITE hosted a?Behind the Lens?exhibition – a small curation celebrating photographers and illustrators from the community – and attended the Queer Britain museum at Coal Drops Yard in London.