When Does Brand Appropriation Become Cultural Exploitation?

We Should Always Make Space to Celebrate our Wins

Preparing for my annual Advancing Racial Equity Conference (details to be announced soon!), I am reminded of the need to ensure that the continued fight, and yes, it often is a fight, to dismantle systemic racism within our workplaces, doesn’t overshadow where we are excelling, achieving, championing, advocating and consistently speaking truth to power.

Even time I open my LinkedIn feed, I see posts from Black women, who have the courage and bravely to speak their truths, to showcase their art, businesses, passions, and frustrations. And they do that despite the inevitable tone-policing, gaslighting, one ‘upmanship’ that is rife on this platform.

The ability to persevere and go after what matters, when everyone has an opinion on what you should or shouldn't be doing, is something to be celebrated.

?Share your good news.

?Celebrate your wins and yes, be public about it.

Fortune favours those who dare...and execute!

The Anti-Racist Organization: Dismantling Systemic Racism in the Workplace

Before we get into this month's guest Op-Ed piece on brand appropriation, I've still got to keep you to up to date on how my book continues to make its presence felt all over the world.

It’s found its way to India, Australia, New Zealand and several states across the US.

I’ve even had a lovely sketch note of some key tenants of the book created by Noel Warnell / noelwarnellsketchnotes (Instagram)

Want to read what others are saying?

Check out the thoughts of Jenny James, Chief Operating Officer at Findr, Michael De Vaul of National Executive Director, Boys and Young Men of Color at the Y (YMCA)?and Clay Noe, Senior Manager, DEI & Culture at Papa John’s International.

Keep tagging me in your posts, sharing your reflections, writing your reviews on Amazon and inviting me in to speak with your teams.?

And most importantly keep going.

The Anti-Racist Organization: Dismantling Systemic Racism in the Workplace?available from all good bookstores and, of course, Amazon?HERE.

When Does Brand Appropriation Become Cultural Exploitation??- by Chelsea A. Jackson, The Equity Architect, Principal Consultant HR rewired

This week I was scrolling on LinkedIn when I came across a keynote from the 2022 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity called ‘Celebration vs Appropriation.’

My ears perked up when the speaker, Tommy Johnson , Chief Education Officer at Made with Black Culture said:

“the line between cultural celebration versus appropriation is about when culture makes profits for everyone except the humans that make up Black culture.”

He then discussed the quantifiable dollar amount of value generated by brands heavily influenced by the culture of African Diaspora communities and it begs the question:

When companies generate profits from cultural products, do they owe reference and payment to the communities they originate from?

I immediately sat forward in my seat, thinking this was a different approach to cultural appropriation, which is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as ‘the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture.’

Does the difference between commercial exploitation, appropriation and theft come down to recognition or compensation? In truth, organizations have to confront both these realities.

Just this week, fashion house DIOR has been accused of cultural exploitation by Chinese communities for releasing an ‘original’ skirt design that resembles a traditional Chinese garment dating back centuries.

Chinese students protesting in Paris this week demand the brand apologize and credit traditional Chinese culture for influencing the design.

DIOR on the other hand, is choosing to stay silent and hope the whole thing goes away.

As the Principal Consultant of HR rewired, working with clients who are committed to becoming anti-racist organizations, I see this approach all too often.

DIOR worked with a Korean designer on their new collection—technically they should have covered their bases.

Whether it is a traditional Chinese skirt, African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) being used in marketing campaigns, the influence of Global Majority communities on business is only increasing. How do we ensure this is happening in an equitable rather than exploitative way?

And more importantly, when brands are called out, what are the contributing factors that keep them quiet, when a thoughtful acknowledgment and apology would be a step in repairing harm?

Enter Shereen’s LinkedIn post about 19 Keys in conversation with BET President Scott Mills.

19 Keys points out the network—now owned by ViacomCBS—is not Black-owned and asks Mills for his thoughts on that.

Mills says ‘BET is led, run, and managed by Black people’ so the ownership structure is less important.

On one hand, we cannot fault Mills for emphasising his own power as a senior African American executive and the incredible BET Studios announced in 2021 yet, the focus on being empowered to make products for the Black community is where I disagree that the ownership structure is irrelevant.

In the music industry, sampling is a tedious and drawn-out process that requires the agreement of the original artist and producer.

My favourite song this summer, Burna Boy’s Last Last samples just 3-4 seconds of Toni Braxton’s 2000 hit ‘Not Man Enough’ and she receives 60% of the song’s revenue.

Companies should take inspiration from the way ChopStixx, the song’s producer, pays homage and pays a check to use Darkchild’s musical genius from over 20 years prior: ask permission, credit the original, cut a check, and innovate rather than copy and paste.

Exploring the depths of cultural appropriation could easily be brushed off as naval gazing, but the much needed economic empowerment of African communities must not be lost in the continuing commodification of Black cultures globally.

That’s not appreciation, it’s exploitation.

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In addressing systemic racism in the workplace, accomplished HR strategist and bestselling author, Shereen Daniels pulls no punches.

Her direct, yet compassionate and uncompromising approach to anti-racism has seen her recognised as a LinkedIn Top Voice in 2020 and 2022, and winner of HR Magazine's Most Influential Thinker 2021.

Drawing on her professional experience as Managing Director of HR rewired and Chair of the African Diaspora Economic Inclusion Foundation, Ms Daniels is called upon as the go-to personality on both sides of the Atlantic for tackling the complex, nuanced and often uncomfortable dialogue surrounding racism across entertainment, music, fashion, luxury lifestyle, radio, and TV.