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Dove Is Paying For Other Brands To Put More Diverse Faces In Their Ads

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Dove Is Paying For Other Brands To Put More Diverse Faces In Their Ads

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This article stood out to me because of some of the racist ads that Dove itself had made in the past, and how they are now trying to redeem theirselves through making a social impact. Fast Company contains a large amount of articles that are based on addressing race in all areas of society from the news, brands, and to fashion. Since the Victorian era people have been obsessed with the idea of being clean, and cleanliness started to tie back to the idea of whiteness. Pears soap was able to profit off of this idea through making their ad's support the idea of European's first contact with native populations. This was the belief that these native populations were living savage lives until the white man "saved them." We seen this ripple effect into modern day society with the 2012 and 2017 racist Dove ads. These ads display a black person slowly transforming into a white people after using a Dove product. This pushes forward the idea that black people are dirty and must strive to become white. Through the act of paying to have more diverse faces, Dove is showing that they are a company that is able to grow past their racist remarks and give back to the community that they had effected. Dove also proves to understand the lack of diversity that is in the advertising business (when it comes to picking models. This ties back the the idea of culture jamming (and the topic that me and my group had focused on). A lot of brands rather have white faces in their ads and edit them to look darker, instead of picking a person of color. This was shown in the H&M ad with the white model who was overly tanned, wearing a bright pink bikini. Although as a society we have a long way to go when it comes to accepting diversity, Dove proves to be the brand that is willing to take steps towards that progress.

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What does it take to get a more diverse group of faces in advertising? Dove is aiming to find out with a new campaign that offers up its own models to appear in other brands' commercials for free, in order to encourage them to consider new looks.

In "It's On Us," Dove sends an open invitation to any brand and advertiser in the world, offering to pay for Dove models' appearance fee if they're put in other ads. The models talk about how they're often received at auditions and the feedback they get: Too dark. Too short. Too thick. Not a good fit.

Created by Madrid-based agency LOLA MullenLowe, this is a natural evolution of 2019's "Project #ShowUs," where Dove partnered with Getty Images to create more than 10,000 diverse stock photos to share with other brands. Since then, more than 2,000 companies have downloaded those images to use. This is the brand aiming to take the idea even further, using cold hard cash to shake brands out of a default approach to advertising that often favors thin, white, heterogenous models.

So far, four brands have taken Dove up on its open offer: Magnum ice cream, Cif soap, South African financial institution Nedbank, and Krispy Kreme.

Dove is owned by Unilever, a global company that spends more than $6 billion a year on advertising. The parent company appears to be taking a bit of its own medicine, as it also owns both Magnum and Cif. Unilever earlier this year pledged to purge its ads of any stereotypes. But it's not a new declaration. The company made a similar pledge in 2016 after its own research found that 40% of women say they do not identify at all with the women they see in ads in general. This week, in its press release for this campaign, Dove reported that 70% of women "do not feel represented in media and advertising and every day, women's lives are affected by these limitations, exclusions, and stereotypes." So according to Unilever's own research, there appears to be an increase in that feeling of misrepresentation over the past five years.

As an ad strategy, it's a clever move for Dove. Since 2004, when the brand launched "The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty," Dove has built its entire brand on celebrating beauty across a broad spectrum. Since then it has created compelling advertising on the subject that has both grabbed consumers' attention and won awards, from 2006's " Evolution" to " Real Beauty Sketches " in 2013, among others.

In a statement, LOLA MullenLowe Madrid's Executive Creative Director Tomas Ostiglia said, "this project really drove home how difficult it is to promote real beauty in advertising. Even when offering Dove's real beauty women to brands at no cost at all. Hopefully this campaign will encourage many more to genuinely do something about this problem."

Encourage is one word. Ad-shaming is a better one. Perhaps the latter strategy is one that might finally work, since diversity and representation in advertising are issues that brands and advertisers have been talking about for eons. But, as this campaign can attest, with little results. The problem remains that it's a lot easier to post a black square in solidarity with Black Lives Matter on the corporate Instagram feed than alter institutional practices. We see it in hiring and promotion, and we see it reflected in advertising.

It's sad that this kind of shaming from a commercial contemporary like Dove even needs to exist, but it only illustrates how more sustained activism, like that from organizations like Color of Change, is as important as ever to force brands to care as much about how they act, as they do about how they look.

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Dove is paying for other brands to put more diverse faces in their ads

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What does it take to get a more diverse group of faces in advertising? Dove is aiming to find out with a new campaign that offers up its own models to appear in other brands' commercials for free, in order to encourage them to consider new looks.

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The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda Recreate Viral Video Meme

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The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda Recreate Viral Video Meme

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This article stood out to me because of the impacts that Baby Yoda had on Star Wars. The world was taken by storm with appearance of Baby Yoda and his cuteness. His cuteness allowed for an increase of Star Wars Merchandise, Social Media Influence, and Viewers on Disney+. Thomas Hitchen brings his viewers attention to the fact that we can not get away from Baby Yoda memes. Viewers are drawn from the innocence that comes from Baby Yoda's cuteness. Viewers find it cute how weak a baby is and the funny acts that it does (shown in the memes). Through using the aesthetics of cuteness directors (and Disney+) was able to grab the attention of all on lookers from people who were interested in the Star Wars series, to people who were just watching for Baby Yoda.

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This November will mark the second anniversary of Disney+ and its ground-breaking show, The Mandalorian. While the Star Wars television series kicked off a new wave of content for the universe that George Lucas made famous in 1977, it also sparked a new fandom for its characters - the eponymous Mandalorian, Din Djarin, played by fan-favorite actor Pedro Pascal, and his sidekick, the universally adored Grogu (AKA "Baby Yoda").

The two characters are now cemented in pop culture as an unlikely duo, with Grogu offering a cuteness to contrast Pascal's gritty gunslinger persona. Jon Favreau's and Dave Filoni's ( Star Wars: The Clone Wars) show proved a major hit with Star Wars fans and gave a glimpse at what a post- Return of the Jedi (1983) galaxy looks like. Not only did it introduce Din Djarin and Grogu into the Star Wars canon, but also gave us Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) in their live-action debuts. And, that's not to mention Temuera Morrison as the bounty hunter Boba Fett and the CGI reveal of a young Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in the Season 2 finale. The Mandalorian also premiered the Darksaber at the hands of Giancarlo Esposito's Moff Gideon. It did have its fair share of controversy too, due to Gina Carano's (Cara Dune) social media use, leading her to be fired from the show.

The Mandalorian has spawned many memes. The most notable has to be Grogu sipping soup peacefully, which became the new version of "sipping tea" while dishing out unpopular opinions or internet "hot takes". The director of the episode in which the character's soup first appeared ("Chapter 4: Sanctuary"), Bryce Dallas Howard, even weighed in on the popular meme back when the episode first aired. Another popular GIF plays on the time Grogu ate the Frog Lady's eggs en route to Trask in The Mandalorian Season 2.

Now, the adventurous pairing can be seen taking on a new video meme made famous on TikTok - the bastion of viral video content. For the last few months, TikTok creators have been using Mike Posner's 2010 song "Please Don't Go" to create a new trend where two or more people (or animals!) stare into the camera at the start of the song, which then ends with the same people driving off in headscarves and sunglasses. The trend is said to play on the trope of someone running away from their romantic partner and disappearing into the sunset.

In a recent video, Twitter user Mark Cannataro Films (@mcannatarofilms) produced his own take on the viral video trend, showing Mando and Grogu hopping atop a Speeder Bike on a desert-like planet - maybe a Tatooine reference? - before shooting off clad in sunglasses and headscarves.

Babushka Yoda#StarWars #Mandalorian #BabyYoda pic.twitter.com/Nr7NEwuY1B

- Mark Cannataro Films (@mcannatarofilms) April 6, 2021

It's clear that with every viral video, meme and GIF, Baby Yoda becomes increasingly cuter. This all bodes well for the upcoming Season 3 of The Mandalorian. Although, it will be interesting to see how - and if - Grogu plays into the television shows that were announced at the end of last year. We saw Luke Skywalker escort him away at the end of Season 2, but after his connection with the Jedi Ahsoka Tano, could the character come back in her self-titled show, Ahsoka? And then there's Obi-Wan Kenobi - Grogu seemingly survived the downfall of the Jedi when Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) executed Order 66, so could we get an even younger Child appearance alongside Ewan McGregor's character Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader?

It's an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan and only those at The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm will know when we will next see the pop culture icon again. For now, the Baby Yoda content will have to tide us over until then.
When do you think Baby Yoda will return to the Star Wars universe?

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The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda Recreate Viral Video Meme | Inside the Magic

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This November will mark the second anniversary of Disney+ and its ground-breaking show, The Mandalorian. While the Star Wars television series kicked off a new wave of content for the universe that George Lucas made famous in 1977, it also sparked a new fandom for its characters - the eponymous Mandalorian, Din Djarin, played by fan-favorite actor Pedro Pascal, and his sidekick, the universally adored Grogu (AKA "Baby Yoda").

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Racist policies have kept Black Americans from owning homes. A new program wants to fix that

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Racist policies have kept Black Americans from owning homes. A new program wants to fix that

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This article stood out to me due to there being a call of action of increasing black home-owning. Black home-owning was an issue that has been on a rise in America, but can be highly seen during the fifties. During this time companies were pushing forward the idea that in order to have the American dream, Americans must be home owners. Capitalism pushed forward the idea that purchasing things was a patriotic duty. This is really highlighted during the Kitchen Debates with the USSR driven by communism, and the United States, driven by capitalism., trying to out shine each other. The United States developed the idea of the American Dream, which became a political effort during the cold war. Due to there being a push for more Americans being home owners the government allowed for there to be special federal loans given out and more tax breaks, however this was only given to the white population. This ripple effects into today's society with there being a cycle of poverty in the black community (because of the lack of inter-generational wealth ) and with the lack of home ownership. This organization is trying to make special programs that aids in buying homes and break away from the racist barriers that Black families face. They are also planning on teaching families how to pass their homes to the next generation as well as forming a saving plan. This stood out to me because it is addressing all of the issues that were expanded during the fifties to the Black population.

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America has a homeownership imbalance. Nationwide, 74% of white households own their homes. For Black households that number is far lower, just 44%. Racist lending policies such as redlining and a lack of generational wealth and buying power have long hindered Black households when it comes to buying a home.

In New York City, the problem is getting worse. Homeownership among Black households has dropped 13% over the last 20 years, according to recent research by the Center for New York City Neighborhoods, an organization focused on affordable housing. Black households represent just 18% of homeowners in the city, despite accounting for more than a quarter of the population. The combination of racist policies and a widening wealth gap means fewer Black families in New York and other cities can afford to buy a home.

"In all markets, but particularly in very expensive markets like New York City, the savings required to make a down payment are one of the largest barriers-if not the largest barrier-for everyone, and particularly for black potential homeowners who don't have as much access to intergenerational wealth as other communities might," says Todd Baker of CNYCN.

To try to overcome this barrier, the center is developing a new Downpayment Assistance Navigator tool to help Black homebuyers find and combine resources such as grants and low-interest loans to make those down payments.

It's part of a broader effort they're calling the Black Homeownership Project, which will include several pilot programs aimed at helping remove the barriers that have limited homeownership in Black communities. In partnership with philanthropic foundations and banks in its network, CNYCN aims to chip away at the structural, financial, and often racist policies that make it disproportionately harder for Black families to buy homes.

In addition to down payment assistance, the project will also create a Savings Accelerator to augment the savings of aspiring Black homebuyers, with 3-to-1 matching contributions of what households put in. Another pilot will focus on estate planning to help existing homeowners pass their homes to the next generation without the legal and financial complications that often come with them.

The first of these pilots to take shape is the Downpayment Assistance Navigator. CNYCN is currently working with one lending partner to develop the online tool and hopes to launch it within the year. It will work like a search engine, allowing users to enter information about their finances and their home search and then connecting them with available grants, low-interest loans, and other resources. With existing funding assistance available from mortgage lenders, counties, and local nonprofits, the tool aims to ease the application process for prospective homebuyers.

"There are a lot of loans out there, but there's a lack of information and a lack of the ability to combine these things," says Baker. "If you don't know about all those things, you're not able to take advantage of them. And even if you do know about them, their processes and their criteria might make it challenging to take advantage of all of them. We think everyone benefits when you allow homebuyers to combine these resources."

The online tool, which is still being developed, will help prospective buyers in New York to see all the available resources in one place, with a dedicated team keeping the tool up-to-date as funding availability changes and new options become accessible.

The Downpayment Assistance Navigator would be beneficial not just for Black homebuyers, but also for the banks that lend to them, according to Julian St. Patrick Clayton, deputy director of policy and research at CNYCN. They'd be linked with potential customers, many of whom have the income to be able to afford to buy a home and make mortgage payments but who lack the savings to make the down payment. "Once they see that you can find clients, you can find qualified homebuyers through us, the tool seems like something that would then have a certain sense of perpetuity to it," he says.

More Black homeowners would provide a benefit to the city as well, particularly in neighborhoods where there are more people of color. "We're also looking at the neighborhood stabilization aspect," says Clayton. "We find that homeowners are the bedrock of these communities."

The effort is about bringing New York City's Black homeownership numbers back up, but it's also trying to achieve a broader goal: reversing decades of policies that have held Black people back.

"If you're talking about building intergenerational wealth and ending intergenerational poverty, one of the best methods is through homeownership," says Clayton. "It's the way America really built a solid middle class, and to a large degree Black homeowners were excluded from all those benefits."

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Racist policies have kept Black Americans from owning homes. A new program wants to fix that

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America has a homeownership imbalance. Nationwide, 74% of white households own their homes. For Black households that number is far lower, just 44%. Racist lending policies such as redlining and a lack of generational wealth and buying power have long hindered Black households when it comes to buying a home.

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This clever edit of Tucker Carlson pairs his anti-BLM rants with Capitol siege footage

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This clever edit of Tucker Carlson pairs his anti-BLM rants with Capitol siege footage

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This article stood out to me because of the rise of the BLM movement that we have seen since March of 2020. Ever since COVID people have been made more aware of the issues that black Americans go through, and because of that people like Tucker Carlson are called out on racist comments that he has made. This article was posted on Fast Company, a site known for publishing articles on making commentary on things that are said on the news, in this case Fox News. The comments that Tucker Carlson made on the black community could tie back to Vince Cullers's Ad of Black is Beautiful. At the bottom of this ad it states, "white lies" this can tie back to the comments that Carlson made towards BLM and the protest that were happening due to BLM. Members of Fox News are known for spreading "white lies" and siding with racist values, which is why I was drawn to this article calling them out on it.

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What: A little artistic license applied to some Tucker Carlson rants about the George Floyd protesters last summer.

Who: Media Matters for America video editor John Kerr.

Like many Americans who have inextricably linked themselves with Donald Trump over the last four years, Tucker Carlson woke up the day after Wednesday's coup attempt and realized maybe that wasn't such a great idea.

On Thursday night's show, under a chyron that asked, "Is any single president worth this much attention?" the Fox News opinion-haver concluded that the outgoing president only thinks about himself and has reached his expiration date. Before anyone unfurls those "Welcome to the Resistance, Tucker Carlson" banners, however, the host also said some other stuff the previous night.

Like many others in conservative media, Carlson expressed on the previous night's show that it's important to understand where the thugs who stormed Capitol Hill are coming from, emotionally speaking.

"If people begin to believe that their democracy is fraudulent, if they conclude that voting is a charade, that the system is rigged and it's run in secret by a small group of powerful, dishonest people who are acting in their own interests, then God knows what could happen," the host said, attempting to contextualize the prevalence of disinformation without acknowledging his part in spreading it.

He went on to defend those who literally smeared s*** on the walls of the People's House and, uh, reportedly beat a police officer to death with a fire extinguisher, as "solid Americans" who are "deeply frustrated." He also added that this group is "not racist," despite the fact that many were carrying Confederate flags and all manner of Nazi iconography.

Sharp-eared viewers may recognize that this characterization counts as something of a new tone for Carlson on the topic of rioters.

Last summer, when the protests fueled by anger over a Minneapolis police officer killing George Floyd on camera boiled over into riots, Carlson had a more difficult time finding empathy. Instead, Carlson declared that those riots were not about George Floyd or racial justice, but rather about Trump and seizing power. He also repeatedly conflated the rioting that occurred with the overwhelming number of peaceful protests, and did not show the myriad video clips circulating at the time of police officers escalating protests into riots.

At the time, Media Matters for America video editor John Kerr put together a poignant video juxtaposing a fiery Tucker Carlson screed about Black Lives Matter protesters with footage of officers brutally attacking them.

Now, Kerr has edited together a new video of the same milieu, splicing in footage from Wednesday's coup attempt with Carlson ranting last summer about his disgust over rioters.

Have a look below at the kind of double-standard one might expect from a Fox News host who had to jettison his head writer last summer for getting caught being too publicly racist.

tucker carlson's blm rhetoric makes much more sense paired with video of yesterdays insurrection pic.twitter.com/qui0tDNQGs

- John Kerr (@JohnnyHeatWave) January 7, 2021

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This clever edit of Tucker Carlson pairs his anti-BLM rants with Capitol siege footage

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What: A little artistic license applied to some Tucker Carlson rants about the George Floyd protesters last summer. Who: Media Matters for America video editor John Kerr. Like many Americans who have inextricably linked themselves with Donald Trump over the last four years, Tucker Carlson woke up the day after Wednesday's coup attempt and realized maybe that wasn't such a great idea.

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Periods shouldn’t be a financial burden. Here’s how one retailer is helping

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Periods shouldn’t be a financial burden. Here’s how one retailer is helping

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Through this article, Ella Kidron is addressing the issue of "Period Poverty" and steps to help improve the financial burden that women are facing due to their periods. This article is published on The World Economic Forum website, a site that is known for addressing economic social issues impacting race, gender, etc. This article stood out to me due to the fact of how expensive feminine hygiene products are. This makes no sense due to women not having control over something as natural as how to female body works, yet the economy still finds a way to profit off of it. This is similar to the idea of Monkey Brand, due to women being viewed as less than in society. This is because Monkey Branding is a symbol of othering a group of people, like women, people of color, or class. This article pushes back on this othering that women face in society and what stood out to me the most was the examples of countries that are trying to aid in decreasing the impacts of "Period Poverty."

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Periods shouldn't be a financial burden. Here's how one retailer is helping

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International Women's Day: Period poverty: this Chinese retailer is using its supply-chain strength to tackle the problem.

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‘Roblox’ isn’t just a gaming company. It’s also the future of education

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‘Roblox’ isn’t just a gaming company. It’s also the future of education

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Through this article, Hamza Mudassir writes about the changes that the popular video game Roblox is doing in education. Mudassir pushes forward the idea that the educational system that we have today is outdated because it prepares students to work in factories. Readers are informed on the ways that teachers are using Roblox to their advantage with a learn-as-you-play approach, which has proven to be more engaging to students compared to the old fashion way and a Zoom session. Roblox has used this to their advantage because now they have "leaned into education and lists over 300 partner educational institutions on its website." Shown through the educational impact that Roblox now has readers are able to learn how game brands (that parents and teachers normally deem as being too distracting to students) are now starting to market themselves as being a helpful aspect in a child's learning. Through doing this they are able to target a new target population and have more partnerships in a new area, which is education.

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valuable video game companies in the world. As I write this article, Roblox, which recently made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, has quickly become one of the Roblox has effortlessly overtaken household video game names such as Take-Two (maker of Grand Theft Auto) and Electronic Arts (EA) (maker of Battlefield and FIFA) in terms of market cap, while only making a fraction of the incumbents' revenues and none of their profits.

And there is good reason for this change in pecking order. Unlike Take-Two and EA, of those users being of school-going age. Such a congregation of children on any one platform has been unheard of- Roblox is not a gaming company. It is a virtual playground for nearly 200 million monthly users, with two-thirds school-going children in the Roblox hosts more students every month than ., ., and combined.

With this level of scale, direct access, and market power, Roblox is now in prime position to disrupt the multi-trillion-dollar education market, which has so far been incredibly resistant to change.

Obsolete classrooms

A majority of what is taught today in primary and secondary classrooms is based on a mid-19th-century Prussian model of education. Around 170 years ago, this model became immensely popular in the west as it sought to unify students under a common national identity as well as train them for lifelong employment in factories. This resulted in what we consider to be norms in schools today: uniforms for students, a bell system that demarcates different activities during the day, a hierarchal grading system that determines if a student passes or fails, and a standardized curriculum geared towards creating like-minded citizens instead of developing the strengths of the students involved.

Such a top-down education system appears to have outlived its purpose. Students coming into the workforce today no longer must "fit in" to a certain company's or country's culture to be successful. Many research papers have now established that for activities requiring deep focus, such as software development, getting interrupted with the equivalent of a bell is highly unproductive. Hierarchal grading is also on its way out for most progressive companies. Last but definitely not the least, thanks to widespread automation, factory-based employment continues to across most developed nations. And while technology has crept in to classrooms in the form of digital tools (especially during the ), the fundamentals of the aging Prussian educational model still hold strong. This creates a paradoxical situation for students who end up spending a large part of their youth learning a way of life that is not relevant once they grow up.

in the process. These subjects are not just a significant departure from what is commonly taught in classrooms today. Thanks to Roblox is unencumbered from all this baggage. A Roblox educational experience starts off with teachers using prebuilt templates to customize game levels and interactive tutorials for their students around the topics they want to teach. They then invite students to play these Roblox's learn-as-you-play approach, they are also far more engaging for students than a typical Zoom session. Roblox levels (either as groups or individuals), learning complex concepts such as chain reaction simulations

The platform has not been popular with instructors in the , primarily due to the social networking side of the experience that allowed strangers to connect with children. But with improved security in place combined with the pressures of the pandemic, school have increasingly adopted digital civility Roblox to teach subjects like coding, animation, and .

Roblox itself has also leaned into education and lists over 300 partner educational institutions on its website. During its recent debut in China, the world's biggest video game market, the platform was promoted primarily for its educational benefits.

Economic incentives

While it is true that children's education is a primarily a societal endeavor, it can be made more effective by having the right economic incentives in place for both teachers and students. In the case of teachers, they can choose to sell their teaching content and level designs on the stories of children who learnt how to code on Roblox market place in return for cash. On the flip side, students can also choose to take the skills they learn in Roblox and grew up to create content for the platform that has monetized successfully. Roblox and generate income on the platform as digital entrepreneurs. There are now many

In fact, in 2020, there were content creators on Roblox who ended up receiving over $250 million in payouts. While it is unclear how many of those who were paid were teachers or students, the fact that Roblox's virtual economy is working for its participants is fantastic news for its adoption as a mainstream educational platform. Further, thanks to the platform's focus on more contemporary science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects instead of a more generalized curriculum, " Roblox taught" students should attract more job opportunities in industries such as software engineering, robotics, and media. If this trend holds, we can expect to see a virtuous cycle built up over the next decade, where both hiring managers and candidates end up having educational experiences in Roblox -allowing for higher trust and recognition for the platform, which in return increases placement opportunities.

Roblox is not the only video game platform looking to change the face of primary and secondary education, with Microsoft's Minecraft also making as an educational tool in schools over the past several years. Still, education as an industry has been remarkably resilient to digital disruption, with many education technology companies failing to change the status quo in any meaningful way.

However, video game platforms like ). Given the early stage of this disruption, the next decade could prove to be a turning point in digital education as Roblox, with their direct access to students and policies that aren't hamstrung by an educational model from the 19th century, have a real shot at changing that (as long as they put proper safeguards in place Roblox becomes a formal tool for learning across the world.
Hamza Mudassir is a visiting fellow in strategy at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He is the founder of Platypodes.io.

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'Roblox' isn't just a gaming company. It's also the future of education

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valuable video game companies in the world. As I write this article, Roblox, which recently made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, has quickly become one of the Roblox has effortlessly overtaken household video game names such as Take-Two (maker of Grand Theft Auto) and Electronic Arts (EA) (maker of Battlefield and FIFA) in terms of market cap, while only making a fraction of the incumbents' revenues and none of their profits.

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Ben & Jerry’s CEO: To move forward, America must be honest about our racist past—and fix it

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Ben & Jerry’s CEO: To move forward, America must be honest about our racist past—and fix it

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Through this article, the CEO of Ben & Jerry's (Matthew McCarthy is the CEO of Ben & Jerry’s) is able to show that he is able to put his money where is mouth his by pushing the idea that the betterment of society is better than growing richer. McCarthy highlights"Events of the last year have shown that Americans’ expectations of corporate citizenship are changing rapidly. American consumers want companies to have a position on societal issues that includes tackling racism and advancing social justice." This highlights how the company is willing to move forward (as society moves forward) and change its ways in order to stay up to date with its consumers' needs and demands. By taking a stand in the BLM movement not only does Ben and Jerry show their consumers what their morals are, but they also show that they are willing to use their platform in order to make a change. McCarthy pushes for other companies to form alliances to stand against racial injustice. McCarthy speaks to his white counterparts by stating, "None of us living today owned slaves or created the legacy of our 400 years of racism. However, we are the only ones who can do anything about it. Recent events have shown us what ignoring our past means for our present." By him addressing his opposers argument shows that he understands people's reasoning from both side, however, everyone (including those in the 1% that holds social standing) must work together in order to right the wrongs of the country. Ben & Jerry's act addresses this leads way for other business leaders to take a stand on injustices. McCarthy calls on other brands' CEOs to follow the steps of Ben & Jerry to take a stand in supporting this bill being passed and use their platform to make a social change.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90606081/ben-jerrys-ceo-to-move-forward-america-must-be-honest-about-our-racist-past-and-fix-it

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America must finally reconcile with a history that, while full of exceptional accomplishments, is still deeply tarnished by the original sin of slavery-the act of dehumanizing and destroying Black people for profit. Corporate America has a special role to play in encouraging our nation to address this history, and a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing this week on H.R. 40 should be a moment when we make our collective corporate voices heard.

As CEO of Ben & Jerry's, I spend my days (and some nights) thinking about how best to grow our company. Because we are a values-led company, I believe that growing our company provides value not just to shareholders, but to society. Our unique business model, which was the vision of our cofounders, has sought innovative ways to advance economic and social justice while selling ice cream. I'm proud of our approach, but I am not naive enough to think that it alone can confront the structures and systems that perpetuate racism in America.

That's why I am calling on business leaders and CEOs to pursue the same principles we're applying to equity and diversity inside the four walls of our companies to the public policy debate outside our businesses.

We have a special opportunity and responsibility to be heard because our collective voice is powerful. Events of the last year have shown that Americans' expectations of corporate citizenship are changing rapidly. American consumers want companies to have a position on societal issues that includes tackling racism and advancing social justice.

Business leaders also have an obligation to address these issues because the American economy, and by extension our companies, have reaped financial reward and prosperity built on centuries of enslaving Black bodies. The most powerful and wealthy nation on Earth was built on a foundation of stolen labor. The wealth amassed by white people and passed down from generation to generation was perpetuated by a legal system of segregation and discrimination that continued long after slavery ended.

Those impacts are still with us today. Our country's huge racial wealth gap-where the net worth of a typical white family is nearly 10 times greater than that of a Black family-is the direct result of slavery and white supremacy, and is the reason we must now commit ourselves to right the wrongs of our past.

Last summer's uprisings in response to the killing of George Floyd and the recent insurrection at the United States Capitol are just two examples of the power that racism and white supremacy continue to hold in our nation. Many companies and brands have since sought to weigh in on issues of racial justice. We must advance economic and social justice through our day-to-day operations, so I encourage my counterparts in the business world to do more than speak up; I urge them to join me in addressing policy solutions that dismantle the systems and structures that perpetuate systemic racism and produce outcomes that dramatically disadvantage people of color.

Supporting the passage of H.R. 40 would do just that.

I've come to understand that only through acknowledging our history of slavery, legalized segregation, and white supremacy can we address the racism that corrodes our nation from the inside out. The passage of the landmark legislation H.R. 40 would begin that long-overdue process by establishing a federal commission to study the lasting effects of slavery and discrimination from 1619 to the present. The commission would also recommend appropriate remedies that can be the foundation for national healing.

None of us living today owned slaves or created the legacy of our 400 years of racism. However, we are the only ones who can do anything about it. Recent events have shown us what ignoring our past means for our present.

H.R. 40 is our best chance today to finally come to terms with the full story of our country's founding. By looking closely and honestly at slavery's long legacy, including its direct link to our nation's prosperity, we will finally be able to live up to our founding principle that all people are created equal.

We cannot move forward together as a nation until we begin to grapple with the sins of our past. I understand that acknowledging the structural racism that is deeply woven into the fabric of our society is difficult. It can be uncomfortable or even shaming. But H.R. 40 gives us a chance to be honest about our history and hopeful for our future. I call on other CEOs and business leaders to use our unique power and privilege to help our nation begin to heal.
Matthew McCarthy is the CEO of Ben & Jerry's.

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Ben & Jerry's CEO: To move forward, America must be honest about our racist past-and fix it

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America must finally reconcile with a history that, while full of exceptional accomplishments, is still deeply tarnished by the original sin of slavery-the act of dehumanizing and destroying Black people for profit. Corporate America has a special role to play in encouraging our nation to address this history, and a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing this week on H.R.

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M&C Saatchi launches ‘Good Guys Guide’ to help women feel safer on the streets

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M&C Saatchi launches ‘Good Guys Guide’ to help women feel safer on the streets

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Through this article, John Glenday writes about M&C's acts towards making women feel safer while moving through society. This article is published on The Drum, which is a site known for publishing on several diverse trade magazines. One important idea that M&C targets are that women are not to blame for how they feel and that it is then man's job to help them feel safe. As the author puts it, "The campaign’s rules provide easy steps that men should be taking which will play a part in the wider battle of tackling male violence against women and girls.” This is a great idea in order to help build a safer community and a better sense of community among members. Saatchi uses its platform to bring more awareness to the violence that is inflicted on women, and ways to prevent this violence from happening. This movement allows male members of society to be more aware of how they move through society, and ways to help women feel more comfortable while doing so. This is an example of a public service advertisement that draws on an emotional appeal because it pushes the idea that once men are able to follow these golden rules, they will help to change how society is. Through this advertisement Saatchi proves themselves to be an agency that is trying to use their social standing to make a change in the world.

https://www.thedrum.com/news/2021/03/19/mc-saatchi-launches-good-guys-guide-help-women-feel-safer-the-streets

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You may not be anywhere near the office water cooler right now, but we still want to spotlight the most talked about creative that should be on your radar. Today, we're looking at the 'Good Guys Guide' from M&C Saatchi, a set of simple rules for men to follow to make women feel safer on the streets.
M&C Saatchi has drafted a set of minimum social standards for men to follow in the interests of making our streets a safer environment for women.

The ' Good Guys Guide ' sees the creative agency turn its attention to addressing societal issues with seven golden rules instructing conscientious males how to go about their business in an unthreatening manner.

Advice includes 'don't walk behind her', 'hoods down' and 'cross the street'.

Designed to encourage men to think about how their body language and movement can be interpreted by others, the guide aims to further conversations around how strangers interact while tackling instances of abuse and harassment on the streets. It has been written by Camila Gurgel and Ieva Paulina in partnership with Solace Women's Aid (SWA) and Token Man.

It calls on all men to play their part in enabling women to reclaim the streets by calling out and reporting abuse when encountered and intervening where necessary without being patronizing.

Gurgel said: "A lot of men are only just starting to realize how afraid women can often feel when out on the streets at night. We wanted to create something to help the men who call themselves 'the good guys' do their bit to make women feel safer."

Jane Jutsum, executive director of business development at SWA, added: "This is a pivotal moment to create a movement dedicated to ending all forms of violence against women.

"The campaign's rules provide easy steps that men should be taking which will play a part in the wider battle of tackling male violence against women and girls."

Promoted across social media, the 'Good Guys Guide' will also be promoted at 17 high-traffic outdoor sites across the UK, bringing its message directly to the locations where actions can make the biggest difference.

// Featured in this article

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M&C Saatchi launches 'Good Guys Guide' to help women feel safer on the streets

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You may not be anywhere near the office water cooler right now, but we still want to spotlight the most talked about creative that should be on your radar. Today, we're looking at the 'Good Guys Guide' from M&C Saatchi, a set of simple rules for men to follow to make women feel safer on the streets.

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In the Pump commercial viewers watch as mindless people shop about in their deli. One man, who appears to be down and said, buys and drinks the Pump drink. The moment his mouth catches the drink upbeat music plays in the background as he and soon others in the store start to dance. While this all comes to an end, an onlooker of the man picks up a Pump drink for herself and is ready to buy it. This commercial stood out to me because I never really studied New Zealand commercials, and what stood out to me is that they got straight to the point with the object and main idea of the commercial. This commercial stood out to me as being a soft sell and it does not give viewers a lot of information on the product itself, but what the product can give them. This soft-sell commercial is working off of projecting the idea that this product could give consumers joy and happiness after drinking it. Soft sellties back to the end of the commercial when the woman picks up a pump drink for herself to buy. This ties back to the idea of commodity fetishism because of a good/object being able to give a person joy. The people in the commercial were as lifeless as the objects around them, however, the Pump drink was able to pump life back into them. Commodity fetishism is when these goods seem to have social lives and social beings leading people to be reduced to things while these things/goods are valued. This Pump drink is valued because of the short-term high it is able to give the drinker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD8EqWpOI4Y

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Google's acts cause consequences on Black-owned businesses

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Google's acts cause consequences on Black-owned businesses

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Through this article, Jelani Drew writes about the differences in Google's response to taking down comments for Robinhood compared to not taking down racist comments for Black-Owned businesses. Not only did these racist comments make these Black-Owned businesses look bad, but they also caused them to lose massive amounts of customers. This is a great example of modern commodity racism through the use of social media. Commodity racism is the transformation of a literary idea of racism becoming an object for the public, regardless of their literate or class status. The lack of action taken on Google's part highlights the belittlement of the black body, with not viewing it as valuable as Robinhood's social status (a company ran by white society). It is almost as if Google's actions of "[making] it easier for everyone to support Black businesses with its “search Black-owned near you” feature" was only done to benefit themselves and to allow others to know that they are "woke". However, they were able to benefit from the harm that Black-Owned businesses were receiving and instead of putting an end to the racist comments that were flying in, Google turned a blind eye.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90609196/google-black-history-month

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This February, Google made it easier for everyone to support Black businesses with its "search Black-owned near you" feature. This new feature has been heavily advertised and promoted.

However, businesses and customers noticed a downside to Google's Black History Month stunt: a surge of overwhelmingly racist reviews on business profiles.

We live in a world where online reviews matter. After stock trading app Robinhood shut down Gamestop's stock purchases, thousands of angry people took to the Google Play Store reviews section of the app. In just one day, Robinhood's rating fell from five stars to one star and Google swept in to delete nearly 100,000 negative reviews, saying that the reviews were "inorganic."

Forbes reports that 93% of people read local reviews to make a shopping decision. So when Black businesses are sabotaged by similarly "inorganic" racist reviews, their business suffers-yet Google both reaps the profits from consumers using their search engine and benefits from good press about their "wokeness."

Google either did not consider this possibility or decided to ignore it, even though white supremacists have long used the internet as a means of harassing and targeting Black people. This has been even more evident within the last few years as we've seen white-supremacist rhetoric online lead to physical violence offline. Knowing this, the decision for Google to spotlight Black-owned businesses without thinking about the harm that could happen is a perfect example of how tech companies fail to think about the social context of their actions and how that, in turn, causes harm to Black communities.

This is part of a long pattern. Just two months ago, Google fired Timnit Gebru, a prominent Black researcher who has done groundbreaking work showing facial recognition software's bias against people of color. The company maintains that Gebru resigned: Part of its reason for locking her out of her accounts before she'd actually tendered a resignation was because she'd sent an internal memo criticizing the company's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. And in February, Google fired another AI ethics researcher who was looking for evidence of discrimination against Timnit Gebru, claiming she'd violated corporate conduct and security policies. But the rest of us see a pattern of disrespect towards people of color and anyone who dares to call out racism.

Google's actions reveal an even deeper problem: the Silicon Valley belief that tech is neutral.

Let's be really clear, tech is not neutral. Tech, by which I mean software and hardware, cannot be neutral because the world we live in is not just or equal. Take one of Timnit Gebru's areas of expertise: facial recognition. Facial recognition algorithms falsely identify Black and brown faces 10 to 100 times more than white faces. Nonetheless, tech companies disingenuously pretend tech serves everyone equally, which allows their platforms and products to be used to harm marginalized communities, disrupt democracy, and spread authoritarianism. Tech corporations then profit from the harm they inflict while claiming they are innovative and free of prejudice. Google wasn't neutral in jeopardizing Black-owned businesses or firing Black employees. Parler wasn't neutral in making it possible for violent traitors to plan a coup. And Facebook wasn't neutral in ignoring calls-until it was too late-to de-platform Donald Trump.

If tech companies like Google continue to operate under the false assumption that tech is neutral, then even their well-intentioned ideas, like spotlighting Black-owned businesses, will fall short. And their more obviously harmful actions-like selling technology to hundreds of police departments around the country that is used to target people of color-will continue to be devastating.

What are tech companies to do?

They can start by acknowledging that tech is built with bias and ask themselves questions like: If data was leaked, who could get hurt? Who could use our technology to harm others? What steps do we take to mitigate harm?

These are complicated issues, and change won't happen overnight. Tweeting or placing ads about your so-called commitment to racial justice is easy; the real work is examining your policies, behaviors, and products for bias. Until then, tech will not work for us all.
Jelani Drew is a campaign manager at Kairos and an organizer with experience building community power both online and offline.

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With this Black History Month misstep, Google forgot how racist the internet is

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This February, Google made it easier for everyone to support Black businesses with its "search Black-owned near you" feature. This new feature has been heavily advertised and promoted. However, businesses and customers noticed a downside to Google's Black History Month stunt: a surge of overwhelmingly racist reviews on business profiles.

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In this advertisement for the London School of Arts program in filmmaking, viewers can see all of the behind-the-scenes of what it takes to produce a film. Viewers watch characters (in other words behind the scenes workers) do about their days on the set. The music that is paired with the commercial allows there to be a fast paste to each shot that is being filmed. Each person that is shown is shown saying "this hasn’t gone well," which allows for the entire commercial to tie together. This simple line shows how in the film world when one thing goes wrong it ripple effects into the entire film crew. The commercial also highlights a lot of diversity when it comes to men and women and different races. I really enjoyed this because it shows that the film world is not only a world that white people can be a part of (since that is what we mostly see on TV) but people of all racial makeups. This commercial's target audience is a younger audience because of the chosen music, the young adults that are shown, the scenery, and the lighting. The camera movement also allows viewers to feel like they are in the same work environment as these characters with the rush to have everything in order. This advertisement grabs the attention of the younger viewers who may be interested in the film world and in being a part of it. It helps viewers feel the excitement and the rush that comes with being a part of this world, through the swift changes in scenery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSO-qgFb36A