Exclusive v. Inclusive in Marketing: Marketing Snafus n’ Racism

Anybody who knows anything about what I do, know that marketing and brand relationship building is part of what of me. And I couldn’t go by this week, without talking about the latest “marketing snafu” in my blog.

So, there are many comments and opinions as to what infamous retailer, H&M, was trying - or not trying - to do with their recent ad. Let me catch you up to speed, just in case you have no idea what I’m talking about: the latest product line is about animals (no problem there), and in their efforts, they seek to be a more inclusive brand and had an African-American male child (this is important to this story) modeling in a sweatshirt that read “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.” Now, here’s where the whole thing blew up. If you are in marketing and have not been living under a rock, you know that black men being called monkeys is a well-known racial slur.
Now, the issue I take up here is that this isn’t H&M’s first time under fire for racial or cultural insensitivity. So somewhere down the road, if you bump your head once, it’s shame on me, but if you bump it again, it’s shame on you. It makes me wonder if there is diversity on their marketing team, and not to pull the black card or affirmative action, but to provide a clear perspective of how certain cultural norms or non-normals (I just made that word up) can affect their brand.

Here are some noteworthy tips that I would like to share with small businesses to be mindful of when creating and implementing your marketing campaigns... (Click here to read more.)