BOLD Commemorates Black History Month By Having A Conversation With Members About Black Representation In Advertising
In honor of Black History Month, BOLD held a meeting this Tuesday, February 23rd, to discuss the history of black representation in advertising. With one of BOLD’s main missions being to educate and prepare the next generation of professional communicators in the advertising industry, it is crucial that we as an agency have conversations about the importance of fair representation in advertising. These conversations help give members a voice and spread awareness about the impact advertising has in influencing the actions and beliefs of our society. The commercials featured in this meeting included Adobe, When I See Black; Procter and Gamble, The Talk and The Look; Pepsi, Live For Now; Sprite, Dreams Realized; NFL, Inspire Change; NBA, The Truth Is Black Lives Matter; and Nike, For Once, Don’t Do It.
Maria Duque, Director of Accounts, kicked off the meeting by discussing the evolution of black representation in advertising from the 1800s to the 1990s and how it has dramatically changed over the decades as a reflection of our country’s history. The next portion of the meeting consisted of showcasing commercials from recent times that focused on discussing and raising awareness on issues about race and representation. The first commercial featured was When I See Black by Adobe which showcased different black artists and creators and their response to the phrase “when I see black”. BOLD member and artist, Zelideth Mujica, said in response to the commercial “it is not only important that they give the artists credit but also putting their words with their art because art can be a very personal thing. It is good that they didn’t just showcase their art but also what it means to them,”.
The next set of commercials shown in the meeting were by Proctor and Gamble which are part of their campaign, #TalkAboutBias, that encourages their audience to no longer avoid uncomfortable conversations about race and injustice. The first commercial called The Talk showcased the conversations black people in the US are forced to have as a result of the injustices they have faced historically. BOLD member, Nia Lewis, commented on the commercial’s message “It opens up a lot of people’s eyes to the conversations that we have in the black community, because a lot of people may not know what they’re for or why they’re important, especially when a lot of people grow up with these microaggressions.” The next commercial featured as part of the Procter and Gamble campaign was The Look which showed the microaggressions a black judge faces in his everyday life. BOLD Associate Vega Alfaro said, “I think the interesting thing about this ad is that no words were spoken but the body language and the perspective of his viewpoint of the world were so powerful as well as the way they used the cinematography to capture his perspective. It’s crazy how they said so much by saying so little“.
To counteract the impactful messaging from the Proctor and Gamble commercials, Maria Duque opened up the conversation to talk about the controversial Live For Now Pepsi commercial with Kendall Jenner. Many students expressed their disapproval of the blatant branding and lack of awareness from the company which proved how important it is for companies to be diverse on every level. As a comparison to the Pepsi ad, students also talked about the Sprite, Dreams Realized commercial in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement. “I think obviously we can see the big difference from the Pepsi ad, in that they were not trying to sell their products but at the same time their use of colors was reminding you that this is a Sprite ad when you see the pops of green. It was them showing their message and what they support without the branding being too much,” said Account Supervisor Ashley Nunez.
The meeting concluded with Nike’s For Once, Don’t Do It commercial which also came out as a response to the Black Lives Matter Movement. When talking about the delivery of the commercial Nia Lewis said “because of the fact that it didn’t have people in it or a voice to it, it connects more to the audience and encourages the internal monologue that they need to be the change”.
As FIU’s student-run agency, BOLD is ready to continue to have more conversations about representation and diversity in advertising at a time when it is more important than ever.
BOLD is a student-run strategic communications agency at Florida International University. Click here to learn more.
Written by: Alejandra Chahine, Director of Public Relations