On Black Awareness Day, professionals in the sector reflect on the challenges, progress and what they do to promote racial inclusion
November 20th celebrates the memory of Zumbi de Palmares, leader of Quilombo de Palmares. Died in 1695, Zumbi became one of the greatest symbols of the struggle and resistance against slavery. Currently, the celebration of Black Awareness Day highlights the importance of recognizing and valuing both the struggle and black culture.
The advertising market often reflects social gaps, with the presence of underrepresented minorities, especially the black community, often limited in opportunities and visibility. The absence of diverse perspectives not only limits the richness of narratives and experiences shared in campaigns, but also perpetuates stereotypes.
The advertising industry and agencies play a very important role in the construction of cultural narratives. Therefore, it is essential that they make a commitment to promoting responsible, fair and respectful representations of diverse groups, contributing to combating racism, homophobia, machismo, xenophobia and stereotypes that attack human dignity and rights. and civilians of the Brazilian population, declares professor Antonia Aparecida Quinto, supervisor of research on racial diversity in organizations at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie.
Reflecting on diversity within agencies is not just a matter of social justice, but a necessity to boost creativity, innovation and authenticity. With this in mind, propmark spoke with leaders who shared the challenges, advances and agency projects aimed at racial inclusion.
Wunderman Thompson
Camila Arruda, CPO at Wunderman Thompson, says that the agency recognizes authenticity and uniqueness as essential elements for having the best people, who produce more human, unique and creative work. The CPO highlights the Agency’s Manual without Racism and the global study The Wave of Inclusion, which they shared with the market. In addition to the Inclusion, Equity and Diversity Report, which will soon have its 3rd edition.
We also created, a few years ago, an affinity group to discuss issues about race, which we called Coletivo Gonzales, made up of people who represent racial diversity. We are in the second year of the Black Career Development and Acceleration Program and, recently, we conducted the seventh edition of Racial Equity Week, an event of great importance at the agency, which every year has a specific theme and features conversation circles, panels , lectures, interviews with personalities, thinkers or experts on different topics.
Wunderman Thompson will also launch, in the coming weeks, a website dedicated to diversity, sharing insights, content and materials to expand the discussion beyond the agency’s boundaries.
Market
Johana Quintana, head of people & culture at Soko, says that advertising is responsible for creating dreams and building the future and, with this, its responsibility in relation to diversity, equity and inclusion becomes even more important.
The professional states that Soko operates with constant literacy, manuals and conduct policies; affirmative vacancies at all hierarchical levels; application of internal surveys to measure the proportionality not only of recruits, but also of turnover and promotions within each segment.
It must also be said that there are many challenges from the inside and the outside. The first is to guarantee the same level of knowledge on the subject for everyone, then to be able to apply as many actions that are transversal to any HR initiative and make all people in leadership become co-responsible for the subject so that in the end D&I is part of the company’s culture, highlights Johana.
Moringa
Fabrcio Batista, creative director at Moringa, says that when we have diversity in the workplace, creative possibilities multiply, as they arise from different points of view and experiences.
For him, deep down, the purpose of advertising is to connect with people. Therefore, the more human and closer to the audience’s reality the messages are, the more effective they will be.
Batista highlights the Black Entrepreneurship campaign, created for the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), in which everyone involved was black people.
Companies need to create learning spaces so that the team can evolve technically, as people will not always come ready for the role they were hired for. Those who had access need to learn and have the opportunity to pass on their knowledge. Leaders need to learn how to teach and, above all, they need to create an environment where everyone can evolve, concludes Batista.
AKM
Lais Gonalves, account executive at AKM, shares that “as a black woman and advertiser, I believe that investment in diversity is urgent and should be a daily commitment between agencies, brands and society as a whole.” For the executive, the representation of the black population in the market, in advertising and in many other spaces is still not small, compared to the size of the black population.
“I understand that the way to change this reality comes from the inside out, giving voice, space and valuing black people, whether through affirmative vacancy programs, initiatives that raise awareness about racial issues, encouraging racial literacy, creating affinity groups in organizations, among many other ways to invest in and support diversity and the anti-racist movement”, he adds.
AKM has diversity as a clear purpose, and seeks to work collectively to reduce differences, with equal and diverse teams, investing in growth and recognizing talent.
The agency has a D&I Committee with the mission to educate, promote and raise awareness among the internal public. And it has social projects as partners, namely: Vozes das Periferias and Gerando Falces, which connect peripheral people to job vacancies.
“As communication professionals who influence behavior and consumption with brands, we have the role of fostering the creative power of the black community, encouraging inclusion projects, connecting them with brands and advertising actions, to open doors and enhance change real from start to finish, creating and presenting consistent, representative messages that actually reinforce the cultural and ethnic diversity that exists in our country”, he concludes.
Read the full story in the November 20, 2023 edition
