16217: Procter & Gamble Allyship Or Slave Ship—Or Just Ship Of Fools?

 

Adweek published another perspective from Carta Head of Inclusion, Equity and Impact Mita Mallick, whereby the author positioned Procter & Gamble as an organization that others should emulate for building allyship with the Black community.

 

Mallick has typed editorials on subjects including Black Santa Claus, Black History Month, and colorism, offering reasoned yet unoriginal thoughts—that is, she’s covered familiar terrain with common critiques. Regardless, Mallick deserves a salute for trying to keep cultural topics in the public eye. This latest piece, however, invites some scrutiny. So, here it comes:

 

• For starters, Mallick referred to “My Black is Beautiful hair care brand,” apparently unaware the initiative is not a product line. To be clear, the platform was launched in 2006 with the goal of spotlighting and empowering Black women, supported by a variety of P&G brands. In recent years, the concept has expanded to cover broader Black issues—it has arguably become a heat shield for P&G. Do your research.

 

• Mallick wrote, “P&G shows us that when serving the Black community on an issue as deeply personal as hair care and beauty, you can hire an all-Black creative and all-Black production team. No more excuses. The talent is out there waiting to work with you.” Okay, except that most of the prominent pieces—which received greater attention and budgets—were handled by White advertising agencies. And there’s zero evidence of hiring all-Black production teams. For example, “The Talk” was done by White advertising agency BBDO, who reportedly hired a Black consultant to uncover the insight that served as inspiration for the spot.

 

• Related to the previous point, contrary to Mallick’s implications, P&G does not provide equal opportunities to Black-owned advertising agencies—rather, the advertiser delivers crumbs. No knock against Cartwright Advertising, but the shop is backed by WPP and Grey, longtime sycophants of P&G. Sorry, it wouldn’t be surprising if WPP and Grey viewed Cartwright Advertising as a heat shield of sorts.

 

• Mallick closed by stating, “P&G’s film Unbecoming serves as a best-in-class example and a reminder of how we as marketers can represent and serve the Black community; not with shortcuts or by checking the boxes, but with authenticity.” No, it serves as a worst-in-class example of patronizing propaganda. P&G is probably checking plenty of boxes with My Black is Beautiful.

 

• In summation, Mallick ought to consider what P&G is not doing. The global client has the power to demand diversity from its White advertising agencies, to positively affect meaningful and measurable change in an industry plagued by systemic racism. Instead, the premier advertiser has failed to hold any talks with or alter looks at the offices of predominately White partners, which is quite unbecoming indeed. Oh, and P&G has not helped to elevate the status of Black-owned advertising agencies—ironically, Black shops have not significantly benefited from My Black is Beautiful.

 

P&G Continues to do the Work in Its Allyship Journey to the Black Community

 

The latest campaign film Unbecoming digs deep into consumers’ lived experiences

 

By Mita Mallick

 

In Procter and Gamble’s latest film for My Black is Beautiful hair care brand, Unbecoming, we see Black women and girls slowly and gently undo their hair. The campaign tackles the acceptance of Black women and natural hair.

 

The stunning film joins a series of acclaimed P&G films hitting on the stereotypes and the racism the Black community faces, which includes “The Talk,” “The Look” and “The Choice.” It’s clear that P&G continues to do the work on its journey to be an ally to the Black community.

 

Marketers, it’s time to take notes. P&G reminds us once again that we can represent and serve the Black community authentically, without shortcuts, quick fixes or checking the boxes.

 

Here are three lessons to remember as we race to build products and campaigns.

 

Diversify your portfolio of production partners

 

Too often, I have heard “I’m all for diverse talent as long as they are good,” “It’s a pipeline issue” or “The talent is just not there.” P&G shows us that when serving the Black community on an issue as deeply personal as hair care and beauty, you can hire an all-Black creative and all-Black production team. No more excuses. The talent is out there waiting to work with you.

 

Make hiring an all-Black creative and all-Black production team a priority from the start. Don’t keep that priority a secret; share it with the broader team. Build a diverse slate of agencies to consider, just like you would create a diverse slate of candidates when hiring for a role. Start with resources like Agency Spotter, Agency Vista and WP Engine; they share an expansive list of Black-owned agencies that have expertise in digital, creative, production and more.

 

Make it an ongoing priority to meet with new agencies even when you don’t have a particular project in mind. Because when there’s a campaign you do need help on in the future, you can with intention invite the right partners into your ecosystem.

 

Dig deep into consumers’ lived experiences

 

“When we got this brief, we realized we had never seen undone Black hair and unfiltered Black womanhood celebrated on screen together,” says Cartwright creative partners Chelsea Ceasor and Taylor Whitelow, who led the creative work for the P&G film. The film goes on to tackle all the things “they” (society) tell Black women they need to become: patient enough, desirable enough, manageable enough. And that Black women are taught and told that beautiful is something “we become.”

 

The film redefines what the word “unbecoming” means for Black women; that by unraveling themselves, and their hair, they are free to define beauty as who they are. It ends with: “What’s unbecoming of a Black women? It’s becoming who you are.”

 

As marketers, let’s not forget it’s that powerful insight we uncover that helps us understand how we can surprise and delight our consumers. In order to find that insight, we need to truly understand the lived experience of our consumers.

 

The P&G film reminds us we have a responsibility to help shatter stereotypes of what Black women face every single day. This includes facing white beauty standards that do not represent and reflect who they are, as well as the pressure they face to conform to what society deems is beautiful. We as marketers have the power to help reimagine and redefine what beautiful means in the beauty industry.

 

Deliver products that serve the community

 

“While Black women love the versatility, pride and strength derived from their hair, there is inherent tension there,” shares Lela Coffey, P&G Beauty’s vp for North America hair care. “Through Unbecoming and our My Black is Beautiful products, we are re-affirming our prioritization of hair health for Black women, with formulas that embrace the inherent beauty of their hair texture.”

 

P&G’s journey to be an ally to the Black community doesn’t just include representation of Black women in this film; it also includes representation with products that work for Black women. The My Black is Beautiful collection celebrates Black beauty and culture, created by Black women for Black women. All products are designed to nourish type 4 natural hair, for healthy coils and curls, from styling, scalp care and moisture for natural hair, with specially formulated ingredients like coconut milk, turmeric, ginger, honey and coconut oil.

 

As marketers, let’s continue to educate ourselves on the deep inequities Black women have faced in the beauty industry. According to a recent McKinsey Report, Black consumers are three times more likely to be dissatisfied with their choices for hair care, skincare and makeup vs. non-Black consumers. And addressing these racial inequities in beauty is a $2.6 billion opportunity.

 

We must go beyond just simply casting Black talent in campaigns and sharing their stories; we must also provide products and services that meet their beauty needs. P&G’s film Unbecoming serves as a best-in-class example and a reminder of how we as marketers can represent and serve the Black community; not with shortcuts or by checking the boxes, but with authenticity.

15738: BHM 2022—Procter & Gamble.

 

P&G BHM ZZZZZZ… (My Black History Is Not Beautiful)

14865: Overrated Overlooks Overwhelmingly Overinflated, Overexposed Offal.

Advertising Age presented The Most Overrated Ads of the Decade, which featured Fearless Girl. Hey, don’t forget Gracie for Cheerios, The Talk and The Look.

14656: Procter & Gamble Redefines Patronizing With Its Latest Diversity Stunt.

CNBC reported on the latest diversity/divertsity desideratum from Procter & Gamble, whereby the White advertiser is asking dictionaries to revise the definition of the word “Black” as part of its My Black is Beautiful campaign. No word if P&G needed to hire consultants of color to hatch the concept. Although dictionaries should also consider redefining “PR” as patronizing ruse when associated with corporations like P&G, as the monolithic marketer and manufacturer will undoubtedly leverage the scheme to collect ADCOLOR® trophies and Cannes Lions. Meanwhile, P&G will continue to minimize the use of “Black” as a qualifier for the advertising agencies it employs.

Procter and Gamble wants to redefine the word ‘black’

By Megan Graham

Procter & Gamble’s “My Black is Beautiful” campaign is asking dictionaries to rethink their definitions of the word “black.”

“My Black is Beautiful,” a campaign for black women the consumer goods giant formed over a decade ago, says dictionaries too often prioritize terms such as “evil” or “dirty” over those that describe the word as it relates to identity and skin color. The push is called #RedefineBlack and has a petition on DoSomething.org.

P&G’s latest effort joins other recent campaigns in which brands are taking stands on cultural and political issues. Last year, Nike ran a campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick that stirred controversy, and P&G has run campaigns of its own that have sparked conversation, including a Gillette ad that weighed in on the #MeToo movement. And this might be why: Nearly two in three people say they choose, switch, avoid or boycott a brand based on its stand on social issues, according to a 2018 Edelman Earned Brand report.

Lela Coffey, brand director of multicultural beauty at P&G, said “My Black is Beautiful” has always been focused on promoting a more positive perception of blackness and spotlighting bias. When the group started to think about the dictionary definitions, she said they discussed how associating darkness with badness can lead to racial prejudice.

“We talked with some professors about the issue and the effect that words have on people,” Coffey said. “We started to wonder if this was something we could change.”

In the section for “black” on Merriam-Webster’s website, for instance, an example of word usage that reads “his face was black with rage” is placed higher on the definition page than any mention of “black” as it pertains to identity or skin color.

Dictionary.com is already planning to update its definition because of the campaign. The website posted a blog Wednesday explaining that it would be making updates and revisions that will roll out on the website later this year.

“If you look on Dictionary.com today, the adjectival sense of ‘Black’ that refers to people is the third sense on the page, ” it says. “Currently this definition sits right above a definition that reads ‘soiled or stained with dirt.’ While there are no semantic links between these two senses, their proximity on the page can be harmful. It can lead to unconscious associations between this word of identity and a negative term. These are not associations we want anyone to get from Dictionary.com, and so we will be swapping our second and third senses on the page.”

Dictionary.com will also capitalize “Black” in the entry when it’s used in reference to people, which it says is considered a “mark of respect, recognition and pride.” That’s one point Coffey said the organization is asking dictionaries to make, along with updating the entries with references or usage of the word “black” to phrases black people actually use to identify themselves. She gave the example of “Black is beautiful” as one she hopes will be included.

Sparking a conversation

P&G campaigns in recent years have touched on subjects such as celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and discussing racial bias. “My Black is Beautiful” was also behind development of “The Talk,” a video that depicts conversations black parents have with their children to prepare them for racial bias they may face.

“Consumer expectations are changing,” said Damon Jones, P&G’s vice president of global communications and advocacy. “Consumers are actively looking for companies to take a role. The majority of consumers expect the brands they choose to take a stand on social and environmental issues. When we look at forming genuine and authentic relationships with our consumers, this is what [they] expect.”

Some of those campaigns have sparked controversy. But even when people disagree, that’s still beneficial, Coffey said.

“You’re not going to please everybody,” she said. “But what I really want to do is drive awareness and drive conversation. ... If we can drive conversations with some of these issues with people who may not have the same point of view or who disagree ... I can drive some action, I can drive some change.”

Jones added that some of these campaigns have subject matter pertaining to one group but in practice have a wider reach than that.

“A number of the campaigns may resonate with one consumer group,” he said. “But really, all consumers want everyone else to be treated fairly.”

14551: BHM 2019—Advertising Age Selects “Groundbreaking” Black Representation In Ads.

Advertising Age spotlighted “Five groundbreaking campaigns that moved the needle on black representation in ads”—presumably to honor Black History Month. Can’t help but wonder if the well-intentioned report displays unconscious revisionist history.

Spotlighting the Michael Jackson Pepsi campaign as groundbreaking for Black representation in advertising is true on certain levels, mostly in regards to crossover appeal and big-budget endorsements. Yet the article failed to mention the campaign was really initiated by the Jacksons, their managers and Entertainment Marketing & Communications International CEO Jay Coleman. Apparently, Coleman first proposed the deal to Coca-Cola. So it’s not like BBDO—Pepsi’s White advertising agency—originally hatched the inclusive innovation. Plus, the campaign is arguably not Pepsi’s most groundbreaking example of Black representation in advertising, as Edward Boyd produced pioneering campaigns that targeted and depicted Blacks about 30 years before the Jacksons arrived for the soft drink brand.

Spotlighting the Michael Jordan-Mars Blackmon Nike campaign—like the Michael Jackson Pepsi campaign—is questionable too. In this case, White advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy tapped “She’s Gotta Have It” and Academy Award Winner Spike Lee. Not sure, but didn’t Lee post the Nike campaign on the SpikeDDB website when first launching his agency?

Don’t mean to overreact, but the Pepsi and Nike campaigns are examples of White advertising agencies hijacking Black culture, which is hardly groundbreaking. And how Ad Age saluted the campaigns is not exactly the best way to celebrate Black History Month.

Spotlighting the “My Black Is Beautiful” campaign is a decent move, but the Ad Age presentation felt clumsy and culturally clueless. The trade journal wrote, “When Procter & Gamble began developing ‘My Black Is Beautiful’ in 2006, exactly what the campaign would do wasn’t fully thought out…” Really? The concept was thought out quite nicely. However, like most Black-focused initiatives, “My Black Is Beautiful” was financed by crumbs. To declare “the program was catapulted to new prominence in 2017 with the video ‘The Talk’ from BBDO” sounds insulting, especially when the White advertising agency likely enjoyed a budget and resources that Black advertising agencies never see. Plus, BBDO needed to “partner” with a Black consultant for the key insight (an insight that is common knowledge for nearly every Black family in America).

Perhaps someday Advertising Age will go beyond spotlighting groundbreaking Black representation in advertising to spotlighting groundbreaking Black representation in advertising agencies.

14414: P&G’s In The Black By Buying Walker And Company.

Advertising Age reported Procter & Gamble bought Walker And Company and its health and beauty brands for people of color. Expect P&G Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard to count the acquisition as a diversity move. Plus, he’ll likely push to integrate the products with My Black is Beautiful, green-lighting a campaign that will be assigned to a White advertising agency and win gobs of ADCOLOR® trophies.

Procter & Gamble buys Walker & Co.

Tristan Walker, high-profile founder of brands for people of color, will stay on

By Jack Neff

Procter & Gamble Co. has agreed to buy Walker & Co.—a direct-to-consumer marketer of Bevel and Form Beauty personal-care products for people of color—for undisclosed terms.

CEO Tristan Walker, who founded the company in 2013, will join P&G as part of the deal. The former Foursquare and Twitter executive will move operations from Silicon Valley (Palo Alto, Calif.) to Atlanta.

Sold mainly direct-to-consumer, Bevel also is now in a majority of Target stores nationwide as well as on Amazon, Walker says, while Form Beauty is also sold online and in stores through Sephora. He declined to disclose sales numbers.

Walker launched Bevel in 2013 as a razor brand for men with coarse curly hair, whose faces get irritated by mass-market razors such as those from P&G’s category-leading Gillette. The high-profile social-media veteran hit the market with backing from Andreessen Horowitz, marking one of the earliest venture-capital investments in direct-to-consumer packaged goods. A second funding round in 2015 attracted high-profile backers such as John Legend, Magic Johnson and Google Ventures, and helped fuel the 2017 launch of Form Beauty haircare products for women.

Getting bought by P&G doesn’t mean Walker plans to do a big paid media push or hire outside agencies. “We don’t outsource branding,” Walker says. “They’re still going to let us operate and do our thing.”

That thing has involved building brands more slowly than many venture-backed direct-to-consumer players.

Dollar Shave Club, founded in 2011, made a bigger splash faster with a lot more venture capital—$164 million total to $33 million for Walker, according to Crunchbase. DSC spent heavily on media, at times outspending Gillette on TV prior to its acquisition by Unilever in 2016 for $1 billion.

But its growth slowed post acquisition, and possibly DSC had already reached most of its potential U.S. razor subscribers by the time Unilever bought it.

By contrast, Walker opted for a slower cash burn, less use of paid media and more focus on social-media and word-of-mouth, including from his high-profile customer-investors like Legend and Johnson. That more measured growth may ultimately mean more potential for acceleration with new backing from P&G.

“Building great brands means solving people’s problems by building products people love,” Walker says. “That takes time. And building great brands takes even longer. You can spend a lot of money marketing brands that don’t work. That has never been our approach.”

Walker once prevailed in a case Gillette brought against his company before the National Advertising Division of the the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which found Bevel could support its claim that its single-blade razors cause less irritation than Gillette’s multi-blade razors, though it had to modify some “clinically proven” claims. As P&G prepares to launch Gillette Skinguard two-bladed razors for men with sensitive skin early next year, executives have avoided making comparisons to Bevel.

Now, P&G is looking to learn from Walker how he does things. “One thing we can learn from Tristan,” says Lela Coffey, brand director for multicultural consumers at P&G Beauty, “is this ability to use these authentic connections that he’s built vs. the traditional CPG approach.”

Still, Walker says he’s looking forward to leaning on P&G’s capabilities in product development, distribution and media, as well as ultimately help in expanding his brands globally.

“We can really help Tristan broaden his reach and awareness,” says Coffey, whose duties include working on Pantene’s Gold Series and Head & Shoulders’ Royal Oils lines for women of color. “We are going to fuel him with some of the science we have available. Our R&D department will be his playhouse if that’s what he wants.”

Moving from Silicon Valley to Atlanta makes sense for Walker & Co. because Atlanta long has been the company’s top market for e-commerce and physical store sales, Walker says. “We want to be as close to our customer as we can.” And it’s only about an hour away from P&G’s Cincinnati headquarters by plane.

14232: True Talk.

The Talk inspired this parody—which is actually based on The Truth.

MOM 1: Who said you could get a job in advertising?

KID: The lady at the ADCOLOR® party.

MOM 1: That is not a good idea.

MOM 2: Listen, it’s an ugly, nasty word. And you’re going to hear it at Papa John’s, Campbell Ewald and other White advertising agencies.

MOM 3: Work hard on hitting—because you’ve got a better chance of landing in Major League Baseball than Madison Avenue.

MOM 4: Remember, you can do anything they can. Difference is, you’ve got to do it on multicultural projects only. And for crumbs.

MOM 5: You got your agency ID? Otherwise, they’ll think you’re the janitor.

MOM 6: Now, when you get pulled over in the hallway, keep your hands on the mail cart and don’t argue with them.

MOM 1: You’ll make a beautiful receptionist. Or Chief Diversity Officer.

14231: C’MON WHITE MAN! Episode 53.

(MultiCultClassics credits ESPN’s C’MON MAN! for sparking this semi-regular blog series.)

Campaign interviewed Procter & Gamble Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard, who predicted age will be the “next frontier” for inspiring faux commitment and patronizing propaganda from the industry. Pritchard acknowledged his company has influenced tremendous progress with gender diversity, citing firm goals and hard figures. Regarding racial and ethnic equality, Pritchard admitted, “We’ve done some good work … but we need to do more.” The “we need to do more” statement, incidentally, is a culturally clueless cliché regularly used to excuse one’s failure to embrace true diversity.

There are plenty of problems with Pritchard’s perspectives.

First, Pritchard is shifting from gender equality to age equality, knowing full well “we need to do more” with racial and ethnic equality. He’s essentially jumping from the White women’s bandwagon to the boomers’ bandwagon, and he’ll likely also ride the LGBTQ bandwagon, millennials’ bandwagon, physical disabilities bandwagon, IDDs bandwagon and conservatives’ bandwagon before legitimately addressing the colored car.

Second, Pritchard proudly presents measurable objectives, numbers and quotas to accelerate the White women’s bandwagon. For racial and ethnic minorities, Pritchard switches to chirping crickets. What makes this obscene is the fact that P&G regularly requires its minority advertising agencies to submit specific data for minority staffing and utilizing minority suppliers—and the mega-company presumably requests the same information from its White advertising agencies. In short, Pritchard knows exactly how underrepresented minorities are in adland. Yet he’s going to pick the low-hanging fruit—that is, White women and boomers—versus the Strange Fruit.

Third, Pritchard promotes initiatives like Free The Bid to fuel the White women’s bandwagon, and he’ll undoubtedly support age-friendly initiatives for the boomers’ bandwagon. Meanwhile, he’s abandoning the colored car by driving minority assignments (and revenue) to White advertising agencies. Pritchard literally talks “The Talk” and walks away. Guess he’s choosing age before beauty.

C’MON WHITE MAN!

P&G’s Marc Pritchard: age is the ‘next frontier’ for advertising

Age will be next on the agenda for advertisers to address as the industry moves to unpick the stereotypes it has helped perpetuate, Procter & Gamble chief brand officer Mark Pritchard predicts.

By Rachel Barnes

As the company announced its initiative to drive 100% gender equality throughout advertising, Pritchard said there was far more in the pipeline around diversity and inclusion, with age needing to be better represented.

Speaking to Campaign in Cannes, he explained: “We’re furthest along on gender equality in terms of building it into our business and our marketing. But diversity and inclusion is another major pillar and we are focusing on racial equality, LGBTQ and people with disabilities. We’ve done some good work on racial equality but we need to do more.

“As a company, we’re now focusing not just on millennials but boomers as well. That’s the next area — the age portion is probably the next frontier. But we’ve got efforts in each of those areas. Watch this space.”

Perpetuating stereotypes

Acknowledging that the ad industry has been part of the problem in enabling stereotypes over the years, Pritchard said advertisers have a responsibility to challenge that approach.

“We reach five billion people on the planet every day and we’re the world’s biggest advertiser. We have both an opportunity and a responsibility for changing perception. Images and how people are portrayed in advertising affects memory, which affects bias. There is an unconscious bias that comes from such images and [it influences] how you see the world.”

Reflecting on the industry’s role, Pritchard added: “There was a perception or belief that you could do those kind of ads — and that was what sold. But the exact opposite is true.

“The more gender-equal an ad is, it has been shown that you get a 10% increase in trust and a 26% increase in sales growth.”

We see equal

As part of the move towards gender equal advertising, Pritchard revealed P&G is 15 women creative directors away from gender parity among the agencies it works with, while at brand director level within P&G it is 10 directors away from a 50/50 split.

“With account directors and strategic planners [at our agencies] we’re well over 50/50 already. They’re committed to making this happen. These numbers are important as it can be about one person at a time.”

Commercial director level remains uneven but Pritchard is backing the #FreeTheBid movement advocating for women within advertising, and expanding it to more countries.

He does not agree, however, with the move by Mastercard to have 80% of women make up its marketing team to reflect the 80% of women who make the purchasing decisions. “We see equal,” Pritchard said.

Creativity

Pritchard added that he was more than happy for P&G to pay for Saatchi & Saatchi’s entries to the Cannes Lions, in the absence of Publicis Groupe, because “P&G still believes in creativity — we’re willing to go ahead and make that investment to pay for their awards”.

Underlining P&G’s role — as well as his own — in helping the industry to navigate what’s ahead, Prichard concluded: “We’re reinventing media, reinventing advertising, reinventing agency partnerships and reinventing marketing.”

14222: Continuing “The Talk.”

Okay, when the P&G-BBDO “The Talk” campaign first launched, MultiCultClassics wondered about the inspiration for the concept, as it all felt very familiar. Granted, the tradition of such conversations between Black parents and their children is hardly new—and even common knowledge in the Black community. This, incidentally, underscores the cultural cluelessness of P&G and BBDO, as they apparently needed to hire consultants of color to deliver the “insight” for the campaign. Regardless, at least two recent sources come to mind that pre-date “The Talk”—besides numerous films going back at least to Boyz n the Hood with its exchanges between Furious Styles (Laurence Fishburne) and Tre Styles (Cuba Gooding Jr.). Specifically, the two sources are:

1) For black parents in Pasadena, shootings give fresh relevance to ‘The Talk’—a story published by The Los Angeles Times in 2012.

2) A Conversation With My Black Son by Geeta Gandbhir and Blair Foster—a video published by The New York Times in 2015.

Not saying it’s unusual for advertisers and agencies to find inspiration from real-life sources. But it’s disturbing that P&G would assign a major project for My Black is Beautiful to a White advertising agency, while reducing the crumbs tossed at Black and Latino advertising agencies. Ironically, when P&G faced White backlash to the campaign, Blacks showed support for the advertiser. Would the support hold if everyone knew how the advertising assignment ultimately dissed Blacks in adland?

14221: Cannes Cons XVI.

Adweek published a perspective from EGAMI Group Founder and CEO Teneshia Jackson Warner, who shared her experience of receiving a Grand Prix award at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity for her involvement on the P&G-BBDO “The Talk” campaign. Well, at least her Cannes Lions scenario didn’t match Pitch Editor Sherry Collins’ experience.

How ‘The Talk’ Showed, Finally, That Black Girls Cannes

It was the first time many people saw a black American woman take the stage for a Grand Prix

By Teneshia Jackson Warner

Last Friday in Cannes, P&G won two Grand Prix awards in film, including one for “The Talk.” Through the cheers and bright lights, I made my way to the stage along with others to accept the award on P&G’s behalf. As the Cannes Lion award presenter placed the award in my hand, I not only accepted it, this moment signaled to the advertising and marketing industry that, yes: Black girls Cannes.

It was the first time many people saw a black American woman take the stage for the Grand Prix. Following the awards ceremony, I was surprised by the number of people that approached me saying, “that never happens in our industry,” or “we have never seen a black woman walk the stage at Cannes Lion.” A young lady shared that seeing a black woman walk the Cannes stage was a defining moment to her as a black woman, because finally the advertising industry was reflecting images of success that looked like her. This revelation helped the woman to feel more confident about her career path in advertising, and that moved me to tears.

This was a defining moment for many black women. Yes, black girls Cannes, but not without the support and structural settings to ensure success. To help our industry continue to drive business success through diversity, here are three things to keep in mind.

Diversity starts within

Companies and agencies should strive to foster diverse talent teams internally to lead creative work. In an industry that lacks diversity, take the extra step to build and fund diverse teams.

“The Talk” was a re-launch to P&G’s “My Black Is Beautiful” campaign. The 11-year-old campaign was created by six black women who had the goal to tackle the lack of positive portrayal of black women in media. Nearly 10 years later, the P&G-owned platform continues to be led by black women: Lela Coffey, Verna Coleman-Hagler, Anitra Williams, Crystal Harrell and others. These black women are not only executives, they are also mothers who pulled from their personal experiences to reflect the black parenting experience and a unique “talk” that African-American parents have with their children. It was a diverse team of black, dynamic women who were behind the momentous win at Cannes.

Create diversity of thought collaborations

Be willing to foster out-of-the-box collaborations and intentionally look to work with minority-owned firms that reflect culture. The more diverse the team, the more creative the work.

We have all heard the “I can’t find diverse talent excuse,” and that can no longer be an out. We must be willing to think outside of the box to foster diversity of thought in your creative work. For “The Talk,” P&G commissioned a collaboration between BBDO Worldwide and minority woman-owned agency EGAMI Group. P&G valued the cultural insight of EGAMI Group’s team and ensured this company had a seat at the table to influence the work. Ultimately, EGAMI Group was responsible for providing the strategic cultural insight that influenced this work.

You may have to step away from the industry’s cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach. It may not be enough to brief one agency to obtain diversity of thought.

Don’t just talk about it—be about it

Be intentional to ensure diverse talent and diverse work continues to make its way to the world’s leading creative platform stage at Cannes Lion. Time is up on giving lip service to diversity in advertising. We have entered a time when companies must aggressively take action. Five years ago, the Cannes Lion scene was nearly void of diversity in attendees and content. However, this year many noted that the progress of inclusion was finally visible at Cannes.

As you prepare for future trips to Cannes Lions, strive to ensure minority talent is provided opportunities to attend. Submit work that is led by creative multicultural talent. Partner with leading diversity organizations to showcase diverse case studies in content sessions and/or sponsor diverse talent attendance. When looking for collaborators and talent, keep in mind leading organizations including I.D.E.A. Initiative, ADCOLOR, Cannes Can: Diversity Collective, Marcus Graham Project, The LAGRANT Foundation, Saturday Morning and more.

This year, “The Talk” not only took center stage with a Grand Prix win, but the case study was featured on various panels with the I.D.E.A Initiative, Facebook and Spotify. Collectively, it is our industry’s responsibility to ensure black girl Cannes moments happen every day within our companies and agencies.

Teneshia Jackson Warner is the founder and CEO of EGAMI Group.

13780: Talkin’ ‘Bout The Talk.

At The Root, Damon Young wrote a perspective titled, “Procter & Gamble Release an Ad About ‘the Talk,’ and White People Respond With the Wettest, Saltiest, Stupidest White Tears Ever”—discussing “The Talk” and the online talk it inspired.

13764: Talk The Talk…

Advertising Age spotlighted “The Talk”—a campaign featuring a video depicting Black parents discussing the thorns and threats of racism with their children. The work falls under Procter & Gamble’s “My Black Is Beautiful” initiative. What makes the latest project downright outrageous? The video was created by White advertising agency BBDO New York. First of all, there’s something very familiar about the concept, but MultiCultClassics can’t immediately identify the “inspiration” for the video. Second, they should have included a parent warning their kid about encountering blatant racism—by pursuing a job at BBDO or any other White advertising agency in America. The saddest part is, BBDO CCO David Lubars will probably nab an ADCOLOR® Award for the hypocritical bullshit. This mess is a shining example of talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

Procter & Gamble is both “Proud Sponsor of Moms” and supporter of African-American women, with its ongoing “My Black Is Beautiful” campaign. These concerns merge in the marketer’s heart-rending film about the unique challenges African-American mothers have in raising kids—in decades past, and continuing today.

Scenes that take place over different eras depict moms consoling and educating their children after they encounter racism: one daughter receives a compliment that she’s pretty—“for a black girl,” a boy gets called the n-word while another has faced discrimination on the sports field.

The mothers encourage their kids to endure and hold their heads up high, no matter what the challenges. One mom tells her daughter she’ll do fine at science camp, but she’ll have to “work twice as hard and be twice as smart,” and the mother with the “pretty” daughter drives home that she’s “beautiful, period.”

But there are other fears as well, ones that the women may have little control over. One mom insists that her son take his ID with him to music practice, because it will be late when he returns home. Then a young woman at the steering wheel tells her mother she need not worry because she’s a “good driver,” but that’s not what Mom’s real concern is.

Unlike many other socially-conscious ads, the film, entitled “The Talk,” doesn’t sugarcoat with assurances that things will only get better. It’s inspiring yet filled with an unsettling uncertainty—a thoughtful marketing approach that’s sure to promote real conversation.

BBDO New York created the ad, and Malik Vitthal of The Corner Shop directed.

P&G introduced the “My Black Is Beautiful” campaign a decade ago, with the goal of helping black women and girls feel confident about themselves, and in the process, develop a stronger bond with black consumers. The marketer intends this latest ad to open about a broader discussion about discrimination among a spectrum of communities. Further films on the accompanying website for “The Talk” show how real people have dealt with negative bias in their everyday lives.

“We know that bias is not just an African American issue,” said Damon Jones, director of global company communications of Procter & Gamble in a statement. “It’s an issue that takes on many shapes and forms, across gender, race, age, weight, sexual orientation, and more. Our goal with ‘The Talk’ is to help raise awareness about the impact of bias. We are also hopeful that we can make progress toward a less biased future by recognizing the power of people of all backgrounds and races showing up for one another.”

11533: My Black Is Boastful.

The COVERGIRL Capitol Makeup Collection taps into The Hunger Games franchise. Um, aren’t the Capitol characters supposed to be wealthy, narcissistic villains?

11309: My Black Is Outdated.

Why use images of Polaroids and ballpoint pens for an Internet-based promotion about the future?

11162: Mad Men Are Ad Whores.

AMC series Mad Men has become a promotional whorehouse. John Slattery hawks the Lincoln car brand. Christina Hendricks is the spokeswoman for Johnnie Walker Red Label. Now, Jon Hamm provides voiceover for American Airlines. Oh, and let’s not forget Elisabeth Moss whining about migraine headaches for Excedrin. So when will Teyonah Parris land an appearance in the My Black is Beautiful campaign?

11099: P&G Backs Black Film.

From The New York Times…

Celebrating Black Beauty and Advocating Diversity

By Andrew Adam Newman

TYPICALLY, cause-marketing efforts involve profit-making companies partnering with charities to raise money. But Procter & Gamble, with its five-year-old My Black Is Beautiful initiative, is introducing a project that is surprisingly ambitious even by the consumer goods giant’s standards.

On Sunday, Procter & Gamble will present a screening of “Imagine a Future” in conjunction with the Tribeca Film Festival. The film, which aims to empower African-American women, features Janet Goldsboro, a teenager from Dover, Del.

“I didn’t look like what I saw in a magazine,” Ms. Goldsboro says about her childhood in the documentary. “I look different from all my cousins. I had dark features, dark hair, dark eyes, big nose and big lips, and I used to get made fun of because of how I looked.”

She says that she is “into boys” — and that their remarks can sting.

“Boys say, ‘I like the light-skinned girls,’ or, ‘I like white girls because I want my baby to come out pretty,’ ” Ms. Goldsboro says. “And that hurts you because it makes you feel like you’re ugly looking.”

The documentary is co-directed by Shola Lynch, whose documentary “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners” about Angela Davis is in theaters now, and by Lisa Cortes, who also produced the documentary and who was an executive producer for the Oscar-winning movie “Precious.”

The filmmakers found their subject through Black Girls Rock!, a Brooklyn nonprofit with programs including a summer leadership camp that Ms. Goldsboro attended last year. Procter & Gamble supports the organization financially through My Black Is Beautiful.

Interspersed with footage of the teenager, who visits South Africa, are interviews with women including Michaela Angela Davis, the writer and cultural critic; Gabby Douglas, the Olympic gymnast, and Melissa Harris-Perry, the MSNBC host.

Ms. Lynch, the director, was dubious when Ms. Cortes first approached her about the documentary.

“Lisa came to me and I was like, come on, Procter & Gamble is going to let us tell this story the way we want to tell it?“ Ms. Lynch said.

“It was known that this wasn’t going to be a puff piece,” Ms. Cortes added of the 30-minute documentary, which explores how media images of rail-thin white women as a standard of beauty can make black women, particularly curvy ones, feel inadequate. “P.& G. has not just been a supportive collaborator,” Ms. Cortes said, “but has really given us creative freedom.”

In the documentary, Ms. Goldsboro visits a market in Johannesburg with Lebogang Mashile, a poet, actress and activist, and says, “I heard that in South Africa that skin bleaching is a big problem here?”

Ms. Mashile replies: “It’s been a problem for a long time. It’s self-hate, it’s not having enough mirrors that affirm you.”

The documentary does not mention that Olay, a Procter & Gamble brand, markets skin-lightening products all over the world. A line called White Radiance is sold in countries including Malaysia and Singapore; another, Natural White, is sold in India, United Arab Emirates and elsewhere.

In South Africa, Olay recently introduced a skin-lightening line called Even & Smooth. A new commercial features Gail Nkoane, a singer and actress, who applies the product and is instantly bathed in light, giving the effect of her skin becoming several shades lighter.

Efforts like My Black Is Beautiful represent a “new trend among cosmetics corporations to use language that critiques the domination of white beauty standards in order to sell new products to women of color,” writes Margaret Hunter, an associate professor of sociology at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., in an article in The Journal of Pan African Studies in 2011.

The new documentary is “very engaging and very thought provoking about racism,” Professor Hunter said in an interview after viewing it. “But it’s Procter & Gamble, meaning that some of the money behind the documentary is made off products including skin-lightening products, and that completely undermines and inverts that message.”

Asked about its skin lightening lines, the company issued a response.

“These kinds of products are very popular in Asia and are designed to help women address uneven skin tone, and dullness which may be caused by acne, skin discoloration issues, or over exposure to the environment and help restore the skin’s original tone,” the statement read.

In a 2009 report about marketing to black women, market research firm Mintel noted that during the 1950s, whitening creams were marketed in the United States with “after” photographs featuring lighter skinned women, but such an approach became taboo in the 1960s, when “cosmetic companies began to emphasize the blemish-fading properties of bleaching creams and de-emphasize the ‘light skin is better’ strategy.”

Procter & Gamble in its statement stressed that it does not market White Radiance and Natural White in the United States, but those products are nonetheless available through multiple vendors that import the products on Amazon.com.

“Imagine a Future,” which is not officially part of the Tribeca Film Festival but rather being screened to coincide with it, will appear on Black Entertainment Television on July 7, and will be posted to YouTube.

Imagine the Future also is the name of an initiative introduced in 2012 that promises to have a positive impact on one million black girls by 2015. The effort is a partnership of My Black Is Beautiful, which Procter & Gamble began in 2008, the United Negro College Fund and Black Girls Rock!

“There is a need to celebrate black beauty and support diversity, and all of our brands view the African-American consumer as a very important consumer,” said Lauren Hoenig, associate marketing director for multicultural marketing at Procter & Gamble. “We know we have to win with African-Americans in order to win.”

11024: BHM 2013—Pantene.

Pantene celebrates “our hairstyles and our hair stories throughout the years.” Um, Pantene launched products specifically for Blacks only a few years ago.

9839: BHM 2012—My Black Is Beautiful.

According to the Library of Congress, Black Women in American Culture and History is the official 2012 theme for Black History Month. Oddly enough, the My Black is Beautiful campaign doesn’t appear to recognize it.

9779: BHM 2012—WWW.

Black History Month presents patronizing via social media. Ronald McDonald woos with 365Black® while Colonel Sanders counters with KFC360º. AT&T parties for 28 Days and Allstate pushes its Beyond February Program. The Few and The Proud salute Montford Point Marines while American Airlines flies with BlackAtlas. Verizon is Celebrating Your Story as Procter & Gamble proclaims My Black Is Beautiful, a copycat effort that inspired more copycats like Pepsi We Inspire and Pine-Sol Powerful Women. Not sure whatever happened to the Budweiser Great Kings and Queens of Africa.

7993: Beauty Queen.

Queen Latifah was part of P&G’s My Black Is Beautiful campaign—and now she’s declaring, “I feel beautiful…” with Pepsi. Look for her to appear in the Dove Real Beauty propaganda soon.