• by Paula Di Dio , Columnist, November 7, 2017

Even though ad agencies are expected to be at the forefront of communication strategies, we can argue that many have been in the back seat when it comes to incorporating culturally oriented teams into their mix. Today's mainstream market includes a wide range of targets and sub-targets. Reaching this diverse audience can prove problematic without a true cultural understanding of the various groups comprised within the larger whole. 

Ad agencies' rationale for their shortage of cultural experts (or lack thereof) in their teams is that many brands are not investing a meaningful portion of their budgets in properly researching and communicating with their cross-cultural audiences. Consequently, when brands conduct market research, regardless of the fact that they might want to target these stakeholders, they tend to opt for market research providers whose strength relies on general market experience with minimal previous involvement with audiences of different ethnic or cultural backgrounds. The result of this series of missteps is that clients end up unknowingly relying on faulty data or realize that they are getting shallow insights from poorly designed methodologies. 

In spite of the little familiarity most mainstream market research firms might have in dealing with issues related to cross-cultural targets, many like to throw out industry jargon that gives the impression they are “in the know” about culturally aware-sounding words like “cross-cultural,” “polycultural” and any number of possible transmutations. "Cross-cultural" has become the must-have word of the day, and when included in firms' websites, seems to guarantee the presence of a true cultural knowledge, until proven otherwise.  

Dove is one current example of a brand that would benefit from true cross-cultural market research. A recent ad released by the company appeared to depict a black woman turning white after using one of its body washes. While repeated viewings of the ad show that the company’s intent was not to suggest that black women should seek to become white (the white woman subsequently turns into an Asian woman and so forth), the possibility that this could be taken the wrong way did not cross anyone’s mind throughout the many steps of development and production. 

The ad's narrative comes across as tone-deaf and leaves the audience wondering if any market research, together with a minimum of cultural understanding were applied at all. The social media firestorm that followed serves as evidence of the volatility of digital content when it comes to topics with potential to offend social sensibilities. 

Dove may have conducted market research to test this ad, but it is unlikely that it was conducted by real experts in cross-cultural research. In qualitative research, a researcher would probe these potential landmines to explore possible misrepresentations in the creative that could get out of control. And, needless to say, unless designed specifically to address a cross-cultural target, most quantitative ad testing methodologies would not have detected this controversy.

The fact that negative responses from a controversial 2011 Dove ad (in which a “before and after” narrative shows a black woman standing in front of the “before" image and a white one in front of the “after" image) did not serve as a reminder to the team that created the 2017 ad speaks volumes about the inability to gauge the semantics of a message that minorities might take as offensive. Compounding matters, the lack of diversity within the advertising industry often leads to a loss in perspective and attunement. 

Besides speaking the language of the target audience and having familiarity with its culture and traditions, being proficient in how folks of varied backgrounds might decode different messages also means understanding that advertising is inextricably linked to political matters. The current political climate, one that sees a threat in diversity and potentially condones expressions of white supremacy, functions as the framework within which narratives about the body and minority groups are going to be interpreted. In this scenario, it is not hard to read the ad as a narrative that might serve to prevent black women from establishing their own voices and from coming up with their own terms of what beauty means to them. 

The body is not only the physical structure of a person, but a cultural phenomenon in which history, politics and economy converge. So, when an ad foregrounds the presence of a body, especially one that has been racialized for centuries, the image is too powerful to not double-check the meanings implied in it. The consequences of exploitation and segregation linger long in American society, taking the shape of police brutality and deep inequality today. If we want to hold brands ethically accountable, Dove should repair its mistake by promoting the image of the black female body as a vehicle of agency, instead of leaving the interpretation open to read that body as a mere physical structure to be improved.