10

Diversity MarketingBlunders

A diverse workforce offers many benefits….

creativity

innovation

and productivity.

A diverse workforce also helps organizations avoid …

group-think

and the blind spots that homogenous groups can have …

and the misguided

offensive products

and marketing campaigns that can result …

such as the following …

1 STRANGE FRUIT PRA public relations firm in Texas was launched in 2012 with the name "Strange Fruit PR." "Strange Fruit" is the name of a famous 1939 song sung by Billie Holiday about the lynching of Black men and women in the American south. The owners of the firm, two White women, knew about the song and its meaning when they selected the name, but didn't think people would make the connection.

2 SHACKLED SNEAKERS

Adidas designed and produced $350 sneakers which included shackles that were to be strapped around the ankles. The shoe was widely criticized when it debuted on Adidas' Facebook page.

When the reference to the shackles worn by enslaved Africans was pointed out, Adidas announced the shoes would be pulled from production and would not be sold.

3 SEXIST SUPERHERO T-SHIRTSMultiple t-shirts with blatantly sexist messages were licenced by DC and Marvel comics to be sold in retail stores. This is despite having female superheroes that could have been featured with more positive messages.In response to criticism over Twitter, DC Comics released a statement agreeing that the t-shirts are offensive.

4 COTTON WINDOW DISPLAY

A window display in Yorkville, Toronto, included two nooses dangling over a man's cotton shirt, surrounded by cotton plants. The company's sales director told the media that the display was to be a "whimsical display of a swing over a cotton field."

The display was widely criticized for insensitivity to the enslavement of millions of Africans on American cotton plantations from the 1600s to the 1800s.

5 NYPD TWITTER CAMPAIGN

The New York Police Department asked its Twitter followers to send photos of themselves posing proudly with officers using the hashtag #myNYPD.

This campaign was labelled an #epicfail when users flooded the Twittersphere with hundreds of pictures of police violence. At one point, there were 10,000 tweets an hour criticizing police brutality and recalling the names of people killed by police. For a time it was the top trending hashtag on Twitter.

6 URBAN OUTFITTERS HOLIDAY PARTY

Urban Outfitters decided to ask employees to wear the clothing of other cultures - juttis, kurtas, turbans, saris, lehenga cholis, harem pants - as a festive costume for its Holiday Party at its headquarters in Philadelphia.

This comes after the corporation had come under criticism for appropriation of Aboriginal culture and various religions. A Huffington Post columnist referred to the theme for the holiday party as "another symptom of systemic, insidious racism."

7 WALMART HALLOWEEN COSTUMES

This past Halloween, Walmart was criticized for selling a costume called the "Pashtun Papa" which included a traditional Afghan robe and turban with a big, silver beard.

The description on the website read, "Whether you're making a serious political statement or staging a polical [sic] parody, this authentic-looking outfit is sure to fit the bill! ... Nothing is sacred this Halloween. Shock your friends with this Islamic costume."

8 CNN’S #ASKACOP BACKFIRES

While worldwide protests continue in response to police killings of unarmed African Americans, CNN organized a town hall and asked the twittersphere to tweet questions for law enforcement officers.

Within hours, the hashtag became a top trender on Twitter, as people used it to vent their anger and negative feelings about police. Within hours, the hashtag was trending across the U.S. Within 24 hours it had nearly 130,000 tweets.

9 MISSOURI BAR’S DRINK SPECIAL

A Missouri bar that advertises itself as a place "Where sarcasm is always free," was criticized on social media for promoting a "Michael Brown" drink special, which offers 6 shots for $10. This was just months after the unarmed African American teen, Michael Brown, was shot 6 times by a police officer and killed.

After being picketed, the co-owner of the bar apologized, saying that he got the idea after another bar posted a similar special on their Facebook page and got a good response.

10 APARTHEID COCKTAILIcelandair offered its “simply scrumptious” Apartheid cocktail on sale at its hotel in Reykjavik.

After concern was raised about its choice of words, the airline apologized saying “Our Iceland-based team member was unaware of the word’s meaning.”