#H and m ad mistake of black.kid tv#

By sharing our outrage and disappointment on social media or online, we are helping H&M increase sales (maybe not within our community) but certainly within other communities. It goes back to my first paragraph, H&M is going through a tough time and is trying to boost sales. Worst, by destroying stores, we are reinforcing even further these conscious and unconscious biases. In fact, it is exactly how the marketing tactics are supposed to work.

#H and m ad mistake of black.kid tv#

That’s where stereotypes and unconscious bias play a big role.Īs you can see, by going out on social media, TV or online to display our outrage and tell the world how racist the ad and the company are, we are actually doing H&M or these companies a service.

In the case of H&M, the ad portrays a black kid with a hoodie that reads: I am the coolest monkey in the jungle” while the same line has other models (white kids) wearing a hoodie that reads” Mangrove Jungle, Survival Expert”. If the tactics work well, the company will actually see an increase in sales as more people went to their website. The company marketing team then collects the metrics to confirm how much the brand awareness has increased within their target market (non-black in general) but also black because we are forgiving and forgetful. I wouldn't want to be an H&M black employee these days.ħ. After a couple of weeks of madness, people forget and life goes on, but the stereotypes and humiliation don’t go away, they remain intact, even stronger. In this age of information overflow, we move to the next story.Ħ. Those black people who continue to be mad are just “angry black people” and have no reason to be mad – An apology was made.

At this stage, everyone should accept the apology and move on. It starts with a press release then it can go up to appointing a global diversity leader.ĥ. The company will promise to remove the ads/product and to do everything to prevent this from happening again.

To calm the outcry, the company releases a statement of apology where it displays shock and dismay at what happened within its rank. How come the black involved with the campaign didn’t raise this issue? They didn’t see it as racist.Ĥ. When the outcry erupts, the company will associate a black character with the campaign (either the mom of the model in the case of H&M or the model themselves) to create further confusion within the black community. The company is effectively turning these victims into viral agents who will increase its brand mentions online and attract new and curious users (shoppers).ģ. In reality, the massive outcry turns the campaign into a viral campaign, boosting the brand awareness and reach online. The company expects a massive outcry online, social media or else from the black and non-black communities – the media will pick up the story and a lot of people will talk about the brand. The marketing team creates a campaign or a product that is going to be controversial for a particular segment of the population (race, gender) – when it comes to race, these companies will usually pick blacks, the “easy” target.Ģ. So how does bad buzz really works? The underlying assumption is that any marketing (bad or good) is marketing.ġ. The worrying trend is the fact that companies like H&M, Dove, Nivea or Qiaobi are developing content that is racist towards the black community at large. Bad-buzz marketing is not new and many companies have it before for product launch, viral marketing, and advertising.