The Revolution Will Not Be Moisturized
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Posted by Diane Farsetta November 13th, 2007 |
Have you read the manifesto?
No, not the Communist Manifesto — the manifesto for “My Black is Beautiful,” Procter & Gamble’s new multi-brand, multicultural marketing campaign.
P&G insists “My Black is Beautiful” is “a movement, not just advertising,” according to the Associated Press. But the campaign “began with P&G research that showed black women were frequent users of beauty products, spending at three times the rate of the general female population.” The campaign includes a video-rich website, “a special advertising section” in the December issue of Essence magazine, upcoming “store and community promotions,” along with “plans for a multi-city ‘conversation tour,’ and grants to community organizations to support young black women.”
Even if its campaign gives a small amount of funding to a few good groups — the $57 billion company has given away just $50,000 in “My Black is Beautiful action grants” — P&G’s appropriation of the language and tactics of social justice movements is troubling. Worse, P&G is using these tactics to boost sales of CoverGirl cosmetics, Pantene shampoo and Olay skin care products.
In other words, your black is beautiful … but it would be even more beautiful if you used our products.
At least P&G has worked to increase diversity among its staff, which currently stands at 43 percent women and 20 percent people of color, according to Fortune. Still, it’s pretty darn white and male at the top of the P&G corporate ladder.
We’re likely to see more such marketing-as-”movement”-type campaigns in the future. It’s a back-handed tribute to the activists who have successfully engaged the public on civil rights, feminist, environmental, human rights and labor issues.
Hopefully, such marketing won’t make real social change more difficult to achieve, by cheapening political discourse and leading people to believe they can consume their way to a better world.
November 13th, 2007 14:38
You’re so right, Diane. Great post.
But your last paragraph, what you hope won’t happen? One of your fellow WIMN’s Voices bloggers, Anne Elizabeth Moore, has just documented this sort of maniuplative, cynical and damaging marketing shift — and its negative impact on politics, independent information and social discourse, in her new (and brilliant) book, “UnMarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing and the Erosion of Integrity,” out now. I may post something about her book as a follow up to your post.
November 16th, 2007 05:04
Thank you for this, Diane.
If you visit the My Black Is Beautiful Web site, you’ll be greeted with a moving video of black women reciting an ode to their unique beauty. My problem is that the women chosen to be in the video seem to represent rather homogenous black beauty. For example, most every woman in the video has artificially straightened hair. In other words, natural kinky hair…not so beautiful. Not that I expect a cosmetics company to ever truly tell women that they are okay without a bunch of artifice. What would be the point of that?
I blogged about this a while ago, but I’ve been surprised that some otherwise cynical female bloggers have embraced this campaign, seemingly without recognizing it as a calculated move by a cosmetic conglomerate.
November 16th, 2007 15:20
Thanks for commenting, Tami.
For others who want to see Tami’s post on the campaign, go here. I loved this part:
December 4th, 2007 16:26
I was going to say that this cheapening of political discourse most certainly has a negative effect on real political movements, but didn’t have anything to back up the claim. Thanks for the note on Moore’s book, Jennifer; I’m definitely going to have to read it soon.
It should go without saying that it’s utterly repulsive to see Madison Ave co-opting the important legacy of the Civil Rights Movement this way.
And shouldn’t it also be obvious that black women dump money into “beauty” products at “three times the rate of the general female population” because of the long tradition of convincing them to have a negative body image? And now they want to pretend to redress that by convincing them to spend even more?
March 3rd, 2008 15:41
[…] I’ve written here before about how cause-related marketing stymies real social change by depoliticizing people’s concerns and channeling attention and funds towards easily-commercialized issues. Advertising Age inadvertently illustrates another aspect of cause-related marketing: it often targets women. […]