Retailers need to embrace diversity, not fear it

RETAILERS must realise Australia is a multicultural country and validate this in their advertising to the point that it becomes mundane, writes Saman Shad.

David Jones Spring Summer campaign featuring Adut Akech and Bridget Malcolm. (Pic: Supplied)

EARLIER this month, David Jones came under fire for apologising to a woman who complained on their Facebook page about the South Sudanese-born model Adut Akech appearing in their advertising campaign.

“How on earth am I expected to relate to this cover? I can’t wear ANY of her makeup, I don’t know ANYONE who looks like her,” the woman said.

This woman had been so conditioned to seeing white women fronting advertising campaigns, when she saw someone different she literally didn’t know what to make of it.

Here’s what I found interesting — she’s uncomfortable relating to Adut Akech, but she’s OK about relating to someone like Jennifer Hawkins? I mean, who even looks like Jennifer Hawkins in real life?

In fact, I doubt Hawkins herself looks like the way she is presented in ad campaigns. But we are getting away from the point. The real issue our complainer had was the model was black.

Yes, in 2017 we have a woman complaining about seeing a black model. It was not about relatability, or makeup. It was about seeing someone she wasn’t used to seeing fronting an ad campaign.

The David Jones Summer Beauty catalogue.

The complainer did make one concession: “She could have been used on the back page,” she said.

This comment has uneasy associations with “riding in the back of the bus” — as black people in the US were made to do in the 50s. It made heroes out of the likes of Rosa Parks, who refused to “know their place” and move from the front of the bus.

These things happened more than 60 years ago in the US but it seems in Australia we are still fighting the same battle to this day.

David Jones’ biggest mistake in this whole saga was they apologised to the woman who complained about Adut Akech: “Hi Elizabeth, we are sorry you feel this way,” the store responded.

The backlash to this comment meant that the store immediately did a U-turn and apologised for the apology. Anyone’s head spinning yet?

Complaint on David Jones Facebook page. (Pic: Facebook)

The right thing would have been to not have apologised in the first place. In fact, if I was responsible for the retailer’s social media policy, I would have plastered all their social media channels with diverse models. Except of course that would take a bit of bravery on the retailer’s part.

I cannot emphasise enough the positive psychological impact it has when you see people like yourself on screen or the pages of a magazine. I didn’t see anyone who looked like me in the media, growing up in this country.

It only took to moving to London in my 20s when I saw people like me on air. And it validated my presence in that country. Even though I wasn’t British at the time, it made me feel like I belonged there, much more than I do here, in Australia, the place where I grew up.

We are finally making small steps towards progress in this country. Neighbours has an Indian family living on the street now, after they unceremoniously disposed of the old Indian family.

Some might say the current Indian family is a concession towards the vast number of British Asians who watch the soap overseas, but let’s not let that get in the way of progress.

Then there’s Here come the Habibs, a mainstream comedy on Channel 9 starring a Lebanese family. Even though it is often a cringe worthy watch full of racist stereotypes I guess it it’s still something.

And many of our retailers seem to have woken up to the fact that Australia is a multicultural country, which is why they are using diverse models in their ad campaigns. Although many still get it wrong.

Let’s not forget Labor’s ad campaign starring Bill Shorten and a completely white cast of actors.

We are so unused to seeing diversity on our media in this country, that when we do see it, it sticks out. It looks different, and clearly it makes some people uncomfortable. Retailers need to know this discomfort is nothing to be scared of.

It in fact is a good thing — it gives us an opportunity to challenge people’s misconceptions and biases. We need to use diverse models/actors/singers so often that it becomes mundane. So that when someone sees a black model in an ad campaign they don’t think twice about it, they think it’s the norm, because it should be the norm.

We are a diverse, multicultural country, and the fact this isn’t reflected in our mainstream media, should be a point of shame.

So rather than apologising for using diversity, advertisers need to celebrate this diversity because it not only reflects the society we live in, but gives hope to those of us who never saw themselves reflected back in the media when growing up.