 Thank you to everyone who attended IABCLA’s Holiday Happy Hour on December 17 via Zoom!
The chapter raised $400 for the The LAGRANT Foundation and its mission to support diverse students and young professionals in the advertising, marketing, and public relations fields. In addition to chapter members and foundation staff, students and faculty from San Diego State University’s (SDSU) Journalism and Media Studies program and Cal State Fullerton’s PR program were on hand. The event brought together four organizations — IABCLA, LAGRANT, SDSU, and Cal State Fullerton — that work to grow leaders in the communications field, and the chapter looks forward to continuing its relationship with the foundation and the universities in 2021. (Note: I’m IABCLA's vice president/president-elect, and I often post updates on chapter happenings.)
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 What’s a good way to end a bad year?
IABCLA’s Holiday Happy Hour on Thursday, December 17 at 5:30 p.m. PT via Zoom! The cost is $5 and proceeds will benefit The LAGRANT Foundation. The chapter will match ticket sales and double support. The foundation is dedicated to increasing the number of ethnic minorities in advertising, marketing and public relations by providing scholarships, career and professional development workshops, mentors and internships to African American/Black, Alaska Native/Native American, Asian American/ Pacific Islander and Hispanic/Latino undergraduate and graduate students. To sign up, click here. (Note: I’m IABCLA's vice president/president-elect, and I often post updates on chapter happenings.)  Note: I'm the vice president/president-elect of IABC Los Angeles (IABCLA), and I often post news of chapter happenings. Deborah Hudson, my fellow board member, wrote this overview of our recent DE&I (diversity, equity, and inclusion) seminar for our group's blog. I wanted to share her excellent piece. By Deborah Hudson, ABC IABCLA Vice President, Member Retention; Past President IABCLA's second ZOOM webinar on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) – “It’s Not a Marketing Exercise: Understanding Privilege’s Impact on Inclusive Brand Campaigns” – on October 21 continued the association’s journey by looking at how to unpack privilege and build inclusive branding that reaches customers. The presentation and discussion was an eye-opener, once again led by Farida Habeeb, Ph.D. and Beverly Durham. They were joined by Karen Trachtenberg, a member of the IABCLA executive board and a marketing copywriter. The trio made a persuasive case for unpacking white privilege as a foundation of inclusive marketing – a brand can realize its full potential by reading the diverse communities it serves Unpacking White Privilege To begin the unpacking process, the talk kicked off with a recap of the dimensions of inclusivity:
But what is privilege and how does it blind people? Privilege is the advantage people have, that they don’t think about, because these characteristics don’t exclude them from seats at the table – in fact, the characteristics bring them to the table of power where the seats are filled by people that look the same as they do. For most of American history, privilege was the province of white, straight, Christian, English-speaking men – White Anglo Saxon Protestants (WASPS, as they were once called). Privilege can amount to blindness – because we don’t have to think about it. We don’t look beyond our narrow circle. Or it can be tone-deafness. For instance, the presenters mentioned a letter issued by the NFL on the need to address racism. Though signed by league president Roger Goddell, the document was condescending in tone and inauthentic – it put forth abstractions, not actions. The document also failed to admit the NFL’s debacle in the way it handled Colin Kaepernick’s protest on behalf of Black Lives Matter. Opening Your Eyes To Your Privilege
The presenters challenged participants to unpack their own privilege with a series of pointed questions:
The challenge to communicators is substantial. As Deborah Kaufman, participant and principal of Healthcare Recruiting Inc., summed up: “How do we help our companies and our clients understand privilege, dismantle racism, and move towards authentic change? How can we start to move from ‘just talk?’ One step forward can include what IABC presenters unpacked today — from looking at case studies of what’s working and not working in marketing campaigns to making the case of starting DEI at our own workspaces. Together, by sharing best practices and our shared experiences/struggles, we can work to become more aware, and to do the slow, ongoing, hard, and important work of change.” We encourage you to review the presentation – it can be accessed at shorturl.at/uxAST. |
AuthorI'm Eli Natinsky and I'm a communication specialist. This blog explores my work and professional interests. I also delve into other topics, including media, marketing, pop culture, and technology. Archives
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