HAATBP: When Advertising Matters
By Naushika Perera
On September 30th 2016, I had the great pleasure of attending the One Club’s, Here Are All The Black People (HAATBP), annual multicultural career fair. During this one-day event, more than 200 participants and i had unprecedented opportunities to showcase our talent, network, learn, interact with and gain invaluable knowledge from top creative professionals in the industry.
One of my favorite sessions was the panel discussion: When Advertising matters, by five industry professionals; Susie Nam: Droga5, Karina Wilsher: Anomaly, Jimmy Smith: Amusement Park Entertainment, Pippa Seichrist: Miami Ad School, and Mike Lescarbeau: Carmichael Lynch. The topic for this discussion stemmed due to the current political situation that the country is facing. As an election year, we have witnessed the divide of our great nation by an increase of discriminatory behaviors that only serve to set America back again. As professionals in a communications and media driven industry that shapes world-views and opinions, they shared their work that was created as a response to social issues. The speakers also discussed, the responsibilities to address social issues surrounding race and religious discrimination, immigration laws, gender equality and trans-gender rights when they arise.
Some of the work that was discussed.
Jimmy Smith: Amusement Park Entertainment | Killings of unarmed african americans by police
Client: JBL, Headphones | Music Video
Susie Nam: Droga5 | Cultural diversity and acceptance
Client: Honeymaid commercial
“a modern family is a real thing, the composition of america is very different but the values are the same. ….We are advocates for the wholesome values that lie underneath”
Karina Wilsher: Anomaly | #ProudToBe
Client: YouTube - #ProudToBe
Karina Wilsher: Anomaly | Celebrating the uncelebrated in music
“Music is a way of identifying themselves… authenticity and personal moments”
Furthermore, the panel discussed different ways the media and advertisers could affect the public perception.
Images deeply matter: Imagers play a huge role, especially when it comes to gender and diversity. The characters played on film are gender biased and their roles cement in society. It’s important for people who generate this content be conscious on what they produce. Susie Nam; “we thrive in an industry that prices original thinking. We can’t get there unless we have a diversity of experience at the table. Diversity is our currency, it’s our own survival” with the subtlety in language and how we cast teams is the pipeline that leads to the images on tv. We have a responsibility to be aware of our unconscious bias at all times to make better decisions along the way of producing great work.
Representation in authenticity : Advertising agencies have a contribution to culture as well as advancing positive change. Beyond creating great pieces of work, the real test is how would it matter in the real world. So that we don’t create feel good content, but something that would help the clients and communities engage and respond to real world situations. Karina Wilsher further pointed out the #ProudToBe “film was the most viewed, the most liked and the most hated pride film ever on youtube”
Process: Every content created is to sell a product. The process of creating this content should be carefully considered starting with the casting. It is our responsibility to recruit and sustain diverse talent in the industry as well as providing an agency environment to bring their whole selves. The process is just as important as the output.
Influencing Society: We need to consider how we are influencing society with every message we do. Eg: Nike, If you let me play sports. During that time, girls playing sports wasn’t accepted in society. But this story created and influenced society to move forward.
Mike Lescarbeau concluded the discussion by requesting all the participants in the event not give up if they find diversity issues in an agency setting. His advice was to embrace the roles as juniors, not quit, learn by listening to the peers and approach the managers by asking how your career would develop in the next five years.
Being a volunteer for this event in 2014, gave me encouragement to attend this event as a participant this year. It was a great experience to take part from the other side as a CCNY student. The BIC program helped me to create a decent portfolio that i proudly shared during the portfolio review session and gained valuable feedback. I am glad to say that this event definitely changed my perspective about the current situation in advertising and boosted my spirit to attend once again next year. 
