I was travelling in India a few years ago, rushing through a busy shopping mall when I was suddenly taken aback by something I hadn’t seen before. It was a billboard stretching across the side of an entire building; an advert for a high-end fashion brand, something quite typical but for me entirely unique. The woman in the advert looked like me – well, much better, but the same ethnicity. She had brown skin, big brown eyes and long black hair. 

I have lived in South Africa my entire life, a country where I am part of a minority, and not often reflected in the media to which I am exposed. But in India that day, staring up at that billboard, something shifted in me. I understood, in a way I had not before, what it meant to see yourself reflected in the media you are exposed to. I was 28 years old and a continent away from my home when I first saw my ethnicity as not just the norm but the standard of beauty. It was a profound moment for me, personally but also professionally because I work in advertising. I work in the industry that makes the adverts, that deliberately investigates and orchestrates elaborate campaigns to understand and target people on behalf of business and brands. 

The power of the advertising, marketing and media industries is widely understood. What is less understood are the systems, agencies and countless people involved in a single advert or campaign; every person from the account manager writing the brief to the creative team going through multiple reviews to approval, charging, typically, by the hour; the cultures and narratives fostered by the brands we consume that are not accidental, but meticulously crafted by people with expertise and job titles the average person would be surprised to know exist, let alone influence their every purchase decision.

Despite the millions spent on marketing, agencies, research and media, major brands still seem to miss the glaring importance of inclusivity and representation. It is no surprise then, when the public reacts without sympathy for businesses that appear to make no effort to represent the consumers they profit from, instead perpetuating and promoting racist and sexist tropes. 

The response to the recent Clicks advert has escalated from complaint to political activism, which is not the first nor will it be the last time we witness an obtuse brand being brought to task because the advert is the symptom of a systemic lack of representation and inclusivity in advertising industries.

Anyone who has worked in an advertising agency in South Africa is familiar with the phrase “write it in vernacular” and questions like “what is the Mzanzi word for…?” This refers to marketing and creative teams who look to, often junior, black employees for advice on how to translate copy into major South African languages. Anecdotes like these are common and expose the differences in lifestyle and demographics of the people who create media and the ones who consume it. In my experience, efforts to bridge the gap have not gone further than glaring at the nearest woman or person of colour in the room for a notional approval. 

Despite the lack of representation and diversity in the teams that work on these campaigns, agencies and marketing teams parade Level 1 BEE certifications. They defend themselves with generic apologies suggesting the image or campaign was an accident or is not a representation of the business’s true values. Or, in the case of Jeremy Maggs interviewing a brand expert for comments on the Clicks advert, the campaign is downplayed as “indiscreet” and “unusual” opting to “see how it goes”. 

Having seen the growing public outrage shift from online activism to violent action the question remains, “who approved this?” The short answer is, of course, many people. The more pertinent question is not even “how many black women were involved?” but rather, how many people felt empowered to speak up without fear of dismissal or derision?

Social media criticism is frequently dismissed as the cries of generation “woke” to the point of being ridiculous, full of bluster and too sensitive. But in the case of Clicks, the backlash (without condoning the violence) seems entirely appropriate. Racist tropes should not be tolerated. Businesses should be held to account and narratives in media should be co-created with the audiences who consume them. The buck has to stop at some point, with some degree of outrage.

But after apologies, defence and distraction, what happens when this incident stops trending? Usually nothing. Usually, the marketers get by with a solemn promise and sizeable donation. Until the next time, we are jolted by the overtness of the continuation of another negative cliché in the media.

The only true cure is in prevention. Prevention is only possible through inclusion and inclusion is only possible through diversity: diversity of thought, diversity of representation and most importantly, diversity of experience. No focus group or sentiment survey could have ever helped me understand the feeling I felt seeing my ethnicity as the standard for beauty on a billboard, that sense of pride and promise in being represented and reflected.

Personally, I might not be subject to all the struggles and sensitivities of every target market. Frankly, I do not need to be. Good marketers should be good listeners and should surround themselves with people who do not look or think like them. They should have an acute awareness of the responsibility of the narratives they create and make a concerted effort to look for consumer complaints rather than advertising awards. If brands want to avoid being “the next Clicks”, they need to invest actively in promoting more inclusive representation. 

I brought back a copy of Vogue India from my holiday for my sister and as she paged through she said, “It is so strange to see Indian girls cover to cover in Vogue.” I told her about my moment with the billboard and how I hoped over the course of my career somebody would look at a campaign I was a part of, one that touts the standard for success or excellence or beauty and think, “Hey, that looks like me… maybe that could be me.”

But until the advertising industry reflects the people it targets that isn’t going to happen. DM