Editorial Introduction
- Editorial Introduction
2020 is the year that keeps on giving. But it is not in the ways we anticipated when the new year and decade started nearly ten months ago.
The COVID-19 global pandemic persists and has taken over 200,000 lives in the United States. 1Responses to the health crisis have deepened and exacerbated many political divisions, especially as official public health messaging in the United States remains inconsistent. 2Despite growing worldwide protests calling for an end to racial injustice, people of color have faced greater harm during the pandemic. 3The economy remains in shambles for many, while only some reap the benefits of a rallying stock market. 4Schools are in a state of flux as budgets shrink and untested efforts are made to keep students learning. 5Climate change is ever-apparent as forest fires have ravaged all states along the US West Coast, and an alarming hurricane season continues to bring destructive weather to the states in the southern US. With social distancing measures still in place, rates of depression and substance abuse have risen. 6Despite many advertising efforts in April and May to keep people optimistic and in solidarity through messages emphasizing how "we're all in this together," the key sentiments of the times are anxiety, frustration, and restlessness. 7Most people would say that enough is enough.
Sprite draws attention to Black Americans' struggles to attain the American Dream. The company proclaims its support for the Black Lives Matter Movement to ensure Black creators and artists have their dreams realized. 8
Old Navy calls for unity despite the many divisions of 2020. It reminds viewers that "it's not about you vs. me, it's about we." 9
A key question remains: How is advertising adapting to the current moment, especially with recent increased calls to address racial inequity and injustice? This issue's Forum on the Current Moment addresses this question by focusing on race, diversity, and inclusion in advertising. Yvette Bonaparte (North Carolina Central University) explains how the Black Lives Matter Movement's calls for racial equality over the summer of 2020 led several companies to change their messaging and branding, especially for products that have relied on stereotypes and historically racist imagery. Wan-Hsiu Sunny Tsai (University of Miami) interviews Bill Imada, the Chief Connectivity Officer of the IW Group, on how he and his team created the Wash The Hate social media campaign to fight the rise in bias and hate toward Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. A roundtable of leading scholars studying race in advertising met to discuss race, brand mascots, and what advertising agencies and companies can do to avoid perpetuating harmful imagery. Another roundtable with scholars and practitioners specializing in issues of diversity assembled to assess equity in advertising as well as what the industry and academia can do to foster more inclusivity.
In continuing with the journal's celebration of its 20th anniversary year, three articles encourage readers to reflect on advertising's place in society, culture, history, and the economy. Judy Foster Davis (Eastern Michigan University) provides an illustrated history of race and ethnicity in advertising, which is helpful to contextualize our current moment's scrutiny of how advertisers use race and ethnicity. Michael Franz (Bowdoin College) assesses the top political ads in American history, which provides insights into how and why the 2020 election has relied heavily on emotionally-driven attack campaigns. Mara Einstein (Queens College of the City University of New York) examines the unintended consequences of social media, branded content, and data mining, which...
