Many companies and corporations often put out advertisements and film that show the lack of self-awareness of its board members and promote things that are deemed racist, bigoted and out-of-touch.
Heineken recently came out with a commercial where a bar tender seeks out a women who is running out of booze and begins to slide the alcoholic beverage down the bar table.
The drink passes and seems to skip three black individuals, all of whom had their own scene and duties in the commercial, then it stops at a light-skinned woman.
The next thing that pops up on screen is the phrase “sometimes lighter is better.”
This of course is referring to the Heineken drink, but seeing that the drink passes people of color to then get handed to a light-skinned person, one can see where the creators of the advertisement went wrong.
Heineken pulled the advertisement due to backlash.
This happens a lot in visual art such as advertisement and film.
It is guaranteed that in board rooms where these things are being discussed and created, there is a lack of diversity.
Now, this is not the diversity of looks that’s being talked about. Any film project or art can have different race, gender and sexuality just to look diverse.
What they really lack is the diversity of perspective.
What this means is to understand the race and cultures of your fellow peers. You can have a diverse group, but if you lack the understanding and the background of that group then diversity is worthless.
If those companies and corporations took into consideration the understanding of what it means to be black, gay or any form of minority in America and really have the perspective of these individuals in their board rooms, then mistakes like the ones that Heineken committed would rarely be made.
There’s a distinction between the diversity of image and the diversity of perspective.
The image of diversity can only go so far, to meet your quota and pat yourself on the back while getting high off the cheap substance of virtue signaling.
It is much richer to comprehend different life perspectives and become aware that race and culture is something to be understood rather than to simply look at.
