Why businesses need to pay attention to ‘cancel culture’?
How to protect your brand from being ‘cancelled’
You can cancel Netflix and Spotify subscriptions and, over the last few years, you can ‘cancel’ people – as celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres and JK Rowling discovered to their peril.
Ellen DeGeneres, host for the past 17 years of the award-winning The Ellen DeGeneres Show seemed at the top of her game. Until it all went wrong for America’s talk show queen whose motto is “be kind.” On July 16, 2020, one current and 10 former employees spoke out about the eponymous workplace, calling it a toxic environment. Fast forward to May 2021 and Ellen has announced the end of the show, following months of dwindling ratings since damaging claims were made against her last year. She was, in short, ‘cancelled’.
Elsewhere thousands of people called for Harry Potter author JK Rowling to be 'cancelled' after she published a blog arguing that biological sex is real and why men cannot turn into women.
The author’s comments were condemned by her fanbase as well as actors Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, whom she had made famous, and subsequently, Rowling became the latest victim of ‘cancel culture’ – the practice of withdrawing support for (cancelling) public figures after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive in the hope of ending their career/cultural influence.
Ordinary individuals can be cancelled too: In America, Amy Cooper was fired after a viral video showed her filing a false police report on a black birdwatcher. Meanwhile Silicon Valley CEO, Michael Lofthouse, was forced out of his start-up after he was caught on camera calling an Asian family a “piece of s**t”.
Cancel culture doesn't just affect people it also impacts brands and companies. Just ask Quaker Oats, the owner of the pancake brand Aunt Jemima – which was ‘cancelled’ after the killing of George Floyd and the widespread protests over racial inequality due to its name and likeness being rooted in racist imagery. Aunt Jemima now has a new name – the Pearl Milling Company – as does another food brand. Rice company, Uncle Ben's, is now Ben's Original. “As we listen to the voices of consumers, especially in the black community, [...], we recognise that now is the right time to evolve the Uncle Ben’s brand [..]” the company said.
Even sportswear giant Nike isn't immune from the consequences of ‘cancel culture’. Nike had planned to celebrate a recent Fourth of July with a new trainer featuring an American flag. The problem was that rather than sporting 50 stars (for the 50 states), the flag had only 13 stars and dated back to a time when slavery was legal. Following widespread condemnation on social media, the Nike ‘Betsy Ross flag sneaker’ was abruptly dropped.
However, while calling out bad behaviour is important, a culture that encourages people to be quick to ‘cancel’ can be dangerous and do more damage than repair. People, brands and companies do make mistakes and they should be allowed to grow and learn from them.
As former US President Barack Obama told the audience at the Obama Foundation summit: “I get a sense [...] on social media that the way of making change is to be as judgemental as possible about other people.
“You should get over that quickly. The world is messy, there are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.”
Yet despite President Obama’s best attempts to cancel ‘cancel culture’, it continues to be a very real thing that poses the question: How can brands and businesses, of all sizes, avoid being cancelled over their mistakes or those of its employees and ambassadors?
Make no mistake: unless your organisation is able to find a way to make money while remaining anonymous, ‘cancel culture’ will invariably point its accusing fingers at you. Here’s how to best brace your business for it…
Stick to your values and make them lead your choices
In 2019, Nike issued the advert Dream Crazy featuring former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who took the knee during a pre-game national anthem to protest against police brutality and racism in the US.
After the ad aired, people took to social media to share videos and photos of them burning their Nike products and ‘cancelling’ the brand for supporting a player who they believed was disrespecting American values.Nike didn’t back down, arguing that they stood with Kaepernick, and ultimately earned profits of $6bn. The message? Be worried about upsetting the right people, not the wrong people. Loyal consumers will reward you if you stick to your shared values.
Improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace
Everyone knows that diverse workforces perform better – when you hire people from diverse backgrounds, nationalities and cultures, you’re bringing a fresh array of perspectives to the table. A diverse workplace will keep your business from becoming narrow minded. Case in point? A more racially diverse team might have explained to Gucci that a blackface balaclava would be deeply offensive to black people.
Take action
Striving for diversity can help you stay out of ‘cancel’ waters but in these times... nothing is certain. If/when you’ve been ‘cancelled,’ you’ll need a fast and carefully crafted response. Being quick, transparent and genuine may lead to a far faster recovery than trying to hide, defend or ignore any missteps. For example Gucci’s CEO, Marco Bizzarr, owned up to the fashion company’s mistake and issued a statement saying: “We made a mistake. A big one, because of cultural ignorance, but ignorance is not an excuse. And we accept responsibility for this mistake.” Gucci also went onto create a well received diversity initiative sparking the hashtag #forgivegucci.
Whether we agree or disagree with ‘cancel’ culture, the reality is that it’s not going away – customers are calling out behaviours they find objectionable in ever louder voices – and brands should care what their clients and stakeholders think.
