Race is a social construct, not a biological one. But as marketers, we care a lot about social constructs. We like to try and understand common factors among people. And race and ethnicity are some—of the many—groups marketers have used to try and do that.

But this is an area where you can really mess things up

It’s no easy task to decide if, when, and how to consider these factors when marketing. Particularly as a white American, I worry about my blind spots. It seems easy to create insensitive marketing surrounding race and ethnicity.

How do we best decide if, when, and how to use these factors in our work?

A great read to help you figure that 👆out

Educating ourselves is always a great “start here” location.

​This article digs into the nuances around race and ethnicity. The author, Porter Broswell, is the CEO and cofounder of a career advancement platform for Black, Native American, and Latinx students and young professionals. He’s written a bunch of great pieces about diversity.

As I read this one, I wondered, “How do we approach race and ethnicity in marketing?”

It’s helpful to know the difference between race and ethnicity

Here are the snippet-sized definitions the article gives.

I hope you aren’t confused when you read “biological characteristics” in the race definition. As the article explains:

Thoughts the article inspired about our jobs

The article makes the important observation that, “The social construction of race is…a double-edged sword. It has led to the denigration and disenfranchisement of specific races based on alleged inequalities…But it has also led us to an increased awareness of our perceived and actual differences.”

And celebrating differences starts with awareness of them.

They elaborate, “Racial identity is therefore an important way for people to define themselves, connect with one another, and organize on behalf of shared interests.”

That’s all so much bigger than marketing. But doesn’t it sound like this stuff should be important to us as marketers too? As people who care a lot about where people go to “define themselves, connect with one another, and organize on behalf of shared interests”?

The opportunity

We have the opportunity as marketers to create a sense of belonging and to meet the needs of our audience. So if done correctly—if done at the right time and in the right way—understanding our audience’s races or ethnicities, discussing those things in work meetings, addressing it in our campaigns, could all be beneficial practices. To us and to our audiences.

Questions to help us assess this topic:

• What are the blind spots marketers should watch out for when considering race or ethnicity in their audience?
• When are the times it’s just plain not-ok to consider these factors in our jobs as marketers?
• What does it look like when we succeed at understanding people and being more inclusive?
• What does it look like when we fail and are actually offensive or unhelpful?
• How do we talk about racial and ethnic topics in a respectful way? In marketing meetings? In messages to our audience?
• What does this look like across our industry right now? What should it look like?

Would you take a minute to reply and answer one or two of those questions?

I’ll share what other marketers are thinking about this. I’d appreciate hearing from anyone and everyone. I’d be really pumped to hear from those of you who have personal experiences seeing brands succeed or fail at understanding and including your race or ethnicity.
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Here’s to working toward a considerate, inclusive marketing industry. 🥂

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