The advertising industry must continue to tackle fatigue around DEI discussions, according to a panel by industry group ‘Smelly Lunch Stories’.
Diversity Council Australia reports that opposition to DEI has doubled since 2019.
BMF’s chief strategy officer Christina Aventi said that influential institutions and corporations winding back their DEI policy is instigating behaviours of cultural biases.
“There’s also a social cohesion issue,” she said at the panel event in Sydney.
“If there's any kind of bias and heuristic layer on top, it multiplies outwards into the community.
“We’ve also got a problem with humanity and empathy. So, it's horrific, but it's unsurprising.”
SLS’s DEI statistics found that from 400 people, 76% felt that they had to downplay their cultural identity to fit in.
Thirty one per cent have experienced discrimination in the past year, one in three has said that their manager is not inclusive and 60% have experienced micro-aggressions.
Independent brand strategy consultant Eugene Healey said that a lack of economic diversity in Australia breeds the lack of cultural diversity in the workplace.
“We are the 105th most diverse economy in the world right between Botswana and the Ivory Coast,” Healey said.
“That economic lack of diversity causes this country to be incredibly risk averse.
“Australia wants to stick to history and the types of businesses that are grown here. That flows down to not only corporate culture but to the media industry as well.
“Our country is getting much more diverse and multicultural. But the aperture of desire is not.”
IAG executive manager of channel, performance and effectiveness Mark Echo said that part of tackling this crossroad is addressing all aspects of diversity.
"Diversity is not just one thing, it's so many things that we have to cater to more,” Echo said.
“Disability is a form of diversity. It doesn't know sexual preferences, gender or race. Everyone is susceptible to it. It’s about leaning into these types of things and making sure that we are creating frameworks for people of all different types of diversities, so people can thrive.
“We need to be doing more as an industry, whether it's marketing, advertising, media, creative, to make sure that we're driving this cultural change.
“The D part is so broad, It's not just cultural, race, religion, beliefs and data. It's so much more broad than that, and everything that we just heard, I think it's going to take this industry. We need to make sure that we're constantly driving that forward.”
SLS co-founder and Mediahub chief strategy officer Linda Fagerlund said that part of making institutional change is bringing the conversations to a leadership position.
“We’re not having enough decision makers or influencers at senior marketing level,” Fagerlund said.
“How do we help elevate more diverse voices into those positions of leadership? Because it won't change unless we're in the room. Otherwise, we’re just an echo chamber.
"The questions are difficult because it's going to take time for us to change the makeup of those boardrooms, particularly in the creative space. We see it play out with some of the great work that's happening right now that's in the independent space.
"They've got freedom of creativity and expression to really go there and bring in all these diverse voices.
"Unfortunately, the institutions that exist now are not created for those diverse voices and conversations. And that's really the heart of this issue, is how we bring up those voices, particularly in marketing.”
To navigate diversity in the workplace, Aventi said that we need to 'brand' ourselves and our individuality.
“I observe ageism all the time. You know, women older than me will get made redundant more often than a male in our industry, and there's lots of unconscious bias that happens in and around all the people in this industry," she said.
"I get told i'm too emotional, but now I just pick and mix different leadership styles, and I felt more energised.
"But people internalise stuff, and so did I. And there's so much unconscious bias and so much that's invisible out there too.
"You've got to reach in and make people feel comfortable, reach out and see if you can surface it.
"You can make it cool, brand it. Make it like being a champion of diversity. Brand yourself so that people strive for you on a different kind of level."
Healey champions making your own personal brand and distinguishing yourself from corporate institutions.
“Be wary of devoting your time, resources and essential life force to institutions of waning cultural and economic influence," he said.
“We have fought for so long, kicking and screaming, to be included inside this tent, and that tent’s power is declining. They need us, not the other way around.
"AI is a technological force that is going to operate the same as every other technological force.
"There's going to be a minority rewarded and a majority punched unless we completely reinvent our economic systems.
"So don't take brands as assurance, because they may not exist in the future.
"Build your own personal brands that are independent of institutional brands.
"It's the institutions turn to prove yourselves to us, not the other way around.
"It's not about making sure you have a quota in your advertising. It's about a fundamental rethink of the aperture of desire and aspiration that this country promotes.
"Recognise that it is actually our time and be as entitled as the mediocre white men that have run your departments until this point."
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.