Championing a Diverse and Inclusive Culture

What do Burger King and Dolce & Gabbana have in common? In 2019, both brands came under fire for culturally insensitive advertisements featuring Asian stereotypes. Burger King’s New Zealand branch ran a campaign on Instagram showing people attempting to eat its Vietnamese Sweet Chilli Tendercrisp Burger in an awkward manner, using oversized red chopsticks. Chopsticks also featured in Dolce & Gabbana’s advertisement promoting its runway show in Shanghai – a Chinese model was depicted having trouble eating Italian food with chopsticks, with a male narrator asking, “is it too huge for you?”.

After a wave of bad publicity and controversy spread on social media, both brands tried to walk back their missteps, releasing apology videos and reiterating their respect for cultural diversity. But the damage was already done – as a direct result of the controversy, Dolce & Gabbana’s products were dropped from Chinese e-commerce sites like Alibaba and JD.com, while the planned fashion show was cancelled by the Chinese government. The fashion brand also saw its sales revenues take a hit, with its Asia-Pacific market having dropped to 22% from 25% of its total turnover.

Planning a marketing campaign is a multi-step process that requires several levels of approval. For companies with robust cultures of diversity and inclusion, avoidable mistakes like these would have been caught early on. Diversity and inclusion is not just an optional feel-good initiative for organisations – those who ignore the need for diversity and inclusion in the workplace are at a very real risk of hurting their branding, reputation, sales and bottom line.

Moreover, it literally pays to have a culture of diversity and inclusion in your company – in 2018, McKinsey and Co’s ‘Delivering Through Diversity’ report showed that organisations that had gender diversity performed 15% better or reported 15% better financial results than their respective industry peers. On top of gender diversity, organisations that championed ethnic, cultural and racial diversity saw their financial performance increase up to 35%. These numbers translate to benefits on the individual level as well – another McKinsey report found that executives working in companies with cultural and ethnic diversity earned 0.8% to 3.5% more than their industry counterparts, before accounting for tax.

In today’s business landscape, it’s clear that organisations that practice what they preach on diversity and inclusion will not only create more positive and empowering spaces, but also stand to gain financially. Conversely, those that fail to adapt to the growing need for diversity and inclusion in the workplace will find themselves losing touch with a new generation of consumers, who have higher societal expectations for diversity and are willing to hold companies to account with their wallets.