Carl Jones, Senior Lecturer on the Public Relations and Advertising BA course, wrote an article for The Conversation about how, although brands are supporting Black Lives Matter, advertising still needs to decolonise.
In the article, Carl Jones discusses how brands have been expressing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and how many of these messages have been accompanied by pinpointing what changes need to be made to address structural racism.
He wrote: “The idea that we need to decolonise various areas of society is finally growing. But the idea itself is, of course, nothing new. Calls and attempts to decolonise curriculums, public transport systems, museum collections, healthcare systems and so on have been around for a while, but finally many appear so be taking it a bit more seriously.”
Jones drew upon examples of advertisements across the globe that depict subtle racist and gendered stereotypes and wrote: “These cases show that advertising needs to be decolonised: it can and does support discriminatory thinking – thinking that often has its roots in the colonial era.”
Discussing ways to decolonise advertising, he added: “The companies paying for advertising need to change by practising what they preach. This means that they need to follow through and act on their recent messages of solidarity.”
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