Nike has taken a clear stand against racism with its new ad campaign. Marketing expert Lars Cords tells DW why companies need to interfere in the political and social debate.
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11 ads with a political twist
Along with Nike's latest polarizing campaign, different companies have used politics or controversial issues to promote their brands. Others faced backlash for being politically incorrect. Here's a look at 11 cases.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Twitter
Sacrificing some of its clients...
"Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." Nike decided to energize its "Just Do It" motto by using the face of Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback known as one of the first players to kneel during the national anthem. The polarizing campaign has led to a drop in Nike's shares, but the social media storm it provoked remains a marketing hit.
Image: Nike
Meanwhile in South America
Much attention has been given to Nike's ads in the US, but its recent Mexican campaign also got South America talking. In a country known for its machismo, the "Juntas Imparables" (Together Unstoppable) spot features female athletes only. The final scene (photo) is seen as a nod to Argentina's Right to Abort protest movement, dubbed the Green Tide, as green scarves serve as the feminists' symbol.
Image: Youtube/Nike
Addressing social and political issues
Benetton has been renowned for its provocative advertising for ages. This shot of gay activist and AIDS victim David Kirby was used for an ad in 1992. Many activists felt it was commercializing a person's suffering; they launched a global campaign to boycott the company. The family of the victim however backed Benetton. The company stated that it was the first advertising campaign to address AIDS.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Roessler
The colors of human suffering?
From a bloody mafia killing in the 90s to photos of refugees in 2018, critics have often asked why human suffering should help sell Benetton's clothes. Despite the backlash created by different campaigns, the clothing company has kept using documentary shots to promote its brand, a strategy developed by its famous art director Oliviero Toscani.
Image: picture-alliance/ROPI
Religious kiss
This other Benetton series rather relied on heavy photoshopping. The 2012 Unhate campaign featured a series of world leaders locking lips with some of their greatest adversaries. While the campaign won top awards, the image depicting Pope Benedict XVI kissing Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb, a top Egyptian imam, was removed after the Vatican threatened to take legal action against the company.
In Germany, car rental company Sixt used a photo of controversial deputy leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alexander Gauland, in one of its ads: "For everyone who has a Gauland in their neighborhood," the caption reads. The AfD countered with an ad promoting a cheaper company, stating "For everyone who lives near Sixt." The company promoted, however, positioned itself against the far-right.
Image: Sixt/Quelle: Twitter
Reacting to the world's top stories
In 2013, the German lingerie company Blush played on the NSA scandal that revealed it had been spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel: "Dear NSA, don't spy on Angela, peek at Angelique," says this ad. In another ad, a woman in underwear called on the world's most famous whistle-blower: "Dear Edward Snowden, there's still a lot to uncover."
Image: glowberlin
Hip sunglasses at a concentration camp
Australian-based company Valley Eyewear didn't aim to provoke with its campaign, but the ads featuring slick black-and-white pictures and videos of a model on the site of the Jasenovac concentration camp in Croatia, where over 80,000 people died, inevitably caused outrage. After users called for a boycott of the company's products, it apologized and removed the ads.
Image: picture-alliance/ I. Kralj/PIXSELL
White-washing
A 2016 ad by Shanghai Leishang Cosmetics showed a black man being "washed" into a fair-skinned Asian man. The firm was accused of racism and pulled the video after apologizing. However, a representative of the company also told a Chinese nationalist newspaper that critics were "too sensitive."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Schiefelbein
Black woman turns white
Similarly, Dove was accused of racism in 2017 following a campaign that showed a black woman turning into a white one. The company also apologized and deleted the post. It wasn't the first time that it had been at the center of similar controversies. For example, back in 2015, it released a cream that advertised for use on "normal to dark skin."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/D. Sorabji
As long as your husband is happy
This 2018 ad for Dr. Oetker, a German company specialized in baking products, was accused of sexism. Released during the World Cup, it shows a woman with a soccer-shaped cake and reads: "Bake your husband happy — even if he has a second love." The company claimed the campaign was developed "with modern women" and that critics didn't understand its irony.
Image: Dr. Oetker
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DW: In its new ad campaign, Nike features the face of US football star Colin Kaepernick, who stands for the anti-racism movement in the US. How do political positions and marketing go together?
Lars Cords: The Nike commercial is a great, courageous campaign; it takes a clear stance in the US. First and foremost, however, it's a marketing campaign which is also a risk for the company.
It is too early to tell whether sales figures will increase in the end because people approve or disapprove of it.
Of course, there are always critics who say that none of this is about the issue at hand, but merely about profit. That is the danger when companies seize on political topics for classic advertising.
The pressure on the sponsors to come up with a reaction is in fact similar. Consumers have ever bigger expectations of companies, from how they treat their employees to whether they exploit labor in low-wage countries, followed by environmental issues and the use of resources.
Currently, the migration debate polarizes society. It's become ever more important for companies to create a sense of where they stand beyond their marketing interests. That's a new kind of pressure we haven't seen in this dimension before.
German companies are also positioning themselves, like the supermarket chain Edeka which launched a campaign on diversity. Are companies in general more prepared to take a stand on politics and social issues?
People are increasingly realizing that not taking a stand is a position, too. They realize that sitting on the fence is less and less of an option, because things develop in the wrong direction when the company could and should have taken countermeasures — for its own economic interest, its employees, the jobs as well its room to maneuver. In principle, nationalism is always chosen over globalization and the interests of the economy.
What dangers do companies face when they enter the realm of political marketing?
From a marketing point of view, of course a company must always consider on which topics it should position itself in the first place. It should ask, how many customers will be alienated by taking that position and how many can be won over?
Even if such marketing calculation might not support a campaign in the short term, it's time to stand tall to preserve our democracy and the social market economy, thus strengthening social solidarity once more.
Society has to make its voice heard in times of populist tendencies. And so should businesses. They, too, have to make it clear what kind of a country they want to live in, irrespective of short-term sales opportunities. Only then will we have a country in the long term in which we can live and work in peace and prosperity.
How do companies deal with the increasing pressure to take a stand?
Taking an external stand is not as significant as the question: What do the current social challenges mean for my own company? How do I handle my employees? How do I create a healthy basis for debate in my own company in order to set an example for what matters — be it equality, integration or digitalization. Only a company that is well-positioned internally has the authority to communicate its position to the outside world.
Will we be seeing more of that kind of positioning in ad campaigns in the future?
The next step would of course be strengthening that position with advertising. We'll be seeing more campaigns that focus on diversity, and ads where the freedom of religion and intercultural life are a given. In the long run, that will contribute to influencing what society sees as normal.