For better or for worse, we’re living in a time where being “PC,” a.k.a. politically correct, is dominating our airwaves. A homophobic tweet from years ago can be catastrophic for someone’s career, shown most recently by the Kevin Hart debacle, which left the 2019 Oscars ceremony host-less. While some may feel as though the PC culture is simply people being overly sensitive or fueling a “gotcha” movement where any past misstep can blow up in someone’s face, the truth is we’re moving towards a more progressive society, which means that we’re being forced to question whether or not things that were overlooked in the past should be tolerated today. If that means that public figures will think twice before they dress up in blackface for Halloween or tweet something sexist or homophobic, then that’s probably a good thing.
With society increasingly gravitating towards being more socially conscious, companies are simultaneously increasingly hopping on the PC bandwagon and using advertising to take a stand on social issues. Some of these attempts have been a spectacular failure and blatant attempts to exploit social issues for publicity (such as the embarrassing Pepsi commercial featuring Kendall Jenner supposedly changing the world by handing a protester a can of soda). However, others have successfully incorporated social issues in their advertising to produce content that is truly inspiring and represent the signs of the times.
Here are a few examples of brands that have produced powerful advertisements that reflect the PC culture without exploiting it.
- Nike’s Dream Crazier. No one does powerful advertising quite like Nike. This is their most recent advertisement narrated by Serena Williams highlighting barrier-breaking female athletes while making a subtle social statement on the fact that passionate women are often branded as “crazy” (while their male counterparts rarely face the same scrunity).
- Microsoft’s We All Win.This is a great ad because it features genuinely innovative technology that actually solves a real social problem (as opposed to simply jumping on the social-justice-issue-of-the-moment bandwagon).
- Gillette’s The Best Men Can Be.Set against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, it calls for a stop to behaviors like mansplaining, bullying and sexual harassment, asking, “Is this the best a man can get? Is it?” The ad certainly got people talking, and received a good deal of (in my opinion, unwarranted) negative backlash. Toxic masculinity is undoubtedly a problem in our society, and asking men not to behave like complete a*sholes shouldn’t be controversial.
- Airbnb We All Belong.Just nine days after President Trump signed an order to temporarily close America’s borders to refugees, Airbnb aired an ad during the coveted Super Bowl spot in direct response to the decision. The ad, called “We Accept” showed a montage of people of different nationalities along with the words: “We believe no matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love or who you worship, we all belong. The world is more beautiful the more you accept.”
- P&G We See Equal.Say what you will about PC culture, but as a woman, I love the fact that female empowerment is dominating our pop culture today. Men and women alike should reject the notion of gender norms, and P&G is a company who embraced that notion in their We See Equal campaign, which was designed to fight gender bias and work towards equality for all.
