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Reflecting diversity, equity, and inclusion in our creative work is new to a lot of us. Here’s a little help getting started from friends in the industry.

Intersectionality

Insights & Ideas
To make your marketing creative truly inclusive, step back and look at the big picture.

As you explore different dimensions of diversity like age, race, and sexual orientation, remember that these are only pieces of a much bigger puzzle. Every person’s identity is informed by all of these factors. We’re all of these things and much, much more.

This intersectionality means that people with some shared aspects of identity may have had very different experiences and see themselves in profoundly different ways. Life for a Black transgender man will hold different challenges and privileges than for a white transgender man or a Black cisgender man, and these differences will shape who they are.

63% of us don’t see ourselves accurately represented in most advertising.(1)

Keep this intersectionality in mind when strategizing, creating, and evaluating your marketing materials. If we simply tick the boxes of diversity, we risk devaluing it. Being aware of the many shades of identities can help you apply a truly inclusive approach that reflects our world.

Overlooking intersectional identities can minimize the experiences of people in your audience. For example, using the phrase “LGBTQ+ and BIPOC” can imply that LGBTQ+ individuals are not also Black, Indigenous, and people of color. The term “QTBIPOC” (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) is more inclusive.
  1. Lacey, Natalie, “Advertising is Out of Sync with World's Consumers,” Ipsos. Oct 2, 2018.