Brands may support anti-racism movement, but advertising still needs to decolonise

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Carl W Jones, University of Westminster

Brands such as Nike and Adidas to PG Tips and Space NK have been expressing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement by issuing statements and adverts of support – from Nike playing with their memorable tagline of “Just Do It” by asking consumers “for once, Don’t Do It” to the #Solidaritea hashtag taken up by many tea brands. Many of these messages have been accompanied by promises to take a hard look at each company’s history and current working practises to see what changes can be made to address structural racism. 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 to be taking it a bit more seriously.

(©iStockphoto/FotografiaBasica)

What’s in a name?

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EL PASO – I used to work with an epidemiologist who collected phone books from all over the world. Dr. Buechley was a name fanatic. He used what he knew about the history and linguistics of surnames and his vast collection of phone books to write a computer program he called GUESS (Generally Useful Ethnic Search System). The question is why would an epidemiologist do that? Epidemiologists don’t study skin conditions (that’s epidermis and dermatologists).

El Paso County building, one of the emblematic buildings in the commercial area of downtown El Paso. (Cheryl Howard/Borderzine.com)

Barbies and Barrios

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Teaching and Learning and Caring Blog

EL PASO – Years ago, even in small towns across America, there were “good” neighborhoods and “bad” neighborhoods. Living “across the tracks” always meant you lived on the poor side of town. In reality, everyone lives across the tracks; it just depends on your reference point, and people in power seem to be able to make the rules and the reference points. Sociologists know this as residential segregation. Banks knew it (and may still) as “redlining.” Cops know it as where trouble is likely to happen.