Coaster produced for the state of Tennessee's failed ad campaign to curb drunk driving. Somewhere in Tennessee, state officials convened to come up with a solution to address the recent rise in drunk driving fatalities. They knew the campaign had to be edgy in order to attract interest from their much sought after younger demographic.
Large budget advertising campaigns of this nature typically endure countless rounds of review and scrutiny before ever making their way to the public spotlight. Yet, after each round of presumably careful review, Tennessee taxpayers ended up footing the bill (more than $70,000 in collateral materials alone) for a campaign that crossed the delicate and too often blurred boundary from edgy to down right sexist.
The backlash has produced a sizable media crisis for the state’s public affairs staffers to mitigate that could have been easily prevented. Every major domestic media outlet has covered the gaff, which has already reached news rooms in Australia, officially making this an international embarrassment.
Sow how did they get it so wrong? How could a campaign intended to save lives cause so much backlash?
Although we’re not privy to whom exactly the decision makers on this campaign were, we have a pretty good idea of who may not have been included. In this case, it is abundantly clear that those with the power to decide had no other frame of reference than to recognize the campaign as nothing more than a clever combination of humor and intrigue.
Operating in a Vacuum Produces Damaging Results
Diversity in the workplace does not mean hiring to meet a predetermined quota for either race or gender. True diversity seeks to hire the best candidate for the job while fostering an inclusive work environment that not only welcomes but systematically relies on the broad spectrum of perspectives in culture, creed and values that having a team of individuals who neither look nor think alike can offer.
When equal voice is given to the varying perspectives true diversity fosters, embarrassments such as this are far less likely to occur. In order to truly recover from this crisis and prevent it from ever happening again, we’d recommend the state of Tennessee take a hard look at the culture it has created for its state’s employees. Likely some new faces are desperately needed in key leadership positions.
Large budget advertising campaigns of this nature typically endure countless rounds of review and scrutiny before ever making their way to the public spotlight. Yet, after each round of presumably careful review, Tennessee taxpayers ended up footing the bill (more than $70,000 in collateral materials alone) for a campaign that crossed the delicate and too often blurred boundary from edgy to down right sexist.
The backlash has produced a sizable media crisis for the state’s public affairs staffers to mitigate that could have been easily prevented. Every major domestic media outlet has covered the gaff, which has already reached news rooms in Australia, officially making this an international embarrassment.
Sow how did they get it so wrong? How could a campaign intended to save lives cause so much backlash?
Although we’re not privy to whom exactly the decision makers on this campaign were, we have a pretty good idea of who may not have been included. In this case, it is abundantly clear that those with the power to decide had no other frame of reference than to recognize the campaign as nothing more than a clever combination of humor and intrigue.
Operating in a Vacuum Produces Damaging Results
Diversity in the workplace does not mean hiring to meet a predetermined quota for either race or gender. True diversity seeks to hire the best candidate for the job while fostering an inclusive work environment that not only welcomes but systematically relies on the broad spectrum of perspectives in culture, creed and values that having a team of individuals who neither look nor think alike can offer.
When equal voice is given to the varying perspectives true diversity fosters, embarrassments such as this are far less likely to occur. In order to truly recover from this crisis and prevent it from ever happening again, we’d recommend the state of Tennessee take a hard look at the culture it has created for its state’s employees. Likely some new faces are desperately needed in key leadership positions.