Have We Forgotten Cultural Literacy? Understanding Its Role in Today’s World

This is an edited extract from Responsible Marketing.

The common marketing mistakes cultural literacy solves

Today’s dynamic marketplace requires a consistent infusion of culturally relevant insights into marketing campaigns. It’s a challenge that marketers must meet, not as the latest marketing wave, but as a strategic imperative for commercial longevity and as simply the right thing to do. Culture shapes perception, life experiences, and buying choices, so underestimating its impact on consumer purchasing decisions is a costly mistake. Not to belittle the importance of decisions driven by data, but reliance on hard numbers alone can create mask the “why” behind the data, resulting in potentially detrimental marketing mistakes.

When marketers craft messages and campaigns with no consideration for diversity and cultural complexity, without consideration for the impact on diverse groups, and a limited understanding of related cultural and experi­ential complexities, they can end up with messaging that is offensive to certain audience segments.

In 2012, a fast-food company announced a major rebranding and image change in response to declining sales. Desperate to turn things around, it recrafted its menu with numerous items, including its fried chicken wraps. The restaurant chose to bring in a Black R&B artist to sing about the wrap in the commercials and the backlash started before the ad was even released. A leaked version resulted in a resounding social media uproar against the restaurant for perpetuating stereotypes about Black culture. The chain quickly pulled the ad, citing problems with music licensing agreements. They also issued a public apology to the R&B singer, who also felt compelled to issue a public apology. This lack of cultural literacy demonstrated by the brand tarnished the company’s reputation, particularly among Black consumers.

To mitigate the risk of stereotyping in their marketing campaigns, brands need to conduct thorough audience research, embrace internal diversity, and commit to inclusive messaging. Without these guardrails in place, marketers may overlook important cultural nuances when developing marketing campaigns aimed at more diverse audiences. They may consciously or uncon­sciously seek data that confirms their existing assumptions, while ignoring evidence that contradicts these culturally limited beliefs. These types of flawed approaches result in a flawed marketing campaign, absent of the authenticity and inclusivity that resonates with a broader range of consumers.

Learning is liberty

There’s a reason why “learning is liberty” is one of my six core values. It truly is the thing that sets us free, allowing us to set others free. It’s why one of the big things driving cultural illiteracy in the marketing and advertising industry is the lack of cultural literacy education at the core of our academic and training curriculums. I’m not talking about making sure people know what to say. I’m talking about making sure they know how to think. How many creatives, entrusted to create responsible, compelling work by the world’s most resourced brands, were taught to do so by someone with low cultural literacy themselves, and what can we do about it? I explored these questions in a 2023 Adweek article I wrote advocating for the inclusion of cultural literacy within the standards of marketing education. It centered around an advertising school dean who happily shared an ad created by one of the school’s students on social media which depicted a white polar bear up against a blue sky with the words “White Lives Matter,” sharing that, in his opinion, this was a great example of an attention-grabbing spec ad for the WWF.

After being bombarded with criticisms about the lack of cultural sensitiv­ity displayed in the ad, the dean ultimately removed it from their social media account and apologized. Speaking with me about the incident, he said that he perceived the ad as an “in your face” moment at people who used White Lives Matter to belittle the Black Lives Matter movement. But the loud and public response that he received made it painfully clear that the ad’s lack of cultural literacy made it not only inappropriate, but offensive.

The significance of training cannot be overstated for teams tasked with creating and disseminating messages within marketing departments. These marketers need exposure to the intricacies of cultural norms, customs, and communication styles if they are to gain insights into cultural differences, including the avoidance of stereotypes that may inadvertently creep into marketing messages and an appreciation for the traditions that shape consumer behavior within different cultural groups. This heightened sense of awareness drives messaging that rings with authenticity instead of relying on one-size-fits-all approaches. Equally as important, cultural literacy train­ing equips team members with the skills to adequately address missteps that may occur when engaging with diverse audiences.

The marketing strategy of the Axe male grooming brand was one such misstep, earning the company a reputation for using stereotypical gender roles to target young male consumers, as seen in this article from The Seattle Times. For years, Axe consistently used female objectification and male hypermasculinity in its Axe Effect ads, with little thought to the cultural illiteracy of their toxic messaging. The brand’s reputation took a hit as public criticism increased, and the social media sentiment grew louder. Between 2012 and 2017 as stated by Eightify, its U.S. product sales declined by an estimated $150 million. In response, in an article reported by Adweek, Axe shifted its market­ing strategy by launching the Find Your Magic campaign, with the goal of redefining masculinity and challenging the toxic male stereotypes in a way that demonstrated a greater level of cultural literacy. Instead of messaging that men needed Axe to be sexually attractive, the campaign centered on other male attributes, the important things like personality, individuality, and the courage of self-expression.

Speaking about the brand’s marketing shift, Rik Strubel, Global Vice President of Axe, said the brand wanted to encourage guys to be themselves and live more freely. By doing so, they hoped to break the stereotypes of men and toxic masculinity to create a healthier image that encompasses a broader cultural view.

In a 2017 Super Bowl ad, Axe’s Find Your Magic campaign debuted its change in messaging by including images of men dancing in heels, caressing kittens, and engaging in other activities that differed from the traditional view of masculinity. In addition to the ad campaign, the company also partnered with several nonprofit organizations to drive wider awareness among both men and women. More specifically, the company commissioned a study on the pressure inflicted on young guys as the result of masculine stereotypes. They also collaborated with anti-bullying campaign Ditch the Label to create a unique online community designed to help young men who were struggling with toxic masculinity. This is what cultivating cultural liter­acy looks like. Axe learned from its misstep and took it as an opportunity to infuse its marketing strategy with a heightened sense of cultural awareness.

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