Marketing Management and Digital Communications: Bridging the Race Gap

This essay addresses the failure of advertisements to bridge the race gap, focusing on the underrepresentation of BAME groups in marketing. It examines Sarah Vizard's article, 'Advertisers ‘failing to bridge the race gap’', highlighting the discrepancy between increased BAME representation and the...Read More

Running head: MARKETING MANAGEMENT AND DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
MARKETING MANAGEMENT AND DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
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1MARKETING MANAGEMENT AND DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
Marketing has never been more comfortable the way it is in these days with the help of a
digital approach. Companies across the world are extensively using the method of marketing in
order to grow their business (Cukier & Mayer-Schoenberger, 2013). Advertisers need to be acute
and careful before they take the big step of displaying it out in the open. The essay aims to
discuss the ways advertisements are failing to bridge the race gap and the marketing issues that
are identified in the article.
The advertisers working for multinational companies are found with a racist
advertisement or at least interpreted as racist advertisements. Therefore, advertisers are failing
miserably to bridge the race gap. In the article "Advertisers ‘failing to bridge the race gap'",
Sarah Vizards discuss the ways representation of BAME groups have increased however the
representation is not always pleasant. The issue in marketing is the underrepresentation of the
BAME groups. People belonging to the BAME groups have indeed risen from 2015, however,
the surprise is that there is only one or even less one in ten get advert positions as the main
protagonist. Advertisements show the existence of racial discrepancy and inequalities in the
advertising industry. Brands have been failing to give equal importance to the BAME groups.
The fact that there is a rise in the representation of BAME group in the advertisements yet no
increase in the representation of BAME community as the main protagonist shows that
advertisers are making significant strides in better reflecting modern Britain. However, as the
article highlight that there are several works that are needed to be done in the industry in order to
have a socially inclusive industry. The UK is a state of diversity therefore, the state needs to take
the issue with concern. Marketing management needs to understand the importance of diversity
in the industry as well as the impact it can have on society (Vizard. 2018).

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The stakeholders will only benefit through the elimination of the issue with only
minimum challenges. The issue is to eliminate racism in the marketing industry (Alalwan et al.
2017). The industry should understand the value of diversity and the opportunity it can bring to
the organisations. People from different cultural background will think of considering the
organisation for job opportunities. A diverse group of people bring various ideas to business.
Organisations with the help of pre-analyses advertisement can help to contribute to eliminating
racism from society.
Along with benefits, there are challenges that the industry might face. Organisations may
reject the notion of portraying any people belonging to BAME community as the lead role of the
organisation. Various people have different perspective and it is very challenging to meet the
anticipation of every client. However, since marketing is a field that every company will need in
order to market their product the industry can genuinely stand against the problem of racial
discrimination. Provided the strategy made by the organization can be taken care keeping the
cultural aspects in concern can have various numerous advantages.
In order to respond to the issue of racial discrimination, the media and the marketing
industry should be approached. The issue in marketing is the underrepresentation of the BAME
groups. Media is one of the medium through which advertisement reaches to the population.
Therefore press can be a helpful source of combating with the issue. Usage of social media is
another better and advance option that can work to spread the awareness and the action taken by
the organisations who are in the process to the racial bridge. Therefore it can concluded that the
issue will take several more years to achieve the goal of having no racial gap.

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References:
Alalwan, A. A., Rana, N. P., Dwivedi, Y. K., & Algharabat, R. (2017). Social media in
marketing: A review and analysis of the existing literature. Telematics and Informatics.
Cukier, K., & Mayer-Schoenberger, V. (2013). The rise of big data: How it's changing the way
we think about the world. Foreign Aff., 92, 28.
Vizard Sarah. (2018). Advertisers ‘failing to bridge the race gap’, marketing week, retrieved
from: https://www.marketingweek.com/2018/11/28/advertisers-race-gap/