Anti-racist copy: 5 writing specialisms that need to do better

There’s a collective awakening occurring right now.

A pandemic, a civil rights movement, a giant community rethinking out-of-date structures and systemic racism.

With it, more brands are leaning towards more conscious marketing.

If you’re a marketer, business owner, journalist, or content creator, you no longer have the option to practice diversity and inclusion – shake off the status quo and bring a higher purpose to your language and marketing.

It’s your responsibility to live, work, and write inclusively and consciously. You can do good and make profit. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. But people and the planet should come first.

In the Carolyn  Tate’s book Conscious Marketing, she states:

“Conscious business leaders understand that a sustainable business is built on purpose and people (and the planet) before products and profit”

With that said, here are the industries that need to do better with their language and content creation choices. 

5 industry copy specialisms that needs to be more inclusive

1. Travel copywriting

This article by Nneya Richards for Conde Nast Traveler discusses how black travellers are always depicted as locals, never the explorers in journalism, advertising and marketing. That, or left out of the conversation entirely.

2. Interior design copywriting

Queer Eye’s Bobby Berk looks at design terms such as ‘master bedroom’ being linguistically binned for alternatives that don’t have racist, gender-biased connotations.

The alternatives: ‘primary bedroom’, ‘main bedroom’, ‘owner bedroom’.

3. Food writing

This Eater article about the overwhelming whiteness in cookbooks is an insightful read.

It includes Nik Sharma’s story – an award-winning food writer, photographer and recipe developer who was told by many publishers that his book would be “too Indian” and “wouldn’t sell”.

If you want to see the eye-opening stats, food and culture writer Mayukh Sen details the percentage of Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, African and Caribbean recipes authored by white writers (FYI – it’s never lower than 82%).

In 2016, Bon Appetit, a mostly-white-staffed magazine caused outrage when it used a white chef to tell people how to eat pho.

Phil Yu, who runs blog Angry Asian Man described it as “Columbusing at its finest”.

”I’m Vietnamese, and I always put hoisin or Sriracha into my pho,” one commenter wrote. “Don’t tell me how I eat pho.”

Adam Rapoport, editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit, issued this statement acknowledging the mistakes made.   

Lesson: don’t rely on overused journalism tropes, internet hyperboles and cultural appropriation to get clicks.

4. Pop culture copywriting

Michael G. McDunnah discusses the use of language that assumes straight white people are the universal ‘norm’ in television and film – and that everything else is ’other’.

He looks at the language used to describe two similar TV dramas, premiered back-to-back on the Starz network:

“Vida is described everywhere as a show about queer Latinx culture, but almost no one describes Sweetbitter as a show about straight White culture.

The larger problems, of course, are an overall resistance to acknowledging the existing biases of the entertainment world and a general societal refusal to even recognize—let alone engage with and interrogate—straight White culture as a discrete milieu.”

Read the full article on the Conscious Style Guide here.

5. Dance writing

Major ballet shoe supplier Bloch added  pointe shoes to match black and Asian skin tones after an online petition went viral recently.

But it’s not just dance footwear brands that need to be more diverse and inclusive.

This article by Theresa Ruth Howard for Dance Magazine looks at the way writers and editors analyse and critique black dancers, such as overusing adjectives such as ‘aggressive’ and ‘violent’.

Theresa also explains how choreographer Camille A. Brown tried to overcome the lack of knowledge (or willingness to learn) in critics, whose “subconscious biases create barriers to the elevation of non-white artists.”

Aware that the narratives in BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play may not be familiar with critics, “Brown placed a study guide in the program, and built in a post-show talkback where much of the cultural and historical information was unpacked. Still, writers gave the production a scratch-and-sniff once over, reducing the rhythms derived from Juba to “sneaker tapping”.

Despite this, writers still plumped for a hackneyed opening of “a sassy, fierce and at times playfully snarky step dance number.” 

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I hope this has helped – whatever your specialism or profession.

I’ll continue to put these out and I encourage you to join me in actively and consistently making conscious, inclusive copy and marketing a priority.

If you have created and/or read any more resources that could help me compile these round-ups, please send them to nina@writewells.co.uk

As Carolyn Tate says in her conscious marketing manifesto:

“Unlearn the old. Study the new”.

Choose your words wisely.