Anatomy of an Ad Podcast: allies in advertising with MadeBrave
In this week’s episode, MadeBrave’s creative director Paloma Pini-Reed and deputy creative director Naresh Subhash join us to talk about LGBTQ+ representation in the advertising industry.
MadeBrave's Paloma Pini-Reed and Naresh Subhash / MadeBrave
Every year during Pride, there are scores of brands that slap a rainbow flag on their comms or products, tick the diversity box and call it a day. It’s harmful, insulting to what the community stands for and ultimately futile, says Naresh Subhash on the latest episode of The Drum’s Anatomy of an Ad podcast.
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The MadeBrave deputy creative director says: ”You have to be an ally. You have to be 100% an ally to have permission to put our flag there. It’s not your flag, and I say that in a generalist way – it’s not your flag to be used.
”It’s a representation of the community, our community. For brands that are pink-washing or rainbow-washing, I feel sorry for them but I don’t condone it. They need to educate themselves.”
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Educating brands can’t fall on members of the LGBTQ+ community, however. ”As a brand, you need to consider whether you even have a right to even be in our space,” says creative director Paloma Pini-Reed.
”It’s a very open community, but at the same time if you’re not paying respect to our heritage – what came before and the fact that it has been filled with activism and that it’s a fight – if you’re not respecting that part of it, then it’s just box-ticking.”
We need to look to big brands to ”set precedents,” says Pini-Reed, who points out that it is them that have the outreach, the audience and the budget. ”If you’re going to do it, why not tackle a real-life problem within the community?”
To listen to the full interview and hear more about being an ally in the ad industry, tune in to this week’s installment of the Anatomy of an Ad podcast.