Posted on 10/25/2018 4:58:08 AM PDT by TigerClaws
In a surprising apology, Mountain Equipment Co-op, the Canadian outdoor apparel giant, admitted to helping advance the “vastly incorrect notion” that the outdoors is for white people only, criticizing decades worth of its own advertisements and catalogues for depending almost exclusively on white models to sell wares.
“Outside is for everyone,” MEC CEO David Labistour said in an open letter Monday. “It’s time we acted like it.”
The letter — titled “Do white people dominate the outdoors?” — includes a collage of old MEC ads: white people hiking and biking and rock climbing and cross-country skiing; white people in khaki shorts; white people rafting in wetsuits
It was an unorthodox move, since the apology wasn’t pre-empted by scandal — as has become the norm — but by quiet feedback, as well as an online survey of outdoor leisure and sport habits across the country, according to the company. In an interview Tuesday, Labistour said the tendency to use white models in advertising had “just been a traditional thing.”
“It’s how we grew up. It’s a historic part of our organization and the industry,” he said. “It’s been our industry paradigm. And it’s been, kind of, what we’ve always done. And sometimes we have to shift that paradigm.”
Monday’s apology was coupled with the unveiling of a new MEC “initiative,” bent on changing “the way we represent the outdoor community.” The move, MEC clarified in a statement, comes after employees and co-op members requested more diversity in the company’s ads.
“We know we’ve been part of the problem,” Labistour wrote. “This initiative isn’t about patting ourselves on the back. It’s also not about me, another straight white male with a voice in the outdoor industry.”
Labistour told the National Post that revamping advertising to feature more people of colour would help attract a more diverse workforce for MEC stores. “We have to be seen as a brand that represents the diversity of Canada in order to attract the diversity of Canada,” he said.
I used to live in southern California (2003 time frame). Hiking & state & national parks weren’t very hispanic-dominated then, either. Maybe a CITY park in LA, but not the trails in the mountains, deserts, or even the beaches. SOME hispanics, but hardly a majority.
>>Using the NEW MATH?<<
I was assuming 20 actors per commercial. I know that seems like a lot but you see a lot more faces on commercials than we realize.
After college I stopped showing my work :)
Read something to the effect that blacks are used so much in advertising that foreigners think all judges, doctors, and pretty much any expert on anything in the U.S is black.
I ran the Xterra (trails & mountains) race series in PA for a while and there were no black participants.
Not enough Blacks in their ads? Black people under the age of 35 makeup about 7% of the population, but are featured in virtually every TV commercial and appear very heavily in printed ads. They are over-represented on TV shows, movies, etc. Same goes for women. Women make up about 12% of Law enforcement, but appear to be a majority in cop shows on TV. The pandering is ridiculous.
The Outdoors also discriminates against people with awful hay fever, too. Golf becomes 5 hours of terrible hay fever with a chance of serious injury.
i saw an ad last night for some drug and there’s a gay couple featured in the ad. Less than 2% of the population and gays are all over TV.
ABC, Fox, and CNN all have gay anchormen for their prime news hour shows.
I’ve actually read that the low ratings don’t matter if it’s in the ‘fly over country’ areas. They want ‘urban young, 15-30’ viewers and customers now.
Why?
No idea.
Most people are in business in spit of themselves.
I’ve heard too many “brathas” proclaim, “Brothas don’t hike”, “Brothas don’t ski”,”Brothas don’t camp”, etc.
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