Chocolate, Chicken, and the Politics of Brand

Closer to home Popeyes ignited a social media battle with rival ChickfilA when it recently released its new chicken sandwich The two fastfood restaurant heavyweights went at each other breaking the Internet and Popeyes39 sales projections The demand for the Popeyes chicken sandwich far outstripped supply as lines wrapped around storesSubsequent conversations regarding Cadbury39s product and Popeyes campaign illustrate the opportunities and challenges that come with stepping beyond the normal boundaries of brandingCadbury39s stated goal was to quotchampion the unity of people of different castes creed languages regions and religionsquot This is quite a heady goal even for social organizations with an area of focus in race much less for a company whose expertise lies in making chocolate Given India39s complex cultural and political history regarding caste and skin color Cadbury39s was clearly wading into deep watersThe current business and social environment have fostered an increasingly quotNo Sidelinesquot philosophyamp160 Brands with strong values propositions should feel empowered to become part of social conversationsOf course Cadbury39s faced both accolades and resistance with their Unity Bar Those who would argue that Cadbury39s attempt to quotsolve racismquot are missing the point and perhaps projecting more on the product than was intended Visually creating a new chocolate bar to celebrate diversity isn39t meant to trivialize an important subject Companies exist within the larger society which means they can take on issues big and small amp8212 where appropriate Cadbury39s provocation was designed to inject itself into the shared reality of its customers Skin lighteners and lotions are sold throughout India and beauty standards are mired in colorism Cadbury39s active choice to engage in this reality tangibly is what brands have to do in a climate that demands more of themPopeyes faced a different dilemma as their issues were less around product and more about delivery By any measurement Popeye39s chicken sandwich rollout was a tremendous success It is estimated that Popeyes received more than 20 million in earned media across digital print and social once the campaign launched These huge numbers are beyond what most brands could dream of and Popeyes managed to hit the markThe success also led to backlash as many believe the victory was primarily a result of harnessing quotblack Twitterquot and its outsized ability to both define culture and generate viral success Popeyes has been developing its chicken sandwich for over a year but this level of success would have been unachievable without the impact of social media The tweet heard round the media world asking quotY39all goodquot to rival ChickfilA was written in a tone suggesting African American Vernacular English or AAVE Is this usage part of Popeyes attempt to be quotauthenticquot something that both brands and customers demand Alternatively is an attempt to coopt the nuance of specific language within a culture for sheer brand benefitCultural appropriation is already common but digital blackface takes these issues to another level Digital blackface can take many forms a social media account with a black person39s avatar that is run by someone nonblack the excessive use of black emojisGIFs and potential adaptation of tone and posture Popeye39s tone appears to suggest quotblacknessquot which could come across as inauthentic and perhaps even become problematicThe bigger issue is that Popeyes and many other brands do not have either a diverse internal social media team or agency relationships Given that reality how likely is it that these communications sounding like and targeting black people are penned by them In an industry already struggling with diversity these types of campaigns are emblematic of a much larger problemBrands are under more scrutiny than ever before The attention and critique of their audience should not be viewed as a threat but rather an opportunity to become as informed as their audience and therefore rise to the occasion to do better There is also the opportunity not to fall victim to perfection There will be missteps and wrong moves as brands navigate culture because it is a continually moving target The fear of messing up shouldn39t cause brands to lessen their efforts on meaningful campaigns amp8212 just the oppositeamp160If you39re Cadbury39s you draw a line in the sand and take the pushback If you39re Popeyes do more than write snappy copy and bring black creatives into your fold Either way doing nothing is not an option so the pressure is on to make the efforts genuinely worthwhileClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Chocolate, Chicken, and the Politics of Brand

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Philip McKenzie

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Chocolate, Chicken, and the Politics of Brand

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