- Erin
Issues and consequences may arise if we are not sensitive to equity, diversity, and inclusively in our behavior
and communication. Some terms we have once used are no longer appropriate to use (Bowman, Hesdorfer,
Tashima, & Williams, 2015). If you use words that are insensitive this may be off putting to some and you may
alienate a person or group of people. Being insensitive to a person’s race, gender, sexual orientation etc. may
offend them. If you have a company and in your marketing ad you offend people this may result in a loss of
sales. Some people may boycott your business and this will bring about bad publicity that will in turn affect
sales.
I recently saw a T.V commercial that was advertising to give women more opportunities in the workforce. The
commercial had a man doing the voice over. I didn’t understand why the commercial speaking about giving
women more opportunities in the workforce would have a man doing the voice over. The commercial must
have been pulled because I haven’t seen it in a while.
Reference
Bowman, E., Hesdorfer, K., LeBow, J., Tashima, R., & Williams,, S. (2015). Language of Difference: Writing
about Race, Ethnicity, Class and Disability. Retrieved November 07, 2020, from
https://hamilton.edu/academics/centers/writing/writing-resources/language-of-difference-writing-about-raceethnicity-social-class-and-disability - Christie
In the business world, there are serious consequences that can arise if you are not sensitive to equity, diversity,
and inclusion in your behavior and communication. Three examples of issues that can arise are:
Marketing initiatives that deter customers due to lack of diversity and inclusion, which equates to loss in sales.
Internal communication to employees, that is upsetting to the reader, which contributes to low employee
morale.
Lawsuits for behavior or communication that is or perceived to be discriminatory.
A situation I had observed where someone’s behavior was not sensitive to equity, diversity, and inclusion, was
when a marketing manager intentionally avoid using a particular ethnic group in her marketing material. Upon
learning of this issue, senior leadership swiftly addressed the issue with the manager, as her behavior was not
within the organization’s missions and values and was not a fair/accurate representation of the organization.
A situation I had observed where a businesses communication was not sensitive to equity, diversity, and
inclusion, was the infamous Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial regarding protests. Pepsi ended up pulling the
commercial due to the controversy that followed. - Michael
After reading the article, I found some of the points either interesting, enlightening, or hypocritical. Also,
possibly overly redundant and trying to please everyone at the cost of language. While I did agree that
language is “fluid” many languages do not go through as many changes as the American language. My wife
who is Palestinian and first language is Arabic, their language is not constantly changing. In addition, these,
“fluid” points, seem to only relate to the American language. Otherwise, languages like Spanish might be
changing the word they use for black, due to the similarity of sounding in the English language to the “N-Word”
that is confusingly deemed inappropriate.
However, being purposeful and versed in the English language is important when writing, since not only our
language can change dynamically depending on the order of words, but the intention can change as well.
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The first issue is the description of a person. As of 2020, we still have a ping pong match with the words
“African-America” or “Black”. We have yet to find a universal acceptable description when the context requiring
the information is needed. If we are all Americans, then our past ancestry should not matter as much.
Otherwise, I should be “Scottish-American”. In addition, Africa has a variety of diversity and how they look, a
person who is from North or South Africa will look vastly different in both culture and looks, especially skin
tone. The term “African-American” has historically been used to describe people who are “Black”. Yet a person
who would typically be identified as “Caucasian” in American standards based on the color of their skin. As you
can see, the consequences are an endless issue of back and forth with no real result. Not to mention, other
languages do not suffer the same issue. This refers to the Latin or Arabic languages as an example. The
conclusion of this point is, there is no solution to either description. You cannot avoid offending people due to
their pride and preferred preference.
If we pay attention to popular speeches, either by politicians, presidents, or CEOs of companies, they are
careful of their words. By eliminating descriptive words and replacing them with inclusive, we see how people
listening to their speeches, feel included. However, to alienate others, such as class diversity. Those who are
struggling financially will feel more impacted by speeches that refer to materials that are not affordable to them.
Such as a college education, a new car, purchasing a home. This can allow a person to feel sensitive and
close off from the discussion.
An interesting idea is that the term, minority, is being phased out. My wife’s family and her extension, all refer
to themselves as a minority. They do not find it offensive and often use it to describe situations in either
political, social, economic, religious, and cultural. The idea of it being offensive is something that is odd to
them. The article mentioned an alternative, historically marginalized populations. While this is a long-winded
alternative, this creates a bigger issue. If a person’s reading level is not very high, which is typical of non-native
English speakers, this creates a divide. They cannot understand what that alternative means and now must
figure out what it means. By not offering a simple alternative, you run the risk of making a person feel
alienated. They could feel that their intelligence is being challenged due to the difficulty of understanding what
the context is. Instead, the point of this is to find understandable alternatives, ones that are simple and easy to
use.
Write about a situation you faced or observed that demonstrated insensitivity to others.
The last topic we need to be careful of when writing, is the verbal and visual approach. Gillette had made a
commercial one year ago, trying to tackle toxic masculinity. However, their ad created a bigger divide. It was
obvious that it was catered not towards toxic masculinity, but what others perceived as toxic masculinity. As a
male myself, I could not relate to the ad and even felt attacked. It made me feel as if I was a problem, despite
not having any of those issues. The result of this led to me boycotting Gillette. When I spoke with others
regarding the commercial, they too felt the same thing. Removing countless loyal customers due to their onesided thinking.
Sample Solution
