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P&G urges 'White America' to take action against racial injustice
The FMCG major talks about the power 'White America' holds, and how they should use it, instead of passive participation in the anti-racism movement.
Procter & Gamble, or P&G, the American multinational consumer goods company, has released another ad in its series of films on the bias and racism suffered by the Black community.
The 75-second ad, called 'The Choice', asks what should the Black community do when it is repeatedly suggested to them that their lives do not matter.
The ad goes on to say that being 'white' in America means you don't need to respond to such questions that the Black community faces. There's a line in the ad copy, "And when your life matters, you have power." It's a nod to the severity of the racial faultlines, which has divided the US and with it, several countries.
P&G calls on the White community in the US to use this power to become an anti-racist because, "Not being racist is not enough." The FMCG major implores the 'whites' to take action, than resort to passive participation.
It urges people to read, listen, donate, plan, march, vote, speak out, step in, step up. It says, "Choose progress over perfection." The ad then suggests people a starting point with the link to a website – a growing collection of resources to help you start your journey against racial injustice.
Before this, P&G released two ad films, called 'The Talk' and 'The Look'. The former addressed conversations Black parents have with their kids to prepare them for a prejudiced world. The latter, on the other hand, addressed how bias affects our perception of others, in this case, a Black man.
The ad campaign began with 'Circumstances'. A thought-provoking communication that said, "African Americans are up to 340 per cent more likely to lose their lives to the Coronavirus." The ad copy says the virus does not discriminate, but circumstances do.
After the death of George Floyd, a Black American, at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, the US witnessed widespread protests against deep-rooted racism that has ravaged the country for over a century. Soon enough, similar protests were seen in several countries, and the common call heard across these protest sites was similar: It's time to uproot racism from its roots forever.