Industry Leaders Don’t Want to Talk About Anti-Asian Hate—They Want Something to Change

Racist attacks against Asian Americans have increased since the beginning of the pandemic and continue to occur throughout the United States. Facebook wants to educate people on how to turn allyship into action. Several marketing leaders joined Facebook and the Asian American Advertising Federation (3AF)'s Forward, Together: Addressing Anti-Asian Hate and Systemic Racism event on Tuesday to discuss how other marketers and brands can use their platforms to evoke real change in the communities they serve. The event took place hours before eight people, including six Asian women, were shot and killed at three massage parlors in Atlanta. It also occurred as new research from Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit tracking and responding to racist incidents against people in the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, found that nearly 3,800 hate incidents have been reported over roughly a year during the pandemic. A year in review Several members of 3AF reflected on how they’ve spent the past year finding ways to raise awareness about anti-Asian hate and build action into different campaigns and initiatives. Julia Huang, CEO of InterTrend Communications Inc., launched Make Noise Today, an initiative “to carve out a crisp, concise message to call out for attention that enough is enough” through ads in major newspapers like The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. “We’re not delusional into thinking that this particular effort can stop Asian hate immediately, but it is a beginning,” Huang said during the event. “The changes that we have been seeing are that people are speaking up—not just regular activists, but Asians [from] different walks of life [who] probably would have thought speaking up against racism as ‘too sensitive,’ and people who wanted to separate their crafts or professions from discussions on matters such as racism.” Telly Wong, senior vice president of agency IW Group, helped launch “Wash the Hate,” a campaign fighting against Covid-19-related Asian discrimination after former President Donald Trump referred to Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus.” At the beginning of the pandemic, Wong recalled during the event how little people really knew about what was happening to his community. “When I was talking to folks about what was happening—and especially folks outside the Asian American community—they didn’t hear about it, they didn’t know about it,” he said. Once the PSA launched, however, it “generated a lot of awareness” through traditional media, digital and social channels. Now, IW Group is working with brands such as McDonald’s to take that awareness a step forward. “Brands want to say something and they want to say they stand with the community, but how can you say that with any credibility if you’ve never engaged that community ever before, whether it’s through a marketing campaign or through some kind of community relations?” Wong said. Going beyond the social media statement Brands have often relied on statements to offer support to communities of color, but marketers like Max Davidson, chief integrations officer at advertiser Admerasia, want them to go the extra mile. “If you’ve made these commitments to stand with the Asian community as an ally in the face of this mounting wave of racism, how are you doing that?” he asked at the event. “Because it can’t get to a place where the solidarity statement becomes the new version of ‘thoughts and prayers.’” Eric Toda, global head of social marketing at Facebook, said that brands missed an enormous opportunity to use 30-second spots to condemn anti-Asian hate during the Super Bowl this year, especially after a week of hate incidents had occurred leading up to the event. “Where was the statement then?” he asked. “We have an obligation to do what’s right versus just do what we’ve always done.” Elizabeth Campbell, senior director, U.S. marketing and cultural engagement at McDonald’s, and Christine Ngo Isaac, consumer engagement director, Hennessy at LVMH, discussed how brands need to have empathy for their consumers by taking the time to invest in their inner communities. “It’s not so much just ‘put up a post in solidarity,’ it’s also about making sure that we’re supporting the right organizations,” Ngo Isaac said. “We can’t wait until there is a crisis to show our support. That empathy needs to happen every single day.” As AAPI communities continue to fight against systemic racism, Toda said he hopes people in the advertising and marketing world step up to the plate and deliver more than just words to consumers. “At the end of the day, if we don’t hold these brands accountable, we’re going to look back 10, 15 years from now and see an Instagram feed of just ‘I’m sorry’ posts … and ask ourselves: ‘What did we actually change?’” he said. ‘My People Are Dying in Silence—and I’m Here With a Megaphone’

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Industry Leaders Don’t Want to Talk About Anti-Asian Hate—They Want Something to Change

A Facebook and 3AF town hall focused on how brands can effectively support and take action

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Tiffany Moustakas

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